Health Care Beliefs and Practices in the Korean-American Culture Korean involvement with the United States can be traced back to the 1800’s when America signed a treaty with Korea establishing peace, friendship and commerce. However, it wasn’t until the year 1903 that Koreans actually began the process of migrating to the United States. The first wave of Koreans into the United States consisted of about 7,000 uneducated males who went to work as contract laborers for Hawaii’s sugar plantations. The second wave of migration occurred in 1950, after the Korean War. Women, children (a majority of them being orphans), and refugees flowed into America. Korean women now entered the United States with the title “military brides” due to the act of American soldiers marrying Korean women. In 1965, the third and final wave took place. Due to the new military regime, Korea emerged as a dictatorship, causing social and political instability that affected citizen’s life both in …show more content…
To begin, Korean Americans are at low risk for obesity. Obesity is not common within their culture, but, it has been proved that the longer one resides in the United States, the more likely they are to become obese (like most citizens of America). Korean Americans are also threatened by alcohol abuse and persistent smoking of cigarettes.
Korean Americans are at high risk for Type II Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiovascular disease, and Hepatitis B. Hypertension is a common outcome from their high salt diets and can become troublesome with those who have high blood pressure. Cardiovascular diseases are also common and result from chronic smoking and reports of high blood pressure within the culture. An even greater danger produced from smoking and high concentrations of salt within their diet is cancer. Korean Americans are vulnerable to stomach, lung and liver