PURPOSE: Medication adherence is an essential part of the management and control of high blood pressure (HBP). Although the Hill-Bone Medication Adherence (HBMA) scale is one of the most frequently used instruments for measuring HBP medication adherence, the psychometric properties of the scale have never been tested among Korean Americans, a population that experiences a disproportionately high prevalence of HBP. Therefore, the objective of this study is to validate a Korean version of the HBMA subscale (HBMA-K). METHOD: We used two, independent samples of Korean Americans (KAs) (combined n = 525) who participated in community-based intervention trials for HBP control. To develop the HBMA-K, the original scale was translated into Korean and then back translated into English. Reliability was assessed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was done to assess construct validity. We also calculated the Pearson's correlation coefficients between the scale and theoretically driven variables such as blood pressure, knowledge, and HBP belief to test concurrent validity. RESULTS: The EFA revealed a one-factor solution with eight items, explaining 35.4% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was .80. The 8-item HBMA-K scale was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure (BP) (r = .18, p < .01), diastolic BP (r = .24, p < .01), HBP knowledge (r = -.13, p < .01), and HBP belief score (r = -.18, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The 8-item HBMA-K scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring medication adherence among KAs with HBP. It can be easily administered at community and clinical settings to screen hypertensive patients with low medication adherence.
Asian Americans ; Blood Pressure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Medication Adherence ; Prevalence ; Psychometrics

Because many of patients seeking orthodontic treatment worry about the facial appearance and their chief motivation for orthodontic treatment is facial esthetics, it is critical to understand the influence of gender or culture on the evaluation of profile esthetics. The purpose of this study was to find out any influence of gender or culture on judging good facial profile. 4 different groups were asked to evaluate 133 facial profiles to test the influence of gender or culture on judging good facial profiles. Those 4 groups consisted of 10 Korean males, 10 Korean females, 10 Korean American males, and 10 Korean American females. 2 evaluation systems were introduced, absolute and relative. Soft tissues of selected good profile group were analyzed and statistic analysis was performed. Conclusions were as follows : 1. Inter-evaluator difference for judging good facial profile was statistically significant, even if there was general agreement for the best profile among 40 raters. 2. Gender difference under the same cultural environment was not significant statistically. 3. The same ethnic groups with different cultural background showed statistically different preference on judging good profile. 4. Good facial profile group had their own characteristics compared to remaining group in several soft tissue measurements which were vertical facial ratio, soft tissue facial convexity, and antero-posterior relative lip position.
Asian Americans ; Esthetics ; Ethnic Groups ; Female ; Humans ; Lip ; Male ; Motivation

The size of spinal canal is mesured to detect the lumbar spinal stenosis syndrome and expanding intraspinaltumors by CT. This study was desinged for taking accurate measurement of the normal lumbar spinal canal in Koreanadults. The anteroposterior diameter, interpediculate distance and cross-sectional area of lumbar spinal canalwere measured in 110 normal adults. The results were as follows; 1. The window center that showed identical valueconsistent with actual measurement of phantom was between + 160HU and + 240HU and the window width was below +300HU. 2. In anteroposterio diameter, upper part of the canal was larger value than that of middle and lowerparts, but in interpediculate distance, lower part of the canal revealed larger value than that of upper andmiddle parts. There was no significant difference in cross-sectional area. 3. All measurements male were largerthan those of female at all levels of the spinal canal and 42 measurements(58%) were significant statisstically.4. Compared with Americans, Korean showed lower value in anteriopsterior diameter and cross-sectional area buthigher value in interpediculate distance. 5. Above results should contribute to making an another criteria fordiagnosing the lumbar spinal stenosis in Koreans.
Adult ; Asian Americans ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Spinal Canal ; Spinal Stenosis

No abstract available.
Asian Americans ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Humans ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin ; Thigh

No abstract available.
Asian Americans ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Humans ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin ; Thigh

Consuming regular meals has been studied in relation to better health, while higher regularity of eating-out has been linked to obesity. This study examined whether acculturation was associated with regularity of meals, eating-out, and overweight in Korean Americans. Pre-tested questionnaires were mailed to a U.S. national sample with Korean American surnames, and 55% of the deliverable sample responded, producing 356 usable questionnaires. Acculturation was measured using a two-culture matrix model and Gordon's theoretical work, and showed there were three distinct groups (acculturated, bicultural, and traditional). Only 36% reported that they regularly ate three meals a day. Breakfast was the least frequent meal of the day with 43% reporting eating breakfast everyday. More than half (58%) reported that they usually eat out or get take-out food at least once a week. After controlling for age, sex, income, education, and working status, higher acculturation was related to greater regularity of eating-out, but not meal regularity. A total of 28% of men and 6% of women were overweight (BMI>25), and there were significant and positive relationships between body weight status and acculturation in men but not women. However, no significant relationships between frequency of meals and eating-out and overweight status were present. This study did not find significant relationships of meal regularity and eating-out with body weight, however, given the positive relationship between acculturation and eating-out among the subjects and the well-established relationship between eating-out and obesity, nutrition education about skipping meals and eating-for Korean Americans may be useful to prevent such relationships from developing.
Acculturation ; Asian Americans ; Body Weight ; Breakfast ; Eating ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Meals ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Postal Service ; Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess Korean Americans' (KAs) health and cultural beliefs about colorectal cancer (CRC) and their CRC screening utilization in order to understand how health and cultural beliefs play a role in CRC screening utilization and why KAs have a low rate of CRC screening. METHODS: Face-to-face, individual interviews with 26 Korean immigrants aged 50 and older were conducted in Korean. A semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions was used to explore participants' health and cultural beliefs about CRC and CRC screening. Recorded audio interviews were transcribed verbatim in Korean and coded using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The themes that emerged from analyzing the individual interview data were: (a) valuing their families before themselves; (b) seeing a doctor only if they have symptoms; (c) believing that they would not get CRC; (d) balancing the will to stay healthy and fatalism; and (e) refusing health information. CONCLUSION: Results show the critical need for in-depth understanding of unique health and cultural beliefs about CRC screening in KAs. These beliefs could be useful for future intervention strategies to change health and cultural beliefs in order to increase CRC screening participation in KAs.
Aged ; Asian Americans ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Humans ; Mass Screening

In oder to determine values for the body weight by height groups for Korean adults men who are fully grown up 4028(30-39 age-group:2318, 40-49 age-group: 1340, and 50-59 age-group:370) apparently healthy males subjects were randomly selected for the measurement of body weight by height groups. 1) The average body height and weight of Korean adult men were 168.3+/-4.6cm and 63.4+/-7.1kg in 30-39 age group, 167.7+/-4.7cm and 63.4+/-7.4kg in 40-49 age group, and 167.3+/-5.2cm and 63.3+/-8.0kg in 50-59 age group. 2) A correlation coefficient of r=+0.52(P<0.001) between body height and weight was found in 30-39 ate group of 2318 subject, r=+0.48(P<0.001) in 40-49 of 1340 and r=+0.53(P<0.001) in 50-59 of 370 with the aid of there coefficients of linear regression body weight and height were established for male as follow; for 30-39 age group, Y(weight in kg)=0.81X(height in cm)-73.02, 40-49 age group, Y(weight in kg)=0.74X(height in cm)-61.82, 50-59 age group, Y(weight in kg)=0.82X(height in cm)-73.83. 3) With the aid of above listed various equation standard values for body weight by height group, with over weighing and under weighing values were established. 4) Standard bodyweight of Korean was lower than those of American, Japanese and several other formulas for ideal body weight.
Adult* ; Asian Americans ; Body Height ; Body Weight* ; Humans ; Ideal Body Weight ; Linear Models ; Male

No abstract available.
Aged ; Asian Americans* ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Health Services ; Humans ; United States*

Korean Americans (KAs) with psychiatric service needs underutilizes the mainstream mental health services in United States (US). Barriers to mental health service access among KAs reflect their unique heritage and culture. More than two-thirds of KAs identify themselves as Christians, and Korean clergy have influential roles in daily lives of vast majority of KAs. By working with the Korean clergy, a small voluntary organization such as the Association of Korean American Psychiatrists could provide invaluable assistance in removing the barriers to mental health services for KAs.
Asian Americans* ; Clergy ; Emigrants and Immigrants* ; Emigration and Immigration ; Humans ; Mental Health Services* ; Psychiatry ; United States