Seeking affective health care: Korean immigrants’ use of homeland medical services

• Published in: Health & place Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 108 - 115
• Main Authors: Lee, Jane YeonJae, Kearns, Robin A., Friesen, Wardlow
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 2010
• Subjects: Adult; Emigrants and Immigrants; Female; Health care; Health technology assessment; Home country; Homeland; Homelands; Humans; Immigrants; Interviews as Topic; Korea; Male; Medical services; Medical travel; Medical treatment; Middle Aged; Migrants; New Zealand; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnology; Place; Republic of Korea - ethnology; South Korea; Surgery; Transnationalism; Travel; Travel Medicine; New Zealand; Republic of Korea; New Zealand; Homeland; Migrants; Medical travel; Transnationalism; Korea
• ISSN: 1353-8292; 1873-2054
• DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.09.003

This paper explores the phenomenon of migrants returning to their country of origin for health care. Specifically, it examines the case of Korean immigrants to New Zealand making trips to their homeland to obtain medical operations. We situate our inquiry at the intersection of literatures on home, therapeutic spaces and health care consumption. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews we focus on the question of why and how first-generation Koreans in Auckland, New Zealand, seek medical services in their country of birth. Narratives suggest that the immigrants’ decisions are shaped by interactions between agency (self) and structure (society) that occur across transnational social fields. Strong preferences for decisive and comprehensive treatment in culturally comfortable settings are revealed. The study highlights a particular link between health and place: that if financially able, immigrant patients will seek not only effective, but also affective medical care.