A comparison of the health and related quality of life between middle‐aged Korean and Chinese women

Abstract

The proportion of middle-aged people in one's total life cycle has increased. Health providers are required to promote and manage their health, and improve the quality of their life, especially middle-aged women. As international interchanges in nursing are growing between Korea and China, understanding of the level related to health and quality of life between middle-aged Korean and Chinese women is critical to improve their health and quality of life. To compare and examine the health perception, anger expression, self-esteem and quality of life between middle-aged Korean and Chinese women. A cross-sectional survey was conducted. The participants were comprised of a total 430 middle-aged Korean (n=220) and Chinese (n=210) women aged 40-64 years. The survey included a set of four questionnaires. All measures were self-administered. Data were analysed using the statistical package, SPSS/WIN Ver16.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Middle-aged Chinese women had higher health perception than middle-aged Korean women. Anger expression, self-esteem and quality of life of middle-aged Korean women were higher than in middle-aged Chinese women. Also, there were the differences in the health perception, anger expression and self-esteem according to the general characteristics in all middle-aged Korean and Chinese women. Various nursing intervention strategies should be developed and adjusted to improve the self-esteem and quality of life for all middle-aged Korean and Chinese women, especially middle-aged Chinese women. Additionally, the individual characteristics and national culture of the middle-aged women should be considered as a basis for the nursing intervention.