Health and health management among motorcycle-based food delivery workers in South Korea: a qualitative interview study

The aim of this community activity is as an effort to improve the interpersonal communication skills of Indonesian workers (TKI) in South Korea. Good interpersonal communication skills are an important key in adapting to different cultural work environments and building effective relationships with colleagues, superiors and the surrounding community. The method used is online counseling. The targets are migrant workers who work in South Korea. The problem solving model used includes: identifying factors that influence the interpersonal communication skills of migrant workers in South Korea, such as differences in language, culture and communication norms. The results and discussion include a review of strategies and approaches that can be used to improve the interpersonal communication skills of migrant workers, including communication skills training, use of modern communication media and increased cultural understanding. Apart from that, this activity has provided important insights for the government, labor placement agents and TKI themselves in their efforts to improve work quality, adaptation and social interaction in their respective work environments.

In late May 2011, South Korean university students began to stage daily mass protests for ‘half-priced tuitions’. South Korean universities and independent colleges – most of them being private one...

Reducing and controlling incident rate of Pulmonary Tuberculosis was the goal of the Department of Health thus coming up with a program called Direct Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS).This study would like to know the health perception and management of household members on patient with pulmonary tuberculosis. The participant involved in this study are the household members of patient diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis from the month of January to March with highest rate with in the poblacion barangays of Echague Isabela. The researcher used a survey questionnaire and was given to 30 household members of patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis wherein they have evaluated their health Perception and Management on Pulmonary Tuberculosis. The Health Perception and management of household members were acquired using the likert scale that was created by the researcher wherein the highest is 5 which is equivalent to ALWAYS and 1 or NEVER was the lowest. The researcher used a equivalent to ALWAYS and 1 or NEVER was the lowest. The researcher used a descriptive survey design to collect information from the respondents. The researcher used SPSS for the tabulation and determining the frequency and percentage, t-value and f-value is used to determine the difference of respondents profile and Pearson's r- correlation is used to determine the relationship between the health perception and health management. Results revealed that the Health Perception of the Respondent shown that they are in average knowledge about TB. The health management of the respondents shown that they are knowledgeable but not enough.
 
 Keywords: health perception; health management; pulmonary tuberculosis

This study investigated perceptions of occupational safety and health (OSH) among foreign construction workers in South Korea and compared structural challenges with Japan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 77 workers using a 48-item questionnaire adapted from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA). Descriptive statistics identified items scoring below 4.0 on a 5-point Likert scale as areas of concern. Comparative analysis was conducted using secondary data on Japan's OSH system for foreign workers obtained through a literature review. Sixteen items (33.3%) scored below 4.0, indicating deficiencies in communication, participatory training, and practical rule applicability. In contrast, tangible measures such as PPE provision and basic safety knowledge were rated highly. Both countries exhibited common OSH barriers, including language difficulties, limited training effectiveness, underreporting of accidents, restricted healthcare access, and insufficient mental health support. Korea's Employment Permit System provides structured legal employment but restricts job mobility, while Japan's Technical Intern Training Program reveals greater institutional weaknesses and partial exclusion from labor law protection. Foreign workers in both countries remain passive recipients of safety measures due to hierarchical structures and cultural isolation. Strengthening multilingual communication, participatory education, and inclusive leadership is essential to promote a proactive, worker-centered OSH culture.

Background: Mumps, a contagious disease, is transmissible by respiratory droplet particles and is preventable by vaccination. In South Korea, mandatory vaccination against mumps has markedly reduced its incidence. However, both the incidence and the number of reported cases of mumps have persistently increased in South Korea since 2007. Despite high vaccination rates, mumps outbreaks continue to occur, and many studies have been conducted on mumps seroprevalence in children and adolescents. In comparison, few reports have been published regarding mumps seroprevalence in healthcare workers (HCWs) in South Korea. Objective: We investigated the seroprevalence of HCWs in South Korea. Methods: This study was conducted at Asan Medical Center, a 2,705-bed tertiary-care hospital in Seoul, South Korea, with 8,329 HCWs. In 2018, we performed mumps antibody testing for HCWs. We administered MMR vaccination to all HCWs whose antibody test yielded equivocal or negative results. However, we did not repeat mumps antibody testing after MMR vaccination. Results: In total, 6,055 HCWs (73%) underwent mumps antibody testing. The overall mumps seropositivity rate was 87% (95% CI, 86%–87%). Seropositivity rates of all birth cohorts ranged from 72% to 92%. Mumps seropositivity rates were 88% in HCWs born before 1970, 87% in those born between 1970 and 1989, and 88% in those born between 1990 and 1995 (P = .59). Mumps seropositivity rates for both women and men HCWs were 87% (3,770 of 4,311 women and 1,517 of 1,744 men); the difference was not statistically significant (P = .62). The overall mumps seropositivity rate was 87%, which was above the herd immunity threshold of 75%–86%. Conclusions: Our results revealed that the overall mumps seropositivity rate in South Korean HCWs was above the herd immunity threshold. On the basis of this finding, we recommend that MMR vaccination after serologic testing may be a more reasonable approach than universal MMR vaccination alone in Korea.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

Remittance and earthquake preparedness

Characteristics of fatal occupational injuries in migrant workers in South Korea: A machine learning study

Although South Korea has implemented various smoking cessation services, women who are emotional laborers, as well as parcel delivery, transportation, and construction workers, have poor access to these services. This study evaluated the smoking-related characteristics of workers in these four occupations as well as the awareness of and need for smoking cessation services. In total 808 workers in these four occupations aged 19 years and above were recruited nationwide and had their data analyzed. The participants' age, marital status, number of work hours per week, job-related stress, age when they started smoking, average number of cigarettes a day, types of tobacco products, close relationships to others who smoke, number of attempts to quit smoking, plans to quit smoking, awareness of cessation services, prior utilization of cessation services, and need for cessation services were surveyed. Compared with parcel delivery workers, female emotional laborers and transportation and construction workers had more attempts to quit smoking, plans to quit smoking, and prior utilization of smoking cessation services, moreover, construction workers had a significantly lower awareness of smoking cessation services. Parcel delivery workers need smoking cessation programs, mobile applications to help them quit smoking, and improvements in their work environments. Cessation services and education should be promoted at workplaces and among managers.

During the measles epidemic in 2019, in-hospital transmission of measles contributed to more than two-thirds of measles cases in South Korea, where measles is declared eliminated. This study aimed to examine measles seropositivity among healthcare workers (HCWs) in South Korea to help develop an effective measles prevention strategy for hospital settings. Measles IgG titer was tested in 1,579 HCWs working in a university-affiliated hospital and the measles-containing vaccine (MCV) immunization records of 870 HCWs were identified. The overall seropositivity was 92.0%, but the seropositivity and antibody titers were significantly low among HCWs aged 20–25 years (78.6%) and among one-dose vaccine recipients (86.7%). Among two-dose recipients, seropositivity was lower among young HCWs who received two doses during their childhood than among those who received the catch-up vaccination as part of job requirements (70.3% vs. 98.0%). Among 87 seronegative HCWs who received two-dose MMR vaccination, the seroconversion rate was 98.9%. A considerable proportion of young HCWs were potentially susceptible to measles despite receiving the two-dose vaccination during childhood because of the waning immunity against measles in a country with measles-eliminated status. Serological screening for measles of newly employed HCWs and MCV immunization of seronegative HCWs appears to be an effective prevention strategy.

Although waged workers' working conditions have notably diversified in South Korea, there is little research addressing this issue. This study explores the relationship between working conditions and engagement in leisure-time physical activities (LTPA) among waged workers in South Korea. Data from 19- to 64-year-old waged workers (men=2,562, women=1,627) from the 11th wave of the Korean Income and Labor Panel Study were included in this study. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between LTPA and working conditions by gender. More than 75% of employed persons did not participate in any type of LTPA. For male workers, those in manual, precarious, overtime, and non-shift positions were less likely to engage in LTPA, while for female workers, only manual and overtime work positions were significant factors influencing a low level of LTPA. Some negative work-related factors were associated with low LTPA, especially for male workers. Further studies should be conducted to clarify the pathways and barriers precluding engagement in LTPA due to work-related factors.

The burden of non-communicable diseases is rapidly increasing among young adults in middle- and low-income countries. Asian migrant workers continue to be a significant contributor to South Korea's economy; however, their cardiovascular health is neglected. We explored the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among Asian migrant workers in South Korea. Cross-sectional survey, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure measurements, and biochemical tests including triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, and C-reactive protein levels were conducted in 141 Asian migrant workers in South Korea. The mean age of the participants was 31.3 (5.6) years. Of the participants, 14.8% were current smokers, and 47.5% consumed alcohol. The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 32.4%. The prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidemia were 51.2% and 64.6%, respectively. Of the participants, 98.5% had an increased waist circumference; elevated HbA1C and C-reactive protein was seen in 20.9% and 4.3%, respectively. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 5.5%. Clustering of two or more risk factors was seen in 45% of the participants. Factors associated with a high risk of cardiovascular diseases (clustering of two or more risk factors) were age (odds ratio 1.16, p < 0.01) and smoking (4.98, p < 0.05). The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was alarmingly high among Asian migrant workers employed in South Korea. Efforts to mitigate and eliminate those risk factors are urgently required.

The roles of social workers in hospitals have changed in accordance with the environmental changes in the healthcare system. Since 1958, hospital social workers have performed important roles in providing care services in South Korea. Providing psychosocial services was considered to be the most important for more than 30 years from the 1970s to the 1990s. The healthcare system has since undergone major environmental changes, yet there has been little study on the role of hospital social workers in South Korea. In order to address this research gap, this study aims to explore how the roles of hospital social workers have changed since the 2000s. We recruited 198 hospital social workers who were active members of the Korean Association of Medical Social Workers as study participants. The average age of participants was 35.36 years old (SD = 8.27), and they had an average of 8.24 years in hospital social work experience (SD = 6.35). The results indicated that the roles of financial support and community resource linkage, which were regarded to be relatively less important until the 1990s, were recognized as the most important. Given the role changes of hospital social workers in South Korea, implications are discussed.

The increase in the number of platform workers has led to active discussions on the various difficulties they face. Existing studies on their work‐related accidents have focused on physical, traffic‐related accidents in offline places. However, platform workers are more likely to suffer from psychological stress or illnesses while performing immaterial and cognitive labour in the virtual space. Through in‐depth interviews with 30 platform workers in South Korea, this study investigated platform workers’ mental distress and identified five common psychological problems: (a) stress from real‐time assessment in public space; (b) exhaustion from working without work‐life boundaries; (c) infringement of privacy through exposure of private life; (d) verbal abuse in non‐face‐to‐face relations; and (e) isolation from working alone. In doing so, this study seeks to define the mental difficulties of platform workers as digital industrial accidents and asserts the need to establish a new social security system for the digital economy.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational justice and work engagement, to discover the moderating effect of the supportive learning environment on the relationship between organizational justice and work engagement, and to determine whether there is a difference in moderating effect for general workers and public service workers. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data by surveying a public enterprise’s general and public service workers in South Korea. A total of 300 responses were used for analysis. The hypothesized relationships were tested using correlation, regression, and moderating effect analysis. Findings Organizational justice had a statistically significant positive effect on work engagement. At the sub-factor level, distributive and procedural justice positively affected work engagement. Further, the supportive learning environment did not moderate the relationship between organizational justice and work engagement. However, organizational support, a sub-factor of the supportive learning environment, moderated the relationship between organizational justice and work engagement. Finally, the moderating effect of the supportive learning environment on the relationship between organizational justice and work engagement was insignificant for both general and public service workers. Originality/value From the human resource development (HRD) standpoint, this paper emphasized the importance of creating supportive learning environments in integrating large groups of new employees into the organizational structures and culture. Highlighting that public service workers perceived organizational justice as lower than general workers, the study provided insights into future organizational strategies for accommodating these workers. It is particularly meaningful in that it was the first attempt at studying the difference between general and public service workers after integrating public service workers in South Korea. The findings can inform practice beyond the South Korean context, particularly the countries where similar labor market dualisms exist.

BackgroundResearch concerning health literacy among migrant workers in South Korea has been limited, especially given the lack of validated instruments and the lack of focus on the cultural diversity of migrant workers.ObjectiveThis study aimed to develop and validate a health literacy scale for unskilled migrant workers (HLS-MW) in South Korea.MethodsWe first generated a pool of potential items based on a literature review and in-depth interviews with 23 migrant workers. Subsequently, we reviewed empirical referents from the first step to select relevant medical terminologies and passages, ultimately choosing 709 words. The study team initially generated 35 items with 709 health-related terms through empirical referent reviews. After content validity testing by an expert panel, 28 items comprising 89 terms on the 2 subscales of prose and documents were selected for psychometric testing. Overall, 402 unskilled migrant workers in South Korea completed a web-based survey between August and September 2021, with 334 responses included in the final analysis. We used multiple analytic approaches, including exploratory factor analysis, Rasch analysis (item response theory), and descriptive analysis, to examine the new scale’s validity and reliability.ResultsThe final sample primarily included young male workers from South Asian countries. The HLS-MW yielded 2 factors: prose and documents. The item difficulty scores ranged from −1.36 to 2.56. The scale was reduced to 13 items (10 prose and 3 document items), with the final version exhibiting good internal reliability (Kuder-Richardson index=0.88; intraclass correlation coefficient=0.94, 95% CI 0.93‐0.95) and test-retest reliability (r=0.74, 95% CI 0.57‐0.92). HLS-MW scores differed significantly by Korean language proficiency (F2,331=3.54, P=.004).ConclusionsThe HLS-MW is a reliable and valid measure to assess health literacy among migrant workers in South Korea. Further studies are needed to test the psychometric properties of the HLS-MW in diverse migrant groups in South Korea while also establishing cutoffs to help identify those in need of health literacy support.