Vietnamese Women’s Perceptions on Healthcare in Taiwan: An Exploration among Immigrants and Students

Abstract

Transnational marriages contribute a significant part of the cross-border migration flow to Taiwan and have become an increasingly common phenomenon. Among Southeast Asian countries, the Vietnamese is the largest immigrant group. Because of cultural conflicts and language barriers, those immigrant women are more likely to face discrimination, receive less health-related information and medical resources, and enjoy limited social support. Meanwhile, because of the globalization of Taiwan’s society, more and more international students come to Taiwan to study. As cultural differences may exist among countries in Southeast Asian and as most women immigrating to or studying in Taiwan from Southeast Asia originate from Vietnam, the purpose of this study is to explore Vietnamese women’s perceptions on healthcare in Taiwan. Based on education and social status, this research aimed to: 1. explore Vietnamese women’s perception and information on healthcare; 2. explore Vietnamese women’s satisfaction and behavior on the healthcare services; 3. explore the barriers to their healthcare utilization; and 4. explore the similarities and differences of healthcare perceptions between Vietnamese immigrants and students in Taiwan. This qualitative study, with a semi-structured interview method, was used to collect data from fifteen participants of female Vietnamese immigrants and students respectively. Convenience and snowball sampling methods were applied to recruit the participants in Southern Taiwan. The recruitment criteria included: 1. female Vietnamese staying in Taiwan; 2. married to Taiwanese man (for immigrants) or studying (for students); 3. having experience in concerns on their health or use of medical services in Taiwan; and 4. willing to participate in the study. The qualitative content analysis method was used for data analysis. The results reveal some similarities between the Vietnamese immigrants and students in definitions of their health problems, health care service satisfaction as well as other issues. Most of both immigrants and students believe that their health status is good; and in the new environment, friendships became their major social network system and were always useful and satisfying for them. They all feel satisfied with the health care service systems in Taiwan. The education background, daily life activities directly influence their perceptions on health care, and education level plays an important role in differences on health care perception between some of the immigrants and other immigrants, as well as immigrants and students. Some common difficulties in healthcare such as language, economics or discrimination still exist among immigrants. The study findings can be used as references for health professionals and government agencies to institute strategies and policies for providing culturally sensitive and appropriate healthcare to these women to promote them and their children's health.