Factors influencing quality of life in married immigrant women in Korea

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing quality of life of married immigrant women in Korea.

Methods: The participants included 508 married immigrant women who met the eligibility criteria and agreed to participate in the study. Participants were evaluated for subjective assessment of married immigrant-related constructs using a self-report questionnaire, for self-esteem, self-efficacy, and quality of life (QOL). The analysis was done using SPSS for Windows, version 10.1, and included stepwise regression.

Results: The major findings were as follows; 1) There were significant relationships between marital satisfaction (r=.39, p=.001), violence by the husband during the couple's arguments (r= -.24, p<.001), satisfaction with life in Korea (r=.39, p<.001), self-esteem (r=.16, p<.001), self-efficacy (r=.51, p<.001) and quality of life. 2) Marital satisfaction, self-efficacy, education level and satisfaction life with in Korea were significant factors, which explained 53% of the variance in quality of life (F=43.97, p<.001). Multiple regression analysis revealed that a powerful predictor of QOL for married immigrant women was self-efficacy.

Conclusions: Developing nursing interventions to enhance self-efficacy toward improvement of QOL among married immigrant women is recommended.