The Study on Health Help-Seeking Behaviors of Foreign Nursing Aides in View of Social Network

• Main Authors: Yen,Min-Chia, 顏閩嘉
• Other Authors: 張菊惠
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/68877263002904897008

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 醫務管理學系碩士班 === 97 === Abstract Purpose: For the past few years, foreign aides have become the major workers to supply nursing service. By reviewing past relevant researches, most were focused on the consumption of medical care service. Also, evaluation scales and structured questionnaires were used as appraisal tools with nursing aides set apart from their working sites. Naturally, research results show their environmental disadvantages in inferior labor conditions and multiple obstacles in searching for medical care. This research is quite different from past ones and it is operated in view of social network with orderly in-depth exploration. It is aimed to understand the types of network construction, health needs and health help-seeking behaviors. Methods: The research is operated with participating observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The survey site is located at re-built military apartments in southern Taiwan. It is a community with numerous nursing aides. The research is operated with purposive sampling and snowball sampling. There are 15 foreign aides interviewed where in 12 foreign workers come from Indonesia and 3 aides come from Vietnam. The research last for 3 years focusing on their daily life, social network for making friends, health help-seeking behaviors and other health issues. The effort is principled with multiple data examinations. The data collected from interview and observation is operated with double checks and compiling analysis. It is expected the overall research process can be clearly shown inclusive of observation, activity participating process, informal interviews and in-depth interviews. Results: There are totally 3 parts with the patterns divided into network, network flowing direction and health help-seeking network. In a perspective to inspect their network relationship, due to graphical factors, whenever foreign aides step outside to the front yards, they can get acquainted with peers from their homelands or other countries quickly. Although employers and care-receivers often get along with these foreign aides and interact mutually day and night, yet despite whether their action is confined by employers or not, peering encouragement and support are the most valuable strength to overcome difficulties and step ahead. Some employers filled with empathy or enthusiastic aunties in the community can provide these foreign aides with more reachable and accessible aids and resources than public sectors or job brokers. To play core roles in the network will also cause decisive influence on network function, magnitude and density aside from linking to networks with different ranges or attributes. When core roles are set apart from the their working sites, the overall network will be dispersed or crashed easier due to the influence caused by external environment. Even if the reorganization is made, however, before the occurrence of new core roles, it will be unavailable to keep original patterns and role functions. It follows that the mechanisms of network flowing directions and health help-seeking network will be changed with numerous facades shown. Discussion: Various nationalities, community environments, employers with different attributes and conditions of job brokers naturally form multiple networks. Whenever the relationship among network members is getting closer, the internal network support becomes larger with more information available. In contrast, both work stability and physical-mental health of nursing aides are actually highly correlated to employer satisfaction. Therefore, peering cohesion can never been underestimated! In addition, in a perspective of social network and structures to view the linkages to nursing aide peers, employers, job brokers, public sectors and friendly civilian organizations (such as the Four Direction Report) delicately interesting worthy of upcoming researchers’ more in-depth exploration continuously. Keywords: Foreign Nursing Aide; Social Networks; Health Help-Seeking Behavior