Enculturation as a condition impacting Korean American physicians' responses to Korean immigrant women suffering intimate partner violence.

We explored how Korean American (KA) physicians in the Los Angeles area respond in their medical practice to Korean immigrant women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV). Twenty physicians were recruited and interviewed in-depth. Grounded theory analyses revealed that KA physicians' resp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health Care for Women International Vol. 30; no. 1/2; pp. 41 - 64
Main Authors: Chung GH, Oswald RF, Hardesty JL
Format: research Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jan/Feb2009
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:We explored how Korean American (KA) physicians in the Los Angeles area respond in their medical practice to Korean immigrant women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV). Twenty physicians were recruited and interviewed in-depth. Grounded theory analyses revealed that KA physicians' responses to IPV ranged from denying signs of IPV and trivializing IPV toacknowledging IPV. Physician response was related to the degree to which he or she was enculturated in mainstream medical practice norms in the United States. We advance current knowledge on physicians' IPV screening and intervention practices by exploring the practices of KA physicians, in particular.