Purpose
The study investigated the relationships between key variables, including the level of parenting knowledge, acculturative stress, depression, and the strengths and difficulties associated with their children’s emotions and behavior, among North Korean refugee mothers who faced the challenging task of adapting to Korean society while raising their children.
Methods
A descriptive study design was used. Data were collected from 130 North Korean refugee mothers between September and November 2023.
Results
The participants had very limited parenting knowledge, and 82.3% of them scored 21 or higher on the depression scale used in community epidemiological studies. Higher levels of parenting knowledge and lower levels of depression were associated with lower levels of acculturative stress. Moreover, higher levels of depression were associated with more emotional and behavioral difficulties in children. Maternal depression, age, and employment status were identified as factors that influenced emotional and behavioral problems in preschool-aged children.
Conclusion
These findings underscore the importance of providing parent education and mental health support programs for North Korean refugee families in order to improve parents' parenting skills and emotional well-being.

Purpose
This study investigated knowledge of atopic dermatitis and food allergies, as well as health information literacy, among North Korean refugee mothers with preschool-age children and explored how these variables were related to participants' characteristics.
Methods
A descriptive study design was used. Data from 130 North Korean refugee mothers were collected between January and March 2023.
Results
The mean scores were 14.48 of 30 for atopic dermatitis knowledge; 2.77 of 10 for food allergy knowledge, and 56.95 of 80 for health information literacy. Significant differences were observed in knowledge of atopic dermatitis based on breastfeeding duration (F=4.12, p=.009), and in knowledge of food allergies based on mixed feeding (F=3.11, p=.049). Health information literacy showed significant relationships with education level (F=3.76, p=.026), occupation (F=3.99, p=.021), checking nutritional information (t=2.91, p=.004), mixed feeding (F=4.50, p=.014), and atopic dermatitis diagnosis (t=6.86, p=.001). Significant positive correlations were observed between atopic dermatitis knowledge, food allergy knowledge, and health information literacy.
Conclusion
Personalized educational programs should be implemented to improve awareness of allergies and health information literacy among North Korean refugee mothers, which would help them find, evaluate, and understand health-related information. These programs should focus on providing nutrition and dietary education to promote healthy growth in children and prevent diseases.

Purpose
North Korean refugee women struggle with the double burden of adaptation and parenting as mothers in a new environment. This study aimed to identify the knowledge, confidence, and educational needs regarding newborn care among North Korean refugees, and to determine differences between these variables according to participants' characteristics.
Methods
Data were collected from September to October 2022, and 150 North Korean refugee women recruited using convenience sampling participated in the study. Descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation analysis were used for data analysis.
Results
The mean scores were as follows: parenting knowledge, 14.97 out of 25; infection prevention knowledge and confidence, 20.09 out of 33 and 51.37 out of 80, respectively; and educational needs, 245.86 out of 310. Significant differences were observed in newborn care, knowledge, and confidence according to maternal age, educational level, family structure, and pregnancy history. Significant positive correlations were observed between the participants' newborn care knowledge, confidence, and educational needs.
Conclusion
Personalized educational programs should be implemented to enhance North Korean refugee women's confidence in newborn care, focusing on areas with low knowledge levels and high educational needs and enabling women to achieve healthy pregnancy and childbirth, and to parent well.

Citations

• Knowledge of atopic dermatitis and food allergies, as well as health information literacy, among North Korean refugee mothers: a descriptive survey study
  In-Sook Lee, Jeong-Hee Jeon
  Child Health Nursing Research.2023; 29(4): 300.     CrossRef

Purpose
This study investigated the factors that influence parenting stress, including hardiness, parent-child interactions, and social support, to provide basic data for developing a program to reduce parenting stress in North Korean refugee mothers.
Methods
A descriptive study design was used. Data were collected between September and December 2021, and 123 North Korean refugee mothers participated.
Results
The mean scores were 69.42 out of 135 for hardiness, 48.45 out of 144 for interactions, 47.32 out of 90 for social support, and 51.84 out of 90 for parenting stress. The parental distress score was higher than that of child-related stress. Hardiness was significantly related to North Korean refugee mothers' parenting stress. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the explanatory power for hardiness and the number of supporters was approximately 19% for parenting stress (F=6.84, p<.001). As such, the factors with a relatively strong influence on parenting stress were hardiness (β =-.40, p<.001) and having four or more supporters (β=-.27, p=.027).
Conclusion
This study's findings suggest the need to identify ways to increase North Korean refugee mothers' psychological hardiness and encourage them to extend their sources of social support and enhance their style of parenting.

Citations

• Factors influencing children’s emotional and behavioral problems perceived by North Korean refugee mothers: a descriptive study
  In-Sook Lee, Jeong-Hee Jeon
  Child Health Nursing Research.2024; 30(2): 129.     CrossRef
• Characterizing sociodemographic disparities and predictors of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus among Asian and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander pregnant people: an analysis of PRAMS data, 2016–2022
  Mallory Go, Natasha Sokol, L. G. Ward, Micheline Anderson, Shufang Sun
  BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Knowledge, confidence, and educational needs of newborn care among North Korean refugee women: a descriptive study
  In-Sook Lee
  Child Health Nursing Research.2023; 29(1): 72.     CrossRef
• Knowledge of atopic dermatitis and food allergies, as well as health information literacy, among North Korean refugee mothers: a descriptive survey study
  In-Sook Lee, Jeong-Hee Jeon
  Child Health Nursing Research.2023; 29(4): 300.     CrossRef

Purpose
This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effects of parenting education programs (PEPs) for refugee and migrant parents.
Methods
A systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Relevant studies published from 2000 to 2020 were identified through a systematic search of six electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, RISS, KMBASE). A meta-analysis of the studies was then undertaken.
Results
Of the 14,996 published works identified, 23 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria, and 19 studies were analyzed to estimate the effect sizes (standardized mean differences) of the PEPs using random-effect models. PEPs were effective for parenting efficacy (effect size [ES]=1.40; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14-1.66), positive parenting behaviors (ES=0.51; 95% CI: 0.30-0.73), parent-child relationships (ES=0.38; 95% CI: 0.22-0.53), and parenting stress (ES=0.64; 95% CI: 0.50-0.79). There were statistically significant differences in the effect sizes of PEPs that included mothers only (ES=0.93), included children under 7 years of age(ES=0.91), did not include child participation (0.77), continued for 19 or more sessions (ES=0.80), and were analyzed in quasi-experimental studies (ES=0.86). The overall effect of publication bias was robust.
Conclusion
PEPs were found to be effective at improving parenting efficacy, positive parenting behaviors, parent-child relationships, and parenting stress.

Citations

• Pilot Evaluation of the Families Make the Difference Parenting Program With Arab Families Residing in Berlin, Germany
  Sascha Hein, Isabell Schuster, Israa Alassi, Aumnia Mohamad
  European Journal of Psychology and Educational Res.2025; 8(1): 35.     CrossRef
• Parents’ and Children’s Emotional Well-Being and Language Beliefs in Heritage Bilingual Families
  Paola Bonifacci, Claudia Borghetti, Martina Cangelosi
  European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psych.2024; 14(9): 2509.     CrossRef
• Using normalisation process theory to identify factors facilitating the scaling up of parenting programs for immigrant parents
  Fatumo Osman, Ulla-Karin Schön, Raziye Salari
  Frontiers in Psychology.2024;[Epub]     CrossRef

Purpose
This study aimed to identify variables influencing the psychosocial adjustment of North Korean adolescent refugees in order to establish a structural equation model and design an intervention strategy to improve psychosocial adjustment.
Methods
The subjects included 290 North Korean adolescent refugees aged 16~24 years who were enrolled in alternative schools or regional adaptation centers. They were surveyed using a structured questionnaire.
Results
The goodness of fit measures of the model were as follows: x²=131.20 (p<.001), GFI=.93, CFI=.91, TLI=.86, RMSEA=.08, and SRMR=.07. The results estimated from the structural equation model indicated a good fit of data to the hypothesized model, which proposed that stress and emotional intelligence are associated with psychosocial adjustment. The major variables influencing psychosocial adjustment were stress, emotional intelligence, which was a significant direct effect, whereas attitude of parenting showed an indirect effect on psychosocial adjustment through emotional intelligence. These variables account for 50.0% of psychosocial adjustment.
Conclusion
It is necessary to develop a program and intervention plan that can enhance emotional intelligence and thereby relieve the stress of North Korean adolescent refugees. The program should also include parenting education so that parents have positive attitude of parenting.

Citations

• Psychosocial-Adjustment Needs of North Korean Refugee Youth from the Perspectives of Alternative-School Members
  Hwayeon Myeong, Ahlam Lee, Eun-A Park, Yea Eun Gong, MiHyang Kim, Hyunjung Jo
  Journal of Refugee Studies.2021; 34(2): 2200.     CrossRef
• Development and effects of a psychosocial adaptation program for North Korean adolescent defectors
  In-Sook Lee, Jung-Hee Jeon
  Child Health Nursing Research.2021; 27(3): 243.     CrossRef
• Defining Adjustment to Address the Missing Link between Refugees and Their Resettlement Communities
  Camilla Modesti, Alessandra Talamo
  International Journal of Environmental Research an.2021; 18(18): 9902.     CrossRef