title: [The meaning of illness among Korean Americans with chronic hepatitis B].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This ethnography was done to explore the meaning of illness in Korean Americans with chronic hepatitis B.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were 6 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 6 general informants who could provide relevant data. Data were collected from iterative fieldwork with ethnographic interviews within Korean communities in two cities in the United States. Data were analyzed using causal chain analysis developed by Wolcott.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analyses revealed three meanings for the illness: hidden disease, intentionally hidden disease, and inevitably hidden disease. The contexts of meaning of illness included characteristics of the illness, social stigma, structure of health care system and communication patterns and discourse between health care providers and clients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The meaning of illness was based on folk illness concepts and constructed in the sociocultural context. Folk etiology, pathology and interpretation of one's symptoms were factors influencing illness behavior. These findings could be a cornerstone for culture specific care for Korean Americans with chronic hepatitis B.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Inje University, Busan, Korea. jhyang@inje.ac.kr
authors.forename: Jin Hyang
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hae Ok
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Myung Ok
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D057545:Social Stigma