Social environment and health behaviour: a case study of Japanese overseas students

The health related problems and issues of overseas studentsstudying in Australia were addressed within the social perspectiveof health and health behaviours. It was argued that a clinical‘one-to-one’ approach to treating somantic illnesswithin the biomedical model and modifying health behavioursthrough traditional health education approaches, failed to bringabout comprehensive changes in health outcomes. Instead, a modelwhich addresses the social perspective of health behaviour andsocial environmental strategies was proposed as a more effectivemeans by which to bring about changes. A case study of 28 Japanesestudents studying English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) at an Australianrural tertiary education institution is presented to illustratethe effects which the physical and socio-cultural environmentshave upon the health behaviours of a culturally sensitive andisolated population. Factors which were found to influence thehealth status and health habits of Japanese students were thoserelated to community structure and its competencies, socialinteraction, diet, traditional Japanese healing practices andconceptualization of illness within Japanese culture. Thesefactors inadvertently interacted with the Australian physicaland socio-cultural environment resulting in health problems.It was proposed that primary health care policy-based strategies,focusing on the Japanese and Australian socio-environmentalas well as socio-physiological aspects of health, leading toreorientation, would be more successful in inducing change.