The associations between social support and access to healthcare among Vietnamese students at Japanese language schools in Aichi prefecture: a cross-sectional study

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between social support and access to health care among Vietnamese students at Japanese language schools in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional design was used. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to Vietnamese students. In total, 233 valid responses were collected. Students were asked if there had been an occasion in the previous 12 months when they needed health care but did not receive it (unmet health-care needs). Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between unmet health-care needs and emotional/informational support level as well as other participant characteristics. Findings Forty-six students (19.7%) had experienced unmet health-care needs. The median score for emotional/informational support was 53.1 out of 100 (inter quartile range: 37.5–68.8). Compared to students in the low social support category which was the point of reference, adjusted odds ratios of having unmet health-care needs of students in the medium-low, medium-high, and high categories were 0.57 (95% confidence interval 0.23–1.45), 0.28 (95% confidence interval 0.09–0.86) and 0.21 (95% confidence interval 0.06–0.72), respectively. Of the other investigated variables, self-rated health status was significantly associated with unmet health-care needs among students. Originality/value More than 92% of the students at Japanese language schools in the study had lived in Japan for less than five years. They were an important target population for understanding the situation among foreign people with limited Japanese language skills due to the short period of living in Japan.