의료관광객의 심리적 거리 지각에 관한 탐색적 연구

An Exploratory Study on Medical Tourists' Perception of Psychic Distance: Focused on Japanese and Chinese Medical Tourists

The purpose of the study was to explore the perception of psychic distance of medical tourists towards medical tourism destinations. With this aim, focus group interviews were conducted with Japanese and Chinese medical tourists who experienced medical care in Korea. All interviews were recorded and transcribed, and data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Four themes emerged from the analysis: cultural differences, positive feelings about a host country, evaluation of the level of medical treatment, and geographical proximity to the medical tourism destination. Medical tourists perceive the lower psychic distance when they feel less cultural differences between home and a host country, when they have more positive feelings about a host country, when they trust the medical systems of a host country, and a host country is closer geographically to their home. The results of the study demonstrate that psychic distance is subjective and comparative feelings towards a destination; at the same time, each construal level can vary as psychic distance changes.