• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.507-528
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• 2009

Coping and defense are similar psychological mechanisms to reduce stress response, but they are regarded as distinct from each other. Defense involved distortions of reality, but coping was used for strategies associated with accepting the true nature of the situation. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the coping and defense features of the North Korean Defectors in the Rorschach test. The subjects were then categorized into four groups based on their birth place and gender: Male North Korean defectors( N=16), female North Korean defectors(N=28), male South Koreans(N=17), and female South Koreans(N=25). All subjects were individually administered the Rorschach test, and protocols were scored according to the Exner(2003)'s Rorschach Comprehensive systems. Coping or defense-related Rorschach variables were selected for analysis: EA, CDI, Adj D, EB style, Lamda, Zd, X-%, Xu%, W:Dd:D, P, reaction time, and other behavior characteristics during the testing. Compared with other groups, female North Korean defectors were more likely to show poor coping resources(low EA), adjustment difficulties(Adj D), and distortions of reality(high X-%). They also demonstrated more 'don't know' responses and more delayed responses than other groups. These findings suggest that poor coping resources make female North Korean defectors more vulnerable to stress, and psychological intervention such as social skills training may help them settle successfully in south Korea. Limitations of the current study and implications for future research were discussed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2014

Background: Bankrupted households have recently been increased due to excessive medical expenditure in Korea. They have not been protected from economic risk when household's member has severe diseases that need a lot of money for treatment. Purpose of this study examines policy effect by comparing unmet needs' change of policy object households and non-object groups. Methods: We used Korea Health panel 2nd 4th data collected by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and National Health Insurance Service. Analysis subjects were 381 households (pre-policy) and 393 households (post-policy) that had cancer and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Since it was major concern that estimates benefit strengthening policy started by certain time, we setup comparing households which had diabetes, hypertension disease. Comparison subjects were 393,247 households, respectively and we evaluated policy effect using difference in difference (DID) model. Results: Although unmet needs of policy object households were higher than non-object groups, policy execution variable affected negative direction. But interaction-term which shows pure effect of policy was not statistically significant. We utilized multi-DID model to examine factors affecting unmet needs causes. Copayment assistance policy did not significantly affect households that responded to 'economic reason,' and 'no have time to visit' for unmet needs causes. Conclusion: The second copayment assistance policy did not significantly give positive effect to beneficiary households than non-beneficiary groups. When we consider that primary purpose of public insurance guarantee high medical expenditure occurred by unexpected events, it needs to deliberate on switch of benefit strengthening policy that can assist vulnerable people. Also, we suggest that government forward a policy covering non-reimbursable medical expenses as well as switch of benefit strengthening direction because benefit policy do not affect non-covered medical cost which accounts for quarter of total health expenditure.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.369-377
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• 2018

Background: Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) occurs when medical expenditure of a household passes over a certain ratio of household income. This research studied the effect of gender on CHE based on Korea Health Panel data. Methods: This study implemented binary logistic regression model to figure out whether gender affects CHE and how different gender groups show pattern of CHE process. With gender, age, marital status, income level, economic activity, membership of private insurance, existence of chronic disease, and self-rated health were included in the model. Results: Results showed that females faced CHE 1.5 times more than males (odds ratio, 1.241). Also, main determinants of CHE in female groups were marital status, while age and economic activity status were significant in male groups. Subgroup analysis displayed that married female under 35 years old are located in intersectionality of CHE including pregnancy and delivery, multiple health risk behaviors, mental stress, and relatively vulnerable social status due to lower income. Meanwhile, both gender above 50 years old faced remarkably high chance of CHE, which seems to be caused by complex health risk behaviors and chronic diseases. Conclusion: Such results implied not only that gender is an important determinant of CHE, but also other determinants of CHE differ according to gender, which suggests a necessity of gender-based CHE support and rescue policy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.115-126
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• 2022

The study's goal is to determine the amount of climate change's impact on ethnic minority (EM) households' livelihoods, as well as their adaptability to climate change and long-term viability. The research was conducted in Vietnam's Northwestern Sub-region, where ethnic minorities account for more than half of the overall population. The study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods based on a survey of 480 households in 04 provinces severely affected by climate change in the Northwest sub-region of Vietnam. The results show that: climate change (extreme weather events) occurs with increasing frequency, mainly affecting the life expectancy, health, and capital of households; Vulnerable groups (women, ethnic minorities) have a poor adaptive capacity and mainly suffer the consequences of shocks, are afraid to change their livelihoods; Microfinance plays an important role in enhancing the sustainability of livelihoods through increasing capital and financial assets and reducing the vulnerability of ethnic minority households. Finally, research has some solutions for microfinance - special credit specifically for ethnic minority households in the Northwest Sub-region: support for microfinance advice, home credit with transition orientations to adapt to climate change response and relieves its impact on the social lives.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.2987-3002
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• 2023

In 2015, the number of senior citizens aged 65 and over in Korea was 6,662,400, accounting for 13.1% of the total population. Along with these social phenomena, risk information related to the elderly is increasing every year. In particular, a fall accident caused by a fall can cause serious injury to an elderly person, so special attention is required. Therefore, in this paper, we implemented a system that monitors fall accidents and informs them in real time to minimize damage caused by falls. To this end, beacon-based indoor location positioning was performed and biometric information based on an integrated module was collected using various sensors. In other words, a multi-functional sensor integration module was designed based on Arduino to collect and monitor user's temperature, heart rate, and motion data in real time. Finally, through the analysis and prediction of measurement signals from the integrated module, damage from fall accidents can be reduced and rapid emergency treatment is possible. Through this, it is possible to reduce the damage caused by a fall accident, and rapid emergency treatment will be possible. In addition, it is expected to lead a new paradigm of safety systems through expansion and application to socially vulnerable groups.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.147-156
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• 2018

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of the weight values of evaluation items by traffic safety project type. METHODS : In general, a large-scale investment in projects such as the traffic safety project requires economic analyses to be performed in advance. However, there is an argument for considering special characteristics of the traffic safety project. Therefore, this study conducted characteristic analysis of the weight values of evaluation items. The analysis consisted of two steps. The first step was hypothesis verification using analysis of variance (ANOVA). In this process, the authors examined whether the weight of evaluation items is the same regardless of the traffic safety project type. Based on the first step's results, the authors proceeded to the second step. The objective of this step was to analyze how different the weight values are by traffic safety project type using an analytic hierarchy process. RESULTS : According to the ANOVA test results, the benefit to cost ratios have different weight values based on traffic safety project type at the 0.01 significance level. The policy evaluation items, such as the plans connection, resident opinion, and regional equity, also showed the same results except that the result for the related plans connection was statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Based on the first step's result, the AHP analysis in the second step showed that the traffic safety projects for vulnerable users and pedestrians have very low weight values in economic evaluation factors compared with other safety project types. The weight values for vulnerable users and pedestrians were 0.29 and 0.26, respectively, in economic evaluation items. On the other hand, the weight values for other safety project types were around 0.6. Among the policy evaluation items, resident opinion showed a higher weight value than other factors, such as connection and regional equity items. CONCLUSIONS : The social and economic impact of a traffic safety project varies by project type and project characteristics. Although the economic approach is overarching and a reasonable methodology is applied for large-scale projects, it should be noted that the safety issue, especially for transportation of vulnerable uses, requires a non-economical approach. Based on the analysis results, this study suggests that the priority of the projects should be determined by separating them into independent assessment groups depending on their characteristics.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3B
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• pp.185-192
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• 2012

Drought vulnerability index was developed by selecting drought-related indicators with trend test. Study areas were determined by considering the weir locations from the four major rivers restoration project in Nakdong and Geum river watersheds. Ten indicators were selected and they were categorized into three groups, water resources, precipitation pattern, and social aspects. Annual average surface water level, annual minimum surface water level, annual average groundwater level, and annual minimum groundwater level data sets were collected for water resources aspects. The number of non-rainy days, rainfall concentration ratio, and rainfall deviation were considered for precipitation pattern category. The amount of water available per capita, financial soundness for water resources, and water usage equity were related to social aspects. Mann-Kendall, Hotelling-Pabst, and Sen trend tests were performed for the ten indicator data sets and the results were scored for the drought vulnerability index. The results shows Gumi, Sangjoo, and Hapcheon weirs are relatively vulnerable to drought. The indices were relatively low for the regions in Geum river watershed compared to those in Nakdong river watershed.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.45-54
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• 2014

Establishment of safety net for the socially disadvantaged attracts large attention because of the recent crime increasing against vulnerable groups. For the successful establishment of social safety net, the test-bed for evaluation and realization of crime-related research results is required. However, previous R&D test-bed projects such as The Korean Land Specialization Program or U-Eco City project remains only to the stage of verification. Therefore, there are limitedness for realization of result technologies or sustainable operation & management of test-bed after projects finished. So, sustainable operation & management system and guideline of test-bed are necessary. Therefore, this study reviews the strengths and weaknesses of existing test-bed cases and intelligent security researches. After reviewing, the concept of a Intelligent Security Test-bed is established and appropriate test-bed selection criteria is also suggested. Based on objective criteria, selected test-bed can achieve sustainable management even after finishing the project and contribute the construction of standard model for citizen's safety.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2000

Nutrition education should be an important component of ongoing health promotion for older adults and their caregivers. This is because prevention through sound nutrition and food hygiene practices and regular excercise is the most cost-effective way to reduce risks for and deal with their major health problems. nutritions education services should effectively promote optimum intake and successful self-care. Unfortunately, however relative to other vulnerable groups, nutrition education for older adults has not been systematically developed or evaluated. Usually oder adults care a lot about their health, so this should be a relatively easy group to teach - but their increasing numbers, longevity and great diversity with respect to health, physical, and economic status and educational level present challenges. Some older adults may not perceive they would benefit from nutrition education, so interesting and motivating them is a challenge. The food and nutrition knowledge of older people has been acquired through a lifetime of experience. For most older adults in the Asian region, their sources are restricted by their restricted education, so that their major sources of information have been informal sources, such as television, radio, friends, family, and perhaps newspapers and magazines if they are literature. Nonetheless, dietary advice for older people should build on their existing knowledge and ingrained values. It should provide information useful in daily food selection, and focus on food, not nutrients - the same foods and groups considered appropriate for younger people, with consistent messages as given throughout the population. Attention must also be paid to discovering learning styles in older people. When we teach in schools, the young students are a captive audience resigned to their learning role. Learning by an older adult, however, reflects an effort to meet his or her perceived needs. Therefore, nutrition education should be a positive experience in a non-threatening environment, relaxed and non-competitive, and perhaps even social environment. The messages also need to be practical and achievable. A needs assessment is essential, because our ability to provide the most effective nutrition education will depend on our success in matching the needs, both perceived and unperceived. of this vulnerable group. Therefore, go to the potential older learners to assess their interest and preferences. Nutrition education activities for older adults are widespread, but few have been evaluated. Evaluation is therefore also recommended, particularly when new methods are used. Tips from other countries for giving successful nutrition education will be given, including some examples of applications as attempted in Hong Kong. Research needs will also be described. In conclusion, successful nutrition education for older adults depends on positive needs-based messages. This is may be hard to do, as few good examples are available to illustrate these principles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.91-97
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• 2007

A survey of risk perception in Korea was conducted in 2001 with a special emphasis on industrial and technological risks. This article summarizes the characteristics of risk perception in consideration of socio-demographic background of respondents. The survey with sample size of 1,870 evaluates the perceived level of 25 risk items in the areas of transportation, chemicals, environment, industry, and nuclear power generation. Risks are categorized by using factor analysis to clarify attitudinal or behavioral properties of risk perception. Research findings show that the level of perceived risk does not correspond to the statistical level. Socio-demographic variables are significant predictors in explaining risk perception, or the discrepancies between "subjective" and "objective" risks. Effective risk communication can reduce the perceptional discrepancies, improve the awareness of technological risks, and ultimately facilitate the process of making and implementing policies for risk management and safety regulation. This article tries to provides policy guidelines for "Who is the target for risk communication" and "Which risk has the policy priority for safety improvement." Married females at the age of 30s and 40s with lower education and lower income in small cities are more vulnerable to risk misperception than other groups. More information and knowledge regarding unfamiliar, intangible, new technological risks should be delivered to the vulnerable groups for reducing perceptional bias. Society-wide safety can be improved by integrating policy, human, and social factors as well as techno-engineering advances.