• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1281-1292
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• 2010

This study was performed to identify older adults' self-reported difficulties in understanding and utilizing health information and their relationships with health status and to investigate the differences between age groups and among education levels. Data were collected from July 1 to August 31 in 2007 from older adults in senior centers located in Daegu, Kyungpook, and Busan area. A total of 103 subjects participated in the study. The level of understanding health information in older adults was 50 on average (possible score 15-75). The most difficult items to understand were patient educational materials, written information provided by health care providers, and medical forms. The lower level of difficulty in utilizing health information was associated with better physical and mental health status. There were differences in their self-reported difficulties between the young-old and the old-old as well as among different education levels. Health care providers may need to tailor educational materials and medical forms to the cognitive ability of older adults under the consideration of their age and education levels.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.1005-1020
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• 2010

This study was conducted to explore and understand the meaning of stigma of families having old people admitted to nursing home within the Korean culture. Data collection was performed through in-depth interviews and participant observations which were recorded and transcribed verbatim with the consent of the participants. The key informants were 12 people having the aged family member in nursing home. The data was collected from October 2008 to February 2009 until completed. Data were analyzed utilizing the taxonomic analysis method developed by Spradley. As a result, 24 themes, 8 categories and 4 cultural domains are founded from the cases. The cultural domains resulted from the analysis are: 『Incompetence of Oneself: 'Adaptation to Inevitable Realities', 'Difficulty of Economic Independence', 'Difficulty of the Subjective Self-assertion'』, 『Contradictoriness of Decision Making: 'Decision Making Different from Own Mind', 'Conflicts between Neighboring'』, 『Self-rationalization of Decision Making: 'Self-comfort of Decision Making'』, 『Shifting Responsibility: 'Services Different from that of Family', 'Laking in Sincerity of Responsible Institution'』. Theoretical model about stigma of the family having old people admitted to nursing home by the research result in the above was able to be confirmed that it was expressed with the original form of thought of recursive system which continuously showing the inconsistency of decision making, rationalizing decision making, and shifting one's own responsibility in the process of accomplishing the duty of supporting old people. Based on the results, I discussed the meaning of stigma of families having old people admitted to nursing home and provided recommendations for future research.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.593-609
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• 2012

The study was performed to identify the functional status change of beneficiaries of Long-Term Care Insurance and its related factors. We conducted the logistic regression with 17,652 beneficiaries during August and September in 2008. As a result, activities of daily living(ADL), behavioral changes, rehab, instrumental activities of daily living(IADL) and cognitive function, followed by nursing care area were improved in a greater degree. For the institutional service, level-1 beneficiaries was significantly improved in rehab area and level-2 beneficiaries was improved in ADL. For the home-visit care service of in-home services, level-1 beneficiaries was improved in ADL, level-2 beneficiaries was improved in ADL and rehab area, level-3 beneficiaries was improved in ADL, cognitive function and behavioral changes. For the day-and-night care service, level-1 beneficiaries was improved in ADL, IADL, behavioral changes and rehab area, level-2 beneficiaries was improved in behavioral changes, level-3 beneficiaries was improved in cognitive function and behavioral changes. For the short-stay service, level-3 beneficiaries was improved in behavioral changes. By the above results, there was a difference in a functional improvement by level and used services. Therefore, government need to provide the personalized service system based on the objective and comprehensive understanding for health and functional status of beneficiaries.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.243-258
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• 2009

Background: Falls are among the most common and serious health problems of older people. The psychological symptoms of falling have received relatively little attention compared to physical problems. Objective: The purpose of this study is to test a model to explain the factors that influence fear of falling among older adults living in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Baltimore city, United States. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted using data obtained from a Health Promotion Survey done on 149 older adults living in a CCRC. Data was originally obtained during face to face interviews with each participant. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to describe the sample and evaluate simple correlations. A path analysis was done using the AMOS 4.0 statistical program. Results: Of the 49 hypothesized paths, 13 were statistically significant, and the model accounted for 22% of the variance in fear of falling among the elderly. There was support for the fit of the model to the data with a nonsignificant chi square at 0.478 (df=2, p=0.79), and the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom was 0.24, a CFI of 0.99 and RMSEA of 0.00. In particular, gender, a history of falling, and exercise were significant predictors of fear of falling. Conclusions/Implications: As anticipated, exercise is an important factor to prevent fear of falling. As a modifiable variable, self-efficacy and outcome expectation indirectly influence fear of falling through exercise.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.789-803
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• 2009

We investigated the influences of positive thought about social capital on social participation of the elderly Koreans. The study design was cross-sectional analysis of the National Statistic Office Study of Korean Society Statistics Survey 2003. Participants were total of 8,586 representative samples. Two types of social participation were investigated: meeting attendance and volunteer obligations. The base model included five thoughts about social capital that must be settled as a priority in Korea, i.e., reducing the differences between the rich and the poor, reducing the crime rate, reducing regulations and corruption, improving the moral level, eliminating environmental pollution. Social participation was influenced by positive thoughts about social capital, and different kinds of thoughts had different influences on different types of social participation. The elderly who responded positively to 'reducing the differences between the rich and the poor' attended all two types of social participation more. Along with education and health status, positive thought about social capital is another important factor that influences increased social participation. It may also compensate for deteriorating health with increasing age by promoting social participation. Encouraging social participation is a good way to improve the health of the elderly, as are efforts to change thought about social capital positively.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1213-1223
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the health and welfare needs experienced by old parents living with disabled adult children, and to help generate research interest and public policy attention on this critical issue. For the purpose of this study, the survey was conducted with older parents who are living with dependent adult children with physical or mental disability. Among collected data for this study, data for 105 older parents were analyzed. The results showed that older parents have suffered with care responsibilities for their disabled adult children as well as special needs resulted from their old age. And older parents have little or even nothing prepared for later life because of lifetime economic, physical and social difficulties related to their disabled children. Also these difficulties had a significant impact on their idea of health and welfare needs in later life. It showed that older parents had mainly concerned and wanted to have the direct cash benefits and medical provisions but hardly recognised the importance of other services such as leisure activities. Preliminary suggestions of this study therefore may be helpful to improve the public policy approach in order to better serve older parents with disabled adult children in the coming aging society.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.917-933
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• 2009

This study examined the factors affecting forms of long-term care service use by elderly and the forms of use are classified facility care service, home care service, and unused. It is used data from the 2nd pilot program for the Long Term Care Insurance scheme and it is analysed 5,497 cases. Multi-nominal regression is used. According to the results, women use formal service more than man do, and wowen use facility care than home care. Those who eligible for National Basic Livelihood Security System(NBLSS) are shown to have higher use of formal care(especially facility care) than the middle income class, and the low income class than the middle income class has lower use of formal care. In addition, higher the family care is available, lower the taking part in the service. The big cities and mid sized cities than rural are used the formal service and moreover mid sized cities are used facility care than home care. Furthermore, the level of care need is determinants of service use and function of ADL, IADL, and abnormal behavior is also determinants of formal service(especially facility care). But nursing need and rehabilitation need are not determinants of formal service use. Based on the results, the recommendations are developed and implemented for the improvement the elderly long-term care insurance.

• 한국노년학
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.247-258
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of resilience and depression on suicidal ideation in elderly. The survey was conducted by 335 subjects (aged 65 to 70 years old; both gender) living in Daegu and Gyeongbuk district. Data were collected through interview-based questionnaires which were constructed to include the general characteristics(8 items), suicidal ideation(19 items), depression(15 items), and resilience(27 items). Collected data were analyzed by frequency, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression analysis. The present results showed that the main general factors affecting the resilience of elderly were age, the type of dwelling, pin money, and health. The influencing factors on suicidal ideation were health status, depression level, and the resilience in elderly. In particular, the suicidal ideation was more affected by self-regulation and affirmation of the subcategory in resilience. In conclusion, the resilience and depression is need to be considered as one of the main factors for decreasing the suicidal ideation in elderly.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.985-998
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• 2011

This study was conducted to understand current management status of 'day and night care' facilities and to explore the related factors with rates of operation of them. The nationwide mailing survey was conducted with structured questionnaires from July, 14, 2010 to July, 28, 2010. The subjects were 277 facilities (response rate 24.5%). Regarding the types of operating, 79.1% of faculties was run by cooperation, and 17.8% and 3.6% for individuals and national/public institutes respectively. The average of operation rate was 70.15%. National/public institutes showed higher in the rate of operation(79.08%) than 72.49% of cooperations and 57.78% of individuals. The number of manpower was not nearly different by the types of operating bodies, but the number of nurse was significantly different among them. The national/public institutions had 1.07 nurses while individual institutions have only 0.08. We found that facilities run by national/public institutes and founded before 2008 years showed higher rate of operation. In case of providing regular monitoring and evaluation services, and music program for patients showed higher rate of operation. In addition, the number of managers, social workers, and nurses increase the rate of operation. We suggest that quality management and monitoring program for the facilities which run by individuals or established after 2008 years would be developed. We also call for development of programs for facilitating utilization of 'day and night care' facilities such as expanding the family support.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.195-209
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• 2011

This study examined the prevalence of and factors associated with unmet care need among community-dwelling middle-aged and older people in Korea. Data were from the 2006 Korean Longitudinal Study on Ageing (KLoSA), a national survey of 10,254 non-institutionalized adults aged 45 or older. Having unmet care needs was defined as needing personal assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) but having no available helper. Weighted logistic regressions were fitted to examine factors associated with unmet care needs. Overall, 7.3%, 14.5%, and 41.8% of subjects among the middle-aged, younger old, and older old, respectively, reported care needs of these, 34%, 33%,and 24% had unmet needs. Factors associated with unmet needs differed among the three groups: Education and income level were negatively associated with unmet needs among the middle-aged, but living alone was the only factor positively associated with unmet needs in both the younger and older old. The prevalence of and factors associated with unmet care needs differ by life-stage. Needed are home- and community-based care and services to meet the need for personal assistance among the elderly living alone in a community.