• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.469-476
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• 2017

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and naming tests have been used clinically as screening and diagnostic tools for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Researches in other countries have reported that residential areas would affect one's cognitive abilities. In Korean, however, there was no systematic studies on geographical influences to cognitive ability among a sample of urban/rural residents. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of urban/rural locality of residence on cognitive tests in normal elderly Korean. Residents aged 65 years and older (N=108) were administered the K-MMSE, confrontation/generative naming tests, and medical/socio-demographic interview. When comparing the total number of correct responses between urban residents and rural residents, the performances of rural group were significantly worse than those of the urban group in K-MMSE. Based on the results, our finding suggests that a factor of residential locality should be considered to examine the function and explain the cognitive decline in rural community-dwelling elders.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.1015-1033
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning and essence of the life of elderly men living alone in public rental housing. Among the phenomenological study methods, the present study used the analysis method proposed by Giorgi(2009). The study participants included 10 elderly men living alone in public rental housing who were recruited through network sampling. The research data were collected through in-depth interviews conducted twice for each person. The results showed that living alone as an elderly man is likened to standing against cold wind out in the wilderness of the world, with living alone deemed a power game between life and death. For the participants, public rental housing is a fence that separates them from the world-the final station of a wandering life. For common people, public rental housing is a stable fence, but for the participants, it is the location of a double-edged solitary life out in the wilderness where the instincts for survival and death play a tug of war. Based on the study findings, the researcher discussed and provided suggestions for psychological housing stability, the disparagement of the elderly in mass media, and countermeasures against psychological isolation.

• 한국노년학
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.349-367
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between socio-economic position(SEP), environmental exposures, and health of older people in Korea. This study used the data from 'Environmental Exposures and Their Health Effect in Korean Elderly Population'. The sample includes a total of 563 elderly people who were 60 years of age or older. Data on SEP, environmental exposure, and health impact were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate regressions. As a result, study participants' SEP including age, family type, monthly expenditure, type of house, and region was significantly associated with environmental exposure. Also, while adjusting for SEP, environmental exposure such as allowing indoor smoking was associated with self-rated health and depression of study participants. The study findings showed inequality in environmental exposure and health outcomes by SEP in Korean elderly. Environmental exposure was associated with health outcome even after adjusting SEP, and this implied that environmental exposure could be a critical factor in explaining heath inequality by SEP. Further studies are necessary to better understand the causal relationships among SEP, environmental exposure, and health outcomes.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.390-392
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• 2009

본 논문은 김천시에 거주하는 60세 이상 남녀 노인의 음주특성을 조사하였다. 조사결과 남자 노인이 여자 노인보다 음주 경향이 높게 나타났으며, 남자 노인은 10대부터 음주 경험이 있는 초기시작음주유형인 반면, 여자 노인은 나이가 들면서 음주를 경험하게 되는 후기시작음주 유형으로 나타났다. 음주를 하는 노인 중 40.6%는 정상음주를 하고 있었으며, 24.7%는 상습적 과음자로 나타났다. 또한 남자 노인은 '인간관계 유지'를 위해 음주를 하는 경우가 많았으며, 이 때 '기분이 좋아지거나 어려운 일이 해결 된 것 같다'라고 응답하였다. 여자 노인은 남자 노인과 다르게 '기분전환이나 생활 스트레스'로 인한 문제로 음주를 하는 경우가 많았으며, 이 때 '우울해지거나 하소연하고 싶어진다'는 또 다른 문제를 나타내기도 하였다.

• Journal of KIISE
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1152-1159
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• 2014

In this paper, we presents a system to ensure the safety of residents through appropriate action or alarm in case the residents occurs an emergency situation and abnormal activity. We collect and analysis real-time data of living environment of the residents using video and sensor. The existing system have been determined by using only the sensor data it have several problems. Our system attach camera to solve the existing system problem. We use weighted difference image and motion vector. The existing system, it takes about 48 hours to determine that an abnormal activity occurs. However, our system takes less than 1 hour.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.115-137
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• 2003

This study aims to investigate the related variables of self-esteem and depression among the Korean elderly people living alone and examine the relationships or interactions between those variables. Participants were 676 elderly men and women who were at least 65 years of age(M=76.17, sd=7.60) and lived in Seoul, Korea. Three hundred seventy eight participants of this study were living alone. Participants completed questionnaires and psychological tests including: Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale, The Index of Activities of Daily Living(IADL), Social Support Index(SSI), and Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale(LSES). Main statistical designs were 2(gender)×2(residential types), Pearson-product moment and regression analysis. Results indicated that the elderly living alone recognized their health poorer, have lower economic status, and received less social supports than the elderly lived with others. The elderly men who had children were more likely to lived alone. And the elderly men living alone received less social supports than the elderly women living alone, and significant gender difference was found in the reason of living alone. The elderly men living alone had lower self-esteem than the elderly women living alone, while the elderly living alone showed more depressive symptoms than the elderly living with others. There were 2-way interactions both in self-esteem and depression by gender and residential types. There was highly significant gender difference in self-esteem only for the elderly living alone, and it was found that there was no significant difference in depression between elderly men living alone and women living with others. Regression analysis revealed that physical function and self-reported health are predictors of self-esteem, and physical function, self-reported health, and social support are predictors of depression for the Korean elderly living alone. These findings reiterate the role of physical function, social support, health in self-esteem and depession among the elderly and suggest the gender role for quality of life among the Korean elderly living alone.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to explore the relationship between frailty and Area Deprivation Index (ADI) among older adults in Korea. Methods: We used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2014 to 2019, focusing on individuals aged 65 years and older. Frailty was assessed using Fried phenotype of frailty criteria. A multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between frailty and ADI adjusted for all covariates. Results: Among 9,825 older adults, those who lived in an area with a high ADI had a 1.2-fold higher risk of frailty compared to those who lived in an area with a low ADI (odds ratio [OR], 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.37). Particularly, married individuals living in areas with a high ADI had an approximately 1.4-fold higher risk of frailty compared to those living in areas with a low ADI (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.16-1.57). Conclusion: This study reveal a significant relationship between frailty and the ADI among older adults. In particular, married individuals who live in areas with a high ADI were found more vulnerable to frailty than those who live in areas with a low ADI. Therefore, policy intervention should be implemented to reduce health inequalities among older people, especially those living in the most deprived areas groups.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.669-686
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate types of neighborhood environments and to verify whether the types of neighborhood environments are directly related to life satisfaction of older adults. To achieve this goal, I used'2014 National Survey on Older Koreans' data which surveyed the older adults aged 65 and over living in the community and a total of 10,281 respondents were analyzed. To determine the types of neighborhood environment, the time taken by walking from community organizations or places such as grocery stores, medical centers, administrative agencies, welfare centers, public transportation was used as an neighborhood environment indicators. As a results, there were six types of neighborhood environment: a leisure-welfare walk-limited type(20.3%), a leisure-welfare long-distance type(15.5%), a balanced proximity type(7.8%), a store-traffic type(35.8%), a traffic proximity type(10.1%), and a marginalized area type(11.3%). Compared to the balanced proximity type, older adults living in a store-traffic type and a marginalized area type were more likely to have negative life satisfaction. older adults who have higher life satisfaction were more likely to be female, more educated, get higher household income, and have a spouses or partner. Moreover, the better the health conditions, the higher the frequency of contact with children, siblings, friends and neighbors, the higher the satisfaction of life. Finding from the study highlight the importance of neighborhood environment in late life and provide implications for building age-friendly community.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.680-694
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between communication skills and self-esteem of the elderly living in public institutions, this study divided the communication skill of the aged into 5 subsidiary factors such as self-understanding, attentive listening, clear expression of intention, expression of personal feeling, and self-disclosure so as to grasp the relation between each variables and self-esteem and to search suggestions. For the methodology, senior citizens aged above 65 living in public institutions in Gangwon province (1 in Chuncheon, 1 in Wonjoo and 1 in Gangneung) were surveyed totaling 123 documents were analyzed for this study. The following are the results: First, the difference in communication skills, in the demographic and sociological characteristics are found to show significant difference in hobbies, religion, allowance and the most reliable person. Second, self-esteem, in the demographic and sociological characteristics, showed significant difference according to religion, whether the person pays his/her living expenses, hobbies and health conditions. Third, communication skills tend to influence self-esteem that an elderly with more self-esteem is shown to have higher communication skills. In order to elders living in public institutions, the following actions are suggested. They should be recommended with religion life, hobbies life and providing sufficient allowance, pay his/her own life expenses.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2002

The aim of this study was to analyse and conduct the comprehensive geriatric assessment for the elderly in rural area. The subjects were 388 older people aged 65 years or older living in the community. Data for comprehensive assessment such as physical, mental, functional, social and environmental conditions were collected from January to February, 2001 through a person-to-person interview. Of the total 388 olders, 169(43.6%) were men and 219(56.4%) were women. Mean ages of men and women were $73.5{\pm}6.4$ and $74.0{\pm}6.2$ years respectively. Three common diseases of the elderly were arthralgia(51.6%), chronic back pain(33.2%) and hypertension(18.6%), and higher in women than in men. Impairment rate of vision, hearing and bowel or bladder control was 59.0%, 20.1%, and 28.4% respectively. But that of lover extremities 3.4%. In terms of cognitive function, short term memory loss was found in 33.7% of males and 44.7% of females. The percentage of fully independent in the six ADL items was 72.2% in men and 58.9% in women. In the social supportive system, 49.5% of the elderly were living with spouse, and 22.9% living alone, 26.3% having care giver. These results will provide basic data for the development of community-based health program, which gives appropriate health service for the elderly living in the community.