• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.298-308
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• 2013

The elderly population in Korea is rapidly growing. As the population ages, meals become a greater concern, as physical and psychological health problems are directly affected by dietary life, especially for the lower-income elderly. Although the government provides support through a free congregate meal service, there is a lack of systematic management of this meal service. This study investigates the experience of the elderly, especially the symbolic meaning and issues regarding the congregate meal service in their dietary life, to establish strategies for improving congregate meal services. Qualitative data was collected from ten elderly receivers of meal services through in-depth interviews and data was analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological research methods. Overall, 90 significant statements, 13 formulated meanings, and five theme clusters were deduced. The five theme clusters for the importance of meal services to the elderly included the followings: "a real meal", "enjoyment of living", "maintenance of regular life", "place for social life" and "meal of silence". We found that the elderly regarded the congregate free meal service not only as meals to appreciate but also as a form of social life. Furthermore, the elderly did not typically express any complaints regarding congregate meal services because they are free. The results showed that it might be difficult to evaluate the quality of meal services based on the opinions of the service receivers. This study suggests it is necessary to develop multilateral evaluation methods to reflect the needs of the elderly and to improve the congregate meal services at elderly welfare centers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.274-283
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• 2008

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify the factors, which predict care burden perceived by caregivers of elders with dementia. Methods: The participants in this descriptive survey were 92 caregivers who used one of six daycare centers located in Incheon. The data were collected by questionnaires composed of items on general characteristics of the elders and caregivers, care burden, caregiver fatigue, and functional status of the elders. Results: General characteristics of the elders associated with care burden were age, gender, religion, and the presence of a spouse. Features of caregivers related to care burden were education, relationship with elderly, amount of rest, intention to care, monthly family income, and perceived family economic status. There were significant correlations among care burden, fatigue of caregiver and functional status of the elders. In stepwised multiple regression analysis, significant influencing factors were identified as caregiver fatigue, functional status of the elders, intention to care, relationship with the elders, amount of rest and elder's gender. Those variables explained 46% of variance of care burden. Conclusion: Functional status of elders and amount of rest were significant predictors and are supported by other previous studies. Future interventions for caregivers need to be focused on the slowing down of functional status of elders and increasing of number and length of caregiver's rest periods.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.443-451
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• 2008

Purpose: This study is to examine how dementia day care service affects fatigue, depression and life satisfaction of caregiver. Methods: The study was conducted using a convenient sampling method from 6 Dementia Day Care Center in Incheon. Thirty nine primary caregivers answered the questionnaires. Pre-test was done before demented elders start using the dementia day care center and post-test was done five months after. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and paired t-test. Results: There was a significant difference in caregivers' fatigue level after using dementia day care service(t=2.188, p=.035). Results of subcategories were as follows; There was a significant difference in caregivers' physical fatigue level(t=2.270, p=.029) and psychological fatigue level(t=2.277, p=.029) after using dementia day care service. However, there was not significant difference in caregivers' neurological fatigue level(t=1.312, p=.197). There was a significant difference in caregivers' depression level(t=3.066, p=.004) and life satisfaction(t=-2.131, p=.040) after using dementia day care service. Conclusion: The results indicated that dementia day care service is helpful for family with demented elders. Therefore it is necessary to expand dementia day care center in terms of its size and numbers in order to support increasing number of demented elders and their families.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2007

Objectives: The challenge of an increasing elderly population has coupled with everpresent social concerns in Korea. A major problem in health center for the frail older people is that medical, healthcare, and welfare services are often fragmented in terms of providers and settings without appropriate coordination. The purpose of this study was to investigate the need of health center-based integrated healthcare services and its related factors for the elderly. Methods: A total of 110 elderly people who had visited at a county Health Center were interviewed using a self-administered questionnaire from November to December, 2005. The questionnaire consists of five domains according to the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. Results: Respondents had high need (total mean score with the 5-point Likert-type sacle: 3.67) of health center-based integrated healthcare services including home visiting service (mean: 4.08), chronic disease care service (mean: 4.06), and transportation service (mean 4.05). According to the results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis, among three regression models the magnititude of the variance of full model that is explained by the need of welfare-domain service was significantly larger than two reduced model. Income was a significant variable in increasing the need of health care and welfare services. Conclusions: This study suggests that the health center-based integrated healthcare services for the elderly must be continuously developed and provided for the health promotion and improved the quality of life of the elderly who live in rural area in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.375-396
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• 2007

This study examined the demographic characteristics of the elderly who use public libraries in Daejoen Metropolitan City. Their tendencies in using the library level of satisfaction about the library and how the library affects their life were also evaluated. The survey revealed there were more man than woman users. And most users being relatively healthy sixties, highly educated and belonging to the middle class were indicated. They have been using the library frequently and regularly for a long time and were highly satisfied with the services from librarians and other staffs. Also the Public library services had a positive effect on the quality of the life of the elderly. As a result, an effective program for servicing potential visitors who are in poor health, over 70 years old, having lower level of education, living in below standard conditions, and living far from the library were suggested. Elderly women also will be the potential visitors.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-53
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to measure the resource use of the elderly in long-term care services and to examine the effects of patient and facility characteristics on their use of resources. The data were collected from 510 old people over sixty years of age, residing in five long-term care hospitals and two skilled nursing homes during the period between December 1, 2000 and February 28, 2001. For a full sample, when the first level of RUG(Resource Use Group)-III categories were employed as the proxy of patient severity, facility characteristics, such as location, size and ownership, have large effects on the resource use measured by service intensity, whereas patient characteristics such as severity have little or no effect. The resource use is significantly high if the facility: (1) is located in rural areas (gun): (2) has mare than 200 beds; (3) is a long-term care hospital; (4) is private; and (5) has a low percentage of medical aid patients. The analysis of the resource use in each RUG-III categories, for which ADL(Ability of Daily Living) were employed as the prosy of patient severity, shows a similar result. The loose relationship between the needs of residents and the resource use seems to be closely associated with the ineffective reimbursement system for providers. The current reimbursement system has no provision for quality improvement and reimburses facilities simply according to their types: fee-for-service for long-term care hospitals, and monthly-flat-rate or full-coverage-national-aid for skilled nursing facilities. It will be necessary to develop a more reasonable reimbursement system that takes patient's severity into account and gives incentives for long-term care providers to offer cost-effective services.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with the health-related quality of life of family caregivers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. This study included 191 primary family caregivers of elders who used home care services (home-visit nursing, home-visit care, daycare) covered by the public long-term care insurance. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from December 2010 to June 2011. These data were analyzed by using hierarchical multiple regression. Results: The majority of the family caregivers were female (79.6%) and daughters-in-law (28.8%). The mean depression score was $6.33{\pm}6.49$ and the mean health-related quality of life score was $0.69{\pm}0.39$. It was found that the factors affecting the health-related quality of life of family caregivers included depression (${\beta}$=-.406, p<.001), home-visit nursing use (${\beta}$=.296, p<.001), and daycare use (${\beta}$=.178, p=.015), which accounted for 36.6% of their health-related quality of life. Conclusion: Using home-visit nursing and daycare services has a positive effect on the health-related quality of life of family caregivers. To improve health-related quality of life of family caregivers, South Korea needs to fully activate the home-visit nursing and daycare services, and to strengthen family support programs.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.56-72
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• 2001

Community mental health management system emphasizing on the rehabilitation and the return to the community has been established and carried out for many years. The study has been demanded to prove that the decreasing rate of the recurrence of the mentally ill resulted to lower their medical costs, to enrich the quality of life, and to reduce the psychological burden of their family. This study tried to prove that the mental health services to the mentally ill which were registered in community mental health center of A city have an influence on the medical cost, the quality of their lives. the family burden. The subject group of this study were 39 home-based mentally ill patients and their 37 family members, totally 76 people registered in mental health center of A city and participated in its program. This research had been measured twice, the first before the intervention and the second after at least a year. The measuring tools in the research were the medical cost measurment tools developed by the researcher, the quality of life index by Yoo ja, Noh(1988) and the family burden by Montgonery(1985). The methods were modified and supplemented in this study. This research made use of SPSS Win 10.0. The results of this study are the same as followings. 1) There were the significant difference in the medical cost before and after the mental health service delivery. 2) The quality of lives of the mentally ill, after the mental health services delivered were significantly higher than before. 3) The family burden were significantly reduced after the delivery of community mental health services. Community mental health services brought out efficient results to the social return and rehabilitation. And these results means that the mentally ill changed highly the quality of life and their burden of family and medical cost were reduced. So the public organization and the private society should help positively the mentally ill and their family through mental health policy and social service agency to live healthy lives and to be valuable member of society.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.27-57
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• 1994

The objective of running a long-term care institution is to provide services helpful for maintaining, supporting, and improving elderlies' optimum level of physical, mental, and psychosocial functioning. For the purpose of analyzing the current situations of institutional long term care facilities in Korea, 27 facilities were selected proportionately from each of the cities and provinces, out of the total 152 facilities. About 20% of those who were institutionalized during 25 August through 2 Qctober 1993, the 391 elderlies were chosen on a systematic random basis. The instrument of this study was developed by modifying the tools of CARE, MAI and PCTC. A multivariate approach of discriminant analysis and clustering technique were employed for this study. The Stiudy reveals that there is no clear differentiation of goals and functions among the longterm care institutions in Korea. Staffing patte군 of long-term care facilities shows a shortage of nurses, physical therapists, and dieticians. The linkage between acute care facilities and long-term care is weak, and administration of long-term care faciltiy is carried out by non-professionals. They are responsible for assessing health status before entering the facility, and evaluating elderlies' care. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that most of the facilities have accommodated agede regardless of their real needs and health status. Based upon findings of the analysis, this study has classified long-term care facilities into four types : Type I is to help elderlies maintain independence in daily living activities. Type II facilities have the objective of maintaining and improving the current level of elderlies' function. Type III is to maintain maximum independence of elderlies in activities of daily living. And Type IV is identified for the group of facilities designed to restore or improve functional abilities of elderlies. In conclusion, the following suggestions are made : the need for long-term care should be assessed by multidimensional measurement. Institutional long-term care facilities should be classified and developed in response to type of type of care and service need. Both acute and long-term care facilities should be linked together in order to support the evaluation of service operation and program development.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.90-100
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• 2013

Background: This study examined the relationships of dementia, stroke, and combined multimorbidity with long-term care utilizations among older people in South Korea. Methods: A nationally representative sample of 10,130 older adults who used long-term care services in 2010 were analyzed. We used the 5% sample of aged 65 years or older linked with National Health Insurance Corporation registry data of long-term care insurance system. The sample was categorized into three groups: dementia only (47.6%), stroke only (36.3%), and both dementia and stroke (16.1%). We estimated the use of institutional care, home care, and total expenditure of long-term care services, adjusting for the severity of each function (such as daily life, behavior or cognitive change, nursing care needs, and rehabilitation care needs) and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Having dementia symptoms was positively associated with the use of institutional care services, on the other hand, having stroke symptoms was positively related with the use of home care. The total long-term care cost was higher in the group of having both dementia and stroke. Conclusion: Older persons with dementia symptoms and stroke symptoms have different patterns of long-term care utilization, and the multimorbidity increased the overall expenditure of long-term care utilization. These findings imply a need for differentiated management strategy targeting physically and cognitively impaired older persons, and special concerning for persons with multimorbidity conditions for long-term care insurance program in Korea.