• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2019

This is the study of descriptive research to look into factors which influence the health-related quality of life for young-old and old-old in women living alone. This research was conducted using the primary data from 2017 -Influences on the quality of health-related life based on pain, nutritional risk, loneliness, and cognitive health condition in women living alone- and the secondary analysis which additionally collected from total 85 cases. According to the analyzed result using SPSS/W IN 18. program, the factors of affecting on the health-related quality of life is followed by pain, regular exercise, and social support for young-old women living alone and regular exercise, activities of Daily Living, and pain for old-old women living alone. The explanatory power was 70.6 percent and 69.7 percent respectively. Thus, it is necessary to improve the health-related quality of life by seeking ways to alleviate pain, enhance the system of social support, activate daily exercise, and maintain the ability of routine activities.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.149-162
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• 2024

This study is a longitudinal study of female older adults living alone, one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, to determine how their depression changes over time and what factors affect their depression. At the same time, considering that there is a large difference in age among the same older adults, this study divided the female older adults into the young-old and the old-old to see how the predictors of depression in each group differ from each other. The main findings are as follows First, depression among female older adults living alone appears to have a declining pattern over time. In the conditional model, factors affecting the initial level of the depression trajectory among women living alone were found to be associated with lower initial depression values among those living in metropolitan areas rather than non-metropolitan areas, better subjective health, and those who did not exercise. Next, we examined the factors affecting rate of change (slope) in depression among female living alone older adults and found that the higher the age, the larger the metropolitan area, the better the subjective health, the less socializing, and the more socializing, the greater the decrease in depression level. Finally, there were some differences in the pathways affecting the initial value and slope of depression among female older adults living alone between the early and late older adults. Specifically, the higher the initial level of participation in social activities, the greater the change in depression among the late older adults, while there was no significant relationship among the early older adults. In the early older adults, better initial subjective health was associated with a larger change in depression than in the late older adults. Only in the late older adults did those who regularly exercised in the early years have higher initial depression values than those who did not. Based on the results of the above analyses, suggestions were made to reduce depression among female older adults living alone.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.345-354
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine mediating effects of social participation and self-esteem on the relationship between subjective health status and life satisfaction in elderly women living alone. To data were analyzed by hierarchical multiple regression analysis as suggested by Baron and Kenny(1986) using SPSS/WIN 21.0. As a results, subjective health status of the elderly women living alone had a positive influence on the social participation, self-esteem, life satisfaction. There was a partial mediating effect of the Social Participation and self-esteem in the relationship. Based on the research result, it is necessary to conduct programs suitable for each elderly Women person's health condition, and integrated social participation support program should be provided.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.595-615
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• 2015

This study aims to develop well-being enhancement program for the female elderly living alone, and examine its effects. The program was structured by exploring the meaning of life and happiness with focused on self-disclosure, dealing with regret and resentment, forgiveness, gratitude, and resilience. At first, pilot program was applied to 6 female elderly living alone for predicting the effects and modified the program. For verification of the program effect, 11 female elderly living alone were assigned to developed well-being enhancement program, also 11 female elderly living alone were assigned to comparison group who participate in activity-focused program, and 12 female elderly living alone were assigned to control group. Results indicated that regret for interpersonal relations and resentment of the female elderly living alone who participate in well-being enhancement program were reduced after participating the program, while their self-disclosure increased. The female elderly living alone who participate in well-being enhancement program showed lowered level of anxiety, loneliness, and awareness of aging, which were factors of well-bing in senescence. Moreover, their level of negative emotion was decreased, and life satisfaction, positive emotion, and happiness were increased after participating the program. But, all of those enhancement were not found in control group as well as comparison group. These results suggest that well-being enhancement program for the female elderly living alone developed in this study could be utilized in various settings.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.1098-1107
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the types of life adjustment of widowed elderly women in Korea. Methods: The research design was a Q-Methodological Approach. Thirty selected Q-statements from 32 subjects were classified into a shape of normal distribution using a 7 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using a QUANL PC program. Results: Three types of life adjustment were identified. Type I is the independent type: overcome the reality. Type II is the abandonment type: deny the reality. Type III is the accommodation type: accept the reality. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that different approaches to the quality of life for widowed elderly women in Korea are recommended based on the three types of life adjustment.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1849-1856
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to understand differences in cognitive function and the instrumental activities of daily living depending on whether elderly women living alone in Korea have depression and to determine the correlation between variables. The data were collected from April 2011 to April 2012 with a total of 1,426 women interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Based on examining the correlation between variables, a weak inverse correlation was shown between depression and cognitive function(r=-.208, p<.001), between cognitive function and the instrumental activities of daily living(r=-.256, p<.001), and a weak positive correlation was shown between depression and instrumental activities of daily living(r=.222, p<.001). According to these results, We should pay attention to come up with ways to promote and maintain the mental health of elderly women so that depression level can be reduced through the improvement of cognitive function and social activity level.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.207-218
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• 2017

This is the Study of descriptive research to look into influence factors about how pain, nutritional risk, loneliness and perceived health status have an effect on the health-related quality of life. The subjects were 110 elderly women living alone over the age of 65 living in D gu, Y gu, D metropolitan city and collected data by giving questionnaire, and used the SPSS/WIN 18.0 version to analyze. The correlated factors of health-related quality of life included pain(r=-.565, P<.001), nutritional risk(r=-.485, P<.001), loneliness(r=-.546, P<.001) and perceived health status(r=.706, P<.001). Factors influencing health-related quality of life are perceived health status, loneliness, pain, type of residence, number of diseases. Therefore, in order to improve health-related quality of life for elderly women living alone, it is necessary to induce the practice of education and health behavior for improvement of health status, to establish social network to increase emotional support and to apply various protection systems.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.319-333
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to identify the factors that influence the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) for the elderly living alone and to discuss how to manage CHE for the elderly living alone. Methods: This study utilizes 6th (2016), 7th (2018), and 8th (2020) data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging to identify the incidence rate of CHE among the elderly living alone and conducts a panel logit analysis. The dependent variable is the incidence of CHE (thresholds: 10%, 20%, 30%), and the independent variables include demographic factors (gender, age group, region), socioeconomic factors (education level, economic activity status, income quintile, financial support rate from children), health-related factors (subjective health status, regular exercise, smoking, drinking, number of chronic diseases), and healthcare coverage factors (type of health insurance, private health insurance). Results: Descriptive statistics classified by gender show that female elderly living alone are more vulnerable than male elderly living alone in terms of disease prevalence and socioeconomic status. In addition, the incidence of CHE is higher for elderly women living alone than for elderly men living alone across all thresholds. The main results of the panel logit analysis show that higher education, income quintile, and financial support rate from children are associated with lower odds of CHE, while poorer subjective health and a higher number of chronic diseases are associated with higher odds of CHE. Medical aid recipients are less likely to incur CHE than those covered by national health insurance. Conclusion: The implications of this study are as follows. First, vulnerable elderly living alone with multiple chronic diseases and low income and education levels are more likely to incur CHE. Second, it is necessary to review policies such as a CHE support program and chronic disease management programs focused on vulnerable elderly individuals living alone. Third, the CHE support program should be operated in a patient-centered manner, with consideration given to a customized system for selecting and supporting elderly individuals living alone who are in need.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.49-58
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• 2021

This study examined the effects of antecedent variables on life satisfaction of elderly people who live alone and who live with others by comparing the levels of depression, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Using the 15th data of the Korean Welfare Panel held in 2020, independent sample t-test and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted. Elderly people who live alone had a high sense of depression, low self-esteem, and low life satisfaction. For both of them, the older the age and the higher the income level, the higher the life satisfaction. The regression model, which added depression and self-esteem, had a significant effect on both of them, but the effect of self-esteem was higher (𝛽=.40, .41) than that of depression (𝛽=-.28, -.29). The effects of depression and self-esteem on life satisfaction were higher in elderly people who live alone (R²=.409) than in elderly people who live with others (R²=.398). Based on the research results, this study suggested appropriate policies and practice directions to enhance self-esteem and improve life satisfaction of elderly people who live alone.