• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2022

Objectives: Suicide is the major public mental health concerns all over the world. The comparison of suicide attempters and suicide completers could be the fundamental evidence for the suicide prevention. The aim of this study is to explore the differences between suicide attempters and suicide completers in terms of the stressors, suicide methods, and psychiatric diagnosis. Methods: Two types of secondary data were collected for the analyses. Data of the suicide attempters (n = 680) were gathered by intensive reviewing the medical records of Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Data of suicide completers (n = 11,722) were collected by the psychological autopsy data which were gathered by Korean Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Suicidal methods, psychiatric disorders and stressors before suicidal attempt were compared between suicide attempter and completers. Results: Suicide completers were older and male predominant compared to suicidal attempt. Hanging or gas intoxication were more commonly used in the suicide completion, while wrist cutting or drug intoxication were more common in suicide attempters. All types of stressors were found to be high in suicide completers than suicide attempters. However, the proportion of economic and physical stress were greater in suicide completers, while the proportion of family stress were greater in suicide attempters. According to the recorded diagnoses, the rates of depressive disorders, sleep-wake disorders, substance-related disorders were higher in suicide completers, while the rates of anxiety disorders and trauma- and stressor-related disorders, bipolar and related disorders and somatic symptom disorders were higher in suicide attempters. However, after controlling the gender and age, there were no significant differences in diagnosis between suicide attempters and suicide completers. Conclusion: These findings implicate that suicide attempters and completers differed in suicide methods and type of stress. The results suggests that economic stressors, physical illness might raise the risk of suicide completion.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2013

Objectives : To investigate the frequency and clinical characteristics of premenstrual syndrome(PMS)/premenstrual dysphoric disorder(PMDD) in high school students, and determine the correlates of PMS/PMDD in association with comorbid depression and anxiety. Methods : A total of 1688 students were recruited from 5 high schools in Seoul, Korea. Subjects completed the questionnaire composed of scales to measure premenstrual symptoms, depression, and anxiety, as well as sociodemographic and reproductive variables. Subjects were categorized into 3 groups by using the Premenstrual Symptom Screening Tool(PSST) to determine the frequency and clinical characteristics of PMS/PMDD. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the correlates of PMS/PMDD. Results : The frequency of moderate to severe PMS and PMDD was 20.1% and 6.4%, respectively. Irritability(78.8%), fatigue(76.4%), and emotional sensitivity(69.8%) were common premenstrual symptoms, and functional impairment in academic performance(67.1%) was dominant. Dysmenorrhea[odd ratio(OR)=3.68, 95% confidence interval(CI) 2.45-5.55], family history of PMS(OR=1.91, 95% CI 1.35-2.71), and use of oral contraceptive (OR=1.85, 95% CI 1.16-2.94) were associated with the increased risk of PMS/PMDD after adjustment for depression and anxiety. Negative attitude to menses(OR=15.60, 95% CI 3.61-67.42) was associated with the increased risk of PMS/PMDD, particularly in subjects without depression and anxiety. Conclusions : PMS was common, as the frequency of PMS more than moderate severity including PMDD exceeded 25%, and disrupted daily functioning in adolescents. PMS is associated with various sociodemographic and menstrual characteristics, and these associations are affected by comorbid depression and anxiety.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1126-1132
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• 2010

The purpose of this research was to analyze the health promotion behavior of shifting nurses' and its effects on their health conditions. The survey was performed for 357 nurses who worked in general hospital during July 2006. The results for behavior of health promotion and health conditions were as follow; Better health conditions of shifting nurses' on the aspects of physical status, the younger age, a fewer night duties in a month, more regular menstruation cycles and married rather than un-married, they were in better health conditions(p<0.05). In conclusion, in spite of shift works, the efforts for health promotions improved health conditions. It is necessary to set up the systems for minimizing obstacles of health promotions.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.221-231
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the need for child hospice care programs in families of children with cancer. Methods: The survey of 104 families who were taking care of children with cancer was conducted. This survey was conducted from February 2004 to July 2004 at two general hospitals in Seoul. The data were collected through a self-reporting questionnaire of 22 items. The items were classified into five areas by factor analysis to identify the construct validity. The reliability of the tool was established by Cronbach's alpha as .94 and the data collected were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA. Results: 1) The degree of need for hospice care of the subjects showed a high average of 3.40 (${\pm}3.8$). The need for 'emotional care of children' showed the highest mean (M=3.55), 'management of terminal physical symptoms'(M=3.49), 'control of secondary physical problems' (M=3.41), 'acceptance of the family's difficulty' (M=3.20), 'spiritual care for preparing for death'(M=3.17), respectively. 2) With respect to the demographic characteristics of the subjects, there were statistically significant differences in hospice care needs, according to the child's mother's age (F==4.980, P=.009), whether or not there were cancer patients among their siblings or relatives (t=2.423, P=.017). Conclusion: The family of children with cancer have a heavy burden of ambivalence, especially in relieving the anxiety and fear of their children, communicating about death, and managing physical symptoms. Child hospice care must be provided considering the needs of families of children with cancer. Thus popular needs as well as hospice nurses' higher concern and support for hospice care of children require further education and program development to meet the current demands.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2007

The pregnancy and postpartum period appear to be a time of heightened vulnerability for the development of major depression in some women. Postpartum depression affects 10% of women within a few weeks immediately postpartum. Postpartum depression is associated with disturbances in the mother-infant relationship, which in turn have an adverse impact on the course of child cognitive and emotional development. Depression during pregnancy is also common, although it has been relatively neglected. Psychopathological symptoms during pregnancy have physiological consequences for the fetus. Understanding the aetiology of perinatal depression requires integrating of multiple psychosocial and biological risk factors. The treatment of depressed pregnant women requires skilled decision making by psychiatrists. Risk-benefit analysis is appropriate method for intervention fur depression in pregnancy. Effective treatments for depression in pregnancy include psychotherapy, antidepressant medication and electroconvulsive therapy. In treatment of postpartum depression, the biological, psychological, and social interventions are included. Prescribing antidepressants(such as fluoxetine), estrogen in severe and chronic cases, and counselling can be effective for improving maternal mood and aspects of infant outcome. Ongoing research is directed to further elucidating neurohormonal and psychosocial contributions to depression during pregnancy or postpartum. Screening for risk factors and symptoms for depression need to be incorporated into antenatal and pediatric clinics.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2019

Environmental changes can affect life-history traits, such as growth rate and reproduction, and organisms adapt on a given environmental condition to maximize ecological fitness. This study shows the effects of water temperature and dissolved oxygen level on early growth and accumulated damage in fish using a dynamic-state-dependent model. I have hypothesized that the level of foraging activity is related to growth and stress and so the optimal level can maximize reproductive success - ultimately, fitness. The critical temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) is also defined as inducing the maximum growth rate at the level. So, the model predicts the highest growth rate at oxygen saturation and lower growth rate at lower or higher level of DO in water. Lower DO (i.e., hypoxia) causes slower growth rate through higher amount of accumulated stress whereas higher DO (i.e., hyperoxia) induces faster growth rate, but smaller body size. In addition, I show that there is lower impact when considering simple or independent environmental factors on environmental assessment. My findings suggest that multiple environmental factors as physiological ecology approach should be considered to improve impact assessment in environmental changes and a further study is needed to develop advanced assessment tools considering multiple environmental factors.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.12 no.5_spc
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• pp.133-147
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• 2006

Korean society is rapidly becoming an ageing society. The Korean may have to live longer than did their parents. Increasing life expectancy and changing social structure, Korean people are getting interested in quality of life, and well-being is becoming a matter of concern. And, the Korean is fully aware of the importance of health for well-being or good life. This concern about health may bring about specific behaviors related to health. Although health care expenditures of Korea are currently smaller than those of other developed countries, it is continuously increasing. Large portion of increased amount of health care expenditures is to spend for disease prevention and expansion of long-term care facilities. Constructs of well-being of the Korean, not living in western culture, may be different from those of people living in western society. Health is not top-ranked to importance for quality of life in previous studies. It does not mean health isn't determinant factor for good life or well-being. Health is an essential element for well-being. It has been proved in several researches which examined poor quality of life caused by certain diseases and management of health-related quality of life. Some theories relate to health-seeking behaviors suggested the health belief or the attitude toward health, intention to do health behavior, perceived behavioral control, and self efficacy as important factors which could predict health-related behaviors. With getting older, people decline in physical and physiological functions and become vulnerable to chronic diseases. Quality of life depends on how to adjust to these changes in senescence. Social supports, especially supports from offspring, are very important to quality of life in senescence, because supports from offspring have influence on pride of the older, they may be afraid of disclose the conflict with their offspring. Avoiding self-disclosure exclude other source of social supports and harm individual's health, therefore psychological intervention is needed to. Increasing life expectancy of the Korean, Korean government has to provide numerous long-term care facilities as well as psychosocial supports. The Korean, so far, does not recognize that psychologist could render great service to promoting individual or community health and improving individual's quality of life. It is highly expected that psychologists take actively interested and involve in health related to quality of life.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.102-111
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• 2018

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality characteristics of medical students at their admission and the level of depression, anxiety, and resilience at their third year. Methods : Self-reported questionnaires were conducted to the students at the beginning of the first year and the third year. When the students in their first year, they performed the personality assessment inventory, the Beck depression inventory, and the Beck anxiety inventory. When they were in the third year, the students answered the composite Scale of morningness and Conner-Davidson resilience scale-10 in addition to the BDI and BAI. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of the level of depression, anxiety, and resilience. Results : Of the subscales of depression in the PAI, the physiological depression (${\beta}=-0.285$, p=0.049) associated with increase in the depression from the first to the third year. Among the anxiety-related disorder subscale in the PAI phobia (${\beta}=0.119$, p=0.022) and traumatic stress (${\beta}=0.375$, p=0.007) associated with the level of depression at third grade. Somatization (${\beta}=0.631$, p<0.001) in the PAI associated with the level of anxiety at third year. The anxiety (${\beta}=-0.531$, p<0.001) in the PAI was positive associated with the resilience at third grade. Conclusions : This study showed that certain personality characteristics at admission had significant relationships with the level of depression, anxiety, and resilience at the third grade medical students.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.1312-1326
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the 12-week Nordic walking can improve the physical function and arthritis pain of elderly women with osteoarthritis This study were divided into randomly assigned Nordic Walking Exercise Group (n=9) and Control Group (n=7) for 16 Elderly women diagnosed with Osteoarthritis (age: 73±3.79 year, height: 154.3±4.09 cm). The exercise group used Nordic sticks to carry out 30 minutes of Nordic walking exercise three times a week for 12 weeks, and the kinetic intensity was set at 40-60% of HRR. The control group maintained daily life for the same period. Body composition (weight, percentage body fat, skeletal muscle mass), muscular strength, Flexibility (muscular strength of upper and lower limbs, flexibility of upper and lower limbs), balance ability (static balance, dynamic balance) and pain level were measured as subordinate variables. These indicators were measured twice before and after the exercise program. The study shows that percentage body fat and skeletal muscle mass in the body composition function over 12 weeks of Nordic walking exercise have significant effects after the exercise than before (p=004)(p=.003), and it also shows significant interaction effects between the groups and timings(p=.018)(p=.005). In muscular strength, Flexibility factors, there were significant effects between the groups and timings in the upper limb muscular strength and the lower limb flexibility (p=.009)(p=.036), and a significant difference between the exercise group and the control group(p=.006) in the lower limb muscular strength. In addition, in the upper limb flexibility, there was a more significant difference after the exercise than before(p=.020). There were improvement effects after the exercise than before in the balance ability and the static balance(p=.016), but no difference in the dynamic balance(p>.05). In pain, there was a significant improvement after the exercise than before(p=.022), and a significant difference between the exercise group and the control group(p=.013). In conclusion, the 12-week Nordic walking exercise has positive effects on the body composition functions of the elderly women with Osteoarthritis, and has a positive effect on the improvement of upper limb muscular strength and lower limb flexibility in the health fitness factors. These effects are believed to have contributed effectively to the improvement of the level of pain by contributing to the improvement of physical and motor functions of the elderly women with Osteoarthritis. Therefore, it is considered that Nordic walking exercise, which enhances stability and balance of the patients with Osteoarthritis by using poles, is an effective exercise method for the improvement of the body and motor functions by lowering the pain of the joints and reducing the muscular strength and percentage body fat.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.5518-5524
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to investigate the change of balance ability on aging by measuring balance ability of elderly females whose age is over 65. The subjects are ten elderly women (the mean age: 71.9) able to walk without assistants, the assistant equipments and drug dependence and ten young healthy women (the mean age: 23.2). We measured stability index (ST), Fourier index (F), weight distribution (WD), weight distribution index (WDI), synchronization index (SI) and fall index (FI) by using Tetrax (Tetra-ataxiometric Posturography). In result, STs and Fs at the low frequency region (F1) represented the significant difference between two groups at all postures with PO (pillow with eye open) exception (p<.01). Fs at the other frequency regions (F2~F8) represented the significant difference between two groups (p<.05). WDI of the elderly women represented the higher values than the young women at all postures but there are the significant difference at PO and PC (pillow with eye closed) only. These results may be due to age-related ability decline of somatesthesia, vestibular organ, central nervous system.