• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.83-96
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to grasp the opinion of Korean feminine seniors on the life support appliances for their healthy ageing: medication dispenser, video phone, activity monitor and sleep monitor. The focus group interviews, asking the usability of the appliances, were answered by each 6 feminine seniors of more than 65 years, residing in Corvallis of U.S.(group I), Cheongju(group II), and Ulsan(group III) of Korea. The results are as follows. (1) The medication dispenser proved to be very useful to all the respondents. All the seniors, who take more than one medicine a day, felt it helpful that the medication dispenser makes them to take medicines at fixed time. In addition, they hoped the medicine envelope to be developed for the dispenser use by the supply side. (2) The seniors showed interest in the manner the video phone works; to work by the voice, rather than by the finger. They expressed the hope of the video phone to display the communication contents, in consideration of their weakening hearing. (3) The seniors who live alone, especially, felt intimacy to the activity monitor, thinking as if some helpers were beside them. The fact that it can send emergency calls immediately when situations happen, gave the seniors emotional safety as a patron. (4) The sleep monitor, although essential to the serious cases without moving ability, was proved less necessary to the healthy seniors. They expressed the hope of this appliance to be evolved for the use with the mattress without bed.