• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
• /
• no.58
• /
• pp.67-96
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to examine psychological difficulties that elderly women experience in each divorce decision making stage and they are shown by counselling cases made with elderly women who got divorced in their early stage of elderly life. For this purpose, total 18 counseling cases were collected from November 2012 to March 2013 and a qualitative analysis was made accordingly. The result of this study was made by analyzing meaningful subjects emerged in individual testimonies during a counseling process and it shows that the decision to divorce goes through stages such as , , , , , and . In addition, psychological difficulties experienced in a divorce decision process appear to be, , , , , , and . It is meaningful that this study provides counseling strategies for psychosocial support of the elderly women who go through difficulties in their divorce decision making process.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.1213-1225
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to determine psychosocial variables of exercise behaviors for old adults. A major research problem identified through theory of planned behavior and it's empirical data: Do cognitive-social variables(health risk perception, self-efficacy, group conformity, exercise attitude) significantly mediate exercise behaviors(intention, action, maintenance)? A total of 453 older adults above 65 years(171 males and 282 females) who were enrolled in various classes were randomly selected at adults centers in Seoul. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires including the psycho-social variables(health risk perception, self-efficacy, group conformity, exercise attitude) and exercise behaviors(intention, action, maintenance). The results of statistical procedures(e.g., hierarchical multiple regression) indicated self-efficacy and exercise attitude significantly predicted exercise intentions of older adults. Exercise intention was a significant predictor of action, and action was a significant predictor of exercise maintenance. In discussion, various psycho-social mechanisms were provided to interpret the results of this study, and future directions were suggested.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.19 no.7
• /
• pp.138-148
• /
• 2019

Although social relation factors are confirmed to be closely associated with the depression level of the elderly through the preceding studies, there has been no specific study on subfactors of social relation that influence the trajectory of depression level. Considering such limitation, this study aims to analyze influencing subfactors of social relation on the trajectory of depression of the elderly. The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th-year data of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (KLoSA), which were provided by the Korea Employment Information Service (KEIS), were used in this study and 2,484 people aged 65 and over who responded to all the four-session surveys were used as final analysis subjects. In the result of the longitudinal study on depression level of the elderly aged 65 and over, the individual depression level was confirmed become lowered over time, showing a positive change. Also, the conditional model of Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) was applied to identify specific social network factors that influence the longitudinal change of depression level of the elderly. In the result of the analysis, it was found that initial value of depression of the elderly was influenced by whether they have a spouse or not, number of household member, meeting with close people, whether they do economic activity or not, whether they have a religion or not, etc. and the rate of change in depression of the elderly was influenced by number of household member, meeting with close people, expectation about life, etc. Through above results, this study suggests a need for specific programs and supports to continuously lower the depression level of the elderly.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.57-79
• /
• 2019

We have been experiencing an lengthened life expectancy due to rapid industrialization, economic and medical development. In particular, the elderly population was only 5.1% of the total population in 1900s when the senior centers were established, but 30 years later, the elderly population aged 65 or older reached 6.54 million in 2015 and became 14% in 2017. There is a very meaningful correlation between service quality of the senior welfare center and the life satisfaction of the elderly, where the elderly spend their leisure time on a daily basis. Accordingly, this study tried to identify the desirable conditions that the elderly think and the difference from the desired status and the actual status to identify what information and services should be provided by senior welfare centers. Gwanak Senior Welfare Center has provided senior welfare service for local seniors for 30 years since its establishment and contributed to silver welfare policy establishment based on the accumulated experiences. In the coming era of GDP 30,000 dollars, National Pension era and average life span 100 years, the new creative silver welfare programs should be introduced such as qualitative programs rather than quantitative, programs for caring minorities, complimentary or actual expense programs, creative programs rather than passive ones, and diversity of the subjects. This study would like to present the future direction for the next 30 years.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.247-262
• /
• 2019

This study involved the effects of home-visit program with cognitive-stimulating activities on cognitive function and memory self-efficacy of an elderly with dementia special rating(5rates). The study was conducted from February 11 to April 26, 2019 using a 65-year old woman residing in G Metropolitan City. The individual subject study used an A-B-A design. The subject performed activities that required thinking and resolving in order to stimulate both her body and cognition. The activities chosen were easily accessible to those having a form of mild dementia, rates 5 dementia special rating, and repetitively stimulated the subject's intellectual capacity in an attempt to increase her degraded cognitive functioning. Specifically, the activities exercised both short-term memory and recollection using familiar letters, numbers, and bodily movements frequently encountered in daily life. The program positively affected the subject's memory and concentration. In addition, the program was found to be feasible for home use by those with mild dementia, obviating the need to travel to a location like a welfare center. The author presents specific activities for stimulating cognition that can effectively intervene to positively influence the cognitive functioning and memory of those with rates 5 dementia special rating.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.62 no.3
• /
• pp.83-108
• /
• 2010

This study aims to estimate the trajectory of outpatient medical service use and examine what factors are associated with the trajectory among older adults 60 and over with specific focuses on age variations. Using the first three waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study data, the trajectory and predictors were examined through the Latent Growth Curve Modeling and age variations were examined through the Multi-group Comparison Analyses. The research model was developed based on the Anderson Model. The results showed that study participants tend to increase outpatient medical service use with years. Individuals 75 or younger presented a much faster increasing rate of medical service use than those 75 and over. Similar to the findings of the previous studies, most predisposing factors, resource factors, and needs factors were found to be associated with the trajectory of outpatient medical service use. Needs factors were more closely associated with the medical service use trajectory than resource factors. With regard to age variations in predictors, few significant age variations were found. Based on the finding of the study, implications and future research directions were discussed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.283-292
• /
• 2019

The loss of semantic knowledge and impairments in semantic associations by semantic category is gaining increasing attention, as indicators of early-stage cognitive decline. As such, we assigned semantic association task (SAT) to normal elderly (NE) and those with subjective memory impairment (SMI) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to examine their performance by semantic subcategories and the differences in error patterns. We found a significant difference in the number of correct response and reaction time under the SAT categories among the three groups, with the highest performance observed in 'function' and the lowest performance in 'superordinate' and 'part/whole'. Moreover, the error frequency was the lowest in NE, followed by those with SMI and MCI, with the latter two groups showing a significant increase in no-response. Our findings demonstrate the varying extent and process of impairments in the semantic network by category over different stages of cognitive decline. Thus, we proposed SAT performance as an indicator to detect and follow-up on cognitive decline in elderly with cognitive disorder.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.16-23
• /
• 2020

Objectives: Sleep disturbance in the elderly is associated with cognitive decline. Sleep quality is known to deteriorate with age, and prospective studies seldom have examined the relationship between sleep quality and cognitive function. This study investigates the relationship between early sleep quality and cognitive function based on six-year follow-up data of community individuals older than 60 years. Methods: The participants included 622 community elderly people older than 60 years from Jinju-Si. The final analysis comprised 322 elderly people. Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and the Korean version of Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-K) were used to assess early sleep quality and cognitive function after six years. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between early sleep quality and cognitive function in the elderly. Results: Early sleep quality (PSQI) was significantly associated with the results of the digit span test, clock drawing test (clox 1), and word recall test after six years. Sleep quality (PSQI) decreased significantly after six years, and lower quality of sleep (PSQI) score was associated with higher digit span test score (β = -0.167, p = 0.026) and higher clock drawing test score (β = -0.157, p = 0.031). Lower quality of sleep (PSQI) score was associated with higher word recall test (β = -0.140, p = 0.039). Conclusion: The digit span test, word recall test, and clock drawing task (CLOX 1) shown to be significantly associated to sleep quality can be performed fast and easily in clinical practice. It is important to assess early cognitive function in the elderly with poor sleep quality, and further studies could suggest that these tests may be useful screening tests for early dementia in elderly with poor sleep quality.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.219-225
• /
• 2012

This study is analyzed the implementation of medical aid for patients over 65 years of age who are among the discharged from hospitals with the capacity of over 100 beds. I have analyzed it with the data from an in-depth study of injury surveillance of discharged patients from hospitals done in a national project in 2004. After analyzing the results of the data from the beginning of this national project to the data collected in 2008, I could get the results that the rate of discharged patients over 65 years of age increased every year. Among them, the rate of discharged women was higher than that of the men, and the rate of deaths while at the hospital for patients over 65 years of age was higher than that of patients less than 65 years of age. The rate of operations done on patients over 65 was lower than that of patients under 65 years of age. The results of a diagnosis of popular symptoms showed that the rate of the diagnosis of cerebral infraction and structure of the heart at the circulatory organ was higher. In addition, the rate of the diagnosis of lung cancer, pneumonia, and chronic obstructive lung disease was higher, as well as the rates of gastric cancer, diabetes, liver cancer, and colorectal cancer. The results showed that the operation of the nerve system or cardiovascular system were higher. Therefore, according to this result, we should prioritize and allocate resources to the elderly people when setting up a management policy. And also, we should promote healthcare for elderly people after considering the characteristics of the implementation of medical aid in preparation of a super-aged society.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.133-139
• /
• 2016

Objectives : As the prevalence of elderly depression increases, it becomes urgent problem to provide preventive and management measures. But in practice, it is difficult to detect depression in early stage. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between sociodemographic factors and depression in elderly welfare facility users in a city. Methods : In this research, the severity of depression and sociodemographic factors(gender, age, education, co-morbid disease, housing type, number of children, number of family members living with the subjects) was evaluated through PHQ-9 and interview. Using the data, the associations of depression and sociodemographic factors were analyzed. Based on PHQ-9 depression cut-off value(10 points), the subjects were divided into two groups, and the difference of the variables between groups were analyzed statistically. Results : 'Own house'(YES/NO), education(less than elementary school graduation/more than elementary school graduation) were sociodemographic factors which showed significance difference in mean PHQ-9 scores. Group with Over PHQ-9 10 points showed less 'having their own house' and less education level than group with less PHQ-9 10 points. Conclusions : With this research, it is expected that the risk factors for the elderly depression can be understood and the measures for early detection and invention of elderly depression would be provided.