• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2017

The current study aims to identify the heterogeneous changes of functional disabilities in old age rather than to identify an average longitudinal pattern and to explore the effect of health status and social status as risk factors in functional disability trajectories. The sample consisted of a representative sample of community dwellers aged 65 and older from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006 - 2012) was the focus of the study. Latent Class Growth Analysis was used to identify the functional disability trajectory groups. Variables regarding health status and social status changes by class were identified using multinomial logistic regression. The results showed various change patterns in functional disability, which include independent (78%), stable high (4.4%), steeply increasing (7.1%), slightly increasing (5.5%), and moderate to low (4.7%). Aggravation in depressive symptoms and cognitive functions as well as decline in social participations and social engagements were significant predictors of membership in increasing group of functional disability. The findings provide important initial empirical information to target clinical practice and have implications in the importance of conducting research on groups with different characteristics.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.765-783
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• 2016

This study examines 2014 National Survey on Older Koreans (10,279 persons aged 65 or above) to understand social networks among older Koreans. In order to classify the types of social relationships, the latent profile analysis is conducted based on such structural aspects of social networks as network size, frequencies of contact, and closeness. The results show that older Koreans can be categorized into 5 distinct social network types: disengaged (11.6%), ritual-family-focused (17.7%), close-family-focused (23.6%), close-restricted (28,4%), and diverse (18.8%). Characteristics by each social network type are compared and multinominal logistic regression analyses are applied to figure out the influencing factors of social network type. Older persons with disengaged social network ties tend to be overwhelmingly female, living alone, old-old, and of low socioeconomic status. On the other hand, older persons with diverse social network ties tend to be young-old and had highly-ranked jobs in their mid-life. Spouse/children are the focal point of social relationships in both ritual-family-focused and close-restricted social network. However, the proportion of men is higher in the close-family-focused type than in the ritual-family-focused. Older Koreans with close-restricted social network ties tend to be female, uneducated, and have engaged in agricultural and allied activities. This study discusses the implications of its findings and how research in this area should develop in the future.

• 재활복지
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.113-137
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• 2017

In this study, we explore whether and how the experience of discrimination and social support affects physical health and mental health through disability identity among the disabled aged 50 and over. We also examine such relationship differs by the degree of disability. For the empirical test, we utilized the data from the Panel Survey for the Disabled conducted by our research team in 2016. According to structural equation model analysis, social support has a direct effect on disability identity. It also has a direct effect on physical health. As for the mental health, there are found direct effects of discrimination experience, social support, disability identity, and physical health, Furthermore, social support influences the mental health through disability identity. This finding suggests that social support for the disabled in old age increases disability identity and, in turn, it contributes their mental health. In the meanwhile, multiple group comparison analysis reveals the effect of discrimination experience on disability identity is found for those with lower level of disability but not for their counterparts. This seems to result from that the level of common ground which constitutes disability identity is low for the severely disabled. Thus, it requires our efforts to enhance disability identity focusing on common ground for the severe disabled.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.527-547
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate how depression, death anxiety, and social support can exert influence on the psychological well-being of elderly living alone through a parameter of resilience. A survey was conducted involving 988 elderly over the age of 65 living alone in the Daejeon metropolitan area and Chungcheongnam-do and the data were analyzed using structure equation model. The results were as follows. First, in the measurement of variables according to demographic characteristics, depression showed significant differences depending on gender, level of education, health, and financial condition, while death anxiety differed depending on gender, and level of education. Social support was significantly different by gender, age, level of education, region, health, and financial condition. The level of resilience was significantly different by gender, age, level of education, health, and financial condition. Psychological well-being varied according to gender, level of education, health, and financial condition. Second, the effects of depression, death anxiety and social support on psychological well-being were examined. It was found that depression had a negative influence and social support had a positive impact while death anxiety showed no influence. Third, with regard to the effects of depression, death anxiety, social support on resilience, depression was found having negative influence, whereas social support having positive influence. Forth, psychological well-being was positively affected by resilience. Also, through the mediated pathway of resilience, their psychological well-being seemed to totally improve when the negative factors were reduced and the positive ones promoted. This study may have some significance in reference to examine the factors affecting the psychological well-being of elderly living alone and to develop social welfare service programs and policies in the field.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1063-1086
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to understand the current state of the older people's social exclusion by identifying patterns of the change in social exclusion level through a longitudinal analysis with an aim of exploring the predictors of changes. To this end, this study has adopted the panel data, the English longitudinal Study of Ageing(ELSA). The data of 7631 respondents who aged over 50 were used for the final analysis. The social exclusion of the older people was analyzed into five different sub-dimensions: social relationship; cultural activities; access to health services; financial security; and sense of loneliness. The person-centered approach that focuses on the various patterns of the trajectories of change has used semi-parametric group based model in order to estimate different trajectories among individuals. The data was analyzed using Spss 18.0 and SAS 9.2 proc traj. In results, First, semi-parametric group-based model analysis has shown that the older people are not 'homogeneous' group with similar exclusion level in every individual with same trajectories of change, but can be divided into various categories with diverse intercept and slope. Second, different trajectories in change of exclusion level help to confirm that the older people's social exclusion level increases gradually over time or remains unchanged. Third, this analysis has provided the useful guidelines to identify the high-risk groups of social exclusion. Forth, the variables that make difference in more than three dimensions include gender, age, self-perceived health, physical activity, weekly income, marital status, family relation, and beneficiary status. Implications and further suggestion were discussed.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.201-219
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• 2017

This study was performed to test the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) with Korean adults. According to SST, perceiving their life as limited, people are motivated to enhance their mood by regulating their mood in such a way to maximize the positive emotions and weaken the negative ones. Being founded on the dialectical constructs which assume the positive and negative sides of emotional experience coexist, Korean adults were supposed to be less motivated to maximize positive emotions and weaken negative emotions. Thus the elderly koreans might regulate emotions not in the direction of maximizing the positive emotions and weakening the negative ones, but in the direction of not being highly aroused. 166 youth, middle-aged, and elderly were asked to rate the frequencies of 31 positive and negative emotions they had experienced during the last month. In addition, they were asked to judge whether they weaken / adapt / maximize their emotions after experiencing positive and negative events. The elderly experienced less positive emotions as well as negative emotions than youth. Youth experienced emotions of high arousal more often than those of low arousal, but the elderly experienced emotions of high arousal less often. The responses of weakening their negative emotions and their positive emotions were largest in the elderly group. On the other hand, the response of maximizing their positive emotions were largest in the youth group. These results show that the elderly maintains emotional stability by weakening both positive and negative emotions of high arousal.

• 재활복지
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.189-210
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between cognitive function and self efficacy, health behavior of the elderly participation to physical activity. Data were collected from November 2015 to January 2016. The study subjects were 61, aged 65 years or older, to visit health town. The questionnaire was composed general characteristics and K-MoCA, self-efficacy scale, self-efficacy for exercise tools, Korea's elderly health behavior. The results of the study were as follows: As for cognitive function and exercise self-efficacy by general characteristics, there were differences in that regard according to gender, education, marital status, dependents form, duration of the program(p <.05), the general self-efficacy showed differences in gender, age, education, economic status, duration of the program(p <.05), and the health behavior showed differences in gender, education, marital status, dependents form, activity program, duration of the program(p <.05). There was a significant correlation between cognitive function and exercise self-efficacy, health behavior(p <.01). General self-efficacy was correlated with exercise self-efficacy, health behavior. And exercise self-efficacy was correlated with health behavior(p <.01). Exercise self-efficacy were the factor affecting the cognitive function(p <.01). Therefore, the activity program development for the practice and sustainable participation in physical activity in the elderly is believed to be made.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.329-347
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to see if we can predict the health of seniors of community by analyzing the connection between social network degree and mental and physical health of old people who live in the areas of Gangwha Island. The subjects of the study were men and women aged 65 or over, a total of 643 that resided in Ganghwa A-county. The survey was conducted on Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project from the year 2011 to 2012. Regression analysis was carried out using the data. The analysis results were as follows. First, it showed the relationships between income, gender, age out of demographic variables used as control variable and old persons'physical health. The research results showed that physical health was better in case of the higher incomes, men, and lower age. Second, out of demographic variables, educational background, income, age was shown to correlate with mental health. The research results showed that mental health was better in case of the higher incomes, higher educational background, and lower age. Third, in social network including direction, both out-degree and in-degree were shown to predict old people's physical and mental health. The results of this study suggest that not only out-degree but also in-degree should be considered in predicting the health of elderly persons by a person's human relationship. Also, two indicators of degree are meaningful in the dimension of health promotion and welfare of the old in that they can be used for finding isolated individuals that can be physically and mentally vulnerable.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.1177-1189
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• 2016

The dependency is a problem in the aged. The purpose of this study was to investigate depression, urinary incontinence, sleep patterns, and dependence, and to identify affecting factors of dependence on elderly patients in medical and care hospital. The subjects consisted of 209 elderly inpatients in the J city. The variables of dependency, depression, urinary incontinence, sleep were measured using questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS 23.0 program, using descriptive statistic, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Major findings of this study are as follows. The mean score of depression is $6.83{\pm}4.14$(out of 15), urinary incontinence is $6.44{\pm}9.63$(out of 60), sleep hour is $8.09{\pm}1.55$, quality of sleep is $39.37{\pm}6.55$(out of 60), and dependence is $42.68{\pm}8.78$(out of 85). The economic dependence among the subdomain of dependence is the highest dependence score. Dependence was positively correlated with depression(r=.26, p<.001), urinary incontinence(r=.35, p<.001). Factors Influencing dependence were depression (${\beta}.227$, p=.001), urinary incontinence (${\beta}=.259$, p<.001), and explanation of dependence is 11.5%. These results suggest that it is necessary for multidisciplinary approach and nursing intervention for decreasing dependence.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.869-881
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to analyze the characteristics of violent experiences, the types of responses to violent experiences, the coping methods among nurses working in long-term care hospitals. Data were collected using structured questionnaires from 226 nurses in 12 long-term care hospitals in J province. Data collection was performed between April 15, 2016 and April 29, 2016. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and ${\chi}2-test$. Of all the respondents, 55.8% had experienced violence in the past 1 year. Of the perpetrators of the violence, 54.6% and 60.0%, were aged 65 and over and had cognitive functional decline, respectively. The most frequent type of violence was verbal abuse(90.5%). Following the violent experiences, emotional responses had the highest score($2.8{\pm}0.8$). The major coping behavior was "told their peers(84.1%)", followed by "disregarded it and worked although it felt bad(75.4%)". These results indicate the need to establish systems for violence prevention and coping, as well as applicable educational programs, tailored to the circumstances of long-term care hospitals and the characteristics of their patients.