• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.147-156
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to compare and analyze the job stress of nurses with and without in COVID-19-related work. Methods: A structured self-reported questionnaire survey was conducted to assess job stress. The extent of job stress was compared between nurses with COVID-19 (COVID-19 group) and those without such experience (non-COVID-19 group). Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the factors influencing job stress. Results: Job stress was higher in the COVID-19 group compared to the non-COVID-19 group (t=2.54, p=.12). In sub-categorical comparison, stress driven by a taxing work environment, relationship conflict, and work schedule was higher in the COVID-19 group than the non-COVID-19 group. Multiple regression analysis revealed the job stress was higher among nurses with COVID-19-related work experience than that of non-experienced nurses. The factors affecting job stress of nurses with COVID-19-related work experience included emergency room work, providing nursing assistant for COVID-patients, and caring for these patients. Conclusion: Since COVID-19-related work experience is a major factor that affects nurses' job stress, it is imperative to provide various support measures for nursing assistants such as providing a break from working in an environment with high risk of infection, adjusting work schedules, resolving conflicts between personnel, and securing support.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.401-414
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the practice of quarantine guidelines and psychological influence between the young (aged under 64 years) and the elderly (aged over 65 years) groups during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Method: The data of this study were obtained from the Community Health Survey, 2020, Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency. A total of 229,296 (young group: 156,314, elderly group: 72,812) participants were included in this study. Independent t-test, chi-square test and descriptive analysis were used for analyzing the data. Result: Elderly group showed lower adherence to wearing face-mask, maintaining social distance when outgoing and practicing handwashing rules than the young group. The elderly group showed a higher level of psychological influence than the young group. In addition, the elderly group had fewer supporters when they were isolated than the young group. Also, the elderly had difficulties in following the quarantine guidelines related to COVID-19. Conclusion: To prevent infection and death from COVID-19 in the elderly, proper education and support programs are needed. Also, support groups should be prepared and applied to relieve their psychological impact related to COVID-19.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.350-355
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study is to find out whether people still have problems with breathing after being quarantined for a certain period after being infected with COVID-19. Design: Two-group pretest-posttest design. Methods: A total of 36 subjects were included in this study. Subjects who have been quarantined after being infected with COVID-19 (the after-quarantine group, n=18) and those who have never had COVID-19 (the healthy group, n=18). Respiratory function was evaluated by subjects in resting state and after treadmill exercise. Subjects performed treadmill exercise at moderate intensity for 20 minutes. To compare the differences in respiratory function between groups, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1), and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) were evaluated using a spirometer. Results: The result of the study, there was a significant difference in FVC in the after-quarantine group between resting and after treadmill exercise (p<0.05). In the healthy group, there was no significant difference in respiratory functions between resting and after treadmill exercise. Conclusions: The meaning of this result is that people who have been quarantined with COVID-19 have lower respiratory function than healthy people who are not infected with COVID-19.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.397-411
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• 2023

Purpose: The role of medical staff gained immense significance in the context of the prolonged coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, few studies had explored the impact of simulation-based education on the ability of nursing students to care for the patients of COVID-19. This study provided nursing students with simulation-based education in caring for the patients of COVID-19 and confirmed its effectiveness. Methods: This study used a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were recruited from the nursing departments of two universities in Korea through convenience sampling. A total of 79 participants were included: 37 in the intervention group and 42 in the control group. The intervention group received four sessions of simulation training based on the National League for Nursing Jeffries simulation theory. Results: The intervention group showed an improvement compared to the control group in terms of knowledge related to coronavirus, confidence in performing infection control skills, and perception of preparedness for caring for the patients of COVID-19, with a high-level of satisfaction and self-confidence in learning. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of anxiety. Conclusion: This simulation is expected to be a significant strategy for alleviating the global burden in terms of staff safety and patient outcomes by improving the competencies of prospective medical staff in responding to pandemics.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.231-238
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• 2022

This study aimed to analyze the Influence of workplace spirituality on job stress and infection control performance of dental hygienists in the COVID-19 pandemic situation Questionnaire was conducted for 149 dental hygienists from February to March 2021. COVID-19 knowledge and practice of infection control, job stress. and workplace spirituality. Survey data were analyzed t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation using statistical programs of PASW Statistics ver. 21.0. Workplace spirituality was investigated to increase infection control performance and reduce job stress in a pandemic situation. The group with high infection control knowledge and performance showed low levels of job instability, organizational system, and stress. As for job stress, those with less than 2 years of experience reported relationship conflict, those with 3 to 5 years of experience showed high levels of job instability, organizational system, inadequate compensation, and workplace culture. In a pandemic situation, workplace spirituality was investigated to increase infection control performance and reduce job stress, so a plan to improve the quality of medical care was required for holistic and systematic organizational operation in preparation for the post-coronavirus.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.168-170
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• 2020

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese government officially announced that the country had some cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause. By February 8, 2020, there were 24 confirmed cases in Korea, and the number of cases has steadily increased since then. On March 9, 2020, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Korea was 7382, with 51 deaths. This study examines the characteristics of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak from the perspective of the large-scale number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. This study is significant in that it emphasizes the precautionary principle in preventing and managing infectious diseases, and makes suggestions for urgently needed public health policies.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-27
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• 2021

Objective: Covid-19 is changing many aspects of child care programs. The objective of this study was to explore how the pandemic and mitigation efforts affected the experiences and practices at child care centers in the summer of 2020. Methods: Focus group interviews and mobile surveys were conducted with principals and teachers of child care centers in August and September 2020. Descriptive statistics including frequency distributions, means and standard deviations and mean differences were used to analyze the survey data with SPSS 22.0. Results: It was found that each sector of child care settings experienced different difficulties and had various needs. Young children's lack of energy, child care teachers' workload and stress, and principles' efforts to interrupt transmission of the infectious disease based on insufficient government guideline and supports were revealed as the main experiences. Conclusion/Implications: The Covid-19 pandemic has had a tandem of influences on daily life at child care centers. As policy makers consider additional guidelines or supports measures to prevent the infection and spread of Covid-19 at child care centers, long-term as well as short-term plans at various levels should be considered to meet the unique needs of child care programs.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.86-95
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to investigate the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the development of major mental disorders in patients visiting a university hospital. Methods: The study participants were patients with COVID-19 (n=5,006) and those without COVID-19 (n=367,162) registered in the database of Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital and standardized with the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model. Data on major mental disorders that developed in both groups over the 5-year follow-up period were extracted using the FeederNet computer program. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the incidence of major mental disorders. Results: The incidences of dementia and sleep, anxiety, and depressive disorders were significantly higher in the COVID-19 group than in the control group. The incidence rates per 1,000 patient years in the COVID-19 group vs. the control group were 12.71 vs. 3.76 for dementia, 17.42 vs. 7.91 for sleep disorders, 6.15 vs. 3.41 for anxiety disorders, and 8.30 vs. 5.78 for depressive disorders. There was no significant difference in the incidence of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder between the two groups. COVID-19 infection increased the risk of mental disorders in the following order: dementia (HR, 3.49; 95% CI, 2.45-4.98), sleep disorders (HR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.76-2.91), anxiety disorders (HR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.25-2.84), and depressive disorders (HR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.09-2.15). Conclusion: This study showed that the major mental disorders associated with COVID-19 were dementia and sleep, anxiety, and depressive disorders.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.154-168
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• 2021

COVID-19 has been spreading all around the world, and threatening global health. In this situation, identifying and isolating infected individuals rapidly has been one of the most important measures to contain the epidemic. However, the standard diagnosis procedure with RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction) is costly and time-consuming. For this reason, pooled testing for COVID-19 has been proposed from the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the cost and time of identifying the COVID-19 infection. For pooled testing, how many samples are tested in group is the most significant factor to the performance of the test system. When the arrivals of test requirements and the test time are stochastic, batch-service queueing models have been utilized for the analysis of pooled-testing systems. However, most of them do not consider the false-negative test results of pooled testing in their performance analysis. For the COVID-19 RT-PCR test, there is a small but certain possibility of false-negative test results, and the group-test size affects not only the time and cost of pooled testing, but also the false-negative rate of pooled testing, which is a significant concern to public health authorities. In this study, we analyze the performance of COVID-19 pooled-testing systems with false-negative test results. To do this, we first formulate the COVID-19 pooled-testing systems with false negatives as a batch-service queuing model, and then obtain the performance measures such as the expected number of test requirements in the system, the expected number of RP-PCR tests for a test sample, the false-negative group-test rate, and the total cost per unit time, using the queueing analysis. We also present a numerical example to demonstrate the applicability of our analysis, and draw a couple of implications for COVID-19 pooled testing.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.368-377
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was conducted to develop and test the effects of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) education program for nursing students. Methods: This study used a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. A total of 71 undergraduate nursing students who had completed a fundamental nursing course and were in their third or fourth year of university participated in this study (experimental group n=38, control group n=33). The COVID-19 education program was developed according to the stages of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The program consisted of three weekly sessions that each lasted about two hours. The data were collected from February 26 to March 26, 2022 and were analyzed using the chi-squared, Fisher's exact, and independent t-tests. Results: Knowledge about COVID-19, knowledge about personal protective equipment and attitudes toward COVID-19 were not significantly different between the experimental and control groups. However, significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups regarding their confidence in COVID-19 patient nursing care (t=3.02, p=.004). Conclusion: It was confirmed that the developed program was effective in enhancing the confidence of nursing students in performing nursing for COVID-19. Therefore, it is proposed that the education program developed in this study be used as part of an infection control education program to improve nursing students' abilities to respond to emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19.