• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.57 no.1 s.110
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• pp.147-162
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to grasp the inconvenience and problems with caregivers' uniforms and preferred designs by examining the wearing conditions of these uniforms in medical welfare facilities for the aged. To attain this purpose, a questionnaire was completed by direct observation and by interviewing caregivers in specialized hospitals for the aged and those engaged in nursing and then a preliminary examination was carried out. The questionnaire was given to 228 caregivers. Following are the results of this research. It was found that the caregivers in medical welfare facilities for the aged were women in their 50s, wearing primarily a size 77 uniform. It was revealed that when the caregivers bathe patients, they usually get wet from the knees to the bottom part of their pants and many of them (61.2%) change both their tops and pants after giving a bath. The caregivers said that every part of the tops of existing uniforms, except the armpits, were a little large or too long. It turned out that the area of the armpits, the front buttons, crotch, hip area, and knees are mostly the areas that readily wear out in the uniforms. It was reported that the uncomfortable parts in the uniforms a.e the armpits, shoulders, and the front adjusting parts of the tops and the hips, thighs, and the crotches of the pants. The material for the uniforms have problems in ventilation, fluffing, absorption of sweat, and permeation of odor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.5 s.164
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• pp.788-800
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to develop a caregiver's uniform that is appropriate for nursing and to improve movement adaptability as well as having a pleasing appearance. Based on the results of preliminary study, I investigated the inconvenience and problems with the existing uniforms and made a sample uniform taking into consideration the design, the material, and the pattern. We carried out a sensory assessment and quantitative assessment in order to compare the sample uniform with existing uniforms. Following are the results of this research. The top is a short-sleeved blouse with a round neckline having no collar and with armpit gussets. The armpit gussets are semicircles and the inverted pleats in the back are an improvement designed for activity. The pants are long reaching to the ankles with elastic in the waist so that the waist measurement may be adjusted. The length of the pants can be adjusted with strings and the pants have a funnel-shaped pocket for adjustment of length. We used a mix of polyurethane and polyester for the outer cloth of the uniform in order to improve activity function and used $Coolever^{TM}$, the sanitary textile that absorbs moisture well and dries in a short time, for gussets in the armpits, which is the heavy sweat area. The appearance assessment and movement adaptability assessment were performed with 5 subjects and 9 experts. For the results of the assessment, the sample uniform was appraised to be better than the existing uniforms in every item of an appearance comparison assessment except for the neckline assessment by the experts. As for the assessment of movement appropriateness and wearing assessment, the same subjects were used for analysis. As the results of the assessment, the sample uniform was rated higher than the existing uniforms in movement adaptability and pleasing appearance.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.127-139
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to examin wearing satisfaction and needs of the caregivers' uniforms. The questionnaire survey was conducted on 303 who are serving in the geriatric hospital and general hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi, Chungcheong region. It was coherently found on the whole that the irrelevance to the fitness of size system influenced the discomfort, and the relation between discomfort and satisfaction revealed negative-correlation, and the higher the discomfort is and the lower satisfaction is, the higher their improvement needs are. Particularly, the higher the discomfort on the fitness of size system is and the lower its satisfaction is, the higher the improvement needs on the size system and activities are. As a result, the clothing construction and the selection of materials for the complement of the fitness and discomfort's incongruity is required. Namely, the yoke of the back area and the various detail for the activity, the materials satisfying stretch, good-touch, antibiotic functionality, and the expansion of the size system are needed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.38
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• pp.33-67
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• 1999

This study is the second phase of the author's larger attempt to investigate the factors affecting housewives' caregiving behavior to their elderly parents-in-law. Specifically, it revises and expands the previous model (1998) and develops a new one by rectifying the three major problems inherent in the previous study: (1) misspecification error; (2) non-equivalent comparison of results between the father-in-law model and mother-in-law model that stems from the inclusion of heterogeneous group of caregivers; (3) measurement problems for the two endogenous variables of eldercare attitude and behavior. To do this, the current study proposes a more comprehensive model by additionally incorporating other salient exogenous variables, renders the comparison of results between the father-in-law and mother-in-law models equivalent by including only homogeneous group of caregivers (i. e., only those housewives whose parents-in-law are both alive), and introduces standardized measurement scales for the endogenous variables. Estimation of the model in terms of maximum likelihood procedures in LISREL8 attests to a better overall performance over the previous model when judged from several criteria such as coefficient of determination, model fit statistics, proportion of significant causal paths, and measurement properties of reliability and validity for the variables. Interpretation of the findings suggests several salient theoretical implications that concern such crucial issues as the inconsistency between eldercare attitude and behavior, patterns of association among the subdimensions of eldercare, and the difference in the antecedents explaining attitude as opposed to behavior of eldercare. In particular, the finding that indicates almost no differences in the determinants between the father-in-law and mother-in-law models suggests a strong case to argue that caregiving behavior to fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law, respectively, is likely to be a uniform phenomenon sharing virtual1y the same antecedents, and that a unified single model is sufficient to account for caregiving behavior to both parties.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.618-626
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• 2006

This research explored the actual conditions, problems and design preferences of dementia inpatient clothing. Data were collected by surveying 21 dementia hospitals and nursing care facilities and 87 caregivers and nurses of dementia hospitals. The collected data were analysed through frequency analysis, descriptive analysis and factor analysis. The results were as follows, First, the inpatient clothes of dementia hospitals were two-piece styles, the shirts of front opening with buttons and pants of no opening with elastic band. Those of dementia care facilities were two piece styles of shirts and pants, training suits or private plain clothes not uniform. Severe dementia inpatient dressed uniforms of the jump suits or two piece styles in some dementia care facilities. Second, the problems of dementia inpatient clothing were composed of suitability of raw and subsidiary clothing material, diversity of design and size, durability and form stability of clothes and elastic bands. Third, the design elements similar to those of existing inpatient clothing were preferred with regard to improving dementia inpatient clothing. That is, the design preferences of shirts showed front opening style with buttons, round neckline and a three-quarter-length sleeves. Those of pants came out no opening style with elastic band and full length. Also, pink color and natural patterns were preferred, and the private plain clothing of inpatient and fusion Han-bok style were somewhat preferred.