• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.679-687
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• 1999

The increased potential for the lifespan of a child with cancer is largely due to advances in drug treatment, radiation treatment, and surgical techniques. In this generation cancer has become associated with chronic illness. Therefore supportive nursing intervention for children with cancer is needed to promote normal growth and development. This study was designed to develop and test the supportive nursing intervention program for promoting body image and self-esteem of children with cancer The supportive nursing intervention program involved emotional, physical, informational, and social support. The subjects were 41 children with cancer(20 in intervention group, 21 in control group) in K city. Measurements were taken concerning body image and self-esteem from both groups during pre and post test The data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, x$^2$-test, paired t-test and t-test. The results were as follows : The intervention group had a more positive body image as measured by the Body Cathexis Scale (t＝2.436, p＝.020) and a more self esteem as measured by the Cpopersmith self-inventory (t＝2.768, p＝.009) than the control group at post test. According to this study, the supportive nursing intervention program was effective for promoting the body image and self-esteem of children with cancer. Repeated research is needed to develop a refined supportive nursing intervention program for children with chronic illness.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 2015

This review has focused on important but less visible aspects of fibromyalgia (FM) with respect to the high impact of this disorder on patients and societies. FM is a common but challengeable illness. It is characterized by chronic widespread pain, which can be accompanied by other symptoms including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety and depressive episodes. While our understanding of this debilitating disorder is limited, diagnosis and treatment of this condition is very difficult, even in the hands of experts. Due to the nature of disease, where patients experience invalidation by medical services, their families and societies regarding the recognition and management of disease, direct, indirect and immeasurable costs are considerable. These clinical and economic costs are comparable with other common diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis, but the latter usually receives much more attention from healthcare and non-healthcare resources. Present alarming data shows the grave and "iceberg-like" burden of FM despite the benign appearance of this disorder and highlights the urgent need both for greater awareness of the disease among medical services and societies, as well as for more research focused on easily used diagnostic methods and target specific treatment.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2019

Purpose: Purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of stress, social support, and lifestyle on health-related quality of life among middle-aged women. Methods: One hundred forty three-middle aged women were recruited and completed questionnaires regarding their stress, social support, lifestyle and health-related quality of life. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression. Results: Regression model was statistically significant (F= 24.80, p< .001) with 46% of adjusted $R^2$. Stress showed to be a major factor influencing health-related quality of life in middle-aged women (p< .001) and the presence of chronic illness (p= .011) was noted as next in the result of a multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: The results suggest that nursing professionals should include strategies to reduce stress and to consider helping women with chronic illness when developing a health promotion program to increase health related quality of life for middle-aged women.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.62-70
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify workload measurement indicators for school nurses in order to provide high-quality health care and deploy school nurses effectively. Methods: A second Delphi survey was conducted on 21 experts with more than 5 years of school nurses experience. To develop indicators related to the workload of school nurses, the importance and measurability of a total of 21 workload indicators were investigated, including school nurses characteristics, school characteristics, health needs of students, and socioeconomic determinants. Results: As a result of the Delphi survey, it was found that 6 indicators were suitable in terms of importance and 8 indicators in terms of measurability. The important indicators the panel agreed on include the size of the city where the school is located, the total number of students, the number of classes, the percentage of students with chronic illness, the percentage of students visiting the health office per day, and the percentage of wound care in the health office per day. Conclusion: The percentage of students with chronic illness and the percentage of wound care per day need to be reflected in school nurse workload indicators and follow-up studies are required to shed more light on the socioeconomic determinants of schools.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.42-51
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• 2017

Purpose: In people who have chronic diseases, disabilities, and rehabilitation needs, self-management education can improve health and health-related behavior, and it can reduce the utilization of healthcare services. The purpose of this research was to assess the long-term effects of chronic-disease self-management education in Japan. Methods: This study included 184 adults living with various chronic medical conditions who participated in the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) in Japan. Data were collected before the program began, and then collected 3 more times over 1 year. Results: Healthcare-service utilization was low at baseline, and it did not change. Self-evaluated health status, health-related distress, coping with symptoms, communication with doctors, and self-efficacy to manage symptoms all improved after the program. However, there was backsliding in all of the outcomes that had improved. Conclusion: Some benefits of this program can last for at least 1 year, but interventions to prevent attenuation may be needed. For economic evaluations, research should focus on populations with higher baseline levels healthcare-service utilization, including use of rehabilitation services. Also, more attention should be focused on the longer-term decay or persistence of the program's benefits, particularly regarding on preventing and reducing disabilities and with regard to rehabilitation needs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.3 s.62
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• pp.460-470
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• 1998

By expanding health insurance, customers will carry a smaller burden of medical costs. As a result, the number of visits to a physician increase and this result in the improvement of medical accessibility. But medical care utilization may be changed not only by insurance status but also by socio-demographic factor, economic status and other factors. The question thus remains, at which level of accessibility and what price of medical care service in health insurance will the customer and the medical care service be satisfied. The price of medical care service ls comprised of the customer's out-of-pocket money and the costs not covered by health insurance. If the price of medical care services in health insurance are appropriate, medical care utilization should not differ because of the difference in income status or the acuteness of illness. But If the price is not adequate, low income groups will receive relatively low medical care utilization, particularly in the case of chronic disease. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the differences in medical care utilization among the various income groups and those with varying acuteness of illness. The major hypotheses to test in this study are : (i) whether there are differences in medical care utilization among different income groups exist, (ii) whether differences in medical care utilization among different income groups exist with the hospital type. (iii) whether differences in medical care utilization among different income groups exist with the acuteness of illness and with age. The data was collected from the JongRo District Health Insurance Society in Seoul. A total of 118,336 persons were selected as the final sample for this study. The major findings of this study were as follows; 1. The volume of ambulatory utilization among users was statistically significant by income level. 2. Among different income groups, the volume of ambulatory utilization was statistically significant by the acuteness of illness. 3. Higher income groups with chronic diseases had a greater volume of ambulatory utilization than other groups.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.80 no.3
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• pp.241-246
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• 2017

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an ambulatory care-sensitive condition, and effective treatment of outpatients can prevent worsening of the illness and hospitalization. Current COPD guidelines provide appropriate guidance for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with COPD. In fact, it has been shown that when appropriate guidance and treatment are performed, the morbidity and mortality rates of COPD patients are reduced. However, there is a gap between the clinical guidelines and the actual clinical treatment. Therefore, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) conducted an evaluation of the adequacy of COPD diagnosis and treatment using the Claims Database of HIRA. This review provides a summary of the COPD adequacy assessment results reported by the HIRA and some brief comments on the results.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.103-111
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• 1985

Recently changes in thyroid physiology during acute and chronic medical illness were demonstrated. The serum $fT_3,\;rT_3,\;T_4,\;T_3,\;fT_4$, and TSH concentration were measured by radioimmunoassay method in 49 patients with critical illness and 10 normal subjects to assess the change of thyroid function in critical illness. The results were as follows; 1) The mean serum $fT_3$ concentration was $6.68{\pm}1.05pmol/ml$ in normal subjects while in patients with critical illness the serum $fT_3$ concentration was significantly lowered to $1.55{\pm}1.15pmol/ml$(p<0.001). 2) The mean serum $rT_3$ concentration was $0.22{\pm}0.44ng/ml$ in normal subjects and $0.42{\pm}0.37ng/ml$ in patient with critical illness. There was increment in critically ill patients as compared to normal subjects but no statistically significant difference(p>0.05). 3) The mean serum $T_3$ concentration was $1.24{\pm}0.25ng/ml$ in normal subjects and $0.56{\pm}0.56ng/ml$ in patients with criticial illness and there was significant difference in each other(p<0.005). 4) The mean serum $T_4,\;fT_4$, and TSH concentrations were $7.80{\pm}1.02{\mu}g/dl,\;1.26{\pm}0.39ng/dl,\;1.87{\pm}0.45{\mu}U/ml$ in normal subjects respectively and $6.02{\pm}3.06{\mu}g/dl,\;1.46{\pm}0.80ng/dl,\;1.74{\pm}0.79{\mu}U/ml$ in patients with critical illness and there was no significant difference between critically ill patients and normal subjects. 5) The ratio of mean serum concentration of $fT_3$ and $rT_3(fT_3/rT_3)$, $30.42{\pm}5.58$ in normal subjects was significantly higher(p<0.005) than the coresponding patients with critical illness. 6) The mean serum $fT_3$ concentration in expired cases(n=12) during admission was significant difference between expired and survived cases(p<0.005). The mean serum $rT_3$ centration was $0.67{\pm}0.58ng/ml$ in expired cases and $0.34{\pm}0.22ng/ml$ in survived cases with significant difference(p<0.005). Half of the cases who showed less than $3{\mu}g/dl$ of serum $T_4$ level were expired.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.84-90
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• 2019

Objectives: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating illness impairing seriously quality of life, while CFS would be an optimized target disorder of Korean medicine. This study aims to present the recent information especially in aspect of medical policy and new diagnosis criteria for CFS. Methods: The literature survey was conducted using the terms of "chronic fatigue syndrome", "myalgic encephalomyelitis" and "fibromyalgia" in PubMed database and Google database in its entirety from January 2011 to February 2019. The in-depth review was made focusing on the changes in policy and medical perspective for CFS. Results: Recently large medical attentions and researches for CFS have been existed worldwide. By supporting of USA government, IOM made a report which leaded to a turning point in clinical practices and research in 2015. This report recommended a new name of CFS to systemic exertion intolerance disease (SEID), and new diagnostic criteria focusing on post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, cognitive impairment and orthostatic intolerance. The medical perspective also was changed into "a serious, chronic, complex, systemic disease" from a psychological-like disorder, and then UAS and EU governments sharply increased the research grants. Conclusions: This study provided practitioners in Korean medicine (KM) a core information about the recent changes in CFS-related perspectives. This review would be helpful for KM-derived researches or therapeutics development for CFS.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2004

Objectives: The prostatitis is characterized as relatively uncurable chronic recurrent illness. Because it is so difficult to treat, this study was designed to evaluate the clinical effects of herb medicine, acupuncture, and herbal acupuncture therapy on chronic prostatitis. Methods: A clinical observation was made on thirty patients with chronic prostatitis. They were treated with herb medicine, acupuncture, and herbal acupuncture therapy. Before and after treatment we measured NIH-CPSI(National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index). Results: After treatment NIH-CPSI was decreased considerably. Conclusions: This suggests a role for oriental medical therapy in treating prostatic diseases. Further study into approach and application of these treatments for prostatitis is needed.