• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.195-199
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• 2008

Objectives : Malondialdehyde (MDA), a lipid peroxidation by-product, has been widely used as an indicator of oxidative stress. Urinary 2-naphthol, a urinary PAH metabolite, is used as a marker of ambient particulate exposure and is associated with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the stability and intra-individual variation associated with urinary MDA and 2-naphthol have not been thoroughly addressed. The objective of this study was to assess the stability and intra-individual variation associated with urinary MDA and 2-naphthol. Methods : Urine samples were collected from 10 healthy volunteers (mean age 34, range $27{\sim}42$ years old). Each sample was divided into three aliquots and stored under three different conditions. The levels of urinary MDA and 2-naphthol were analyzed 1) just after sampling, 2) after storage at room temperature ($21^{\circ}C$) for 16 hours, and 3) after storage in a $-20^{\circ}C$ freezer for 16 hours. In addition, an epidemiological study was conducted in 44 Chinese subjects over a period of 3 weeks. The urinary MDA and 2-naphthol were measured by HPLC three times. Results : There was no difference in the levels of urinary MDA and 2-naphthol between the triplicate measurements (n=10, p=0.84 and p=0.83, respectively). The intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) for urinary MDA and 2-naphthol were 0.74 and 0.42, respectively. However, the levels of PM2.5 in the air were well correlated with the levels of both MDA and 2-naphthol in the epidemiological study. Conclusions : These results suggest that urinary MDA and 2-naphthol remain stable under variable storage conditions, even at room temperature for 16 hours, and indicate that these markers can be used in epidemiological studies involving various sample storage conditions. The intra-CC of urinary 2-naphthol and MDA were acceptable for application to epidemiological studies.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.51-63
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• 2000

Ten Dongs were selected according to the systematic cluster sampling in Koryong Gun, and the survey was conducted on 571 women in the age between 30-69 years. The first survey was performed for 6 days between August 27 to September 1, 1999 with the investigation rate of 60.3%, and the second survey was performed in November with the investigation rate of 91.8%. The contents of survey included demographic characteristics, health behaviors, dyspepsia symptom score, sleeping induction time and the degree of sleep satisfaction, and degree of stress in the subjects. The dyspepsia symptom score was in the average 13.4 points out of a total 44 points and was the highest in the 50-59 year-old age group with 13.9 points. The sleep induction time was in the average of 35 minutes and was the highest in the 50-59 year-old age group with 40.9 minutes; the degree of sleep satisfaction was in the average of 7.9 points and was the lowest in the 50-59 year-old age group with 7.5 points. The stress score was in the average of 18.3 points and was highest in those subjects in their 40's and 50's with 18.7 points. When the correlation among the stress score, the degree of sleep satisfaction and dyspepsia symptom score was analyzed, the results showed that he stress score and the degree of sleep satisfaction showed a significant negative correlation and that the stress score and dyspepsia symptom score showed a significant positive correlation. Also, a significant negative correlation was found between the degree of sleep satisfaction and dyspepsia symptom score. According to each age group, a significant correlation was revealed among the stress score, dyspepsia symptom score and the degree of sleep satisfaction in those subjects over 40 years of age compared to those subjects who were younger than 40 years of age. As for educational level, the correlation among the stress score, the degree of sleep satisfaction and dyspepsia symptom score was higher in those subjects with less than middle school education compared to those subjects with more than high school education. When those factors that effects on the dyspepsia symptom score were analyzed with multiple regression, the results showed that the level of stress and chronic diseases were selected as significant variables. When those factors that affected on the degree of sleep satisfaction were analyzed, the sleep induction time and presence of chronic diseases and stress were selected as significant variables. Those women in their 50's who live in rural areas showed the highest level of stress, lowest the degree of sleep satisfaction, and highest level of dyspepsia, indicating that they need stress management. Also, since stress was showed to be a significant variable effecting on dyspepsia or the degree of sleep satisfaction, it is concluded that health promotion is possible through stress management. More studies are needed in the future on coping resources that would strengthen coping against stress, and by conducting studies on stress and related factors on community people, the measures of mental health promotion need to be developed.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.60-75
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• 1998

The parents have much expectation upon the pregnancy and child birth, and in most cases, they expect the healthy parturient child. However, we can be placed on the high-risk conditions which have the physical, social and immature infant, due to the unexpected results, among the new-born. Accordingly, these high-risk newborn and premature infants will be mostly in NICU, which the concentrated medical treatment can be given, upon their conditions. After their birth and during these periods, they will be divided from the parents, and the nurse will accomplish the bringing-up activities which they can take care of the infant, expected by the parents after their birth. The hospitalization of high-risk newborn including these premature infants is the shocking experience to the parents of family, and thus they can feel the fear and uneasiness, and these reactions of parents are troubled in the behavior at the usual days, and cause the disorder and spiritless status, and these results break the supporting ability of parents, and cause the obstruction. Also, the unavoidable division between the parents and the children as like hospitalization of children can make the parents to feel the alienation emotionally, and this causes the results which the pride on the bringing-up ability of baby gets to be lost. These problems can cause the difficulties on the bonding or the parenting in the further days, and can be related to the neglect and abuse of children. Also, it is gradually increased to study and report which the emotional division by the physical division between the mother and the baby obstructs the normal affection course between the parent and the infant. The stress caused by the birth and the hospitalization of high-risk newborn, as like this, is important in the points which it can uncertainly affect the potential energy for the relationship of parent-child who are finally healthy. Accordingly, the significance and purpose of this study are to understand the contents and degree of stress which the parents of high-risk newborn including the immature child can be experienced from the hospitalization of ICU for their new borns, and thus to offer the basic program to the nursing intervention program for these. The subject of this study is the mother of newborn in NICU of 10 General Hospitals located at the 3one of Pusan, Korea from September 1997 to October 1997, and thus makes the subject of 95 person of parents who agreed to take part in the study and it is descriptive study related to the stress of mother having the newborn in NICU. The method is based on the preceding study related to the stress of mother having the experience of child hospitalization and chronic disease child, and then acquires the advice of specialists group as like 5 nursing professors, and then is amended and supplemented. Total number of questions is 43 items and consists of 5 factors as like medical treatment &nursing procedures, disease status & prognosis, role of parents, communication & inter-personal relationships, hospital environment, and is 5 point Likert Scale. The reliability of this study method is very highly shown to be Cronbach α=0.95. The collected data is analysed as Average, Frequency, Standard Deviation, T-test, ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Duncan multifulrange test by use of SPSS /PC (V7.5). The results of this study is summarized as under. 1. Every characteristics of subject is which the party of mother is 28.70age(±7.48) in the average ages, 51% in the high-school graduate, 38.5% in the christianity, total monthly income is 212.55 thousand won(±1.971), 74.5% in the housewife, 72.9% in the parents and children together living and the number of children to be 1.48person(± 0.6) in average, the recognition on the prognosis of baby is 74.0% in 'Don't know', the relationship with the husband after the hospitalization of babyis 37.3% in 'More Intimate', the relationship with the family of husband to be 48% in 'No-change', and the degree which is consulted with the husband about the baby is 55% in 'very frequently' and the visiting number per week is 4.59(±1.63) in average and the accompanying person in the time of visiting is which the number of husband is 56.3% and thus is the highest. The characteristics of baby is which the age is 21.88days(±16.47) after the birth in average, the sex to be 50 person in the female 52.1% and the order of birth to be 54.2% in the first chid, and the weight in the birth to be 2770gm(±610) and the height in the birth to be 46.26cm(±7.62) in aver age. The medical diagnosis is 37.5% in the premature infant, the career of hospitalization is 96.9% in 'None', and the operation plan is 90.6% in 'None' and the execution of operation is 88% in 'None' and the nursing of incubator is 55.2% in 'Yes', and the method of feeding is 50.5% in 'Oral' and the contents of feeding is 46.9% in the 'Milk'. 2. The total stress degree of subject is almost highly shown to be as 3.36(±0.86). If it is compared upon each cause, 'stress on disease status & prognosis' is highest 3.79(±1.28), and it is in the order of 'stress on medical treatment & nursing procedures' 3.70(±0.93), 'stress on hospital environment' 3.14(±0.86), 'stress on role of parents' 3.18(±0.92) and 'stress on communication & inter personal relationship' 2.62(± 0.77) 3. As the results of checking the notworthiness of stress degree upon each variable of subject, the variable showing the noted difference was the birth weight(γ=-0.16, P=0.04), birth height(γ=-0.23, P=0.03), nursing in the incubator(F=8.93, P=0.04), feed method(F=2.94, P=0.04). That is to say, it is shown which the smaller the birth weight is, the higher the stress degree of mother is noteworthily. Also, the smaller the birth height baby is, the higher the stress of mother is. In the incubator, it os shown which the mother whose baby is nursing in the incubator is higher in the stress degree than other mothers. Upon the feeding method of baby, that is to say, TPNis the highest, and it is shown in the order of NPO, Tube feeding, and P.O. feeding. When we review the above-mentioned results, as the status is serious, it is thought which we include the supporting nursing for coping with the stress of parents in the setting-up od nursing plan for the baby in the NICU.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-57
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• 1996

A serious disease in a family influences the entire family member given the fact that the members closely interact with each other. Especially in terms of pediatric nursing, study on family gains importance as the need to care of families whose children with developmental disabilities and chronic disease This study was done based on The Resiliency Model of Family Adjustment and Adaptation(McCubbin, 1991) is intended to examine the stress of parents whose children suffer from cleft lip or /and cleft palate. It also helps them to cope with the stress and analyze the relationship between the stress and coping This study used Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (FILE) and Coping Health Inventory for Parents(CHIP) for measuring family stress and coping. The two instruments are revised to fit the social and cultural environment of Korean culture. Data collection was done from April 18, 1996 to May 18, 1996 at 8 University medical centers located in Seoul. Those who answered questionnaires were 84 parents whose children have cleft lip or /and cleft palate. SPSS PC+ was used to analyze the data collotted. Programs used for data analysis were t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient. The study is summarized as follows .1. The average score of family stress is 10.46(percentage of the full score 24.90) and 'finance and business strains'(3.25), and 'intrafamily strains'(2.65) ranked the highest. The average score of family's coping is 1.93, which is close to the answer of' moderately helpful' and they are measured to put their utmost efforts to' intergration and cooperation of family and optimistic definition on the situation'. 2. There is no significant statistical correlation between the family stress and coping. 3. Mothers show more stress than fathers in the parts of 'illness and family care strains' and 'losses'(t〓-2.34, t〓-2.32, p<.05). 4. Fathers show more willingness to cope with the stress than mothers do in the parts of' seeking social support','self-esteem','emotional comfort' 5. Mothers are more stress than fathers in the parts of family stress and its coping with it by usual traits(t〓-2.78, p<.05). Parents with religion are measured to cope more willingly than those who are not 6. Income of a family shows positive correlationship with family coping (r〓.28, p<.05). The study shows that gender difference is significant variable in studying on family stress and coping. Mothers get more stress than fathers, which has much to do with the fact that they are in charge of raising children and keeping houseworks. Accordingly, managing family crisis and its survival can be induced by giving support for the mothers, studying fathers including the rest of the family members and giving nursing care and arbitration ; religious background is also considered to be one of the important factors in family stress , judging from the relationship between family income and family's coping, caring given to suffering children is needed on societal levels. The above considerations bring up the need to have a longitudinal study of children with congenital anomaly including cleft lip or /and cleft palate and their families about family stress and coping. Resiliency programs on family system and their effectiveness and the relationship between the enlarged families with social and cultural values reflecting Korean tradition are also needed to be studied.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.127-152
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• 2007

Objectives : To research the trend of the study related to Chuna(推拿) and to establish the direction of further studies into the Chuna(推拿). Methods : We reviewed and analyzed all theses published by Korean research institution. And these theses were classified by research institutions, published year, field of study, subject, research methods, thesis types, illness and symptoms. Results : The following results were obtained in this study. 1. Classified by the major field of study, oriental medicine accounted for 59 papers, followed by 18 in physical education and 2 in the science of nursing and medicine. 2. Upon classifying theses according to research method and thesis types, research related to clinical trial accounted for nearly half of all theses. It was followed by consideration of documents. 3. After 1998 deals with the effects of the Chuna on variable illnesses such as: ossified posterior longitudinal ligament, chronic coccyalgia, entrapment neuropathy, low birth weight infant, Bell's palsy, stress incontinence, paramenia, Parkinson disease, Bertolloti syndrom, TMJ (because of scoliosis) etc. 4. Two most widely cured illnesses using the Chuna therapy are scoliosis and HNP of L-spine. However, when considering the fact that several clinical tests and casuistics did not include research into Lumbago (including HNP of L-spine), it can be concluded that most of the Chuna therapies have been concentrated on Lumbago. Conclusion : As it can be seen in the above results, the possibility of curing illness through Chuna and the usefulness of Chuna have been shown factually and clinically through various consideration of documents, clinical trial & casuistics. Based upon such facts, it is regarded that further scientific research along with additional clinical approaches involving the Chuna should be performed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.565-577
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to construct and test a hypothetical model about impact of parents' problem drinking on suicidal ideation of their children who are university students and the multiple mediating effects of childhood trauma, experiential avoidance, and depression based on stress-vulnerability model. Methods: A purposive sample of 400 university students was recruited from three universities in provincial areas and the data were collected between October and November 2016. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed. Multiple mediating effects analysis using phantom variable and bootstrapping were implemented to verify the mediating effect of the research model. Results: We found no significant direct effect on depression and suicidal ideation of parents' problem drinking, but multiple mediating effects of childhood trauma and experiential avoidance between parents' problem drinking and depression (B=.38, p=.001). The path from parents' problem drinking to suicidal ideation was significantly mediated by childhood trauma and depression (B=.02, p=.016) and by childhood trauma, experiential avoidance, and depression (B=.05, p=.011), but experiential avoidance did not have a significant direct effect on suicidal ideation (B=.02, p=.616). Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, it can be suggested that in order to decrease depression and prevent suicide of university students, considering of parents' problem drinking and childhood trauma, intervention methods that decreased chronic use of experiential avoidance and strengthen acceptance should be developed and made available to them.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.149-166
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• 1999

Self-care and the performance of their own role might be important for the prevention of complications and improvement of quality of life in hemodialysis patients with chronic renal failure(CRF). To improve well-being and quality of life for the patients, the author estimated the level of self-care and associating factors through a questionnaire. The information was composed of the knowledge for hemodialysis and renal disease, the level of self-care, health belief, supports from the family, disease-related stresses, personal characteristics, medical history, relationships with medical personnel, etc. The data was gathered from 126 hemodialysis patients who were undergoing hemodialysis in one university hospital and five hospitals in Kyungsangnam-Do area from December 1997 to January 1998, and was analyzed by PC SAS program(version 6.12) with the level of significance($\alpha$=0.05). The mean age of subjects was 47.0$\pm$13.5years with no significant difference in gender distribution. The mean duration of hemodialysis was 39.0 months, and their frequencies of hemodialysis were more than three times per week(77.0%). Only 21.4% had the specific education on hemodialysis and CRF. In the level which was expressed as the score out of 100, the mean of knowledge was 90.7$\pm$9.1 and the mean of self-care was 73.9$\pm$12.7, that means, they only partially carried their knowledge into practice. They showed a significant correlation between knowledge and health belief($\gamma$=0.282); self-care and health belief($\gamma$=0.357), family supports and knowledge($\gamma$=0.221), self-care($\gamma$=0.402), health belief($\gamma$=0.431); and health belief and stress($\gamma$=-0.361). Age, religion, marrital status, education, and relationships with medical personnel showed positive correlations, and smoking showed negative correlation with self-care. In the multiple regression with the level of self-care as dependent variable, and each of the characeristics as independent variables, supports from the family($\beta$=6.615=0.158), the experience of disease specific education($\beta$=4.959), relationships with medical personnel($\beta$=6.615), current smoking($\beta$=-6.986), and current drinking ($\beta$=-7.095) were detected as significant factors. The value of R-square was 34%. In summary, to promote the level self-care and to improve the well beings and Quality of life for the hemodialysis patients, it would be emphasized that they terminate smoking and drinking, and it would be recommended that the education programs and supports from the family be strengthened. And, because there was a considerable difference between the level of knowledge and self-care, it would also be emphasized to propose the education programs which focused on execution. In addition to that, there is a need to improve relationships between the patients and medical personnel through positive changes in the attitudes of the medical personnel.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.133-145
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• 1999

The purposesof the study are to analyze the community nursing center in U.S.A and to develop the model of nursing care system based on nurse-midwifery clinic in community for women's health in Korea. 1. In America nursing center is defined as nurse-anchored system of primary care delivery or neighborhood health center. Nursing centers are identified the following four types: (1) community outreach centers, which are similar to traditional public health clinics: (2) institutional-based centers following the mission of a large institution, such as a hospital or university: (3) wellness/health promotion centers, which offer screening, education, counseling, triage, and health maintenance services: and (4) independent practice. Nursing centers are a concept of services provided by nurses in practice arrangements in a community. Nursing centers offer a variety of services, ranging from primary care provided by advanced practice nurses with medical acute management and nursing care to the more traditional education, health promotion, screening wellness and coordination services. Some services, such as the care provided by advanced practice nurses are reimbursed under various insurance plan in some instances and states, where as others, such as preventive and educational services, are not. Thus, lack of reimbursement has threatened the survival of some centers. Licensing of nursing centers varies by state and program and accreditation of nursing centers is also limited. 52% of centers are affiliated with another facility and 48% are freestanding centers. The number of registered nurse at the nursing centers ranges from just one to 115, with a mean of eight RNs peragency and a median of three. Nursing centers avail ability varies: 14% are open 24 hours, 27% have variable short hours, 23% are open 6-7 days per week, and 36% are open Monday- Friday. As the result of my visiting three health centers in Seattle and San Francisco, the women's primary care nurse practitioners focus on a systematic and comprehensive assessment of the health status of women and diagnosis and management of common physical and psychosocial health concerns of women in ambulatory settings. Therapeutic nursing strategies are directed toward self-care, risk reoduction, health surveillance, stress reduction, healthy nutrition, social support, healthy coping, psychological well-being, and pharmacological therapy. They function as primary care providers for the well ness and illness care of women from adolescence through the older adult years and pregnant families. 2. In Korea a nurse-midwife practices independently for pregnant women's health including childbearing family at her own clinic in community. Her services are reimbursed under national health insurance but they are not paid on a fee-for-service schedule covering items. Analyzing the nursing centers in America, I suggest that nurse-midwifery clinics offer primary care for women and home care for chronic ill patients. The health law and health insurance policy should be reovised in order to expand nurse-midwife's and home care nurse's roles at nurse-midwifery clinic.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.74-90
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• 2021

Background: It is getting important to improve the oral health status of the elderly because oral health status may affect their health status of the whole body. In this respect, we aimed to explore the association of oral health status and behavior factors with self-rated health status by sex. Methods: Using the data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for health surveys and oral examinations (2016-2018), we analyzed a total of 3,070 people aged 65 or older (men: 1,329; women: 1,741). Our dependent variable, self-rated health status, was divided into two groups: not good (bad and very bad) and good (very good, good, and fair), whereas our independent variables of interest were oral health status and behavior factors. In addition to descriptive analysis and the Rao-Scott chi-square test, reflecting survey characteristics, we conducted hierarchical multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for socio-demographics and health status and behavior factors. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: The proportion of people having 'not good' self-rated health was 36.5% in women but 24.5% in men. In a model adjusted for all covariates, the self-rated health status showed significant association with the self-rated oral health status. For example, in men, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'poor' (odds ratio [OR], 5.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.34-12.03) self-rated oral health status and in those having 'fair' (OR, 4.03; 95% CI, 1.68-9.70) in comparison with those having 'good' self-rated oral health status. Dental status regarding speaking difficulty seemed to be very important in influencing self-rated health status. For instance, in women, compared to people having 'no discomfort' speaking difficulty, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'not bad' (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.14-2.24) and 'discomfort' (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.30-2.47) speaking difficulty. The covariates significantly associated with the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health were: physical activity, chronic disease, stress, and body mass index in both sexes; health insurance type and drinking only in men; and economic activity only in women. Conclusion: Oral health status and behavioral factors were associated with self-rated health status among the elderly, differently by sex. This suggests that public health policies toward better health in the elderly should take their oral health status and oral health behaviors into account in a sex-specific way.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.88-117
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• 1990

The purposes of this study are to delineate a profile of the state of a stroke patient's adaptation at 3 months after hospitalization and to explore the relationship between the level of adaptation and the variables which influence the adaptation of hemiplegic patients. To these ends, theoretical framework was derived basically from the stress adaptation model. The basic assumption underlying the level of adaptation is influenced by the presenting focal, contextual and residual stimuli. This group of stimuli is further operationalized and represented by a perception of stress. which is the perceived effect of the disability and by the mediating variables such as sociodemographic factors as an external conditioning variables and perceived social support and hardiness personality characteristics as an internal intervening variables. The dependent varibales in this study is the level of physical, psychological and social adaptation and is hypothesized to be a function of the interaction between 3 sets of variables namely, the perceived disability effect, external conditioning variables and internal intevening varibles. A total of fourty three subjects from 3 general hospitals in Seoul were observed and interviewed with the aid of 7 structured instruments. The data were collected twice on each subject : first at the pre-discharge period arid at 3 months post-discharge from hospital for the second time. The study was carried out for the period from February to August, 1988. The instruments used for the study include 4 existing scales and 3 scales developed by the researcher for this study. They are : 1) The ADL dependency scale and the scale of the clinical physical functions for the assessment of physical adaptation. 2) the SDS(self report of depression) to measure the level of psychological adaptation. 3) The scale for the amount of social activities for the measurement of the level of social adaptation. 4) The scale for the perceived effect of disability for the measurement of the focal stimuli. 5) The health related hardiness scale and the perceived interpersonal support self evaluation list(ISEL) for the measurement of the hardiness personality character and the perceived social support. The data obtained were analyzed using percentage, oneway ANOVA, Pearson coefficients correlation and stepwise multiple regression. The findings provide valuable information about the present level of physical adaptation at 3 months after discharge. The patient revealed a decreased ADL dependency and lowered limitation of physical function as compared with pre - discharge state. Psycholcgically, the average degree of depression at follow up was within normal range of depression. Socially, the amount of social activities was very low. The one way ANOVA and the correlational analysis revealed the relationship between the 3 sets of variables and the adaptation level as follows : 1) The perceived disability effect was related to the degree of the depression and the amount of social activities but was not related to the physical adaptation. 2) Among the sociodemographic variables, sex and education were related to the difference of ADL dependency and the change of physical function. These factors indicate that women more than men and educated more than the less educated were found more independent. The education was also related to the degree of depression suggesting that the higher the educational level, the more well adapted the patients were both physically and psychologically. Age, marital status and job state were not found to be related to the patient's adaptation level. 3) Among the internal intervening variables, the health related hardiness characteristic was related to the differences of ADL dependency, physical functions and the social activities, indicating that the higher the hardiness character the higher the level of physical and social adaptation. 4) The perceived social support, another internal intervening variable, was related to the degree of depression and the social activities. This data suggest that the higher the perception of social support, the better adapted the patients were psychogically and socially. In summarizing the results of the correlational analysis, the level of physical adaptation was influenced by sex, the years of education and the hardiness character. The level of psychological adaptation was influenced by the years of education, the perceived disability effect and the perceived social support. And the level of social adaptation was influenced by the perceived disability effect, the hardiness character and the perceived social support. The stepwise multiple regression analysis shows findings as follows : 1) The most important factor to explain the difference of ADL dependency was sex, indicating females were more independent than males. 2) The most important factor to explain the difference of physical function and the degree of depression was the patient's education level. 3) The strongest explaining factor for the amount of social activities was perceived self esteem(one of the subconcepts of perceived social support). Thus the most important factors influencing the level of adaptation were found to be sex, education, the hardiness character and self esteem. From the above findings, the significance of this study can be delineated as follows : 1) Corroboration of the assumed relationship between the various variables and the adaptation level as suggested in the conceptual model. 2) Support for the feasibility of the cognitive approach for nursing intervention such as hardness character training, counselling and teaching for self-care in the chronic patients.