• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.264-274
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• 2017

Purpose: This study examined the current state of death preparedness and factors related to the death preparedness among community-dwelling older adults in Korea. Methods: A total of 6,879 older adults' data, selected from the Korean National Survey on the Elderly 2014 data, were analyzed. The criteria for selection were responding to the questionnaires directly and normal cognitive function. Stratified sampling logistic regression analysis was conducted on the compiled data. Results: It was seen that 37.3% of older adults were prepared for death; specifically, 28.6% had arranged for resting places, 10.7% had purchased burial clothes, 6.8% had subscribed to mutual aid societies, 0.7% participated in death education, and 0.6% had signed a will. The results of logistic regression indicated that the older adults who were females, older age, religious, highly educated, more satisfied with their economic status, living in rural areas, and participating in more social activities were more likely to prepare for their deaths compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Education programs that prepare for death need to target marginalized groups in the community, such as male older adults and whose participation in social activities or satisfaction with their economic status are relatively low.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.749-758
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• 2001

The purpose of the study was to analyze the functional status of low income elderly living at home according to their socio-economic factors, sensory function, health status, medical service utilization, commodity and types of chronic disease. Method: Functional status was defined by the level of mobility, ADL and IADL categorized as independently functional, mildly impaired, moderately disabled, and severely disabled. The data was collected by home-visit interviews with 567 community dwelling adults who were 65 years of age or more with low a income status subsidized by government in ChonAn. Results: 9.9% of community dwelling older adults were severely disabled, and 44.4% were moderately disabled in their functional status. There were significant differences in the functional status by age, education, religion, and types of family structure. The older adults with hearing impairment or dental problems had a significantly higher rate of severe disability. Self-rated health status and medical service utilization were also significant factors to the differences in functional status. The functional status of older adults was also significantly related to the presence of chronic health problems such as chronic back pain, stroke, and Alzheimer-dementia. Conclusion: The results confirmed that community dwelling older adults with low income status were more functionally disabled in comparison to general older adults at national level, while the relating factors to their functional status seemed similar to other studies on older adults. Further studies were suggested to look into functional status longitudinally and focus on the changes of functional status by managing modifiable influencing factors.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.102-110
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: The participants were 133 elderly people dwelling in a community. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and Stepwise multiple regression with SPSS. Results: The predictors of quality of life in the elderly were depression, physical symptoms, and social support. Depression and physical symptoms had a significant negative correlation with HRQoL and social support had a significant positive correlation with HRQoL. Among them, depression was shown as the most significant predictor of HRQoL in the elderly ($R^2$=.573, p<.001). Conclusion: These results indicate that strategies to relieve depression should be integrated in interventions to improve the QoL of older adults dwelling in a community residence.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to measure the relationship between the recognition of well-dying, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and repulsion-related nursing homes and community-dwelling older adults. Method: A descriptive survey was conducted among 505 community-dwelling older adults aged over 65 years. Data were collected from October 25 to November 30, 2023, and analyzed using a t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficients with SPSS/WIN 26.0. Results: The results reveal that the subjects' recognition of well-dying was 2.30, HRQoL was 0.84, and repulsion-related nursing home was 3.31 points. Recognition of well-dying was significantly correlated with HRQoL (r=.10, p=.024). Conclusion: The results indicate that consumer-centered, well-dying education programs for community-dwelling older adults should be developed and applied continuously through effectiveness verification.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the depression and cognitive function of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: 243 aged over 65 in Won-Ju in South Korea participated in this study. Data were collected from April to June 2013 through interviews. This study utilized the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form, the Korean version of MMSE-DS (MMSE for Dementia Screening), and infirmity testing for basic health status. Descriptive statistics, ${\chi}^2$, t-test, ANOVA, $Scheff{\acute{e}}^{\prime}s$ test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used. Results: 75.3% of the participants belonged to the depression group, and the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 17.3%. There were significant differences in depression and cognitive function according to gender, educational level, type of insurance, subjective health, frailty, and whether to be a client of home care service. The level of depression was significantly higher and the level of cognitive functions was significantly lower in older adults in home care services than in community-dwelling older adults. Conclusion: This study is meaningful in that it included older adults in home care services to provide information to develop effective prevention programs for improving cognitive functions. The results of this study can be used to develop future community prevention and intervention.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.211-222
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to test the model for sleep in community-dwelling older adults. The hypothetical model based on a senescent sleep model was constructed using the multiple influencing factors of sleep and associated adverse outcomes of changes in sleep in the older adults. Methods: Data were collected from 203 community-dwelling older adults living in Korea, and analyzed using IBM SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0. Results: Increased age and multiple comorbidities were associated with decreased physical activities. Decreased physical activities were associated with smaller social networks, and smaller social networks were associated with higher level of loneliness. Multiple comorbidities, decreased physical activities, larger social networks, and higher level of loneliness were associated with maladaptive sleep hygiene. Decreased physical activities, higher level loneliness, and shorter actual sleep duration were associated with worse sleep quality. Smaller social networks and shorter actual sleep duration were associated with lower cognitive functions. Smaller social networks, higher loneliness, and worse sleep quality were associated with more severe depressive symptoms. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the sleep improvement interventions not only with physical perspectives but psychosocial ones for older adults may improve depressive symptoms as well as sleep quality.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2022

Objective: Flexed posture commonly increases with age in older adults and is characterized by kyphosis and forward head posture. Changes in the posture with age affect both balance and mobility. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a cervical stabilization exercise for community-dwelling older adults to improve balance. Design: Two groups pretest-posttest design. Methods: Fifty older adults were randomly assigned into the cervical stabilization exercise group (n=24) and control group (n=25). The cervical stabilization exercise group (n=24) participated in group exercise for 60 minutes twice a week over 4 weeks. Timed up and go test (TUG), four square step test (FSST), functional reach test (FRT), postural sway, cervical range of motion (CROM), proprioception, craniovertebral angle (CVA) were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results: TUG, FSST, FRT, CROM, Proprioception, CVA showed significantly greater improvement, compared with a control group (p<0.05). Conclusions: Findings of this study demonstrate that cervical stabilization exercise can help improve not only neck functional capacities but also balance. Therefore, it may be used as an effective balance exercise program for community-dwelling older adults.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.630-641
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was designed to construct a model which explains drug misuse behaviors in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: The design of this research is a cross-sectional study using structure equation modeling. The hypothetical model consisted of two types of variables: the exogenous variables of health status, cognitive ability, and negative emotion, and the endogenous variables of number of drugs, and drug misuse behaviors. The data collection was conducted from September 2 to September 21, 2013 through self-report questionnaires. Participants were 320 community-dwelling adults over the age of 65 living in J city. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0 program and Amos 18.0 program. Results: The results of the model fitness analysis were satisfied. The predictor variables for the hypothetical model explained 62.3% of variance regarding drug misuse behaviors. Drug misuse behaviors were directly affected by health status, cognitive ability, negative emotion and number of drugs and indirectly affected by health status, and negative emotion through number of drugs. Conclusion: These findings indicate factors that should be used in developing effective nursing interventions for safe and proper drug use and the prevention of drug misuse behaviors in community-dwelling older adults.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.64-76
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• 2020

Purpose: Several screening tools have been developed to identify sarcopenia in rural community-dwelling older adults. We aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of two such tools, namely the SARC-F and SARC-CalF assessments. Methods: This cross-sectional study on 388 community-dwelling older adults comprised 254 women and 134 men with a mean age of 77.8 ± 6.26 year in Korea. We assessed muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance using a bioimpedance analysis device, hydraulic hand dynamometer, and 4 m gait speed test, respectively. Three widely-used diagnostic criteria [the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS), European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People, and the International Working Group on Sarcopenia] were applied. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed on the SARC-CalF and SARC-F tests. We used receiver-operating characteristic curves and the area under the curves (AUCs) to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the assessments with regard to sarcopenia. Results: An analysis using four sets of diagnostic criteria showed that the prevalence of sarcopenia was 27.6% to 41.0%. Using the AWGS 2019 criteria as a reference standard, the SARC-CalF had a sensitivity of 83.02% and a specificity of 53.71% in the entire study population, whereas the SARC-F had a sensitivity of 79.87% and a specificity of 41.92%. The AUCs for the SARC-CalF and SARC-F tests were 0.725 (95% confidence interval 0.678-0.769) and 0.645 (95% confidence interval 0.595-0.693), respectively (p<001). In the analyses using the other three diagnostic criteria, similarity was also confirmed. Conclusion: SARC-CalF showed better sensitivity than did SARC-F when diagnosing sarcopenia in rural community-dwelling older adults. Further studies are needed to verify this finding in different populations.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Kynesio-taping therapy (KTT) on chronic joint pain among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: A pre-experimental design was used. KTT was employed on 23 consenting community older adults visiting a community center. KTT was applied on the painful joint for 3-4 days. Pain was evaluated using the visual analogue scale. Results: Frequent locations of pain were waist (43.8%), knee (28.1%), shoulder (12.4%), and head (9.4%). Time of severe pain during the day was mid-day (47.8%), early morning (21.7%), and evening (13.0%). Pain relief management included hospital visitation (65.2%), medication (17.4%), and application of a poultice (13.0%). Pain scores were significantly decreased after KTT compared to pretest scores acquired prior to taping (p<.001). Conclusions: KTT is a cost-effective, easy-to-use, and effective form of pain relief in older adults with chronic joint pain. Clinical practitioners can consider KTT as a complementary method of chronic pain control in older adults.