• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.115-142
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• 2006

This study examined the level of social support for grandparent-headed families and its effects on the grandparents' physical and mental health. For this purpose, the survey data was collected from 141 grandparents raising their grandchildren in Daejeon Metropolitan City. The study generated several findings. First, grandparent-headed families tended to rely on formal support system rather than informal one. Second, grandparent's physical health was found to be very poor that 82.3% of the grandparents reportedly needed some assistance in at least one ADL, and their mean score of depression measured by CES-D was 27.4, indicating a moderate level of psychological distress. Third, among the sociodemographic and stressor variables, grandparents' sex, the number of their children and household keeping burden were statistically significant predictors of their ADL restriction. As for depression level of the grandparents, their monthly income, parenting duration, the number of their children, economic difficulties, household keeping burden and social restrictions were found to be statistically significant. Fourth, grandparents who reported of having more social support from their friends, a higher level of satisfaction of the friends' social support and also of being satisfied with social support from their religious associations tended to experience significantly less ADL restrictions. The more kinds of social support received from friends and social welfare agencies and the less satisfied they were with social support from governmental sector, the higher their depression level was. Implications for social welfare services and programs for grandparent-headed families were discussed.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.219-263
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• 2011

"Wrongful conception" is a medical malpractice claim in which the plaintiff is the parent of a normal, healthy infant whose conception was unplanned and unwanted. Medical malpractice in wrongful conception can be the result of a failure to provide informed consent to a patient, failure to properly perform a surgery, or a physician's negligent handling of a patient's problems. In the concrete, wrongful conception cases fall into two categories; those involving pre-conception negligence, such as a failed contraceptive, sterilization or failing of the controlling of embryo-number on the IVF, and those involving post-conception negligence, such as a failure to diagnose a pregnancy or to perform an abortion procedure. In addition, Medical malpractice can be the result of a failure to provide informed consent to a patient. When bad results occur by medical malpractice or failure to provide informed consent to a patient, the range of recovery of damages is decided by a traditional civil liability law. However the calculation of damages for wrongful conception is not easy because the high value of life is included in that case. So many courts opinions in foreign country and Seoul High Court decision in 1996 allow damages for the pregnancy, birthing process and sterilization costs, but refuses to allow damages for child rearing expenses. As to the range of recovery of damages for wrongful conception, one approach says that to allow damages in a suit such as this would mean that the physician would have to pay for the fun, joy and affection which plaintiff will have in the rearing and educating of the plaintiff's baby. To allow such damages would be against the dignity of the baby based on article 10 of the Constitution. However another approach says that damages are recoverable for all expenses related to child birth as well as for child rearing costs. Because the damages that the parents should bear a burden to the tort damage done is not a baby itself but child rearing costs. In other words, although the baby is healthy or not, economic burden of the parents can not be disregard. And denial of compensation for costs of child rearing may invalidate the role of liability law, grant the physician with a exemption certificate of liability. As a result, the medical field of procreation can be easily isolated from a liability of reparation. Therefore, on the liability law like the other medical malpractice action, parents who became pregnant or gave a birth by physician, wrongfully performed sterilization operation, etc. should be compensated for all damages relevant to unplanned and unwanted conception or birth as well as costs of child rearing.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.299-307
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the financial hardships affecting the quality of life of cancer survivors. Method: Data were collected from five convalescent hospitals using self-administered questionnaires, and 422 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. We used a 5-step hierarchical multiple-regression analysis by entering each sociodemographic variable, medical variable, and three types of financial hardship (a material situation, the psychological response, and coping behavior coming from cancer treatment cost) into each step. Results: The results of statistical analysis indicate that the most influential factor in the quality of life was the financial difficulty, which was the frustration that they could not work as usual or support their family financially. In addition, the performance of physical activity, accompanying diseases, women patients, psychological burden on cancer treatment cost, the satisfaction of communication with medical staff for medical expenses, and the feeling unsuccessful financial coping strategy were predictors for the quality of life of cancer survivors. Conclusion: This study provides a blueprint for the development of intervention programs in practice to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, clinical intervention plans, and health policies.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.188-201
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• 2016

The aim of this descriptive correlation research was to identify the factors influencing stress in caregivers of stroke patients in rehabilitation centers. The data were collected from 200 caregivers at three rehabilitation centers in B City from September 1 to 30, 2015. The data were also collected utilizing the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Caregiving Mastery Scale, the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Scale, and Burden Interview (BI) Scale. The data were analyzed using the SPSS Win 18.0 program. The factor with the greatest impact on stress was social support, which accounted for 9.3% of stress, followed by the duration of giving care to the patient, religious status, economic conditions, caregiver's age, resilience, caregiver's health status, patient's conscious status, and patient's age, all of which accounted for 30% of the stress for caregivers. Therefore, it is essential to develop social support programs that can reduce the stress for caregivers of patients in rehabilitation centers and to develop stress intervention programs, taking all the factors affecting stress into consideration.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.251-260
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• 2009

Objectives : To estimate the annual socioeconomic costs of stroke in Korea in 2005 from a societal perspective. Methods : We identified those 20 years or older who had at least one national health insurance (NHI) claims record with a primary or a secondary diagnosis of stroke (ICD-10 codes: I60-I69, G45) in 2005. Direct medical costs of the stroke were measured from the NHI claims records. Direct non-medical costs were estimated as transportation costs incurred when visiting the hospitals. Indirect costs were defined as patients and caregivers productivity loss associated with office visits or hospitalization. Also, the costs of productivity loss due to premature death from stroke were calculated. Results : A total of 882,143 stroke patients were identified with prevalence for treatment of stroke at 2.44%. The total cost for the treatment of stroke in the nation was estimated to be 3,737 billion Korean won (KRW) which included direct costs at 1,130 billion KRW and indirect costs at 2,606 billion KRW. The per-capita cost of stroke was 3 million KRW for men and 2 million KRW for women. The total national spending for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke was 1,323 billion KRW and 1,553 billion KRW, respectively, which together consisted of 77.0% of the total cost for stroke. Costs per patient for hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke were estimated at 6 million KRW and 2 million KRW, respectively. Conclusions : Stroke is a leading public health problem in Korea in terms of the economic burden. The indirect costs were identified as the largest component of the overall cost.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.170-181
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• 1997

The number of modernized green houses have been increased to produce high quality and high-payoff farm products. The unit investment costs per pyeong($3.3058m^2$) for building a glass house was estimated at 449 thousand won. On the other hand, the unit prices for the PC house with iron frame and the vynil house with automatic control system were revealed 365 thousand won and 93 thousand won respectively. The main objective of the study was to identify the financial feasibility of the green house investment prevailed in rural area. At present, some farmers have selected the green house without any consideration of profitability of crops and accessiblity of their fanning practices and technology. For the soundness of green house cultivation and management, the indices of finacial efficiency for the modernized green houses were necessary. The decesion making criteria such as NPV(Net Present Value), IRR(Internal Rate of Return), B/C Ratio and Payback Period were analyzed for the individual high investment facilities considering the present farmer's technology and on-farm benefits and costs. The results of the feasibility analysis of green houses were as follows: 1. In case of 100% private burden of the investment costs, NPV revealed only positive value for the vinyl house with automatic system and IRR for the house was also estimated at more than 10% and B/C Ratio was amounted to more than 1.0. On the other hand, the other glass and PC houses showed negative NPV and unacceptable B/C ratio and IRR. 2. In case of the following terms and conditions as 50% Government subsidy, 20% loans and 30% farmers burden of the total investment cost, all the green houses showed acceptable IRR, B/C Ratio and NPV. 3. The financial feasibility of the glass house was acceptable in tomato cultivation rather than in cucumber cultivation. The payback periods of cucumber were represented as 8.9 years for glass house, 8.5 years for PC house and 4.1 years for vinyl house with automatic system respectively. In conclution, the glass and PC house cultivation of high value vegetables were only acceptable under the Goverment subsidy and loan systems from the view point of farmer's financial situations. On account of the unacceptable economic rate of return, the government subsidy and loan policy for glass house cultivation should be transfered to the vinyl and pc houses in the future.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.58-73
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• 2010

Background : Cancer is a disease that not only places a significant burden on patients clinically but also requires significant expense for diagnosis and treatment. Although the cancer coverage of health insurance has recently been expended, the need for financial assistance among cancer patients and their families is still expected to be significant. In this study, cancer patients' need for financial assistance in Korea was examined and its influence factors were analyzed. Methods : Target study subjects were those who are over 18 years of age and were diagnosed with cancer more than four months prior at the National Cancer Center and 9 Regional Cancer Centers in Korea during the period from July to August of 2008. Quarter sampling was conducted according to the ratio of the type of each cancer. A face to face interview survey was conducted. A total of 2,661 cancer patients finished the survey. Medical charts were reviewed in order to obtain the cancer type and SEER stage of cancer patients. An ordered logistic regression model was used to examine the level of need for financial assistance according to the demographical, clinical, and socio-economic variables of cancer patients. Result : The percentage of cancer patients who needed financial assistance was 69.0%, and 36.9% needed significant financial assistance. The need for financial assistance was perceived to be greater in males, younger age group, low income group, low education group, medical aid recipients, those who were diagnosed recently, those with a low level of quality of life measured through EQ5D, and those with decreased income after cancer diagnosis. Conclusion : In spite of the current policy to increase health insurance coverage, the majority of cancer patients and their families in Korea still need financial assistance due to cancer. In particular, there were more vulnerable groups, such as the low income, or low education group. In the future, policies that focus on the disadvantaged, which strengthen social security, should be considered for achievement of a substantially better quality of life for cancer patients and their families.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.31-56
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes that family caregivers have experienced since using the Korean Long-Term Care Insurance(LTCI) system. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine how the services offered within the LTCI program had affected family caregiving and what changes they had incurred. Results from the qualitative content analysis show that the LTCI program significantly reduced the caregiving burden among family caregivers although burdens that family caregiver perceived varied greatly depending on the types of service that the family selected, and assigned family caregivers different identities and diverse roles(i.e., service user, family caregiver, certified care provider) depending on the service they use. The phenomenon of 'certified family care provider', which was not an intention of LTCI, demonstrates the practical need of elderly persons who require both care and the comfort of family and economic status of the family. Despite the positive impact of the LTCI policy on the family caregivers' burden and family relationship, the current LTCI system should be modified in order to better meet the needs of beneficiaries and their family caregivers.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.53-64
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• 2021

Objectives: The objective of this study is to understand the factors having effects on the view of marriage of female university students, and also to present the reference data for establishing the measures for having the positive view of marriage of female university students. Methods: An online survey was conducted targeting total 254 female university students of two universities in Gyeonggi region, from October 1 st to November 13th 2020. The results of this study are as follows. Results: First, to the question related to the intent to marry, total 70% of them responded that they had intent to marry. In the time of marriage, they said they would marry when getting financially stable. The 30% of subjects said that they would choose non-marriage because they wanted to continuously enjoy free life and they did not want to bear burden related to childbirth and child-rearing. Second, in the results of analyzing differences in the view of marriage according to the general characteristics, the students with intent to marry showed the higher romantic view of marriage, instrumental view of marriage, and exclusive view of marriage than the students without intent to marry, which showed significant differences. Third, the view of marriage were the factors having the greatest effects on the intent to marry of female university students. Conclusion: Based on such results of this study, it would be necessary to focus on the policies that could positively change the view of marriage of female university students. It would be needed to establish the social·institutional support measures for work-life balance by reducing women's burden of childbirth and child-rearing. To the question about the time of marriage, the most subjects responded that they would do so when the economic ability and stable job were equipped. Thus, there should be the systematic youth employment support system that could help the students to quickly and stably enter society and to become financially independent after graduation. Also, for the formation of positive family relation, it would be necessary to develop·operate the educational programs for forming positive family relation and desirable communication methods for each subject(spouse, parents, children, siblings, and etc.).

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.701-710
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• 2017

This study investigated the effect of cash benefit and in-kind benefit policy supported by disabled children on the satisfaction of service care of main caregiver. The results of this study are as follows. First, the parental stress, parenting burden, and family members' difficulties were investigated. However, the research on the salary policy supported by the handicapped children has been scarce, and it has been found that the research on the service satisfaction of the main caregiver is also insufficient by the type of salary. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of variables (parents gender, child gender, parents age, child age, disability grade, average income) on service satisfaction. As a result, parents age, child age, and child gender showed statistically significant effects on service satisfaction. This resulted in statistically significant overall effects on the application process, economic burden, support and selection criteria, service volume, and overall satisfaction. Based on the results of the study, the implications for cash benefits and in-kind benefits could be improved by increasing the amount and scope of benefits, and customized services considering the age of the handicapped children, ultimately improving the service satisfaction of the main caregiver.