• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.496-504
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• 2010

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of outpatient cost-sharing on health care utilization by the elderly. Methods: The data in this analysis was the health insurance claims data between July 1999 and December 2008 (114 months). The study group was divided into two age groups, namely 60-64 years old and 65-69 years old. This study evaluated the impact of policy change on office visits, the office visits per person, and the percentage of the copayment-paid visits in total visits. Interrupted time series and segmented regression model were used for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that outpatient cost-sharing decreased office visits, but it also decreased the percentage of copayment-paid visits, implying that the intensity of care increased. There was little difference in the results between the two age groups. But after the introduction of the coinsurance system for those patients under age 65, office visits and the percentage of copayment-paid visits decreased, and the 60-64 years old group had a larger decrease than the 65-69 years old group. Conclusions: This study evaluated the effects of outpatient cost-sharing on health care utilization by the aged. Cost sharing of the elderly had little effect on controlling health care utilization.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.341-348
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between masticatory ability and oral health-related quality of life using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) of the elderly. Total 195 elderly subjects were assessed for subjective masticatory ability, objective masticatory ability and OHIP-14 concerned with quality of life. When masticatory ability is low, the odds ratio(OR) of the quality of life is worse was increased. After adjusted age, residence, education, denture, odds ratio of subjective masticatory ability was 2.42(p<0.05) increased and odds ratio of objective masticatory ability was 7.58(p<0.001) increased. This study showed significant association between masticatory ability and the total OHIP-14 score of the quality of life of the elderly. Masticatory ability can affect quality of life oral health-related in elderly. While following up on various studies were carried out as a long-term, I hope it will be of help in improving the quality of life of the elderly with maintaining a healthy oral health.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2019

Objectives: There are few studies which reflects of each generation's own features, of the New Middle Age and the Elderly's hearing status and their quality of life even though the population of old age has been weighted as baby boom generation's entering into old age. This study is to identify the effects of the new middle age and the elderly's hearing status on their quality of life and to prepare the customized health policies for their health promotion and quality of life improvement as well as the base line data for hearing enhancement programs. Methods: This study was analyzed using the data of the 7th term of the National Health and Nutrition Survey of the Disease Management headquarters. Out of 8,150 adults over the age of 50 who participated in the hearing test, 3,306 were selected and analyzed. Results: At the result of identifying the correlation of hearing status and the quality of life between the New Middle Age and the Elderly, it was confirmed that hearing loss affects low quality of life. The average of quality of life between the New Middle Age and the Elderly was 0.95 and 0.85 each, resulting in higher quality of life in New Middle Age than in the Elderly. The factors affecting the quality of life of the New Middle Age were the level of the education, household income, the type of health insurance, subjective health status. The factors affecting the quality of life of the Elderly were gender, the type of health insurance, subjective health status. Conclusion: Hearing loss of the New Middle Age and the Elderly affects their low quality of life. Therefore the development and the provision of policy program is needed, so as to maintain and manage hearing through age-specific health education. It is expected that the second half of the New Middle Age's life will be much happier, if not taking the treatment-oriented approach of hearing loss only but strengthening the education needed for the maintenance and the management of healthy hearing at their work place, where 50 and 60 generations' workforce has been increased.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.415-429
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the health-related factors of the elderly in rural village in-depth and comprehensively based on the socio-ecological model. Methods: The data were collected from 22 elderly people through four focus group interviews and analyzed by deductive content analysis using four themes of the socio-ecological model (SEM) as an analysis matrix. Results: A total of 10 categories corresponding to the four themes of SEM were derived as follows: Intrapersonal level, "Awareness of Aging and Health", "Inefficient practice of health behavior", and "Daunted self-efficacy", Interpersonal level, "Social relations maintenance", and "Changing sense of community", Community level, "Local resources requiring improvement", "Problems caused by regional characteristics", "Disadvantaged group", and "Leadership and residents participation", Public policy level, "Health-related facilities and programs". Conclusion: We proposed the development and application of intervention programs that combined individual activities to improve self-management capacity and group activities to enhance social support and solidarity for rural villagers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.257-278
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• 2010

This study examined the factors affecting the preference for the elderly's mental health services utilization in rural areas. A behavior model developed by Andersen and Newman provided an analytical framework to determine the factors affecting service utilization preferences among 335 elderly people as research subjects. The authors found that the preferences for mental health service utilization were significantly related to the level of education, living alone, presence of grandchildren, participation in social activities, and recognition about the services. Based on the findings, this study suggests that more mental health services for the elderly in rural areas be further developed and strengthened. Also, the elderly who lives alone and lives with grandchildren should have a priority in policy consideration. Multiple approaches are suggested to increase the awareness of mental health services and participation social activities for those older people.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2012

This study was conducted to assess improvements in nutritional status following the application of nutrition education to elderly patients in a long-term care hospital. The study was carried out from January to May 2009, during which a preliminary survey, a pretest, the application of nutrition education, and a post-test were applied in stages. The number of subjects at pretest was 81, and the number of participants included in the final analysis was 61 (18 men, 43 women), all of whom participated in both the nutrition education program and the post-test. The survey consisted of general demographic items, health behaviors, dietary behaviors, the Nutrition Screening Initiative checklist, and nutrient intake assessment (24 hour recall method). The nutrition education program lasted for four weeks. It included a basic education program, provided once a week, and mini-education program, which was offered daily during lunch times. The survey was conducted before and after the education program using the same assessment method, although some items were included only at pretest. When analyzing the changes in elderly patients after the nutritional education program, we found that, among subjective dietary behaviors, self-rated perceptions of health (P<0.001) and of depression (P<0.001) improved significantly and that dietary behavior scores also improved significantly (P<0.001), while nutritional risk levels decreased. In terms of nutrient intake, subjects' intake of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin C all increased significantly (P<0.001). These results indicated that nutritional education is effective in improving the nutritional status of elderly patients. We hope that the results of this study can be used as preliminary data for establishing guidelines for nutrition management tailored to elderly patients in long-term care hospitals.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.72-78
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• 2018

Objectives The high suicide rate has risen as a main concern in South Korea. Given the complexity of the mechanism resulting in complete suicide, studies targeting various populations are needed for broader understanding of its risk factors. This study aims to analyze the factors affecting the suicidal tendency in the population of the elderly living alone in Seoul depending on basic elderly-care services. Methods A total number of 415 people participated in the study. Home-visit interviews were administered by trained interviewers. Suicidal tendency was measured by the Korean version of mini international neuropsychiatric interview (K-MINI). Health-related quality of life was measured by a brief version of the World Health Organization Quality-of-life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF). Alcohol problem was assessed by the Korean version of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT-K). Among total subjects of 415 interviewees, the actual responses of 408 people were used for the final analysis. Results The result showed that the suicide risk was high in persons isolated from social support [odds ratio (OR) = 4.49], having depression (OR = 14.85), and having low quality of life (OR = 4.39). Conclusions We found that social support, depression and health-related quality of life are associated with suicidal tendency in the elderly living alone on basic services. Our evidence will contribute to suicide prevention policy for the elderly living alone on care services.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.47-63
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to discuss leisure program to guarantee the leisure right of the elderly. In order to study on the change of leisure perspective and the existence of leisure need, it has based on the leisure program of the elderly in welfare institutions. It was suggested that; The contents of leisure program of the elderly would contain the change of leisure perspective, discovery of leisure need, improvement of the elderly's function(physical health, psychological satisfaction, and social relations), and development of new interest. In specific context, it was varied from the conditions and environments(space or equipment) in each institutes.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of and factors associated with long-term care (LTC) utilization under public long-term care insurance (LTCI) among end-of-life older adults in Korea. Methods: Using a 5% sample of older people aged 65 or older and their health and LTC insurance data, two-part model analyses were conducted. We compared LTC uses and their determinants during the last year of life among decedents in the year 2010 with those of survivors. We also compared the medical uses of the same sample with their LTC uses. Results: The end-of-life elderly were more likely to use LTC, and their expenditure on LTC was higher than their counterparts. Whether or not older people used LTC during their last year of life was significantly affected by age, sex, health insurance, household income, and living alone; however, LTC costs of the decedents were only affected by functional status, which may have been due to the reimbursement scheme of the current LTCI, which is mainly based on functional dependency level. For the survivors, having chronic diseases significantly increased the likelihood of LTC use, which was not the case for the decedents. End-of-life elderly with relatively low social economic status were more likely to use the LTC other than medical services, while the health conditions affected their medical uses most significantly. Conclusion: The study findings provide key information for predicting demand related to the increasing LTC needs of Korean older people at the end of life.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.254-267
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed at identifying the factors affecting the service satisfaction of urban elderly, focusing on the outreach community health service in Seoul, and suggesting policy directions for the successful implementation of community care. Method: Individuals aged 65 and 70 who used the outreach community health service from July 2017 to June 2019 were eligible for the survey. A total of 2,028 people were sampled using a proportional allocation method for each autonomous district in the survey which covered 25 districts. A multi-level logistic regression analysis was conducted, taking into account the individual's socioeconomic level, health status, type of service provided, and the healthcare-related environment and service provision period of the autonomous district. Result: The results revealed that the health status of the urban elderly, the type of services provided (health screening, linkage to community health center and clinic/hospital, medical checkup results counseling, frailty evaluation), and personal experience of the service were the major factors associated with the satisfaction with the outreach health services. Conclusion: The development of customized health services based on the close relationship between visiting nurses and the elderly may be considered to promote a sustainable community health care model.