• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2014

Background: With ageing and growing importance of disease management system, it is necessary to investigate the extent of regional difference in service utilization for chronic diseases among the elderly and to reflect it in designing the system. Methods: A multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics analyses were employed using patient survey, which covers nationwide health facilities and their users. Results: While the differences in the rate of service utilization/utilization outside living area between urban and rural areas or between income levels are not large, considerable variations are observed within urban or rural areas and within income groups. Conclusion: This results suggest that it is important to subsidize economically disadvantaged segments of the population and residents of less-favored areas to be better-equipped for chronic disease management in order to prevent the development of severe ailments and the need for treatment at higher-level medical institutions. Improvements to the service infrastructure in vulnerable regions are essential.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.88-98
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• 2004

Objectives : The 3rd community health plan let health centers select and promote core projects considering budget and manpower. This study analyzed the content and selection processes of core projects, using the nationwide 3rd community health plans, to give relevant information on health center policies. Methods : Classification criteria for content analysis of core projects were established and verified through a literature review and by specialist discussions. Fifty plans were selected by stratified proportional random sampling for regional characteristics. And coding criteria standardized through coding repetition and discussion, by 2 persons (k>0.7). Using stratified proportional random sampling for 16 cities and provinces, regional characteristics, 117 plans were selected, and the contents of the core project selection processes and program contents analyzed. Results : The survey was used by 59.8 % of samples as a core project decision-making method. The partici- pants included 98.6, 81.4, 40 and 38.6% of the health staffs, residents, medical institutions, and administrators, respectively. Discussion was used by 15.4% of samples. The participants were health staffs by 100% as a great. The ranking of the frequencies of the selected core projects were, in order; chronic disease control, health promotion, elderly health, maternal-child health, and oral health at 16.4, 14.8, 14.3, 12.7 and 11.9%, respectively. Analyses on the chronic disease control and elderly health contents showed the diversity of object disease, high rates of visitors on patient detection programs, high rates of unclear target populations, and the provision of medical exams and treatments as the main services, with high variations in business per-formance. The national health budgets for health centers in 2003 were about 910 and 240 million won for chronic disease control and elderly health, respectively, which were less than for the other five priority core projects. Conclusions : The chronic disease control and elderly health at the health centers were not standardized for object disease, patient detection program, target population, service provision, and national support budget was insufficient. Thus it is necessary to develop standard guidelines, and increase financial support, for chronic disease control and elderly health

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.481-490
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• 2014

This study aims to identify depressive symptoms status and factors to affect depressive symptoms in the elderly. The research selected 1,429 adults aged over 65, who appeared with depressive symptoms, from the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2012. We analyzed states of depressive symptoms using descriptive statistics. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the main factors associated with depressive symptoms in the elderly. The result shows that depressive symptoms in the elderly is significantly associated with gender, age, income level, subjective health status, smoking and the number of chronic diseases. Females, higher age, lower income, lower subjective health status, smoking and the higher the number of chronic diseases were the significant factors of higher depressive symptoms. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective social programs and individualized approach to improve the quality of life in the elderly. In the future, these findings can be used as important data for health care policy and assessment.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors affecting the utilization of emergency medical services and characteristics of emergency medical services according to age group among elderly individuals. Methods: This study conducted t-test and linear regression analysis on data of 1,960,575 participants to achieve the objective. Results: Analysis of the factors affecting the use of emergency medical services showed statistically significant correlation in all age groups. As the age of elderly people increased, the use of emergency medical service increased. Conclusions: Emergency medical policies are needed, such as coordinators with expert knowledge of medical and health administration and specialist emergency room operations that can provide specialized medical service for older patients.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.29-38
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to examine the spouse effects on depressive symptom and suicidal thinking among the elderly aged 65 and over in Korea. The subjects selected from the database of the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(KNHANES IV) conducted by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 to 2009. Those who were female, older, lower educated, or poorer were more likely to live alone than their counterparts respectively. The elderly living alone experienced depressive symptom as 2.0 times(OR=2.004, 95% CI=1.433, 2.803) as, and suicidal thinking as 1.6 times(OR=1.567, 95% CI=1.111, 2.211) as the elderly couples did, adjusting for socio-economic factor, health status factors, and health behaviors factors. As for the male subgroup, the elderly living alone experienced depressive symptom as 4.0 times(OR=3.997, 95% CI=2.066, 7.732) as, and suicidal thinking as 3.2 times(OR=3.181, 95% CI=1.535, 6.592) as the elderly couples did. On the other hands, there was no significant difference in depressive symptoms and suicidal thinking between the female elderly living alone and couples. The authors suggested policy interventions to promote the mental health of the male elderly living alone.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.53-63
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• 2018

Objectives: This study was intended to provide resources for the development and operation of the elderly's oral health education programs by comparing the difference of oral health behavior, oral health care self-efficacy and oral health levels according to their oral health education experiences and by researching the correlation of oral Health Behavior, self-efficacy, subjective oral health level and oral health education experience. Methods: An interview survey using structured questionaries was done on 180 senior citizens older than 65 years old residing in some areas of Gyeonggi-do from April 19 to May 25, 2018. The data was analyzed with Chi-square, t-test, spearman correlation coefficient with the use of SPSS 20.0. Results: 1. Those who are older than 75 years old and have higher levels of education and finance have more experiences of oral health education. 2. Those who have experiences of oral health education brush their teeth more than three times a day, use more oral health care items and get more regular preventive treatments such as oral examination and scaling. 3. As they has experiences of oral health education, their oral health behaviors, oral health care self-efficacy(tooth care, dietary control, regular checkup) and subjective oral health levels are high. Conclusion: It is necessary to try to improve the elderly's oral health levels by motivating the importance of oral health care and changing their oral health behaviors positively with the implement of oral health education on the elderly. Especially, oral health education programs that are operated on the elderly should be planned with practical programs that can cause the change of their oral health behaviors and should be processed to reinforce oral health care self-efficacy. Furthermore, preventive treatments for the elderly such as oral health education, oral examination and scaling should be implemented systematically and continuously by policy.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between self-rated health and Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and self-care behavior of rural elderly in Korea, focused on the difference among three distinctive living arrangements; living alone, living only with his/her spouse, and living with their married children. For this purpose, data were gathered from a nationwide survey, a total of 586 elderly aged 65 or older and living in rural area, using the structured questionnaire. Also, self-care behavior were categorized into 4 groups; life-style practice, medical self-care, adaption to functional limitation, and emotional management. The major findings are as follows; 1) Rural elderly perceived their health little and more 'bad' but their ADL capacity were 'not difficult', especially among elderly living with spouse. 2) The level of 20 items in self-care behavior ($1{\sim}5$score) was ranged from 2.51 to 3.81 score. The behavior level of regular exercise, setting up additional phone, taking a nutrient, and testing BP or pulse regularly were low but that of taking a medicine according to prescription, close contact with other people, and regular eating were proportionally high. 3) The majority of self-care behavior were correlated with subjective health positively but medical self-care behavior were correlated with subjective health or ADL negatively. Based on these results, policy implications are discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.616-624
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• 2020

This study analyzed the association between the type of transport accident and the associated mortality of elderly inpatients. The findings will contribute to the development and establishment of a systematic and effective policy according to the type of transport accident to reduce the mortality of inpatients. The data on elderly inpatients with transport accidents was extracted from the 2013-2017 Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Survey dataset. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics analysis, chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analysis. After adjustment for sociodemographic, disease, injury and policy factors, the elderly inpatient deaths due to transport accidents were significantly higher for pedestrian accidents (OR: 2.522 95%, CI: 1.291-4.972), bicycle/cart accidents (OR: 2.809, 95% CI: 1.328-5.942) and motorcycle accidents (OR: 2.330, 95% CI: 1.226-4.819) rather than that for car accidents. Likewise, elderly inpatients have a higher risk of death from other types of transport accidents than those caused by car accidents. However, Korean policies related to transport accidents of elderly inpatients are concentrated on car accidents. Effective policy is needed according to the characteristics of each type of transport accident to reduce the transport accident mortality of elderly inpatients.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2017

Background: The mental problems of the elderly are at issue as a serious social phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors affecting the mood disorders of the elderly. Methods: The subjects were 1,779,236 aged ${\geq}65$ and participated in health screening. Dependent variable was mood disorders. Independent variables were consisted of community level (regional deprivation index and healthcare resources) and individual level (sex, age, insurance type, disability, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, body mass index, and healthcare utilization). Multilevel logistic regression was performed. Results: At the individual level, women, employed insured, severely disabled people, heavy alcohol drinkers, high-intensity physical activity, body mass index, and patients who had chronic disease and severe disease were significantly associated with mood disorders. As the age has increased, it has let increase of mood disorders. At the community level, as the regional deprivation index has increased by 1, mood disorders has been increased by 1.005 times. The intra-class coefficient was 7.04%. Conclusion: We found individual and community level factors are associated with mood disorders. Systematic approach is essential to reduce mood disorders.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1173-1182
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the factors related to the dental caries and periodontal diseases of Korean elderly people in terms of demographic characteristics, oral health promotion behavior and systemic diseases in an effort to provide information on national policy setting and policy evaluation about the prevention of tooth loss resulting from severe oral diseases and the promotion of elderly people's oral health. Methods : The first-, second- and third-year raw data of the 4th National Health and Nutrition Survey were utilized, and the data of 3,882 elderly people who got a dental checkup were analyzed. The statistical package SPSS WIN 19.0 was employed to make a logistic regression analysis. Results : The senior citizens who did toothbrushing less frequently were more likely to have dental caries. As for periodontal diseases, the men were 1.34-fold more likely to have periodontal diseases than the women, and the respondents whose self-rated health state was worse were 1.40-fold more likely to have periodontal diseases than the others whose self-rated health state was better. The senior citizens who ever received treatment from unqualified people were 1.30-fold more likely to have peridontal diseases, and those who took neither vitamin compound nor minerals were 1.30-fold more likely to have periodontal diseases. Those who suffered from low High-density Lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL) were 1.35-fold more likely to have periodontal diseases than the others who didn't. Conclusions : Those whose self-rated health status is worse should especially be concerned about periodontal diseases. Specifically, it's needed to pay attention to the low-income classes, and the government should take measures to provide quality welfare services for elderly people not to receive treatment from unqualified people. Besides, research efforts should be made to determine the relationship between periodontal diseases and low HDL-cholesterolemia.