• Archives of design research
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• v.18 no.1 s.59
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• pp.175-184
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• 2005

With the rapid progress of the aging society in Korea, the silver generation is emerging as another class of users in the new population structure. This is a social issue to be dealt with, and the effect of such a change is being observed dearly in the design area. In addition, there are increasing demands for consideration of minor groups of users including the elderly, the disabled, the left-handed, children and pregnant women and nursing mothers, who have been treated as the weak. Such a human-centered idea may be the manifestation of the recovery of humanity and the self-realization of human beings through experiences and reflections of the industrial society of the past. The present study examined the tendency of design standardization centering on universal design, which has emerged in response to user-centered social needs, and suggested general considerations for the necessity of introducing such standards. These days the meanings of standardization are not limited to quality, performance, safety and economic aspect. Standardization is required to consider the diversity and the welfare of human beings. In addition, one of the important functions of standardization is to provide designers with important clues and guidelines for designing. In reality, however, standardization has been rejected by the circle of design for the reason that it deters free creation, so research on the introduction of standardization has been at standstill. As ISO/IEC Guide71 was published in November 2001, based on which, the Korea Standards Association established KS A ISO/IEC Guide71 without changing its contents. In companies' manufacturing activities, the progress of standardization in connection to universal design is growing more important. However, usefulness and interchangeability for the absolute majority resulting from standardization are incomparable. Lastly, the realization of universal design requires human-centered design mind, based on users' experiences and needs, the characteristics of the human bodies and inconvenient elements rather than standards for the sake of standardization.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.71-130
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• 2008

Using data from the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study (KLIPS), this study investigates private income transfers in Korea, where adult children have undertaken the most responsibility of supporting their elderly parents without well-established social safety net for the elderly. According to the KLIPS data, three out of five households provided some type of support for their aged parents and two out of five households of the elderly received financial support from their adult children on a regular base. However, the private income transfers in Korea are not enough to alleviate the impact of the fall in the earned income of those who retired and are approaching an age of needing financial assistance from external source. The monthly income of those at least the age of 75, even with the earning of their spouses, is below the staggering amount of 450,000 won, which indicates that the elderly in Korea are at high risk of poverty. In order to analyze microeconomic factors affecting the private income transfers to the elderly parents, the following three samples extracted from the KLIPS data are used: a sample of respondents of age 50 or older with detailed information on their financial status; a five-year household panel sample in which their unobserved family-specific and time-invariant characteristics can be controlled by the fixed-effects model; and a sample of the younger split-off household in which characteristics of both the elderly household and their adult children household can be controlled simultaneously. The results of estimating private income transfer models using these samples can be summarized as follows. First, the dominant motive lies on the children-to-parent altruistic relationship. Additionally, another is based on exchange motive, which is paid to the elderly parents who take care of their grandchildren. Second, the amount of private income transfers has negative correlation with the income of the elderly parents, while being positively correlated with the income of the adult children. However, its income elasticity is not that high. Third, the amount of private income transfers shows a pattern of reaching the highest level when the elderly parents are in the age of 75 years old, following a decreasing pattern thereafter. Fourth, public assistance, such as the National Basic Livelihood Security benefit, appears to crowd out private transfers. Private transfers have fared better than public transfers in alleviating elderly poverty, but the role of public transfers has been increasing rapidly since the welfare expansion after the financial crisis in the late 1990s, so that one of four elderly people depends on public transfers as their main income source in 2003. As of the same year, however, there existed and occupied 12% of the elderly households those who seemed eligible for the National Basic Livelihood benefit but did not receive any public assistance. To remove elderly poverty, government may need to improve welfare delivery system as well as to increase welfare budget for the poor. In the face of persistent elderly poverty and increasing demand for public support for the elderly, which will lead to increasing government debt, welfare policy needs targeting toward the neediest rather than expanding universal benefits that have less effect of income redistribution and heavier cost. Identifying every disadvantaged elderly in dire need for economic support and providing them with the basic livelihood security would be the most important and imminent responsibility that we all should assume to prepare for the growing aged population, and this also should accompany measures to utilize the elderly workforce with enough capability and strong will to work.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-287
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• 2014

Objective: The objective of the study is to develop a portable assistance device to help elderly users reduce strain on the knee and leg muscle while the elderly are standing up. Background: The pose of standing up from a chair is a basic movement, but the elderly often have difficulty standing up due to their weak muscles. We focus on designing a solution that helps the elderly reduce physical problems and support them standing up. Method: This study consists of three parts. Part I explores the way to reduce the refrain of leg muscle while standing up from a chair. In the process of structural development, we found that the moment is minimized when user pushes down the armrests due to a decrease in the force acting on the center of mass. In part II, a user test of 20 participants was carried out to rank the order of comfort of two stimuli: the chair with fixed armrests and the chair with the four-link mechanism that we created-in three different ways; (1) to stand up without touching armrests, (2) to stand up by pushing down on fixed armrests, and (3) to stand up by pushing down on armrests and being supported by the mechanism. To examine the statistically significant differences among the rank means, a Friedman test was conducted. In part III, we analyze the results of the user test and interview feedbacks, focusing on establishing a design strategy from UPO and visualizing it in 1:1 scale. Results: In part I, we decided to develop the four-link mechanism. The bottom is lifted up as the link rises. In part II, based on the rank data, we empirically found that UPO was assessed as the most comfortable during the stimuli. The thigh angle is smaller and the bottom of UPO is separated from a seat. In part III, after assessing the results and feedbacks, we created a visualization strategy for UPO: light, friendly, and novel. Conclusion: The portable and non-mechanical UPO comprises a four-link system that lifts the user's hips while standing. It can help users avoid knee and leg muscle strain. Its universal design considers the elderly's difficulties. Application: In a future study, combining light and durable material in UPO is expected to increase its usability. And this study is an opportunity to design various types of standing assistance devices.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.31-46
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to analyze the contents of elderly housing in the unit "Family Life & Housing" in Technology & Home Economics 9th grade textbooks. The results of this study are as follows: First, the contents, illustrations, pictures, floor-plans, graphs and tables in current unit "Family Life & Housing" varied widely among textbooks and some didn't even contain these informations. Illustrations and pictures which are suit to the content and which contain positive image of space and living should be chosen. Second, most of the contents about elderly housing were concentrated on the life cycle, three-generation housing and universal design, discussed in chapter 'utility of living space.' The unification of overlapped contents and description which don't have stereotype about elderly housing are needed. Not only the interior environment but also the exterior environment of the elders and life-support service for them should be included in the contents. Contents that reflect the change of future population composition and the ratio of three-generation household are required. The elderly housing floor plan needs to be diversified in quantity such as ones which reflect the Korean characteristics or ones which enable person an independent life.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.271-279
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• 2019

The life expectancy of people has been steadily extended due to the improvement of living standards and the development of medical technology. Besides, the low birth rate and long life expectancy decrease the youth population while the elderly population is steadily increasing. Many elderly people have enough time and financial allowance, and the interest in health care is increased all over society. There are also increasing numbers of elderly people who exercise lightly in the playgrounds and parks such as running and walking. Outdoor fitness equipment that can be easily seen in neighbourhood parks, public spaces, etc. can be good health promotion tools that can be easily accessed in the daily life of the elderly. Outdoor fitness equipment Description Signs require a design that takes into account the declining vision of older users. Proper design is also important for the prevention of safety accidents in use. The purpose of this study is to find out the perception of the elderly about outdoor fitness exercise equipment sign system and to find the problem of recognition. To do this, we conduct user observation and interview surveys for the elderly. As a result, the emphasis of the caveat or problems with the size of the writing were pointed out, and it was necessary to explain the picture rather than the text. Also, there was a high demand for refraining from using foreign words, using universal words and including motor effects in signs. Based on the results of the user observation and interviews, we propose guidelines for the use of outdoor exercise equipment.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2010

This is a comparative study mainly on foreign countries' domestic standards and laws on barrier free housing construction that can be applied to the dwelling of elderly friendly apartment housing. Eight countries - the United States, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and China - were reviewed as foreign cases. The analyzed subjects were design standards only for the disabled and the aged. To compare barrier-free guides of the eight countries, each barrier-free guide on three space units (entrance, bedroom, living room) was divided into 11 design items and 36 design factors. The comparative analysis on foreign cases was based on the design guide according to Korea's KS P 1509 (principle and recommendation for designing dimension of dwelling in consideration of the elderly). Some factors -if with dimensions- were compared by means of the skewness of distribution. In the analysis result, there were not only common standards for the nine countries such as a dimension of the space for wheelchair movement but also different standards such as heights of outlets and horizontal lengths of bathtub grab bars. The detailed analysis shows that it is urgently necessary to prepare new domestic national design standards for 8 factors that foreign countries already have. It is also needed to immediately prepare dimension standards for the design factors, which have no detailed dimensions but only national guides, in consideration for anthropometric dimension.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2008

In recent years, Korean population aged 65 and over has grown faster(7.2% in 2000, 14.4% projected in 2018 and 20.0% in 2026) than the other age groups and average life expectancy has increased from 65.8 years in 1980 to 75.9 years in 2000. The Aging Simulation Center(ASC) was built for people to give educational chance for further understanding of the elderly and the environment for the aged. People are able to recognize the changes including hearing loss, vision changes, and changes in the ability to touch and move after experiencing the simulated daily life of older persons. In general, ASC is composed of residential setting area and exhibition area of daily commodities for the elderly and care person. Currently, there are four ASCs in Korea. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of space design and design elements of ASCs and to suggest design implementation for better residential environment for the elderly. For the research purpose, design characteristics such as floor plans and spatial design elements of three ASCs were analyzed and compared. As a whole, space design of three ASCs was almost same without distinguished characteristics. The major finding of this study indicates that the ASC is considerably helpful environment to understand aging. However, some of design elements such as lighting should be supplemented for safety issue. It is recommended for future design of ASC to include exterior space including outdoor stairs, paths and roads and so on. In addition, reception and preparation area should be arranged with universally designed furniture.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.430-447
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the role and tasks of nurses who were working for the elderly in the visiting health services at the public health centers. Methods: Literature reviews, two rounds of meetings with 5 experts and a two-round Delphi technique with 15 experts were performed in this study. Results: The nurses' role and job analysis revealed 5 roles, 16 duties and, 71 tasks. The nurses' roles, including discovery and registration of households/groups in visiting health service in the community, case manager, administrative management, program planning, operation and evaluation, and development of job competency. Sixteen duties included client registration and management, need assessment and plan establishment, education, consultation and support, seasonal health care, prevention and monitoring of infectious diseases, basic nursing care, chronic disease management, linkage and utilization of resources, team cooperation and coordination, home environment management, monitoring and support for intervention outcomes, evaluation, administrative management, program planning, operation and evaluation, development of professional competency and, adoption of fourth industrial revolution technology. Conclusions: Based on the results, the government should provide sufficient nursing personnel to provide universal preventive health services for the elderly and a job training program to perform these roles well.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.256-267
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• 2018

The number of items and the market size of the senior-friendly medical devices are rapidly increasing, and it is necessary to come up with a safety management plan for senior-friendly medical devices. We searched and analyzed the definition and policy of senior-friendly medical device, and classified medical device items of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, calculated market sizes and manufacturing export import results by classification, and investigated the current state of senior-friendly industry and the fields of its culture. In order to prepare a safety management plan, we reduce the number of items that need to be managed intensively by extracting 69 items for administration, that are substantially harmful to the elderly. As specific safety management plans of items for administration, we propose plans for introductions of readability-enhanced labeling, QR codes for cautions and manuals, universal design mandatory, UDI code system with considering a balanced viewpoint of the industry development.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.85-92
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• 2017

The purpose of this research is to provide a basic framework of design guideline for elderly people who can live without inconvenience. It is time to think about how to create an age-friendly city for the Korean society which is rapidly advancing in population aging. Design guidelines studied in this research cover not only architecture but also urban, landscape and transportation fields, and consist of 90 items in 7 areas (park&open space, buildings, pedestrian street, crosswalk&bicycle lane, bus stop&subway station, parking housing). The importance of each item and each area were surveyed to verify objectivity. The result of importance of each item can be used to select design guidelines which can be applied first to create an aged-friendly physical environment.