• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2017

Using data from the 2015 Korea Welfare Panel Study, we examined the predictors of psychological well-being (life satisfaction and depression) of single elderly people living alone across development stages (young-old, mid-old, and old-old) and suggested implications for elderly policy. For this purpose, we selected 1,364 elderly people who lived alone but preserved their family relationships, and were 65 years of age or older. Separate analyses were conducted for the three groups of single elderly people living alone. Overall, the psychological well-being of single elderly people living alone was higher than moderate level, and they were generally satisfied with their everyday lives and less depressed. However, there were group differences: the young-old group was more satisfied than the old-old group with in their everyday lives and less depressed than the mid-old and old-old groups. In the young-old group, life satisfaction was significantly associated with subjective health, non-physical conflict with family, disposal income, house ownership, dietary deficiency, cost of living, and public pension. In addition, depression was significantly associated with subjective health, non-physical conflict with family, dietary deficiency, and physical conflict with family. In the mid-old group, life satisfaction was significantly associated with subjective health, housing non-physical conflict with family, disposal income, and dietary deficiency. Depression was significantly associated with subjective health, housing deficiency. In the old-old group, life satisfaction was significantly associated with subjective health and non-physical conflict with family. Depression was significantly associated with subjective health. Therefore, 'health'and 'family'are important key concepts to consider when making elderly policy.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2017

Objectives: I examined the health and oral health status of elderly people living alone compared to elderly people living with their families by using data (2014) from the 6th Two-Year Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: Among 1,454 health survey respondents aged 65 years and over who participated in the 6th Two-Year Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2014, 311 were elderly people living alone and 1,143 were elderly people living with their families. Results: In terms of socio-demographic characteristics, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high especially in women and when the subjects' age, education level, and income level were low. In terms of oral health status, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high when elderly people thought that their subjectively viewed health was poor and the frequency of drinking and exercise was low. In terms of oral health status, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high among elderly people who did not have good oral health in their subjective view and did not get oral examinations for a year and had a lot of difficulty chewing. Conclusions: Family support or additional social support for elderly people who live alone should be considered to promote the healthy lives of elderly people.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.309-320
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was undertaken to compare dietary life of the elderly living alone and in a family, and to compare differences based on gender, for the 2013-2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods: The subjects included 2,612 elderly people aged over 65 years who participated in the health survey, health examination and nutrition survey. Subjects on a diet therapy were excluded. This study analyzed the general characteristics, dietary habits, daily energy and nutrient intakes, CPF ratio, estimated average requirement (EAR), nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) and mean adequacy ratio (MAR), index of nutrient quality (INQ), and food consumption of the elderly living alone and in a family. We also compared the differences based on gender. Results: Daily intake of food, water, dietary fiber, potassium, retinol, and riboflavin were low in the male elderly subjects living alone. The elderly living with family revealed higher NAR and MAR as compared to the elderly living alone. Although all MAR values were <1, the elderly living alone had lower values. Considering the intake of food, the consumption of seaweed, fish and shellfish, and oils (animal) was higher in elderly men living with families, whereas women living with families consumed more vegetables, fruits, seaweeds and seafood, as compared to their counterparts living alone. Furthermore, analyzing the foods consumed by the elderly people living alone, female subjects consumed more seaweed, milk and animal oil as compared to male subjects. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the elderly living alone have poor nutrient intake as compared to the elderly living with families. Based on this research data, we recommend that it is necessary to improve the health and nutritional status of the elderly living alone.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.264-273
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• 2012

This study analyzes the food frequency for the elderly regarding different family types and finds the factors for nutritional risk, offers a basic reference for providing nutritional support for them. The study referred to the dietary behavioral survey data of 3,680 elderly people (1652 male and 2028 female) from 21 regions in the northern Kyeonggi province. The data was collected through the method of one-to-one interviews and was a part of the Community Health Survey for 2008 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). We classified family types as a household for elderly people living alone, a household of elderly people with a spouse, a household of the elderly with unmarried children and a household of the elderly with married children, and as for intakes of foods, the frequencies of taking fruits, vegetables, kimchi, rice with mixed cereals, meat, fish, bean tofu soymilk, milk and dairy products, as well as sweet beverages are calculated on a daily basis and skipped meals are calculated on a weekly basis. Elderly women showed lower income, lower education level, higher unemployment rates, and a higher rate of government healthcare subsidies than elderly men. Elderly women tend to live alone and with their children while elderly men tend to live with their spouse. In both males and females, the intake of fruits and vegetables were the least in the elderly living alone, while the elderly with married children ate the most. In both males and females, the household of the elderly living alone ate significantly less amounts of Kimchi than other family types. Elderly people living alone tended to have significantly less meat and fish, especially women. In the case of rice with mixed cereals, the elderly men living alone and the elderly men with unmarried children ate significantly less amounts than the elderly men living with a spouse. The elderly men living alone took significantly less milk and dairy products than the elderly men with unmarried children while the elderly women living with a spouse took significantly less milk and dairy products than the elderly women with married children. With regards to the frequency of meal-skipping, the elderly living alone had the highest frequency for skipping meals. From this result, having various foods is difficult for the elderly living alone. Furthermore, the elderly living with unmarried children demonstrated a low quality of dietary life compared to those of married children. Hence, it can be concluded that social support is important in order for the elderly to have a balanced diet.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.765-777
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was a descriptive survey research to compare and to examine the levels of health status, depression, and quality of life between the elderly living with family and the elderly living alone, the relations among the factors. Methods: Subjects were the 441 elderly over 65 years old(243 elderly living with family; 198 elderly living alone) in Seoul and Gyung-gi province. Data were collected from January to March, 2007. Collected data were analyzed through SAS/PC 11.0 version. Results: First, the health status and quality of life in the elderly living with family were higher than them in the elderly living alone. Also depression in the elderly living with family was lower than that in the elderly living alone. Second, in all elderly there was positive correlation between health status and depression. There were negative correlations between health status and quality of life, and between depression and quality of life. Third, the economic environments in all elderly did effect to the health status, depression, and quality of life. conclusion: In conclusion, it's requested a special attention of the current job level or interpersonal relationship of older people.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.491-504
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• 2005

This research studies the residential environment of the elderly and its trend. Our main focus is on the residential condition and its type between parents and their child/ren in korea which has already entered the aging society. The results are as follows: (1) This paper finds that the residence type of the households with elderly people becomes multifarious, as in a two-generation household, a couple and their single child, a couple family, etc. (2) The parents living separately from their child/ren account for 63.3%, which is becoming predominant in the residence type of the elderly. On the other hand, those living with their child/ren take up merely 24.5%. Thus, we can infer that the number of the parents with the former type is on the increase. (3) The residence type in reality is different from the one intended by elderly people, so we can estimate future change in the residence type. (4) The residence type varies, as in living together with young family, living separately from young family, separation at a distance, etc. In conclusion, we need appropriate living programs for each various residence type between elderly people and their children.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2013

Objective : The objective of this study is to present basic data to find health care plans for the elderly by comparing time-management ability and ADL and identifying the relationships between groups with subjects of elderly people living alone and living with family in Daejeon Metropolitan City. Method : A total of 80 elders who lived alone or with family that were aged 65 or older were selected with MMSE-K, 40 people were selected as subjects for each group. For time-management ability, a questionnaire was used. ADL were assessed by using FIM. The study period was May to June 2013. Result : Comparison of scores for time-management ability and FIM of the elderly who live alone or living with family did not show any statistically significant difference. In comparison of detailed scores between groups, there were statistically significant differences between the two groups being social interaction, problem solving and memory in social cognition items among detailed items. Conclusion : Through this study, we understood that social cognitive function of the aged living alone who had less opportunity of interaction compared to that of the aged living with family was lowered. Based on this, development and study on various programs should be made with consideration of sociodemographic characteristics of the elderly within community-based occupational therapy in the future.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2010

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine the relations among depression, life satisfaction and health promoting behavior, and to find factors related with health promoting behavior. Methods: The subjects were 198 elderly people of over 65 living in K City and S City. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS/WIN 13.0. Results: Health promoting behavior was significantly different according to religion, education level, living with family, previous job, pocket money, subjectively economic level, and leisure activities. Depression was significantly different according to education level, living with family, pocket money, economic level, and leisure activities. And life satisfaction was significantly different according to religion, living with family, and pocket money. The variables that affected the degree of health promoting behavior were depression, life satisfaction and living with family, and they represented 29.7% of health promoting behavior. Conclusion: The health promoting behavior of the subjects was better than average and, at the same time, the lower depression in the health promoting behavior was the higher life satisfaction was. Therefore, in order to decrease depression and to increase life satisfaction, the development of advanced health promoting programs will be helpful to lead health life for the elderly people.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.30 no.B
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• pp.55-59
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• 2010

The number of elderly people living alone increases with the trend of nuclear family in recent aging society and advances of health and medical technologies, where the safety of the elderly people becomes a big social issue. One of the safety system for them these days is that security guards regularly visit homes of the elderly living alone to check their safety. However, it is an inefficient system since it costs a great deal. So, a new efficient system with low cost using modern advanced technologies needs to be developed. In this paper, we implement a monitoring system for elderly living alone using ubiquitous sensor and zigbeX. The system can remotely determine the health status of elderly people and report to their hospitals. Since the system can be implemented with low cost and do the same job as security guards do, we expect that it should replace the existing expensive monitoring system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.443-451
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• 2017

The purpose of this research is to examine ways to improve the quality of life of elderly people living alone in urban areas by identifying their stress, social support, and quality of life as well as analyzing the relationships between these factors. In this research, a questionnaire survey was conducted for approximately two weeks including 232 elderly people aged 65 years and above who were using 10 senior welfare centers in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. The results of the analysis based on the collected data showed that of the stresses experienced by elderly people living alone in urban areas, the stresses of health, family, and psychological and social stresses had negative effects on social support and quality of life. Also, it was found that the social support of elderly people living alone had positive effects on the quality of life. Additionally, it was found that social support had a mediating effect in the relationship between stress and quality of life of elderly people living alone in urban areas. In other words, social support plays a buffer role in enhancing the quality of life regarding health, family, economy, and psychological and social stresses. This research has significant implications in that it was conducted on elderly people living alone, since elderly people living alone are not only under more stressful circumstances in a vulnerable environment than other seniors but also their quality of life is much lower. The implications of this research are that, from a social point of view, these elderly people living alone should no longer be neglected and that differentiated policy interventions for elderly people living alone is required.