• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.39-55
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• 2001

Concerns about paid-facilities for the elderly with dementia from middle and upper class families have been discussed lately in Korea. Small-scale, home-like group homes for the elderly with dementia were developed in Sweden in the 1980, but they have not been effectively introduced in Korea where they remain a comparatively new concept. The group home, however, would provide a good alternative to Koreans who feel guilty when they have to leave their frail parents in large-scale facilities or hospitals instead of caring for them at home. The aim of this paper is, first, to define the care of the demented elderly who come from upper and middle class families in Korea and, secondly, to discuss the need for group homes to help care for them. A survey was done by questionnaire and was answered by 577 respondents who belonged to middle and upper class families living in Korea in December 2000. Methods of analysis were frequency, mean, and Chi-square. The results of this study were as follows: 1) the traditional notion that the eldest son should be burdened with the primary responsibility for a demented parent has weakened remarkably; 2) a small-scale long-term care facility was considered the most desirable living environment for the demented elderly; 3) the facilities families needed for professional hospitals for victims of dementia, senior citizen centers, large and small-scale long-term care facilities, day-care centers, and short-stay and service housing. The study also revealed that there was low awareness of the group home. The most preferred type of structure for group homes was a single-family detached house, and the most preferred management system was small-scale that could create home-like atmosphere. Additionally the respondents wanted group homes to consist of 6-8 residents with 2-4 persons per room. The results of this study strongly suggest that policy makers should encourage the development of smallscale group homes as an alternative form of housing for the elderly with dementia.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the correlation between health status, health-promoting behavior, self-esteem and suicidal ideation among the elderly. Method: Subjects consisted of 115 elderly persons. Data were collected from January to March 2013, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis. Results: The mean scores for health status ($2.41{\pm}.68$), health-promoting behavior ($2.38{\pm}.43$), and self-esteem ($2.87{\pm}.69$) among the elderly fell in the average range, whereas scores for suicidal ideation ($.48{\pm}.36$) among the elderly fell in the below average range. Health status differed significantly according to age, educational level and economic status. Health-promoting behavior did not differ significantly based on these general characteristics. Self-esteem differed significantly according to age, job, and number of people living in the household. Suicidal ideation differed significantly based on age, educational level, and economic status. Significant correlations were found between health status, health-promoting behavior, self-esteem, and suicidal ideation. Conclusion: These findings indicate that perceived health status, health-promoting behavior, and self-esteem may be factors that need to be considered in order to decrease the prevalence of suicidal ideation among the elderly. These results can be used to develop a suicide prevention program for the elderly.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.341-349
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• 2011

As elder abuse has become a social problem, it has drawn a great deal of attention from researchers and policy-planers. While there have been a number of studies addressing various issues related to elder abuse, the present study aims to explain whether and how the perception of elder abuse would differ among the elderly themselves. In particular, the study focuses on the differences between urban and rural areas. Family-centered culture is believed to have a stronger influence in rural areas compared to urban areas. This cultural tradition highlights the importancy of the family compared to the individuals. Thus, the elderly who experience abuse would take it as personal matter rather than publicizing it. In addition, the information and campaigns on preventing elder abuse are less prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas due to limited communication networks. For these reasons, the study suggests a hypothesis that the elderly in rural areas are less perceptive to elder abuse. Using 6,709 persons aged 65 and over from a nationwide survey conducted by the Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 2009, the study ran regression analysis on 4 types of elder abuse including psychological, financial, physical and neglect. The results show that regardless of types of abuse, the elderly in rural areas have lower levels of perception than the elderly in urban areas do. In addition, the frequency of social activities is positively related to the perception of elderly abuse. This is also true for the different types of elder abuse. The findings suggest that social effort to prevent elder abuse consider the urban-rural differences and their sources.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.911-920
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• 2018

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the Korean elderly and their unmet dental care needs, by using the 2015 data from the $6^{th}$ Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Methods: In total, 1,372 elderly persons aged 65 and over, who responded to the $6^{th}$ NHANES, were included in the final analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed in order to identify any relationship between demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and unmet dental care needs. Results: The rate of unmet dental care needs was shown to be less by 0.799 times in the elderly who reside in dong than those who live in eup and myeon (OR: 0.799, 95% CI: 0.679-0.959). Unmet dental care needs were higher in participants with 'low' and 'below average' than 'above average' income, by 1.645 times (OR: 1.645, 95% CI: 1.087-2.366) and 1.172 times (OR: 1.172, 95% CI: 1.108-1.880), respectively. Elderly individuals living alone had a higher rate of unmet dental care needs than those living with their family by 1.157 times (OR: 1.157, 95% CI: 1.084-1.498). Conclusions: Demographic and socioeconomic factors influenced unmet dental care needs, causing inequality. Proper policy support to the vulnerable should be considered in order to enhance the elderly's access to dental care.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

Objective: This study examines the prevalence of osteoporosis, and compares with activity of daily living(ADL), instrumental activity of daily living(IADL) and health-related quality of life(QoL) among the elderly people with disabilities. Methods: This study analyzed the data of 3,113 persons with disabilities over 65 years of age who responded to the questionnaire using data from the National Survey of People with Disabilities in 2017 on the people with disabilities (PWD). Descriptive statistics, X2-test, and independent sample t-test were conducted using the SPSS win 21.0 program. Results: The prevalence of osteoporosis in the elderly PWD was 18.7%. There were significant differences in sex, age, type of disability, and disability severity according to the presence or absence of osteoporosis (p<0.05). Walking and Transfer of ADL were related to osteoporosis in elderly PWD. Financial management and Transportation use of IADL were related to osteoporosis (p<0.05). The PWD with osteoporosis were analyzed to have lower health-related quality of life compared to the disabled elderly without osteoporosis (p<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, a strategy for developing a program for managing osteoporosis. Strengthening health management in the elderly PWD is required.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.127-136
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• 2011

The improving in physical activity of Disability elder is the most important and effective way of prevent and treatment. Especially, It improves ADL(Activities Daily of Living) by decreasing restrictive function and dependence. This study was researched on change by comparing before and after about ADL of Women elders who were instructed self rehabilitation exercise in bedside and have been take that. The whole subjects are 92 persons. Elders aged 65 to 69 are 32 persons. elders aged 70 to 74 are 22 persons 38 persons are over the age of 75. This study shows that the whole subjects have been improved ADL. especially, "Take a bath" in detail items of ADL comes to the most improvement rate. Next, "Sit to stand on the bed and transfer" comes to the second highest rate. According to findings upon the age group. "Take a bath" is also the highest improvement rate. Elders aged 60 to 65 show "Sit to stand on the bed and transfer" is the second highest rate of improvement" and elders aged 70 to 74 show that "control urine" is the second highest rate of improvement. and elders over the age of 75 shows that "sit to stand on the bed and transfer" is the second highest rate of improvement. This study have some problems on having possibilities of results because hospitalized persons have answered imperfect statement and being compare progressed for short term with rehabilitation exercise. so, There are some causes that is early to be generalized.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2002

A decrease in the birthrate and aging are progressing in Japan and several countries. In that society, it is important that physically weak persons such as elderly persons are able to take care of themselves. We have been developing exoskeletal robots for human (especially for physically weak persons) motion support. In this study, the controller controls the angular position and impedance of the exoskeltal robot system using multiple fuzzy-neuro controllers based on biological signals that reflect the human subject's intention. Skin surface electromyogram (EMG) signals and the generated wrist force by the human subject during the elbow motion have been used as input information of the controller. Since the activation level of working muscles tends to vary in accordance with the flexion angle of elbow, multiple fuzzy-neuro controllers are applied in the proposed method. The multiple fuzzy-neuro controllers are moderately switched in accordance with the elbow flexion angle. Because of the adaptation ability of the fuzzy-neuro controllers, the exoskeletal robot is flexible enough to deal with biological signal such as EMG. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.49-61
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• 2000

Although the availability of home care rehabilitation services have been greatly increased since community-based rehabilitation was introduced to Korea, there is still a dearth of studies investigating the performance level of ADL (activities of daily living) for the physically disabled in the rural areas. The purposes of this study were to investigate the ADL performance level of disabled persons living at home in the rural areas of Wonju city, Korea, using FIM (functional independence measure) and to identify the specific areas of the ADL to be trained or evaluated by physical therapists or occupational therapists. 298 disabled people were interviewed by 10 physical therapy students. Analysis of the interviews indicated: 1) Forty seven point seven percent of the respondents were elderly-disabled persons whose ages were 61 years old or above, and 69.5% of respondents has the history of chronic disability period of 5 years or more. 2) FIM score of bathing, and stairs climbing showed severe dependent trend 3) FIM scores of self-feeding, urination, defecation, and comprehension ability were mildly dependent. These results revealed that functional evaluation/treatment for discharging from hospitals to the rural areas should be emphasized on the specific ADL performance areas such as bathing, and stairs climbing.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 2007

Objectives : According to Rowe and Kahn (1998), successful aging is the combination of a low probability of disease, high functioning, and active engagement with life. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between active engagement with life and functioning among the community-dwelling elderly. Methods : Data were collected from Wave 2 of the Suwon Longitudinal Aging Study (SLAS), consisting of a sample of 645 persons aged 65 and older living in the community. A social activity checklist and social support inventory were used as measures of engagement with life, along with the Physical Functioning (PF) scale as a measure of functioning. The effects of social support and social activity on physical functioning, taking into account the covariates, were analyzed by hierarchical linear regression analysis. Results : Maintenance of social activity and social support were significantly associated with higher physical function, after adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related covariates. Social support appeared to be more prominent than social activity in predicting physical functioning. Conclusions : Social support and social activity are potentially modifiable factors associated with physical function in older persons. Studies examining the role social engagement may play in preventing disability are warranted.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.267-272
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine effect of anxiety about climate change on life satisfaction and mediating effect of subjective health status between anxiety about climate change and life satisfaction among older persons. Methods: This study used data from Statistics Korea 2018 Social Survey and a total of 7,870 older persons aged 65 and over were selected for the analyses. Descriptive statistics was used to identify characteristics of study participants and correlation analysis was used to examine the associations among anxiety about climate change, subjective health status, and life satisfaction. Also, multiple regression analyses were performed to examine effect of anxiety about climate change on life satisfaction and mediating effect of subjective health status between anxiety about climate change and life satisfaction. Results: Study findings show that anxiety about climate change had significant effect on life satisfaction. A higher level of anxiety decreased the level of life satisfaction of the elderly. A higher level of anxiety about climate change also decreased the level of subjective health status. In addition, the effect of anxiety about climate change on life satisfaction was partially mediated by subjective health status. Conclusions: Findings of the study suggest that the needs of older population should be considered in designing policy and interventions on climate change.