• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.1149-1171
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the social intervention for severely isolated older adults who live alone and are in serious isolation as if they were 'hidden'. Through qualitative descriptive methods, it intends to describe how social workers in the "Making Friends of Older Adults who Live Alone" project have perceived older adults living alone in serious isolated situation, whether there have been changes in the perception of the elderly according to the progress of the project, and what kinds of experiences these social workers have had while providing case management to older adults. In-depth interviews with 40 social workers, case management records of 70 senior citizens, and research journals were collected and analyzed using qualitative content analysis methods. The results of data analysis were presented in two categories and four subcategories each. Based on the research findings, four kinds of implications were suggested.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.149-175
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• 2009

The purpose of this research is to analyze the overall problems at the moment of October 2008, and then to find the improvements of home-help services of the Long-Term Care Insurance(LTCI), which has been revealed many problems since it was released in July 2008. The research uses the literature survey which analyzes 2nd-hand materials studied by other people already, and survey research was executed from active social workers in the area of LTCI. Based on the policy analysis framework of Gilbert and Specht, all the data are analyzed in the scopes of client·benefit(service)·finance·transferring system. This research has found the problems in each scope of home-help services of the LTCI. Firstly, the client system has some problems in mismatching between registered and service clients, estimating client number, and judging service levels. Secondly, the service system reveals deficiency in professionality of social workers, service quality lowering by loose qualification criteria on workers, non-reasonable limitation of service time available, and the same fare system applied to visiting-help service in spite of different levels. Thirdly, in financing system, clients need to pay additional money to get extra services such as meal, hair cutting, bathing etc., due to government financial support stopped, some organizations have to reduce services and replace full-time workers to part-time ones, which makes the service quality worse. Lastly, in the transferring system, the management system for service quality is not well prepared. There are too much competion because of allowing too many home-help service organizations and care worker academies. The suggestions that this research has found to improve the policy are as follows. ① It is desirable to make the registered clients the service ones as many as possible in the long term perspective. ② The LTCI organization requires more workers and higher professionality. ③ Many elderly people who are not eligible now require connection system to be more served. ④ Management system and service manual for care worker are to be developed. ⑤ Laws related to the service contents and process should be modified, the proportion of client charge needs to adjust. ⑥ Home-help service organization licensed by the LTCI needs to be financially supported publicly. ⑦ Monitoring system to home-help service organization needs to be strengthened. ⑧ Evaluation tools to home-help service organization and workers is required. ⑨ Specification to open the home-help service organization needs to be more strict.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.96-104
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• 2018

Purpose: This study compared factors related to fear of falling among women in the early phase of old age based on hand grip strength. Methods: Researchers obtained data of 1,071 women who had participated in the 4th Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results: In both groups, fear of falling was positively correlated with falling experience within two years, osteoarthritis-related leg pain, depression, and instrumental daily life abilities; however, self-rated health was negatively correlated. In the low hand grip strength group, self-rated health, osteoarthritis-related leg pain, and hand grip strength accounted for 21.3% of the variance regarding fear of falling. In the normal hand grip strength group, age, self-rated health, fall experience within two years, osteoarthritis-related leg pain, and depression significantly accounted for 16.6% of the variance regarding fear of falling. Conclusion: In applying interventions to prevent falling in women in the early phase of old age, health care workers must verify if women have low hand grip strength and determine whether to focus on fitness improvement through exercise interventions or consider psychological interventions for depression.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.178-183
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• 2012

We investigated the latest trend of u-Health and relations with clinical technologist. Since 2000, Korea has become an aging society. Korea will become an aged society by 2018, and it is expected to enter the ultra-high aged society by 2026. Increase in over 65 years population means that the desire of medical service and care demand for the elderly is greatly required. In addition, many predicted Korean national health insurance would falter financially. Medical suppression policies and regulations are also amended continuously. U-Health based on the IT industry and development of related technologies and industries contains the variety concepts of telemedicine, telehealth, e-health, u-healthcare and POCT. Especially, the use of POCT supplied quick clinical examination is extending steadily in medical center and hospital, which will generate the field friction between nurses and medical technologists. In the transition situation from provider-centric service to consumer-driven health care system, this study recommended the principal role and correspondence of clinical laboratory workers and offered information about changes in healthcare market and the basic concept of expert system, measurement and the diagnosis principle to clinical technicians throughout the investigation of the recent research and government policy trends.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-76
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• 2012

South Korea's rapid ageing and the fast increase of nuclear families have led to the social isolation of the elderly and generational conflicts. In order to solve these social problems, this study explores the ways in which different generations can communicate and interact more actively. We surveyed 110 social workers who run generation-integrated programs at community centers in Gyeonggi province, and also examined the spatial design of the four age-integrated community centers and analysed its effect on the intergenerational exchange. We propose several suggestions for intergenerational exchange programs and effective space planning to facilitate intergenerational interactions in multi-generational community centers. To develop intergenerational interactions and keep their constant relationship, the users of community centers should be the core of generation-integrated programs which can facilitate the intergenerational exchange and interactions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.730-736
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• 2012

Latest, many researchers do research on wearable robot. The purpose of the researches is very diverse, it will improve efficiency in the industry, taken to replace the many workers in the military field and taken to assist bodily functions run out by aging. However, there is no clear Differentiated strategy depending on the purpose for design and control of the wearable robot. Although a common purpose is to drive the robot by the sensor signal (intent signals), the optimization about the mechanism and control studies must be done according to the user's physical ability and purpose. In this study, the study's first phase for the development of wearable robotic gait rehabilitation, gait characteristics were analyzed elders and hemiplegia patients using a 3D gait analysis system (VICON512). As a result, asymmetric gait characteristics of the hemiplegia patients were found compared with the normal elderly.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.19-31
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze research trends in age-friendly research and suggest directions for future research. Methods: For this study, 112 articles related to age-friendly research were selected, from 605 published articles in The Korean Journal of Health Service Management (2007-2018). Content analysis and text network analysis were conducted using SPSS 23.0 and NetMiner 4. Results: First, 2 authors (30.4%) and 4 keywords (45.5%) were the most studied. Most of the studies used quantitative research (93.8%). Primary data (61.9%) and SPSS (77.7%) were the most used for analysis. Second, there were seven common keywords in the top 10 in all the centralities. They were Elderly, Geriatric Hospital, Depression, Care Workers, Long-Term Care Facilities, Experience, and Attitude. Conclusions: This study shows the need for diversity of research topics, subjects, research methods, and analytical tools in future age-friendly related studies. In addition, it suggests activating convergence research in this field linked to various industries and services.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of workplace violence experienced by taxi drivers and identify the affected factors. Methods: Two hundred twelve taxi drivers were investigated for general characteristics and workplace violence was evaluated using K_WVSⓇ13. The data was collected from July to October 2020 through questionnaires. It was analyzed using t-test and ANOVA with SPSS WIN23.0. Results: Most of the taxi drivers were elderly and suffered from long hours of labor and low wages. After evaluating four sub-factors of workplace violence, 'psychological and sexual violence from customers', 'psychological and sexual violence from customers, supervisors, and coworkers' and 'physical assault from customers/supervisors/coworkers' were judged as risks. For 'psychological and sexual violence from customers, supervisors, and coworkers', the mean score by age was significantly higher for workers in their 70s or older and those with 30 years of experience compared to other age groups. In the case of 'psychological and sexual violence from customers', sales taxis were significantly higher than private taxis. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop a workplace violence prevention program suitable for the characteristics of taxi drivers in order to manage their physical and mental health. When establishing such a program, business type, age, and experience must be considered.

• KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.113-118
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• 2022

Global warming has also increased the number of casualties caused by heat-related diseases caused by heat waves along with an increase in global temperature. The vulnerable groups from heat wave damage are outdoor workers and the elderly in particular, and it is necessary to respond the increasing heat wave damage. We propose a real-time control platform in order to reduce casualties of the vulnerable group from heatwaves, this research collects and analyzes user's vital signs data from wearable devices that generates alarms out of the suspected victims who are expected to be affected by heat-related illness and to respond quickly.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2019

This study was conducted to examine effects of community gardening on job stress and job satisfaction experienced by public officials in general administration working in a 24-hour shift. The subjects were public officials at the Center for Missing Children in the Department of Women and Adolescents at the National Police Agency. The center receives initial reports of disappearance of missing children, the elderly with dementia, and people with intellectual disabilities, sends out the report to each police station, and clears the report after the missing individual is found. Twelve public officials working at the center in a double shift (full day off after a night shift, four-day interval) were grouped into four teams and total 11 of them participated in the experiment. They engaged in autonomous community gardening activities such as sowing seeds, cultivating plants, harvesting, or cooking in the workplace for five weeks from August 19 to September 22, 2018. The findings were as follows. After five weeks of autonomous gardening activities, job stress of the subjects decreased significantly. Their mean scores of job satisfaction and organizational commitment under organizational effectiveness showed a significant increase after the activities. Finally, there were significant differences in their self-esteem after participating in the gardening activities in the workplace. These results suggest that gardening activities in the workplace can help to manage job stress and quality of work life for shift workers.