• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.103-114
• /
• 2001

Worldwide trend of waste treatment technology is rapidly transferring from "incineration system" to "gasification & melting system" which can derive the resources from waste and charge no more environmental burden to nature. And therefore it is necessary for our country to adopt gasification & melting system urgently to present the land pollution and lack of landfill area. Among several gasification and melting processes Daewoo-Thermoselect gasification and melting system is the representative process which can transfer waste to resources such as sin-gas, molten slag, metal hydroxide, mixed salt and sulfur through the process of compaction, degasification, gasification and melting.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.121-146
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this paper IS to estimate efficiency and loss of productivity under environmental regulation, and analyze the environmental efficiency index empirically. Using the panel data for 20 member countries of OECD during 1985~1999, environmental efficiency index can be constructed by comparing the production processes under alternative assumptions of disposability, by using a hyperbolic measure of productive efficiency. As a result of estimation for the environmental efficiency index, EE of OECD countries gradually shows a downward trend. In terms of the treatment of pollutants, Japan, Germany and France are countries that have a considerable burden in getting rid of the pollutants. In case of EE, Korea displayed high environment efficiency, but in the latter half of the 1990's, the environmental efficiency of Korea became slightly worse. During the same period, Korea had a burden in dealing with NOx just like the other OECD countries.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2003

The principal objective of this study was to analyze and conceptualize the socio-psychological burden in utilizing a nursing home for elderly. The subjects were five elderly from a private nursing home located in Seoul and their familial caregivers. An old male and three females were currently staying at the facility, and a female had been discharged already from there. Data were collected through depth interviews, observations and review of records at the facility For analysis, the data were classified by similar contents among significant expressions and factors in common. The subjects' motives to consider admission to the nursing home might be attributed to familial caregivers' burden, a shortage of support, environmental improvement and feeling of helplessness for the case elderly. The concept of burden is including family members' being badly off in living, their weariness, complications among family members, feeling psychological uneasiness, and hospital expenses. The identified image of nursing homes for the elderly in Korea was generally negative at the point of high cost, unreasonable requisites and limitations for admission to the facilities, inferior situations, and especially in that there were few long-term care facilities within the community boundary. From their experience of nursing homes, the interviewees have felt the sentiments of sorry for their old parents, with the thought of being an undutiful, bitterness, and empathy. Additionally, they expressed a sense of anxiety of relative deprivation against the fact that there were no long-term care facilities available for the middle class. On the basis of these, multi-dimensional needs could be identified for the elderly with chronic illnesses.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.93-111
• /
• 2020

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in Korea is conducted for specific development projects within Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system. However, as HIA is being carried out in the implementation stage of the development project, it sometimes has failed to take proper actions despite the significant adverse health impact. Considering an environment conflict regarding adverse health impact in developing industrial complex and the current application of HIA in EIA system, it is necessary to come up with an adequacy evaluation in the industrial complex development considering health impact. This study proposes an adequacy evaluation method considering health impact for the industrial complex development and embodies the method by applying it to actual cases. Referring to methodologies of US EPA's CalEnviroScreen 3.0 and US ATSDR's Public Health Assessment, this study proposed using indicators divided by community characteristic, background exposure and development burden as an adequacy evaluation method to consider health impact. Five indicators for community characteristic, three indicators for background exposure and seven indicators for development burden were selected through literature survey, and the weights for each indicator were calculated through Analytic Hierarchy Process's survey of experts related to HIA. Through a pilot application in the three government-led industrial complex development projects, the method was further elaborated by clarifying the evaluation data and subdividing the evaluation criteria for each indicator. Adequacy criteria of plan considering health impact could be presented in three ways to be linked to the government's policy stance on the industrial complex development criteria of total score, criteria of total score and community characteristic score, and criteria of total score and community characteristic allowed by development burden.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.213-225
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide basic data about agitation in patients with dementia by surveying the literature. Method: Key words used for search through hand-search and electronic database (CINHAL, Pubmed, Google scholar, Riss, Kiss, DBpia) included 'dementia', 'Alzheimer disease', 'agitation', 'aggression or aggressive behavior', 'problem or disruptive behavior', and 'abnormal behavior.' Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria for the Meta-analysis and 'R' version 3.2.2 was used to analyze the correlated effect size. Results: Study results showed that variables related to agitation were identified as the demographic (age, gender), dementia-related (cognition, medication uses), physical (Activity of Daily Living [ADL], pain), psychological (depression, psychotic symptom, caregiver burden) and environmental (psychosocial environment) factors. The effect size between the correlated variables and agitation were low to moderate (caregiver burden .36; ADL -.24; psychotic symptom and depression .21; pain .19; cognition -.15; medication uses .12; and psychosocial environment -.12). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, strategies to improve patients' depressive and psychotic symptoms and ADL and to reduce caregivers' burden are needed for prevention and management of agitation in patients with dementia.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.350-351
• /
• 2008

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.34-42
• /
• 2021

Objectives: This study investigated sleep quality in female full-time homemakers and evaluated the relationship of sleep disturbance with psychological and socio-environmental factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study adopted a structured survey and sequential recruitment method for randomized participation of community-dwelling full-time female homemakers. Sleep quality and mental health were measured using the Korean version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (K-PSQI), Korean version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (K-BDI-II), Korean version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (K-BAI), and Korean version of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (K-BHS). The willingness-to-pay (WTP) method was selected to measure the self-evaluated monetary value of household service work. The relationship among the main relevant factors was statistically analyzed through a mediation model. Results: A total of 166 participants were analyzed and classified having poor versus good sleep quality (poor : 24.1%, n = 40 ; good : 75.9%, n = 126 ; cut-off point = 9 on the K-PSQI). Significant between-group differences were observed in mental health status (K-BDI-II, p < 0.001 ; K-BAI, p < 0.001 ; K-BHS, p = 0.003). The moderated mediation model was verified, indicating that depression may mediate the association between nurturing burden and sleep disturbance. The path from nurturing burden to depression may be moderated by average monthly household income. Conclusion: A relatively high portion of full-time female homemakers may suffer from sleep disturbance and interactions between psychological and socio-environmental factors might determine sleep quality, suggesting the need for public health policies targeting improvement of sleep quality and mental health among full-time homemakers.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.47 no.5
• /
• pp.486-495
• /
• 2021

Background: Particulate matter (PM) is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide. Previous studies in South Korea have applied a relative risk calculated from Western populations when estimating the disease burden attributable to PM. However, the relative risk of PM on health outcomes may not be the same across different countries or regions. Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the premature deaths and socioeconomic costs attributable to long-term exposure to PM in South Korea. We considered not only the difference in PM concentration between regions, but also the difference in relative risk. Methods: National monitoring data of PM concentrations was obtained, and missing values were imputed using the AERMOD model and linear regression model. As a surrogate for relative risk, hazard ratios (HRs) of PM for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality were estimated using the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. The nation was divided into five areas (metropolitan, central, southern, south-eastern, and Gangwon-do Province regions). The number of PM attributable deaths in 2018 was calculated at the district level. The socioeconomic cost was derived by multiplying the number of deaths and the statistical value of life. Results: The average PM₁₀ concentration for 2014~2018 was 45.2 ㎍/m³. The association between long-term exposure to PM₁₀ and mortality was heterogeneous between areas. When applying area-specific HRs, 23,811 premature deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease in 2018 were attributable to PM₁₀ (reference level 20 ㎍/m³). The corresponding socioeconomic cost was about 31 trillion won. These estimated values were higher than that when applying nationwide HRs. Conclusions: This study is the first research to estimate the premature mortality caused by long-term exposure to PM using relative risks derived from the national population. This study will help precisely identify the national and regional health burden attributed to PM and establish the priorities of air quality policy.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.270-281
• /
• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand low-income elders' experiences of community-based u-Health services. Methods: Qualitative data were collected from 11 participants. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes and eight sub-themes emerged as a result of analysis. The three main themes were 'recovered confidence and health condition,' 'trial and error in change,' and 'hope.'The eight sub-themes were 'the burden and efforts to overcome it in using bio-signal device,' 'ambivalence due to changing lifestyle,' 'increase of care time, decrease of pressure', 'conflict under environmental constraints,' 'difficulty in prioritizing health management,' 'discouragement in handling new devices,' 'desire not to be a burden to their children-gradual fulfillment of learning needs,' and 'long for broadening coverage range of services.' Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate that low-income elders among the participants have different needs in using u-Health services. Therefore, health professionals need to give personalized education to deal with their conflicts and requirements, especially emotional and environmental support in order for them to successfully accept the u-Health services for self-care.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.47 no.5
• /
• pp.379-383
• /
• 2021

This paper discussed environmental health policies for the past and coming decade by reviewing the First Comprehensive Environmental Health Plan (2011~2020) and introducing the Second Comprehensive Environmental Health Plan (2021~2030). The major achievement of the First Comprehensive Environmental Health Plan was the establishment of receptor-oriented environmental health policies. However, the main limitations were insufficient policy support for relief and/or recovery from environmental pollution damage and low public awareness of environmental health policies. The Second Comprehensive Environmental Health Plan presents the following major policy tasks: establish an omnidirectional environment health investigation and monitoring system, provide customized environmental health services, improve the environmental health damage relief and recovery system, and promote regional environmental health policies. The Second Plan has a clear distinction from the First Plan in that it expands the field of environmental health from the prevention and management of environmental risk factors to proactive damage response and recovery, which will effectively contribute to alleviating the burden of environmental disease.