• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.435-440
• /
• 2013

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among women in Malaysia. A diagnosis is very stressful for women, affecting all aspects of their being and quality of life. As such, there is little information on quality of life of women with breast cancer across the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of life in Malay and Chinese women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in Kelantan. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study involved 58 Malays and 15 Chinese women newly diagnosed with breast cancer prior to treatment. Quality of life was measured using the Malay version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and its breast-specific module (QLQ-BR23). Socio-demographic and clinical data were also collected. All the data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Most of the women were married with at least a secondary education and were in late stages of breast cancer. The Malay women had lower incomes (p=0.046) and more children (p=0.001) when compared to the Chinese women. Generally, both the Malay and Chinese women had good functioning quality-of-life scores [mean score range: 60.3-84.8 (Malays); 65.0-91.1 (Chinese)] and global quality of life [mean score 60.3, SD 22.2 (Malays); mean score 65.0, SD 26.6 (Chinese)]. The Malay women experienced more symptoms such as nausea and vomiting (p=0.002), dyspnoea (p=0.004), constipation (p<0.001) and breast-specific symptoms (p=0.041) when compared to the Chinese. Conclusions: Quality of life was satisfactory in both Malays and Chinese women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in Kelantan. However, Malay women had a lower quality of life due to high general as well as breast-specific symptoms. This study finding underlined the importance of measuring quality of life in the newly diagnosed breast cancer patient, as it will provide a broader picture on how a cancer diagnosis impacts multi-ethnic patients. Once health care professionals understand this, they might then be able to determine how to best support and improve the quality of life of these women during the difficult times of their disease and on-going cancer treatments.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.15-35
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to provide basic data for policy of Oriental medicine by analyzing community resident's consciousness of taking herb medicine and its related factors. Data were collected from 1478 residents from March 2, 2001 to May 31, 2001. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1) The rate of experience of taking herb medicine was 85.2%(88.2% of 'male'; 82.5% of 'female'). It appeared to be significantly higher in the groups of 'the married', 'housewife', and 'Buddhist'. As the age increased, so the rate of experience of taking herb medicine was significantly high. 2) In case of purpose of taking herb medicine, taking herb medicine as a restorative(66.8%) was much higher than taking it as a curative medicine. 3) 52.1% of the respondents satisfied with the effect of herb medicine. The groups of 'male', 'older age', 'residents in a big city', 'insurant in company', and 'the employed' showed significantly high rate in satisfying with herb medicine than the other groups. 4) According to the reason for preferring herb medicine, 36.7% of the respondents preferred herb medicine because the herb medicine was effective, while 27.8% preferred it because its side effect was low. 16.7% preferred it because persons around them recommended it. 5) 42.6% of the respondents did not want to take the herb medicine because the price of the herb medicine was high. Also 20.6% of the respondents did not want to take herb medicine because it is uneasy to take herb medicine. 15.8% did not want to take it because certain food should not be taken during the period of taking it. 9.4% did not want to take it because it tasted bitter. 6) In case of opinions on side effects of herb medicine, 40.8% of the respondents thinks that herb medicine is free from side effects, while 37.5% thinks that it causes side effects. There were significant difference in the opinions on side effects by sex, age, marital status, resident area, education level, occupation, and type of health insurance. 7) 60.7% of the respondents thinks the price of herb medicine is not resonable, while only 10.9% thinks it is resonable. 8) 45.2% of the respondents uses packs of decocted herbs although they think the packs of decocted herb are a little low effective because decocting herbs in home is bothersome. 45.2% uses packs of decocted herbs because they are convenient, being not related to the effect. 7.6% takes medicinal herbs after decocting them in a clay pot because they think the packs of decocted herbs have low effect. 51.9% does not know whether taking herb medicine in summer is effective or not because the effect is different according to their physical constitutions. 35.5% thinks that taking herb medicine is summer is effective because their physical stamina is weakened after sweated a lot, while 12.6% thinks that it is not effective because the effect of herb medicine disappears with sweat. 9) According to the level of satisfaction with Oriental medical care, the respondents marked $3.47{\pm}0.64$ points on the base of 5 points. It was significantly higher in the groups of 'male', 'the married, resident in a big city', 'highschool graduate', 'the unemployed', 'office clerk', 'growing up in a big city', 'insurant in region', and 'the middle class'. 10) According to the result of a regression analysis of factors influencing preference for herb medicine, the factors displayed significant difference by sex, age, education level, health status, and times of receiving Oriental medical care. As shown in the above results, the community residents satisfy with the effect of herb medicine. Therefore, the method of taking herb medicine without difficulty must be devised. The medicinal herbs in packages need to be included in health insurance coverage and resonable price of herb medicine must be set. Also, education program for community residents must be developed in order to provide right information in herb medicine. Therefore, related public authority, associations, and professionals must make efforts, forming organic cooperative system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.203-214
• /
• 2001

Maternal stress was very common symptom that every pregnant women could have experienced during pregnant period. We found that the causative factors of stress for subjects were physical change(50.8%), family relationship(13.6%), change of body image(7.4%), concern baby(6.8%), economic difficulties(6.4%), depress(4.3%), morning sickness(3%), and miscellaneous(3.5%). According to our study, maternal stress during the first trimester negatively correlated with food and nutrients intake of pregnant women and gave low weight gain during pregnancy and low birth weight of infants. It also significantly correlated with monthly income(p<0.001) and monthly food cost(p<0.001) during pregnant period. Mean intake of Calcium and Iron were $47{\sim}60%$ of RDA and $35{\sim}48$ of RDA, respectively. With the Iron supplement the total intake of Iron exceeded 100% of RDA. We also found majority of food items, except seaweeds, fruits and vegetables, were negatively correlated with maternal stress during three trimesters. Additional support system projected by professionals in health-care field could mediate maternal stress and lead to healthy pregnancy outcome.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.02a
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 2006

Home modification has come to be recognized as an important intervention strategy to manage health care conditions, maintain or improve functioning, ensure safety, and reduce the wheelchair user's dependency on others. However, the availability of skilled professionals with experience in home modifications for accessibility is limited. A system that enables accurate remote assessments would be an important tool to improve our ability to perform home assessments more easily and at decreased cost. A Remote Wheelchair Accessibility Assessment System (RWAAS) using Virtualized Reality(VR) technology was developed that enabled clinicians to assess the wheelchair accessibility of users' built environments from a remote location. Characteristics of the camera and 3D reconstruction program chosen for the system significantly affect its overall reliability. In this study, we performed two reliability analyses on the hardware and software components: 1) Verification that commercial software can construct sufficiently accurate 3D models by analyzing the accuracy of dimensional measurements in a virtualized environment; 2) comparison of dimensional measurements with four camera settings. Based on these two analyses, we were able to specify a consumer level digital camera and the Photomodeler Pro software for this system. And we then tested the feasibility of the selected software and hardware in an actual environment. Lastly, A field evaluation was performed to test whether this new system is comparable to the traditional method of accessibility assessment to evaluate its ability to assess the accessibility of a wheelchair user's typical built environment. The results of field trials showed high congruence between the assessments by two methods. Findings suggested that the RWAAS assessments have the potential to enable specialists to assess potential accessibility problems in built environments regardless of the location of the client, home, or specialist.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.11
• /
• pp.4875-4883
• /
• 2016

Background and objective: Breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL) is a disabling complication with long term impact on quality on life after breast cancer treatment. Its management remains a major challenge for patients and health care professionals; the goal of this overview was to summarize effects of different treatment strategies for patients with BCRL. Methods: A thorough search was undertaken to allow a systematic review or meta-analysis of treatments for BCRL. Two investigators independently selected studies and abstracted the data. Results: Combined physical therapy (CPT) with different combinations of surgery, oral pharmaceuticals, low-level laser therapy, weight reduction, mesenchymal stem cell therapy, kinesio tex taping, and acupuncture might be effective in reducing lymphoedema, but exercise demonstrated no obvious benefit. The results of direct comparisons showed CPT might be more effective than standard physiotherapy (ST). Manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) may not offer additional benefits to ST for swelling reduction, but could facilitate compression bandaging. MLD seemed to have similar effects with self-administered simple lymphatic drainage (SLD) or using an intermittent pneumatic compression pump (IPC). IPC might also not be associated with additional effectiveness for CPT. Efficacy of stem cell therapy vs. compression sleeve or CPT, as well as the effects of daflon and coumarin could not be established. Conclusion: Although many treatments for BCRL might reduce lymphoedema volume, their effects were not well established. The quality of many of the original studies in the included reviews was not optimal, so that in future randomized control trials are a high priority.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.18 no.11
• /
• pp.581-593
• /
• 2020

This study aimed to understand experiences of compassion fatigue reported by nurses providing services to oncology patients and families. We conducted in-depth interviews with 8 nurses currently working in oncology. Three main themes and 13 subthemes were extracted from the thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke. Participants experienced compassion fatigue while feeling the sufferings transferred from patients and caregivers. The stress resulted from unique nature of oncology work added to their compassion fatigue. Participants became running low on empathy towards oncology patients and caregivers because of external work environments and negative perceptions on compassion. The results of the study inform health care professionals about increasing awareness of compassion fatigue of nurses working with oncology patients and families and the importance of providing interventions to promote their individual and professional quality of life.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.22-32
• /
• 2016

Objective : The purpose of study is to investigate the correlation between sensory processing pattern and depression and anxiety of university students. Methods : A designed questionnaire for this study has been distributed to university students for about a month (10th to 29th of August, 2016). The questionnaire is consisted of 5 items for personal characteristics, 60 items for adult/adolescent sensory profile, 21 items from the Beck depression scale-2, and 21 items from the Beck anxiety scale. The data has been collected from 174 university students and analyzed by SPSS version 22.0 for descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation analysis, and Pearson correlation. Results : For depression, there is significant positive correlation with low registration, sensory sensitivity, and sensory avoiding among the sensory processing patterns. For anxiety, all sensory processing patterns are significantly correlated with it. Conclusion : Based on the result of this study, it is recommended for academic staffs or health care professionals to consider the impact of sensory processing patterns on psychological function when they develop an educational program for university students or plan a treatment for young clients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.145-150
• /
• 2015

Objective: Pain is very common in the elderly, so there is a high prevalence of analgesic use among this population. The purpose of this study was to assess patterns of analgesic use and evaluate factors associated with analgesic use in elderly patients. Method: The subjects of this study were patients over 65 years old hospitalized in a teaching hospital located in Chuncheon-si, Korea between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014. Data collection regarding analgesic prescriptions and baseline characteristics was conducted using computerized hospital database by medical information team. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to analgesic use. Results: A total of 2,394 patients were finally included. Among these patients, 700 (29.2%) took analgesics; 521 (74.4%) out of these 700 patients were received opioid analgesics and 179 (25.6%) were received only non-opioid analgesics. The most frequently prescribed opioid analgesic was pethidine (45.7%), and the most frequently prescribed non-opioid analgesic was acetaminophen (44.1%). Fracture was associated with increased odds of opioid analgesic prescriptions (OR = 2.766, 95% CI = 2.019-3.790, p < 0.001) and any analgesic prescriptions (OR = 2.394, 95% CI = 1.766-3.244, p < 0.001). Stroke or cerebral infarction was associated with decreased odds of opioid analgesic prescriptions (OR = 0.636, 95% CI = 0.471-0.858, p = 0.003). Conclusion: A significant proportion of hospitalized elderly patients use analgesics. Health care professionals should consider factors associated with analgesic use in this population to improve pain management.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.75-83
• /
• 2020

This study aimed to understand the differences in general characteristics, principal diagnosis, injury-related characteristics, and types of transportation accidents between young-old and old-old patients who were hospitalized owing to injury based on data from the Korean National Hospital Discharge In-Depth Injury Surveys. We used a complex sample cross tabulation analysis (chi-square test) and complex sample generalized linear model (t-test). Therefore, the primary focus of healthcare professionals working with the old-old should prevent falls in the home and increase the available medical care, financial aid plans, and psychosocial support for aging. Additionally education on traffic accident prevention and road safety is particularly important for old-old patients.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.28-40
• /
• 2018

Purpose: The purpose is to understand the perception of medical providers at tertiary hospitals in Seoul on the importance-performance of the reform on a doctor-designation system, and to provide the policy suggestion of the perception on such a system. Methodology: To achieve the purpose, this study utilized structured survey tools to conduct a questionnaire survey of nursing, administrative and medical technology professionals at six tertiary hospitals in Seoul. An importance-performance analysis was utilized for an analysis that showed the perception of the reform on a doctor-designation system. Findings: First, it was identified that those medical providers had the highest perception of the importance about the performance of the reform on a doctor-designation system. Second, according to the result of action grid of an importance-performance analysis (IPA), it can be identified that in the 2nd stage of 'Concentrate here' included are the items as to design and effect of medical care quality and subsidies & patient infection and safety and control fees, effect of income security of the method for compensating for loss established by the government and offering sufficient information on general medical services and doctor-designation medical services. In the 1st stage of 'Keep up the Good Work', and the 2nd stage of 'Concentrate here' included is the item as to the performance of patients of the reform on a doctor designation system. Practical Implications: There could be identified the effect of the reform bill on the perception of medical providers. It is expected that a better environment would be provided for patients to use a hospital and for medical providers to offer medical services, if the goverment makes efforts to improve methods for compensating for loss and continuous monitoring of the performance of patients.