• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the related factors to dental care utilization, oral health behaviors, and oral health status in immigrant workers in Korea. Methods: The subjects were 504 foreign immigrant male workers over 20 years old who visited Daegu labor consultation center for oral health survey and oral examination. The questionnaire included 5 questions of socioeconomic characteristics, 8 questions of oral health practice behavior, 6 questions of dental clinic visit, 8 questions of social relations and Korean language proficiency. The question for health behavior was measure by body mass index(BMI). Social relations and Korean language proficiency instrument was modified by Seol from "Family welfare survey in Korean international marriage" and scored by Liker 5 scale. Results: The oral health examination of the immigrant workers was as follows: decayed teeth - 76.6%, filling teeth - 27.4%, missing teeth - 69.8%, dental caries experience above five or more - 60.2%, periodontal pocket tissues - 58.9%. Simplified Oral Hygiene Index was very poor and accounted for 49.0%. Dental care utilization experience was closely associated with social relation indexes including attendance in family events, household stuff help, financial help and counseling for hard work(p<0.01). Dental care utilization experience proportionally increased with proficiency in Korean literacy including speaking, listening, and writing abilities of Korean language(p<0.01). Conclusions: In order to improve the oral health condition of the immigrant workers, it is important to provide social network, Korean language proficiency support, and health insurance coverage through economic burden reduction by the Korean government.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2022

Background: Potato is the main crop of Ardabil Plain (accounting for one-fifth of potato production in Iran). Its health hazard risk to farmers is rising due to the increasing rate of pesticide use. The present study analyzes potato farmers' health hazard risk in the use of chemical pesticides. Methods: The rate of pesticide use by farmers (n = 370) was first compared with the recommended dosage (on pesticide label). Then, a composite index was employed to estimate the health hazard risk of farmers during pesticide use, and the variables accounting for pesticide overuse and nonoveruse were analyzed. Safety behavior was examined in four steps, namely of pesticide purchase and storage, preparation, application, and postapplication. Results: It was found that 74.6 percent of potato farmers used pesticides in higher concentrations than the recommended dosage. The higher average rate of pesticide use versus recommendation (label instruction) was related to Chlorpyrifos and Trifluralin, and the highest average health hazard risk among farmers was related to the use of Chlorpyrifos and Metribuzin. Farmers with a higher risk of health hazard displayed much lower safety behavior than the other farmers at all steps of pesticide use. Conclusion: The most important variables discriminating the health hazard risk of farmers' overuse included health behavior identity, attitude, knowledge and awareness, and cues to action. Therefore, using social media, holding local exhibitions, and engaging local leaders and skilled farmers in the region to improve farmers' attitudes and health behavior identity toward the dangers of chemical pesticides can play a significant role in motivating farmers' display of overuse preventive behaviors.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.131-144
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• 2012

Objectives: This study was performed to identify the associations of empowerment and social capital (such as social participation and trust) with self-rated health in Korean communities with poor health. Methods: This study used the data from community health interviews conducted at 29 administrative sections (dong, eup, or myeon) with high mortality from August to October in both 2010 and 2011 as part of the Health Plus Happiness Plus Projects in Gyeongsangnam-do Province. The study subjects comprised 6,383 individuals composed of approximately 220 adults randomly sampled from each administrative section. The empowerment was measured with five-point Likert scale responses to seven perceived control questions (two at the individual level, five at the community level). The social participation was measured with 'participation in formal and/or informal group' and trust using responses to three questions about trust of others. Results: The high empowerment scores at both individual and community levels, social participation in informal groups, and high trust level had independent and significant associations with good self-rated health after adjusting for socio-demographic factors (sex, age, marital status, occupation, and food affordability) and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol drinking, and exercise) in the logistic regressions. There were weak but significant associations among empowerment, social participation, and trust levels. Conclusions: Empowerment, social participation, and trust were weakly inter-related and significantly associated with self-rated health. More studies are warranted for empowerment and other social capital indices in health promotion.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.113-131
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• 2000

Transtheoretical model of change has been proven very effective in explaining both the acquisition and cessation of many health related behaviors. The objectives of this study were to describe the distribution of smokers by stage of change of smoking, alcoholic drinking, and exercising in rural residents and to develope health promotion strategies. This study was done in Okchun County of Chungbuk Province. The representative sample were 892 residents over 30 years old. The questionnaires of interview included socio-demographic, the six stage distribution of smoking, alcoholic drinking, and exercising. In male, 50.6% of smokers were in the precontemplation stage, 32.5% in the contemplation. In female, corresponding figures were 60.6% and 28.8%. Precontemplation and contemplation stage of drinker were 72.8%, 19.3% in male and 80.3%, 15.5%. Distribution of exercise were 80.6%, 1.8% in male, 87.6%, 1.2% in female, respectively. The stage distribution of smoker, alcoholic drinker, and exerciser was shift to left of the distribution. And the stage distribution was slightly differ with each health behavior. The stage of change with smoking, drinking and exercising was correlated with each other but not concordant. So interventions in rural residents need to take into account the large proportion of precontemplators repeatedly observed among smoker, drinker, and non-exerciser. And intervention strategies of each risk behavior should be different approach. Result of concordance analysis suggest reconstruct validity of the transtheoretical model in our country due to ethnic and sociocultural difference. This results and theory should be tested in prospective intervention studies for seeking the possible gateway of health behavior.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2004

Objectives: We investigated the factors related to health examination behaviors, sociodemographic aspects and lifestyles of elderly persons with different social backgrounds, and compared sexual and regional differences in urban and rural elderlies. Methods: The total study subjects(464 individuals) from urban(236) and rural areas(228), recruited by a stratified cluster random sampling were interviewed and examined about their sociodemographic profiles, daily lifestyles, subjective health status, conditions concerning use of medical resources, hearing acuity, visual acuity and ADL(activity of daily living), and whether they receive health examination or not. For statistical analysis, Chi-square test was used for sexual and regional comparisons among the groups who have been given a health examination and the one who have not. Results: In urban areas, the rate of having underwent health examination was 54.5% in men and 46.9% in women, and in rural areas, it was 59.8% in men and 42.7% in women, showing its higher rate in men than in women in both areas. For regional differences between the group who have taken a health examination and the one who have not, there was a significant difference in terms of age, family pattern, current job, monthly household income, owning a house, drinking status, eating habit, subjective health status, whether they have taken outpatient medical service for the recent 3 months or not, anxiety for the health, and IADL conditions according to whether the community is rural or urban. In multiple regressions, the influential factors on the health examination behaviors were selected such as having their own house, their family doctor, amnesia, urinary incontinence and chronic disease in urban districts. But in rural districts, the variables were selected such as having or not of their family doctor, urinary incontinence, anxiety for the health, educational level, their own house and chronic disease. Conclusions: It is suggested that the approach to the health examination of an older patient requires substantial consideration of highly variable individual sociodemographic characteristics involving regional attributes as well as their daily life styles, subjective health status, status of performing health examination, physical health status and ADL conditions.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.51-62
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• 2011

Objectives: The aim of the study was to identify the effects of a community-level metabolic syndrome self-care management program. Methods: Data included baseline demographics, abdominal circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar, triglyceride, and HDL-cholesterol collected at 15 public health centers in Seoul from January to March, 2010. A data obtained(584 men and 410 women) from Metabolic Syndrome Management Program in Seoul was analyzed using Paired t-test and Linear mixed model. Results: The group with 6-month intervention resulted in significant decrease in abdominal circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglyceride. In moderate intervention group with 3-month follow-up showed tendency that abdominal circumference(-1.27(${\beta}$)) and diastolic blood pressure(-1.66(${\beta}$)) are significantly reduced. In the group with aggressive intervention, the more counseling led to significant reduction in abdominal circumference(-0.22(${\beta}$)). Conclusions: These results indicate that a self-care for metabolic syndrome management can improve metabolic syndrome status over a short-term period. Further structured research is needed to develop a systematic program on health behaviors focusing on exercise, diet, and intervention.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2010

Objectives: This study aims to identify the effect between high school students' recognition of mental health on sleep quality to present basic data for better health. Methods: The study used data obtained through the 2007 online research on adolescents' health behaviors, targeting a total of 35,228 high school students (18,628 of male students and 16,600 of female students). Results: Seventy six point ninety six percent of the male respondents and 79.67% of female respondents answered their sleep quality was not satisfactory. The subjects who had stress showed significantly lower quality of sleep than those who answered they had no stress. For female students, those who answered they had intention to suicide had significantly lower quality of sleep than those who answered they did not have, but for male students, there was no significant relations between them. There were no significant relations between sense of dispair and sleep quality both for male and female subjects. Conclusion: Factors of mental health related with sleep quality were stress and intention of suicide. The more they had stress and intention of suicide, the significantly lower sleep quality was. Therefore, in order to improve sleep quality of high school students, it is suggested that management programs based on education and counselling with experts should be provided and further studies on other mental health factors and sleep quality should be conducted.

• Journal of health informatics and statistics
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.344-351
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of health behaviors of male workers without diabetes such as smoking, drinking and physical activities on HbA1c using 2015 and 2016 data from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods: The final study subjects of KNHANES were a total of 1,703 male workers in their 30s-50s who had normal levels of fasting blood sugar level, HbA1c, and hemoglobin. For the study variables, age, household income, educational level and occupation were included as socio-demographic characteristics; smoking behavior, drinking behavior, and physical activity behavior as characteristics of health behavior; and waist circumference, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL cholesterol as medical examination characteristics were included. The analysis was conducted using independent variables t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Results: Socio-demographic factors that affect HbA1c were age, educational level, and occupation. As for HbA1c according to the status of current smoking, it was higher in order of the present, past and nonsmoking and HbA1c according to smoking amount pack-year increased linearly in between less than 1 pack-year and over 30 pack-year (p<0.001). Muscular exercises affected the reduction of HbA1c (p<0.05). In the multiple regression analysis with independent variables of the socio-demographic characteristics and health behavior, factors affecting HbA1c were age, occupation and smoking amount pack-year (p<0.05). In the multiple regression analysis where the characteristics of physical examination were added, factors affecting HbA1c were age, occupation, smoking amount pack-year, waist circumference and total cholesterol (p<0.001). Conclusions: As a result, the health behavior that had the most effect on HbA1c management for male workers without diabetes was the total lifetime smoking amount. Therefore, it is essential to prevent smoking as well as control, cholesterol to prevent diabetes for male workers.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.63-80
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• 2009

Objectives: This study identified how personal characteristics, healthy behavior and social capital might influence on physical activity of adults. Methods: This study used data from the health survey of a city of Korea. We surveyed 1,000 adults sampled by stratified sampling methods from 67,889 households. Outcome variable was the stage of physical activity which was broken into 5 categories. Sociodemographic factors, healthy behavior, self-rated health status and social capital were used as control variables. Sociodemographic factors included age, sex, educational status, economic status measured by deprivation score, residential period within survey city. Social capital was measured by Integrated Questionnaire for the Measurement of Social Capital (SC-IQ). This study used chi-square test and ordered logistic regression models to examine the associations between independent variables and physical activity. Variables were added to the regression model in three groups using a hierarchical approach. Results: Physical activity was significantly more likely to become active if they have higher educational status, healthier behavior. Among the six dimensions of SC-IQ, only "groups and networks" that is structural dimensions of social capital and "trust and solidarity" that is cognitive dimensions of social capital were significantly related to physical activity of adults. We found that a person having higher density of membership and having larger size of networks showed the high possibility of active physical activity. A person having high solidarity was significantly associated with physical activity, but general trust was inversely related to physical activity. Output dimensions of social capital did not show significant relationship to physical activity. Conclusion: We found that social capital is useful concept to explain health behaviors like physical activity. However we must consider social, cultural and political context of the study to evaluate the effect of social capital to health status and health determinants and to capture the exact meaning of relationship between them. We suggest further researches to refine the concept of social capital and to explain the relationship of social capital to diverse health determinants.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.62-75
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• 2018

Purpose: The objective of this study was to publicly report the hospital-level surgical volume for 7 types of surgery including gastrectomy. Also, to investigate the changes in patient behaviors after the public reporting among patients with gastrectomy. Methods: This study used data from the National Health Insurance Service Cohort. The data comprised of 2,214 patients who were diagnosed with gastric cancer and underwent gastrectomy during 2004-2012. An interrupted time series analysis was performed to investigate the association between patients' choice and public reporting. Results: 79.27% of the patients visited a hospital with high surgical volume. The time trend after introduction of public reporting was positively associated with visiting a high volume hospital (per 1 month, RR: 1.004, p=0.0329). However, after adjusting the health policies by reducing copayment, public reporting on surgical volume was not associated with visiting a high volume hospital. Sub-group analyses had also similar results. Conclusion: Patients were more affected by policies on economic support than on public reporting, and the changes in treatment options may have been affected by the increasing preference for large size hospitals. Thus, public reporting did not significantly improve the options available for patients and their decision making on health care utilization.