• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.217-224
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to investigate the healthcare status of South Korea and other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) using OECD health statistics 2020. We employed the position value for relative comparison index to measure the healthcare status in five following components: demand, supply, accessibility, quality, and cost. The Mann-Kendall test was used to analyze for increasing or decreasing trend of the position value for relative comparison values from 2000 to the recent year. Results showed that Korea was positioned above than the OECD median values in most of components, but lower than the median values in certain indices including healthcare employment, primary care, and mental health care. This study sheds some light on healthcare issues to be improved and the policy-makes can take into account for prior setting process.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-2
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• 2022

With the rising attention dedicated to research ethics, the responsibility of researchers to comply with research ethics is also highlighted. Among a number of research ethics obligations that researchers should abide by, an institutional review board (IRB) review is the most essential step to be taken before launching research. As the health service research field grapples with human subjects, it closely aligns with IRB deliberation. However, it seems that researchers still do not fully understand their obligations of IRB reviews. Due to the nature of health services research, there are many cases that are exempt from IRB reviews, which often elicits confusion in the research field. On that note, we aim to explore the issues regarding IRB reviews that health service researchers need to know.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.7
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• pp.984-991
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a school-based intervention program for middle school adolescent girls with depression. Methods: The study was a pretest-posttest repeated-measure design with a nonequivalent control group. Fifty eight students with depressive symptoms were recruited from two middle schools in Seoul, Korea. The data were collected from the intervention (n=30) and the comparison group (n=28). The research instrument was Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale. Results: The intervention group greatly improved from baseline to 10 weeks and then saw a slight positive change between 10 and 13 weeks. Conclusion: The results of this research show that depression intervention programs are effective for young female adolescents. Thus the investigation has important school-based treatment implications, and should be integrated into school curriculums by school health nurses for early intervention of depressive symptoms in middle school adolescent girls.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.36-50
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• 2009

Korean Government had performed three pilot programs to introduce the long term care insurance system. Persons aged 65 or older who are dependent on others for daily living could use long term care services in the pilot program. The long-term care insurance covered nursing home services, home care services and cash benefits. The cash benefits are included that for elderly at home and for patients in geriatric hospital. This study investigated whether there had been any change in the medical care utilization according to cash benefits for geriatric hospitalization. This study used National Health Insurance claims and Long term Care Insurance claims 2003 through 2006. Data were composed of subjects who undertook both insurance coverage. The subjects was divided into two groups. Case group included participants with the cash benefits of geriatric hospitalization. Control group included persons without the cash benefits selected by random sampling according to the distribution of case group. This study showed that the amount of medical care utilization of the case group is more significantly increased than the control group after adjusted their health condition and functional condition. This result will be helpful for making decisions on whether the cash benefit of geriatric hospitalization can be introduced into long term care insurance system.

• Journal of Korea Association of Health Promotion
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.104-114
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• 2006

Background: This survey has focused on Client-Satissfaction for health examination services of Korean Association of Health Promotion, This research will help final weak point and promote the qualify of the services provided. Methods: This survey was done on 400 visitors of the clinic. Between Jan. 2 and May 3l, 2005 Questionaires were distributed to the visitors with a informed consent. Results: The visitㅐrs for health examination at Daegu chapter of Korean Association of Health promotion had high-school or higher level education(79.8%) and were self-employed persons with an average monthly income of 3~4 million won(27.7%), and housewives(33.0%). The most frequent complaints of the visitors was the difficulty in access to the center. The motives for taking health examination were cheap cost of examination(32.7%) and recommendation by fami1y members and friends(42.0%). The possitive attitude of the employees of KAHP were kind reponses to phone calls(85.3%) and kind explanations to questions(68.5%). Regarding the merits of the examination at KAHP, appropriate equipments(68.0%) and quality of equipments(66.0%) and they expressed their desire for further use revisit to the KAHP(85.3%).Conclusions. It is concluded that this KAHP is providing services meeting their demands in cost and qualitatively of health examination. However, it is noted that there are several weak points in own system that make own clients uneasy in taking health examination. They have to be solved by providing transporting for accession, kind attitudes and comfortable facilities.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.4370-4379
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to identify the utilization of health services and factors influencing the quality of life(QOL) of migrant workers. The participants were 135 migrant workers in Korea. Data was collected from September 10th 2012 to November 15th 2012. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheff' test, and hierarchical multiple regression. Immigrant workers experienced difficulty in using health services and had a $14.25{\pm}2.01$ QOL, which was relatively low. The factors influencing QOL were the length of stay in Korea, residence areas, and satisfaction with health services. Final regression model accounted for 16.7% of the variance in QOL. The satisfaction level with health services was the most influential factors in the level of the QOL. Therefore, diverse strategies should be developed to enhance the satisfaction with health services in Korea migrant workers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence of dental caries among an urban population. Methods: This study was conducted among 2000 people 15-40 years of age living in Kurdistan, Iran in 2015. Using a questionnaire, data were collected by 4 trained dental students. The dependent variable was the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMF) index. Using principal component analysis, the socioeconomic status (SES) of families was determined based on their household assets. Inequality was measured using the concentration index; in addition, the Oaxaca analytical method was used to determine the contribution of various determinants to the observed inequality. Results: The concentration index for poor scores on the DMF index was -0.32 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.40 to -0.36); thus, poor DMF indices had a greater concentration in groups with a low SES (p<0.001). Decomposition analysis showed that the mean prevalence of a poor DMF index was 43.7% (95% CI, 40.4 to 46.9%) in the least privileged group and 14.4% (95% CI, 9.5 to 9.2%) in the most privileged group. It was found that 85.8% of the gap observed between these groups was due to differences in sex, parents' education, and the district of residence. A poor DMF index was less prevalent among people with higher SES than among those with lower SES (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.52). Conclusions: An alarming degree of SES inequality in oral health status was found in the studied community. Hence, it is suggested that inequalities in oral health status be reduced via adopting appropriate policies such as the delivery of oral health services to poorer groups and covering such services in insurance programs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5265-5270
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• 2014

Background: In Korea, the National Health Insurance program has initiated various copayment policies over a decade in order to alleviate patient financial burden. This study investigated healthcare spending and utilization in the last 12 months of life among patients who died with lung cancer by various copayment policy windows. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using nationwide lung cancer health insurance claims data from 2002 to 2012. We used descriptive and multivariate methods to compare spending measured by total costs, payer costs, copayments, and utilization (measured by length of stay or outpatient days). Using 1,4417,380 individual health insurance claims (inpatients: 673,122, outpatients: 744,258), we obtained aggregated healthcare spending and utilization of 155,273 individual patient (131,494 inpatient and 103,855 outpatient) records. Results: National spending and utilization is growing, with a significant portion of inpatient healthcare spending and utilization occurring during the end-of-life period. Specifically, inpatients were more likely to have more spending and utilization as they got close to death. As coverage expanded, copayments decreased, but overall costs increased due to increased utilization. The trends were the same in both inpatient and outpatient services. Multivariate analysis confirmed the associations. Conclusions: We found evidence of the higher end of life healthcare spending and utilizations in lung cancer patients occurring as coverage expanded. The practice pattern within a hospital might be influenced by coverage policies. Health policy makers should consider initiating various health policies since these influence the long-term outcomes of service performance and overall healthcare spending and utilization.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify international students' use of university health centers by individual characteristics and seasons. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study using data obtained from the electronic record system of one university health center. The study participants were international undergraduate students who registered for any of two semesters between March 1, 2014 and February 28, 2015 and visited the university health center during their registration period. Results: The most common reasons for visits were problems of head, eye, nose and throat systems, followed by respiratory system. Their visits mostly occurred in the fall and spring. The most frequently used services were distribution of oral medication followed by wound treatment. The number of visits per individual was statistically different by gender (u=-3.307, p=.001), but not by their major (${\chi}^2$=.543, p=0.762) or nationality (${\chi}^2$=5.518, p=.271). Conclusion: Further study is necessary to better define health needs and related factors for this unique population. The electronic record system provides great opportunities in development and application of need based health services for international students and for research in this area.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.177-187
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to 1) identify the current management status of the Visiting Health Care Services (VHCS) and 2) to analyze the workload of the staff in the VHCS located in the Public Health Centers (PHCs) in the urban and rural areas. Method: A descriptive research design and a prospective, time and motion research design were used. A total of 18 PHCs in Gangwon Province participated in this study. A questionnaire and semi-structured observational sheet were utilized. A total of 650 self report records of the work load from the VHCS personnel were collected for a 10 day period at each of the 18 PHCs. A descriptive analysis was then done. Results: The major results were as follows. 1) The VHCS staff (nurses and nurse aids) was being assigned additional work such as maternal health care, chronic disease care, mental health care and health promotion on top of their VHCS duties. 2) The average number of home visits per client during the past year was 5.8. More specifically, the clients in the severe dependent group received an average of 27.1 visits, those clients in the moderate dependent group received 14.0 visits those clients in the slightly dependent group received 5.0 visits and those clients in the self-care group received 1.6 visits. 3) The time required for the work duties of the VHCS staff totaled 488 minutes per day. The percentage of time for home visits was only 17.4%, and this didn't include travel time. Conclusion: The main problems of VHCS were identified as a lack of personnel and a lack of time for the home visits. Strategies that are directed at the construction of a better infrastructure for VHCS are needed.