• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.438-445
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop exposure factor data for the Korean child population, with a specific focus on behavior characteristics such as hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth and an analysis of influential factors. Methods: We divided environments into two places, which were house/indoor and nursery. A total of 400 children (house/indoor) and a total of 162 children (nursery) were recruited from the cities of Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, and Gwangju. The children were divided into two groups. We conducted direct measurement by using one hour of videotaping alongside questionnaire surveys. This was performed to calculate behavior rates, such as how many children perform hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth behaviors. Results: The respective average frequencies of hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth were $0.8{\pm}2.23$ and $0.82{\pm}2.64contacts/hr$ for house/indoor. The respective average frequencies of hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth were $2.87{\pm}4.63$ and $1.47{\pm}3.84contacts/hr$ in the nursery group. For the mouthing participants, the average frequencies of hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth were 3.31 and 3.20 contacts/hr in house, and 4.80 and 3.26 in nursery. Compared to other countries such as the USA, the frequencies of hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth behaviors found in this study were relatively lower. Conclusions: Children have the potential for exposure to toxic substances through non-dietary ingestion pathways by mouthing objects or their fingers. In this study, the mouthing frequency was relatively lower than that found in Western countries. This can be explained that mouthing behaviour may be affected by culture and lifestyle characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.119-134
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand a variety of intervention studies to prevent smoking by adolescents in U.S. and find out implications for Korea. Methods: This study reviewed articles found in the internet and analysed the data of US DHHS and CDC. Results: The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) is a national survey periodically conducted to assess school health policies and programs of U.S. The main components of SHPPS are health education and physical education, health services, mental health and social services, school policies, and school environments. The CDC guidelines for school health programs to prevent tobacco use and addiction are composed of policy, instruction, curriculum, training, family involvement, tobacco-use cessation efforts, and evaluation. School-based interventions to prevent smoking can be classified into the categories of information-giving curricula, social competence curricula, social influence approaches, combined methods draw on social competence and social influence approaches and multi-modal programmes and Youth Empowerment study. The key programs for adolescent smoking prevention are ALERT Project, HSPP, TNT Project, MPP, NC YES. Conclusions: As smoking is often the first step of unhealthy behaviour such as alcohol drinking, illegal drugs, and violence, smoking prevention programmes for adolescents in U.S. have been comprehensive school-based health programs. In smoking prevention programs for adolescents, CDC plays a critical role by supporting survey, research, policy, and funds. The effectiveness of the programs was high when it was based on school and involved parents, community, and mass media. As the effect of each programme is not expected to last for a long time, consistent repetition of these interventions is essential. Current smoking prevention programs for adolescents are exploring the empowerment approach focused on the active involvement of participants rather than traditional approaches using order and discipline.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.47-59
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• 2008

Objectives: The objective of this study was held for prevention of coronary artery disease and improvement of health of local community residents by classifying the obesity types of their waist circumference and BMI, and appraising the coronary artery disease risk factors(CRF). Methods: We analyzed the data on the 1,914 adult cases (1,156 male and 758 female) during Nov, 2006 to Mar. 2007 on a general hospital in Daegu city, Korea. The obesity types in this research were classified into normal group, seeming obesity group, abdominal obesity group and obesity group. Also, CRF was classified by normal, mild, moderate, and severe, and each class was given the index from 0 to 3. The coronary artery disease risk factors index(CRFI) was defined as the sum of index, and we defined that if the sum is higher, higher chance of coronary artery disease risk exist. Results: According to the research, by the age group, normal group has higher percentage in age 30 to 40, and obesity group and abdominal obesity group has higher percentage in age 50 to 60. CRFI is increased by order of normal group, seeming obesity group, abdominal obesity group, and obesity group on both male and female groups, and male shows higher index than female on all four groups. CRFI will be influenced by order of obesity group, seeming obesity group, and abdominal obesity group on male, and obesity group, abdominal obesity group, and seeming obesity group on female according to the result of multiple regression between obesity type and CRFI. Conclusion: According to the result from our research, we have to have keen attention to not only seeming obesity group and obesity group, but also abdominal obesity group which has normal waist circumference influence to CRFI. So, those kinds of indexes have to be controled by controling their weight. Also, we believe that health behaviour can improve and CRF can be prevented by the early health care and early health education to those with no abnormal indication on clinical indicator but with abnormal BMI and waist circumference.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2349-2359
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to predict the factors which are related to the intention and behaviour for breast self-examination (BSE) of middle aged women using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). A survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted wih 217 middle aged women. BSE behaviour was assessed at 1-month follow-up. The overall fit of the structural model to the date was acceptable(${\chi}^2$=1246.6(p<.001), ${\chi}^2$/df=2.72, CFI=.831, TLI=.817, RMSEA=.089). The BSE behavior rate within one month was 56.2%. The TPB explained 43.9% of the variance in BSE intentions and 10.9% of the variance in BSE behavior. The subjective norm(${\beta}$=.364, p<.001) and the perceived behavioral control(${\beta}$=.553, p<.001) both positively influenced the behavioral intention, and the behavioral intention(${\beta}$=.768, p<.01) positively influenced the behavior. This study shows the model's applicability in explaining BSE behavior of middle aged women, and suggests that health intervention programs should focus on strengthening the intention for the promotion of BSE behavior.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1275-1280
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• 2014

Purpose: To define factors that affect the performance status of BSE and confidence of student nurses. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the academic year 2010-2011 in a nursing faculty in $\dot{I}$zmir, Turkey. "Informative data form" and "Champion's Revised Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS)" were used as data collection forms. Results: The mean age of the participant nurses was $21.0{\pm}1.49$. The mean CHMS scores of the student nurses were as follows: perceived susceptibility regarding breast cancer, $7.78{\pm}2.46$; perceived seriousness regarding breast cancer, $22.4{\pm}5.43$; perceived benefit regarding BSE application, $20.5{\pm}4.45$; perceived barriers regarding BSE application, $23.8{\pm}7.13$; perceived confidence regarding BSE application, $36.3{\pm}7.78$; the mean score of health motivation sub-scale, $25.7{\pm}4.59$; and mean of the total score of the scale, $36.5{\pm}15.01$. Conclusions: The outcomes obtained in this study indicated the importance of better education to student nurses, who have a key role in teaching preventive health behaviour including BSE to society and other university students as colleagues.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3269-3274
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• 2013

Background: The aim was to determine the lifestyle behaviors and the practices for early diagnosis of cancer of cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used for this study. The sample consisted of 222 patients with a diagnosis of cancer (non-random sample method). Ethical permission was obtained of the Non-interventional Research Ethics Committee of our Institution. Values of p<0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. Results: It was observed that 54.4% of the patients had never performed breast self-examination, 60.8% had never had a mammography, and 71.2% had never had a Pap smear. Sixty-six point two percent of patients had never had screening for colon cancer within the past ten years. GIS cancers were higher in smokers and ex-smokers (p=0.005), in drinkers and in ex-drinkers (p=0.000). The breast cancer rate was higher in obese people (p=0.019). Conclusions: The results of this study provide information on the healthy lifestyle behavior of cancer patients before their diagnosis, and their use of early diagnosis practices. The important aspect of this study is to extend cancer patients' period of life after the diagnosis and treatment process, to make them conscious of risky lifestyle and nutritional behavior so that they can maintain a high quality of life, and to start initiatives in this direction that would ensure changes in behavior.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.171-184
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• 2005

In order to investigate correlation between mother's dental ca re for her children and their dental caries, this study was conducted wi th the dental examination record of 365 children who showed the same number of questionnaires with those examined for dental conditions and questionnaires written by mothers among children between three and six years of age and their mothers in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi province in June 2004 to estimate frequency and percentage of general properties of subjects and mother's oral health care behaviors for her children by research items, to carry out cross-tabulation analysis and correlation analysis following Chi-square distribution for the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth and oral health care behaviors, and to use decision tree analysis among data mining techniques for those factors associated with the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth, and drew the following conclusions. 1. For mother's oral health care behaviors and attitudes for her children, 225 mothers(61.6%) confirmed their children's teeth-brushing; 278(76.2%) used no fluorine; and 286(78.6%) observed their children's teeth, 322 mothers(88.2%) instructed their children in teeth-brushing while 268 (73.4%) provided dental care, 232 mothers(63.7%) treated their children's cavity; 290(79.4%) believed that their children had good dental conditions; and 294(80.5%) answered that they began to provide their children with dental care in deciduous teeth. 2. As for the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth and dental health care behaviors, there were statistically significant differences in employment, confirmation after teeth-brushing, teeth observation, instruction in time for teeth-brushing, use of fluorine, cavity treatment, time for dental care, and perception of dental conditions(p<0.05). 3. As for correlation between dental caries in deciduous teeth and oral health care behaviors, mothers who worked, who believed that their children didn't have good dental condition, and who thought that it was necessary to begin to provide dental care in permanent teeth were found to get their children to suffer from dental caries in deciduous teeth. Besides, those who failed to confirm teeth-brushing, who used no fluorine, and who failed to observe teeth and gave no instruction in time for teeth-brushing were shown to get their children to suffer from dental caries in deciduous teeth. 4. Variables to determine the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth were classified by cavity treatment, mother's employment, time for dental care, and observation of children's teeth. The first node to determine the presence of dental caries in deciduous teeth was found to be cavity treatment; the next criteria for classification after cavity treatment were shown to be mother's employment and time for dental care. In case of children with no cavity, they were found to be mother's employment and teeth observation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7789-7794
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• 2015

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a community-based health education and communication programme on reducing liver fluke infections caused by the consumption of uncooked fish among people in a high-risk area of Thailand. Materials and Methods: The study was quasi-experimental in nature, with three-stages. Stage 1 involved a situational and capacity analysis of designated communities in Khon Kaen province. This was followed by the development of a model for community-based health education and communication to prevent liver fluke infections among high-risk people, and, lastly, implementation and evaluation of the model were performed. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In total, 390 people were surveyed, and quasi-experimental and comparison groups, each with 90 people, were assessed between May 2011 and April 2012. Analysis was using statistical OR, 95 % CI, the Willcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test, the chi-square test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The findings showed that most respondents had a high level of knowledge and understanding of liver fluke disease (89.5%, 95% CI:86.0-92.4), and positive attitudes toward the prevention of the disease (94.4%, 95% CI:91.6-96.4). However, with regard to changes in consumption of uncooked fish, most respondents were still in the pre-contemplation phase (55.1%, 95% CI:50.0-60.1), followed by the contemplation phase, 22.6%. Furthermore, four factors were found to be associated with the consumption of uncooked fish - the consumption of alcohol (OR 4.16, 95% CI:1.79-9.65), gender (OR 3.17, 95% CI:1.53-6.54), smoking (OR 3.03, 95% CI:1.31-7.05), and age 40 years and above (OR 2.68, 95% CI:1.02-7.05). After nine months of the health education and communication programme using local media based on local wisdom, culture and persons, the results showed that, compared to the control group, members of the experimental group had a higher level of knowledge, a better attitude and lower levels of ill-advised consumption behaviour. Also, it was found that consumption of uncooked fish, by an assessment of the level of stage of change, was reduced. (p-value 0.002). Conclusions: The health education and communication programme developed as part of the study was effective in changing the consumption of uncooked fish. Therefore, this approach should be promoted in other high-risk areas in Thailand in the future.

• Survey Research
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.67-89
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• 2007

The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(KNHANES) consists of Health Interview Survey, Health Behaviour Survey, Nutrition Survey, and Health Examination, and is designed to produce a broad range of descriptive health and nutritional statistics for sex and age subdomains of the population. These data can be used to measure and monitor the health and nutritional status of the population of Korea. The survey has been conducted three times from 1998. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) is preparing for the 4th survey which is to be conducted from 2007 through 2009. This study is to design a sample for the 4th survey. The main new feature of the sampling design is using a rolling sampling design method. Since KCDC has imposed some operational requirements, e,g., the needs of producing the annual national statistics and of year-round data collection by some regular staffs, a rolling sampling design method is introduced. This is the first time in history of applying a rolling sampling design for a national-wide large scale survey in Korea. Bringing in the rolling sampling, measurement variation due to different data collectors may be minimized.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.49-76
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of a computerized review program which was introduced in August 1, 2003, using claims data for acute respiratory infection related diseases. National Health Insurance (NHI) claims data on respiratory infection related diseases before and after the introduction, with six month intervals respectively, were used for the analysis. Clinic was the unit of observation, and clinics with only one physician whose specialty was internal medicine, pediatrics, otorhinolaryngology and family medicine and clinics with a general practitioner were selected. The final sample had 7,637 clinics in total. Indices used to measure practice pattern was prescription rates of antibiotics, prescription rates of injection drug per visit, treatment costs per claim, and total costs per claim. Changes in the number of claims for major disease categories and upcoding index for disease categories were used to measure claiming behavior. Data were analysed using descriptive analysis, t-test for indices changes before and after the introduction, analysis of variance (ANOVA) for practice pattern change for major disease categories, and multiple regression analysis to identify whether new system influenced on provider' practice patterns or not. Prescription of antibiotics, prescription rates of injection drug, treatment costs per claim, and total costs per claim decreased significantly. Results from multiple regression analysis showed that a computerized review system had effects on all the indices measuring behavior. Introduction of the new system had the spillover effects on the provider's behavior in the related disease categories in addition to the effects in the target diseases, but the magnitude of the effects were bigger among the target diseases. Rates of claims for computerized review over total claims for respiratory diseases significantly decreased after the introduction of a computerized review system and rates of claims for non target diseases increased, which was also statistically significant. Distribution of the number of claims by disease categories after the introduction of a computerized review system changed so as to increase the costs per claims. Analysis of upcoding index showed index for 'other acute lower respiratory infection (J20-22)', which was included in the review target, decreased and 'otitis media (H65, H66)', which was not included in the review target, increase. Factors affecting provider's practice patterns should be taken into consideration when policies on claims review method and behavior changes. It is critical to include strategies to decrease the variations among providers.