• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.531-543
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• 2021

Background: Population aging is a serious problem in Korea. And we have experienced a rapid increase in the health expenditures of the elderly. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of having a usual source of care (USC) for the elderly. Methods: This study used the Korea Health Panel Survey data of 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018. The sample was the person who answered the USC questions among the elderly. The panel logit model was used to analyze the determinants of having USC and the panel simultaneous equation model was used to analyze the effect of having USC among the elderly on the medical expenses, medical utilization, and subjective health status. Results: The estimation result shows that age, income, marriage, and so forth turn out to be the factors of having USC. Having the clinic level USC is estimated to reduce the health care utilization and the health expenditure and to improve the subjective health status. Conclusion: It is expected that the result of our analysis will provide evidence for encouraging having USC.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.583-591
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• 2008

The principal objective of this study was to assess the demands of the development program of silver health care professionals for elderly individuals residing in the Northern Gyeonggi-do area. To this end, a survey was conducted to investigate college students and employees related with elderly individuals in the area regarding their recognition, interest, and involvement in the labor training program. In the case of college students, the health education they had received was only 1 to 2 hours, from a school lecture(35%). The content of health education they desired was exercise(34%) and stress management skills(28%). The sources of health information they received included mass media(77%) and the internet(12%), and they trusted the information they received from health professionals(45%), and the mass media(34%). In the case of health professionals who were working at silver care facilities, the sources of health information to which they had access were mass media(51%), internet(14%), reliable health professionals(56%), mass media(22%), and books related to health (18%). The principal issues they reported as being relevant to the elderly were dementia(39%), hypertension(14%), arthritis (11%), and they reported that the most important personnel for elderly in the future would be care managers(44%), and care helpers(21%). 88% of subjects believed that there was a need for a silver welfare integrated information system. 43% of subjects used the internet, 77% of them required in-service training programs for the welfare of the elderly. Via this developmental program of silver health care professionals, a variety of new job opportunities can be provided in the future, and a program related to the silver service industry must be established as soon as possible.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.512-525
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• 2016

Purpose: Ageing in place may improve the quality of life of frail elderly and decrease their costs of services. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influence the institutionalization of elderly using home care services in a Korean long-term care insurance system. Methods: This study used the data of '2009 Satisfaction survey of Korean long-term care system'. The survey proceeded to use a sampling data based on region, level of long-term care need, and insurance type among the beneficiaries between August and September 2009. The onset dates of institutionalization of 1,095 participants were ascertained from long-term care insurance claim data. This study calculated the hazard ratio through the Cox Proportional Hazard Model. Results: A total of 176 subjects who were institutionalized in nursing homes were included. There were higher risks in the group that included those who were 85 years and over, had dementia or fracture, used home-visit nursing service, and were not supported by direct family. Conclusion: The results of this study have policy implications to supplement the home care service system and postpone nursing home institutionalization of elderly.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.192-203
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the influencing factors of oral environment and self-care behavior on the oral health-related quality of life in the elderly with diabetes. Methods: The participants were 110 elderly patients with diabetes and follow-up care on their outpatient clinic in D and G city. Data were collected September-December 2018, using questionnaires of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49) and Kim's Self-care Behavior, measuring with the tooth-pick (Premiers Dental), Halitosis Checker (HC-212M), and Moisture Checker for Mucus (MCM) for oral environments. The data were analyzed the by independent t-test, oneway ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis using an IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 Program. Results: There was positive correlation between oral health-related quality of life and self-care behavior (r= .61, p< .001), negative correlations among halitosis (r = -.34, p< .001), gingival index (r = -.31, p= .001) and plaque index (r = -.32, p= .001). Self-care behavior (β= .46, p< .001), subjective health status (good) (β= .23, p= .002), halitosis (β= -.16, p= .030), and plaque index (β= -.15, p= .041) explained 46.0% of the variance in the oral health-related quality of life. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop nursing care for elderly patients with diabetes that can enhance the self-care behavior and subjective health status, and lower halitosis and plaque index, the factors influencing the oral health-related quality of life in elderly patients with diabetes.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.382-395
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the transition experiences of the elderly from long-term care hospitals to their homes. Methods: The participants were eight elderly medicaid beneficiaries, who had been the subjects from the community care project in Korea. The data were collected with one-on-one interviews from April to November in 2020, and analyzed by phenomenological steps. Results: The seven themes derived in this study were 'Space to escape', 'Reliable supporter opened the way to discharge', 'Comfortable life at home', 'Obstacles to independent life', 'Struggling to live alone', 'Fence for community life', and 'Energizing in daily life' Conclusion: The results revealed the positive aspects of Community Care program in Korea. However, it is suggested that active communication between hospitals and community care institutions, and improvement of home environment to live in the community before discharge should be required. And system revision is needed to adjust activity in their home and support health problems of the elderly in the early stage of discharge. The results of this study can be referred to as the foundation of transitional care for the elderly.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.693-700
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the number of remaining natural teeth in elderly people visiting dental care services and the factors affecting dental visit. This study will contribute the development of oral health promotion programs for the elderly people. Methods : Subjects were 172 elderly people recruited from 217 senior citizens visiting public oral health care services in 16 districts in Busan. They completed self-Corresponding Author reported questionnaires. Results : Elderly people had less remaining natural teeth (p<0.001). The remaining natural teeth ($15.07{\pm}8.75$) of the health insurance beneficiary were majority than those of the medicaid ($8.78{\pm}8.45$)(p<0.001). The respondents with better oral health condition had more remaining natural teeth (r=0.317, p<0.001), and those who were more worried about oral health had less remaining natural teeth (r=-0.599, p<0.001). Aging accelerates loss of natural teeth (p<0.001) of 3.203. Approximately 2.188 remaining teeth will be preserved by oral health care improvement (p=0.009). Conclusions : Frequent dental clinic visit will prevent natural teeth loss in the elderly people. Toothbrushing is the most efficient method of oral health care in the elderly people. Awareness towards oral health care is the motivation to preserve natural teeth in the elderly people.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the effects of an integrated health improvement program for the elderly based on primary health care posts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A single group pretest-posttest design (n=16) was employed to evaluate an integrated health improvement program that took place twice a week for 11 weeks. The program was conducted in a small group of no more than 10 people in compliance with the guidelines to prevent COVID-19 infection. The program consisted of various contents such as making letters using blocks, health education, and talking about one's memories. The data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results: Following the program, social support (Z=-3.50, p<.001) and quality of life of the elderly (Z=-3.74, p<.001) were significantly improved among depression, social support and quality of life. Conclusion: The integrated health improvement program based on primary health care posts, considered in this study, was useful to improve the social support and quality of life of the elderly in the community, and needs to be applied to a larger number of elderly people throughout the community.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.199-211
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the essence and the meaning of nurses' experiences of end-of-life care (EOLC) for elderly patients in the long-term care hospitals (LTCHs). Methods: Data were gathered from 12 nurses who had been working at LTCHs in Korea through one-on-one interviews and the data were analyzed by Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Results: The emergent 5 themes were 'Doing the best for protecting patients' life', 'Providing a comfortable dying process for patients', 'Supporting a family's keeping on patient's death', 'Reflecting on life' and 'Desiring for the establishment of a humanity end-of-life care environment'. Conclusion: The end-of-life care for the elderly patients includes supporting elderly patients' comfortable dying process and helping the family keep the death of the elderly. The results indicated that physical facilities and end-of-life nursing capacity should be established in LTCHs for improving the quality of EOLC.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.156-165
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• 2014

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a program for increasing self-care with activities of daily living among the elderly living at home. Methods: The study adopted a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The number of participants were 30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group. Participants were persons aged 65 years and above in Busan. The experimental group was provided with for 16 different types of self-care behaviors by family nurses who made weekly home visits to these participants. Each visit lasted for more than 30 minutes, and the visits were conducted for 12 weeks. The research instrument used in this study was a scale developed by Shimanouchi et al. (2003) which assessed self-care behavior, activities of daily living, and depression. Results: The experimental group showed an increase in self-care behavior compared to the control group. Time and group variables were also found to have an interaction effect on the daily living activity level. The experimental group showed an increase in the activities of daily living compared to the control group. Depression scores dropped from 9.4 to 5.8 in the experimental group and from 8.6 to 7.0 in the control group. Conclusion: We found that the self-care behavior program improved the levels of independence and activities of daily living among the elderly living at home.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.497-521
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• 2012

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the effect of social capital, health risk behavior and health status on medical care utilization by the elderly. The data and Research method Data were obtained from the 4th wave survey of the Korea Welfare Panel Study. 4,087 household members aged 65 years and over were subject to analysis. Descriptive statistics are used to describe the basic features of the data in a study. we performed a structural equation modeling(SEM) analysis to evaluate the effect of social capital and mediating effect of health risk behavior and health status. Results Results showed that factors related to medical care utilization of the elderly were different depending on types of service (inpatient and outpatient service) except health status. Age, higher social capital, more health-risk behavior and poorer health status were associated with increased use of inpatient service. Social capital was found to have a positive direct effect on it. Also, social capital had an indirect effect on reducing use of inpatient services by improving health status. On the other hand, lower age and higher household income tended to increase use of outpatient service, while higher social capital and higher health status were inversely related. Social capital had a direct effect and an indirect effect on reducing use of outpatient service and, at that time, health status played a mediating role. Conclusions Social capital may contribute to improve health status and indirectly reduce medical care utilization of the elderly by enhancing their health status. These results provide evidence that more policy and strategy considerations should be needed for the elderly to strengthen their social capital in order to enhance their levels of health and more efficient utilization of medical care.