• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.271-286
• /
• 2000

This study is designed to investigate what elders think about the meaning of aging. We have used Q-methods to identify meaning of aging from elders, and developed self-referenced surveys to analyze characteristics In this study, we used a non-structured method to select Q sampling. From 183 Q populations, we selected 36 Q sampling. A total of 32 persons sixty-years or older were randomly selected for P samples, When the Q-sorting was complete, we interviewed the participants at both end of the extremes(agree or disagree), and documented their responses. We used PC QUANL to process the data and used principal component analysis for Q factor analysis. There were five subjective types for the meaning of aging by elders. Of the 32 P-samples of elders, 11 were identified as Type 1, 7 as Type 2, 2 as Type 3, 8 as Type 4, and 4 as Type 5. Type 1 : 'Matured elders' Elders wished the well being of their children, thought older persons should maintain good health, worried about becoming senile, and dependent God believing in life after death. Type 2 : 'Assertive-Rights' Elders categorized as Assertive-Rights insisted on their rights to life as a person. Type 2 elders characterized themselves as people who should keep themselves healthy, become weak and lack sexual desires, act selfish like a child, need to be protected, and be financially independent. Type 3 : 'Passive-Dependents' Elders characterize themselves as those who pray for their children's well being, worry about the children even after their death. and becoming senile. Type 4 : 'Hopeless' The 'Hopeless' type of elders characterized aging as a time to pray for their children, insignificant beings, thoughts were selfish and child-like, poor, worried about going senile, regret their life overall, and preferred to die than to live as an old person. Type 5 : 'Attached-Present' The 'Attached-Present' type of elders thought elderly characterized themselves as acting selfish and child-like, wiser, anxious, regret their life, stand aloof of greed and worldly things, being a model for the society, and deserving to be treated with filial respect. Thus far, Korean elders seemed to have a positive and negative meaning of aging due to the current changes in the society, value system, and family structures. The above five subjective meanings of aging confirm that we need to approach and nurse the elderly differently. Years of aging are a part of and a natural process of life with various physical, psychological, and sociological changes. Nurses need to assist elderly to find the positive meaning of their life by providing appropriate physical, psychological, and social support at an earlier stage in nursing. Based on this study, we could derive the following two implication from the perspectives of science of nursing to care for elders. 1) Based on the studies investigating the type of meaning of aging, we could develop tools to assist in nursing intervention programs for elderly. 2) Based on research on the meaning of aging for different developmental stages of life, we could develop a model for roles for different family members in nursing and caring for the elders.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.77-90
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the practice of eating life and the needs of dietary education of high school students. The data was collected by means of questionaire form the total of 463 high school students who were living in Daegu and Gyeongbuk province. Recognition of the need dietary education was 3.47/5.00, the utilization in daily life was 3.16, the degree of interesting was 3.23, and the degree of difficulty was 2.82. The reason of necessity was health care and growth (54.6%). The reasons of interesting were as follows: various information (28.3%), job choices (21.2%), happy family life (20.7%), cooking practice (19.7%). The degree of dietary education needs was 3.24. The need of cooking ability improvement was highest as 3.59. The practice of eating life was 3.41. Such as hand washing, food hygiene was the highest as 3.71. But the items of healthy eating life and evaluation of eating life were the lowest. The practice in daily life was positively correlated with recognition of the need, utilization, interest. But it was a negative correlation with the difficulty. Therefore dietary education should be strengthened in home economics subject, and to increase the rate of daily practice the teaching content and methods must be improved. In addition, dietary education in schools should be closely connected with families and local communities.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.45-49
• /
• 2016

It may be summarized to four kinds of innovation through global convergence, and the convergence of adjacent areas according to mega-trends in medical services market and actively introduced ICT technologies, public and private partnership. Health care is no longer a local industry, it is becoming Global Convergence. In the case of developed countries, it is increased to income levels, the development of new medical technologies, while the increase in specialized medical services and need of aging population. It increases migration of foreign medical personnel, geographical proximity and choice of the best medical technology, regardless of the cost. The increasing demand for high quality yet relatively low foreign prices of medical services. Hospitals are especially spread of international certification such as the US JCI standards. Hospital exports are being evaluated and opened the way for the export industrialization as ICT convergence hospital that can be exported to the fusion-related technologies more efficiently. Current local hospital has already reached saturation, globalization of Korean hospital is being the time necessary. Thus, unlike a strategy for each country, as well as technology transfer it is also possible, such as total exports provided the building, medical equipment procurement, local medical personnel (doctors and nurses) selection and training, PR and marketing. In the current medical law and need to be revised prospectively maintained for publicity and abroad, there is a need for further legal dragons and actively support a more flexible policy on the application of national law overseas medical services.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.183-205
• /
• 2004

This Study explored three issues in regard to the determinants of community service utilization among family caregivers of the dependent older persons. First, the differences between users and nonusers of community services were compared regarding to predisposing, enabling, need characteristics of the primary caregiver as well as the elder care recipient. Second, the variables which determined the contact of community services were examined. Third, the influence of the variables on duration of the community services among users was also examined. The data collected from 164 family caregivers were used for analyses. Findings suggest that community service users had higher education and higher emotional support, lower family income than nonusers. The level of cognitive impairment of the elder was also higher for users than nonusers. The entry into community services is more likely for elders cared for by caregivers who have higher educational attainment, lower family income and lower level of instrumental support. Once interaction terms for relationship between need factors and social support are entered, caregivers with poorer level of his/her perceived physical health and lower level of instrumental support are more likely to report use of community services. Among those reporting contact with services, more extensive use occurs for caregivers with lower emotional support and lower depression. The entry of interaction terms for relationship between need and support reveals that the combination of lower support(instrumental and emotional) and elder's greater physical impairment are associated with longer period of community service use. However, the effect of caregivers' depression followed the different pattern. For caregivers with greater depression, more supports are related with more service utilization. According to the results, implications for research and practice are discussed.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.185-201
• /
• 1991

A household survey was conducted to compare the patterns of morbidity and medical care utilization between medical aid beneficiaries and medical insurance beneficiaries. The study population included 285 medical aid beneficiaries that were completely surveyed and 386 medical insurance benficiaries selected by simple random sampling from a Dong(Township) in Taegu. Well-trained surveyers mainly interviewed housewives with a structured questionnaire. The morbidity rates of acute illness during the 15-day period, were 63 per 1,000 medical aid beneficiaries and 62 per 1,000 medical insurance beneficiaries. The rates for chronic illness were 123 per 1,000 medical aid beneficiaries and 73 per 1,000 medical insurance beneficiaries. The most common type of acute illness in medical aid and medical insurance beneficiaries was respiratory disease. In medical aid beneficiaries, musculoskeletal disease was most common, but in medical insurance beneficiaries, gastrointestinal disease was most common. The mean duration of acute illness of medical aid beneficiaries was 3.8 days and that of medical insurance beneficiaries was 6.8 days. During the one year period, mean duration of medical aid beneficiaries chronic illnesses was 11.5 months which was almost twice as long compared to medical insurance beneficiaries. Pharmacy was most preferrable facility among the acute illness patient in medical aid beneficiaries, but acute cases of medical insurance beneficiaries visited the clinic most commonly. Chronic cases of both groups visited the clinic most frequently. There were some findings suggesting that much unmet need existed among the medical aid beneficiaries. In acute cases, the average number of days of medical aid users utilized medical facilities was less than medical insurance users. On the other hand, the length of medical care utilization of chronic cases was reversed. Geographical accessibility was the most important factors in utilization of medical facilities. Almost half of the study population answered the questions about source of funds on medical security correctly. Most respondents considered that the objective of medical security was afford ability. The chief complaint on hospital utilization was the complicated administrative procedures. These findings suggest that there were some problems in the medical aid system, especially in the referral system.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2013

Purpose. Based on the comparison and analysis with those of United States, the aim of this research is to find the problems in current management, operation and future directions of emergency medical service (EMS) fund in S. Korea and to provide basic resources and appropriate measures to make a right decision in policies for EMS fund. Methods. Data from Ministry of Health and Welfare and other various sources during 1995 to 2012 were collected and analyzed. Results. From our analyses, several problems are identified in EMS fund operation. In brief, problems discerned are as follows. First, whereas the purpose and direction of EMS fund operations in United States are highlighted and focused on pre-hospital EMS system and associated infrastructures which need to be constructed, those of S. Korea are emphasized mainly on the in-hospital EMS system so far. Second, on the contrary to the fact that the EMS funds in United States are tuned to pre-hospital EMS system to provide prompt and efficient emergency care at the emergency scene of pre-hospital stage and to achieve the development, design, planning and demonstration projects for pre-hospital EMS systems, up to date, our investment of EMS funds demonstrated an excess biased inclination toward the construction of in-hospital EMS system, which is far from the realization of constructive and vital pre-hospital infrastructures. Third, while emergency medical technician is important and principal body in the management of emergency medical funds in United States, so far, no EMS funds in S. Korea existed for EMTs including the job condition, improved treatment and working environment for them. Conclusion. In conclusion, we strongly suggest that the problems pointed out must be revised and corrected. Current usage of EMS fund needs to be redirected predominatly to pre-hospital EMS system. Otherwise, unless current management and investment of emergency medical funds in S. Korea are applied and used for the vital necessities and demands of EMTs, public EMS units and private EMS units as well as related units in pre-hospital EMS system as in the cases of United States, in our consideration, they must be suspended or abolished.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.13 no.10
• /
• pp.4686-4693
• /
• 2012

The present study was conducted to identify the factors related to the hypertension, and to offer the evidence of 1st prevention of hypertension. 2,230 male workers aged 30-59 years were observed the relationships between hypertension and age, BMI, glucose intolerance, smoking, alcohol drinking, regular exercise, eating habits using data from health check-ups in 2011. As a results, the incidence rate of hypertension was 18.8% of 30-39 year old group, 23.8% of 40-49 year old group, 33.0% of 40-49 year old group. The incidence rate of hypertension was significantly higher as age and BMI ascend, and it was higher in the group of abnormal glucose intolerance, regular alcohol intake, no regular exercise than their respective counterparts. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio of hypertension increased significantly as there is an increase in age, and the group of abnormal glucose intolerance, smoking, regular alcohol intake, no regular exercise. In conclusion, obesity, glucose intolerance, alcohol intake, and physical inactivity are risk factors for hypertension, therefore we need the control of these factors for 1st prevention of hypertension.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.44 no.2
• /
• pp.154-163
• /
• 2017

This study aims to investigate the utilization status of dental services by foreign children living in Seoul and their level of satisfaction with the treatments. We developed a structured questionnaire with 35 questions, which comprised 14 questions (demographic characteristics) and 21 questions (oral hygiene and dental experience of the child). In this study, the distribution of nationality of 391 participants differed from the actual statistics in Korea. It consisted of high percentage of participants from African countries (23.6%), as well as North American countries (24.1%). In addition, the education status of most parents was above the level of college graduate. Despite the relatively high socioeconomic status of the participants, they showed minimal dental health knowledge regarding the aspect of oral hygiene. Utilization of dental health services and the types of dental clinics visited by them were similar before and after coming to Korea. The participants showed overall satisfaction with the care, but many of them expressed the need for improvement with regard to treatment fee and communication. In conclusion, foreign children living in Seoul require appropriate dental health education and governmental support to promote regular dental check-ups, to improve their overall oral health, and prevent the incidence of dental caries.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.153-166
• /
• 2007

The job of dental hygienists is specialized, and they have to be capable of performing their primary duties including prevention of oral diseases, oral prophylaxis, and oral health education. To ensure their successful job performance, dentists should have an accurate understanding of their duties and need a change of mind-set about them. And there should be written legal and concrete regulations on the coverage of their work in order to let them boost their job performance with pride and a sense of responsibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the actual roles and job performance of dental hygienists in clinical field in an attempt to discuss the substantial job performance of dental hygienists and their job enlargement. It's basically meant to help enhance the efficiency and quality of medical services. The subjects in this study were 471 dental hygienists in dental clinics, dental hospitals, university hospitals and general hospitals across the nation, on whom a survey was conducted in person from March 2 to 25, 2005. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS Win 12.0 program, and the findings of the study were as follows: 1. The major jobs they currently performed included oral health education, hospital management, simple duties, extensive dental hygiene duties and joint treatment assistance. They hoped to continue to be responsible for oral health education, preventive treatment and extensive dental hygiene duties. 2. As for their current job by age, extensive dental hygiene duties, preventive treatment, joint treatment assistance, preserving treatment, prosthetic treatment and pediatric treatment were most conducted by the dental hygienists who were at the age of 26 to less than 31, and those who were at the age of 31 and up were most responsible for hospital management and simple duties. 3. As to job awareness by workplace, their workload was statistically significantly different according to their workplace. The hospital employees took care of more work than those in clinics. 4. Concerning job awareness by age, the younger dental hygienists suffered more role conflicts and were given a less free hand in work handling, the middle-aged group's job was uncertain. Legal regulations about the coverage of their work should be prepared in detail as a measure to stir up their responsible job performance and pride. In order to take advantage of experienced dental hygienists, their duties should be more differentiated and specialized, and their working conditions should be improved to boost their job satisfaction. That is, they should be given ample chances for promotion and serving as a middle manager and be given fair treatment according to their career. If their work is accurately darified and specialized based on career, it will boost the efficiency of dental treatment. Dental hygienists also should direct sustained efforts into self-development in order to become a skilled and professional oral health personnel.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2000

The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of cataracts in a rural area of Kyung-Buk province. Cataract is the main cause of blindness and visual impairment in the world. Recently, the number of age-related cataract surgeries has increased remarkably. In spite of such an increase in the number of patients, there are still many cataract patients with highly deteriorated visual function who have had no occasion to receive an ocular examination. In order to screen such patients the author assessed 636 individual(1272 eyes) aged 50 years or more who had wanted to be examined generally in two area. Chilgok and Munkyung, Kyung-Buk province using a simplified cataract screening system recently proposed by Sasaki et al. Kanazawa Medical University in Japan. The results obtained are as follows. The number of visual impairment patients in this study group was 493(77.5%). They were screened by cataract screening system. Primary screening examination detected 448 subjects to be suspected of cataract while the subsequent secondary examination narrowed this number of subjects to 308(48.4%). Final number of subjects to be diagnosed of cataract was 421(66.2%). The rate of incidence, according to the age, was 27.5% in the 50 year-olds age group, 62.5% in the 60's age group, 86.1% in the 70's age group and 94.3% in the 80's age group and upwards. This results concluded that cataract is the main cause of blindness and visual impairment and is an important public eye health care problem of aged population in rural Korea. Methods of tackling the cataract problem(both backlog and incident), and other eye health needs are recommended. The need to extend eye health service to the rural areas is emphasized.