• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.5525-5533
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• 2014

This study examined the influence of communication between families and self-esteem on the depression mood of the elderly, and provides basic data for a depression care program. For those purposes, a questionnaire was developed based on the literature regarding the depression mood. To achieve the research aim, the surveys were conducted in Seoul, Gyenggi-do for 420 elderly people from April to May 2014. The results of the hypothesis testing were as follows. The degree of depression was increased significantly in the elderly with economic factors, factor in family relationships, health factors, and social factors. According to hierarchical regression analysis, a significant mediating effect was found with communication between families and self-esteem on the depression mood of the elderly. Therefore, the characteristics of the elderly individual communication between families and the increase in self-esteem, which can be specifically institutional, social and administrative unit and financial support should be considered.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.423-432
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• 2002

This study was conducted to test the validity of characteristics of family nursing phenomena in Korea identified in a previous study by Yoon, S. Y, et al. (1999). Data for this study were collected from 355 (first measurement 186, second measurement 169) nurses whose family nursing careers were more than one year using a cross sectional survey method. The distribution per one characteristic ranged between 0 to 5. The phenomena that had two or more characteristics and had a score of 3.0 points or more included disturbance in marital role', 'disturbance in family communication', 'inappropriate family coping', 'lack of family intimacy', 'unhealthy life style', 'deficit of financial management skill and support', 'inadequate care management sick member', and' inadequate home-making'. The essential characteristics of the 8 phenomena presented above included 27 items. Further studies on family nursing phenomena in Korea are needed to support the evidence through surveys of families in the field. A reconfirmation study, as well as qualitative research on the low validity of the characteristics, needs to be more performed in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.4844-4851
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• 2011

This study seeks to measure the level and root causes of occupational and interpersonal conflicts between nurses and nurse aids against hospital doctors, in order to help increase motivation of both groups in their workplace and enable more effective nursing care to patients. 271 nurses and nurse-aids working in small- and medium-sized hospitals were therefore given a series of surveys on topics such as conflicts with doctors, communications, cause of conflicts and solutions. Analysis of the survey result shows that both nurses and nurse-aids share relatively similar level and causes of conflicts in their place of work; however, nurse-aids felt more stress when their responsibilities seem to be duplicated or blurred from those of doctors and nurses. When conflicts actually occur with doctors, both groups would first try to avoid it one way or another. Then, nurses would make others cave in or file complaints through union, while nurse aides would seek help from supervisors or try to meet them half way.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.41.1-41.9
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• 2023

Competencies are defined as an observable and assessable set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Graduation competencies, which are more comprehensive, refer to the required abilities of students to perform on-site work immediately after graduation. As graduation competencies set the goal of education, various countries and institutions have introduced them for new veterinary graduates. The Korean Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges has recently established such competencies to standardize veterinary education and enhance quality levels thereof. The purpose of this study is to describe the process of establishing graduation competencies as well as their implication for veterinary education in Korea. Graduation competencies for veterinary education in Korea comprise 5 domains (animal health care and disease management, one health expertise, communication and collaboration, research and learning, and veterinary professionalism). These are further divided into 11 core competencies, and 33 achievement standards, which were carefully chosen from previous case analyses and nation-wide surveys. Currently, graduation competencies are used as a standard for setting clear educational purposes for both instructors and students. Establishing these competencies further initiated the development of detailed learning outcomes, and of a list of basic veterinary clinical performances and skills, which is useful for assessing knowledge and skills. The establishment of graduation competencies is expected to contribute to the continuous development of Korean veterinary education in many ways. These include curriculum standardization and licensing examination reform, which will eventually improve the competencies of new veterinary graduates.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.626-635
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• 2015

Along with the social interests and needs for health, the U-Healthcare Service as a new model to control individual dietary life and to prevent chronic diseases is now drawing the public attention. In this study, the characteristics of the requirement of U-Healthcare Service were investigated from subjects aged over 50 years old. As parts of the expectation to the U-Healthcare service, the customized clinical care & control (37.7%) and the systematic understanding of individual health state (21.4%) appeared significantly. And for the application of the U-Healthcare Service to the field of healthcare, the control of dietotherapy (43.9%) appeared higher than anything else and thus the customized service for individual dietotherapy seemed to be needed. Regarding the field of searching for health information, the disease control (35.6%), food materials (28.6%), and recipe for health foods (22.7%) appeared in sequence and revealed that the majority over 50% of subjects were interested in foods. The requirements for the information of dietary formula were also investigated through 5 points scaled questionnaires on respective topics of nutritive components, menus customized for corresponding health states (diseases), and the results obtained from surveys on respective topics all showed the needs for all information by representing each point value exceeded 3.9. Through the results obtained from this study, the provision of customized information enabling the nutritional control in accordance with individual states of health or disease was estimated to be needed for the popularization of U-Healthcare Service providing contents for dietary life of clients especially those of aged over 50 years.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.323-332
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the decision on whether to receive regular oral check-ups among the national health insurance beneficiaries with income and aged over 20 years in Korea. This was a cross-sectional study, using the data from the 2014 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VI-2), conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The final sample included 2,843 subjects who participated in the health examination survey and oral check-ups. The IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 20.0 was used for the statistical analysis, based on the complex sampling design. The Rao-Scott chi-square test was used to verify the difference in the distribution of independent variables with regard to oral check-ups. The binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the influencing factors. The ratio of beneficiaries who received oral check-ups was less than half of those who received medical examinations. The Rao-Scott chi-square test, revealed significant differences in the age group (p<0.05) of the predisposing factors, toothache within a year (p<0.001), untreated dental caries (p<0.001) of the need factors, personal income level (p<0.001), educational level (p<0.001), type of medical insurance (p<0.001), and private health insurance (p<0.01) of the enabling factors. In the binary logistic regression analysis, factors influencing oral check-ups were age group, personal income level, educational level, toothache within a year, and untreated dental caries. These findings show a variety of factors influencing the utilization of regular oral check-ups.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.324-334
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• 1998

Background : Strategic planning is an organizationwide or systemwide, ongoing look into the future usually of 2~3 years, based on objective analysis of the current environment and trends, but it can incorporate both short-term and long-term goals. The strategic planning process includes external analysis, internal analysis, issue analysis, development of mission, vision and values, and lastly development of organizational goals and objectives. As a part of the strategic quality planning process, certain service lines, important organizationwide functions, or key processes supporting these functions can be prioritized to expedite and roll out certain strategic goals. This is called strategic quality initiatives. Methods : We organized a quality improvement team, a subgroup of 21st century vision planning corps of our medical center, and pursued QI activities for improvement of healthcare environment, particularly in the admission setting. We developed a strategic quality initiative based on the results of patient satisfaction surveys, and carried out functions of self-directed work team. Results : The strategic goal was to be the benchmark for peer group hospitals in Korea for providing cost-effective best-practice. The QI team included 3 medical doctors, 1 nurse, 1 social worker, and 1 QI consultant as well as many operational members to support services and quality initiatives met every Tuesday for 18 weeks. Outcome objectives were to improve patient satisfaction score. The issues included in the objectives were comfort, temperature, noise, cleanliness of the admission wards, quality and education of patient meals, matters regarding the admission process, and an appurtenant facility such as restaurant or convenience store. Every issue was discussed and recommendations, conclusions and opportunities were implemented. Conclusions : By developing a strategic quality initiative as a part of the strategic quality planning process, and pursuing a self-directed work team, certain sen/ice lines, important organizationwide functions, or key processes supporting these functions can be improved effectively within a short period. Strategic quality initiatives serve to support, or roll out, certain strategic goals that are relevant to performance improvement and development of specific measurable outcome objectives, and associated performance measure for each initiative. Each strategic quality initiative should include a statement of intent outcome objectives, and performance measures. We will come back with follow up of the strategic quality initiative, for improvement of healthcare environment, and results of patient satisfaction re-survey.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.379-388
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• 1999

Breastfeeding is an excellent way of feeding infants and continues to be an important source of nutrition and antibodies for infants. Although breast-feeding is believed to be important, the rate of breastfeeding among Korean women is very low. One reason for the low breastfeeding rate is that the health professionals in the past have given little practical help couples to overcome difficulties encountered during breastfeeding. The promotion of breastfeeding has recently become a high priority among health professionals because of the undisputed physiological, psychological, social, economic, and nutritional benefits. Fathers have been found to influence the course of breastfeeding, but no one has conducted a systematic investigation into in and included fathers perspectives of breastfeeding in Korea. It is important to find strategies to solve the problems by assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of breastfeeding with fathers as well as mothers. The purpose of this research is to find ways to promote primiparous(first child) couples's breastfeeding by assessing their general knowledge, attitude and practice of it. More specifically its purposes is to identify the relationship between knowledge, attitude, practice and the background factors of breastfeeding of primiparous couples in order to promote and support breastfeeding. The data will help health professionals to guide first-pregnancy couples to prepare and overcome any difficulties encountered during breastfeeding. Data were collected through a questionnaire which included both structured and open-ended questions. The questionnaire was composed referencing earlier literature, studies and surveys. This survey was made postpartum 2-3days after childbirth on 96 couples. The numbers of subjects for data analysis were selected 51 couples through pilot screening test. Data were coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences : Cronbach's alpha coefficient, T-test, ANOVA, Stepwise pearson's correlation coefficient. The relations between the variables of breastfeeding were examined using a Pearson's correlation coefficient. This study showed that, the internal validity of the instrument was tested by Cronbach's alpha. The result was : mother knowledge 0.72, mother attitude 0.88, and father knowledge 0.70, father attitude 0.92, practice 0.76 and planning of breast feeding 0.95. The average age of mothers in the sample was 28.9 years old, and the average age of fathers in the sample was 31.3 years old. The other descriptive informations available included. the study also found that fathers were more important than doctors or nurses. However results of the study indicate that there were no differences between father and mother knowledge of breastfeeding(t=-0.39, p=0.698), and father attitude was statistically significant higher than mother attitude of breastfeeding (t=2.24, p=0.030). In analysis, the variable 'practice' with breastfeeding was the relationship with mother knowledge (p=0.031) and mother attitude(p=0.015). In this study, the correlation between one couple' knowledge and attitude was not significant. Primiparous couples surveyed in the postpartum period regarding knowledge, attitude and practice about breastfeeding might be affected by recall bias, the effects of the euphoria of the first 24-48 hours postpartum, but these variables were not examined. This study results add to the body of knowledge about nursing care for breastfeeding mothers and fathers. This indicates that a need for education about breastfeeding and, that fathers be included in it as well as mothers.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.200-209
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• 2017

Objectives : The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between depressive symptoms and sociodemographic factors associated with geriatric depression and insomnia and to examine the effects of these factors on depression. Methods : The severities of insomnia and depression in elderly aged 60 and older lived in Gwangmyeong city were evaluated and the related sociodemographic factors were investigated. From April 20, 2016 to December 1, 2016, Gwangmyeong city Mental Health Sevices consignment by department of psychiatry of a university-affiliated general hospital conducted surveys and interviews for total 837 elderly peoples lived in Gwangmyeong city by visiting welfare center and wards located in the city. Structured interviews were conducted using Insomnia Severity Index(ISI) and Short form-Geriatric Depression Scale(S-GDS) to examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors and the severities of insomnia and depression. Results : There were significant differences in S-GDS mean scores and age(below 70 years old, 70s, 80s, above 90 years old), type of health care(health insurance, medical aid), type of residency(own, not own) and marital status(single, married, divorced or widowed).There was a significant difference in education level, especially between not educated(and/or) elementary graduates and college graduate(F=3.227, p=0.012). Also, there were significant differences in age, type of health care, type of residency, number of household on divided S-GDS score above and below 10 scores(p<0.05). Insomnia measured by ISI was not significantly associated with sociodemographic factors(p>0.05), but was significantly associated with depressive symptoms(p<0.05). These findings suggest more severe insomnia symptom indicated the higher probability of depression and elderly with depressive symptoms had more severe insomnia. Conclusions : Geriatric depression has significant relationships with age, type of health care, type of residency, marital status, education and number of households. In addition, insomnia which is main symptom of depression in elderly, has important role in predicting the severity and diagnosis of depression.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.72-84
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• 2013

In the study, pollution levels of indoor polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in public facilities (vapor phase or particulate phase) were evaluated, and a health risk assessment (HRA) was carried out based on exposure scenarios. Public facilities in Korea covered by the law, including underground subway stations, funeral halls, child care facilities, internet cafes (PC-rooms), and exhibition facilities (6 locations for each type of facility, for a total of 48 locations), were investigated for indoor assessment. For the HRA, individual excess cancer risk (ECR) was estimated by applying main toxic equivalency factor (TEF) values suggested in previous studies. Among the eight public facilities, internet cafes showed the highest average $PM_{2.5}$ concentration at $110.0{\mu}g/m^3$ (range: $83.5-138.5{\mu}g/m^3$). When assuming a risk of facility exposure time based upon the results of the surveys for each public facility, the excess cancer risk using the benzo(a)pyrene indicator assessment method was estimated to be $10^{-7}-10^{-6}$ levels for each facility. Based on the risk associated with various TEF values, the excess cancer risk based upon the seven types cancer EPA (1993) and Malcolm & Dobson's (1994) assessment method was estimated to be $10^{-7}-10^{-5}$ for each facility. The excess cancer risk estimated from the TEF EPA (2010) assessment was the highest: $10^{-7}-10^{-4}$ for each facility. This is due to the 10-fold difference between the TEF of dibenzo(a,e)fluoranthene in 2010 and in 1994. The internet cafes where smoking was the clear pollutant showed the highest risk level of $10^{-4}$, which exceeded the World Health Organization's recommended risk of $1{\times}10^{-6}$. All facilities, with the exception of internet cafes, showed a $10^{-6}$ risk level. However, when the TEFs values of the US EPA (2010) were applied, the risk of most facilities in this study exceeded $1{\times}10^{-6}$.