• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.609-617
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• 2011

The geriatric population is the most rapidly growing part of the general population, which leads to an increase of chronic conditions and illnesses that will influence both oral and systemic health. The most common chronic diseases in elderly population are arthritis, hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes, and cognitive impairment. Chronic impairments such as visual, hearing, orthopedic, and speech disorders are also prevalent among older adults. All these chronic conditions have potential oral complications and the treatments of systemic diseases also has implications for the maintenance of oral health. Therefore, oral health care professionals should catch up with increasing knowledge in this field and can modify the treatment strategy for older adults. In addition, oral health care professionals should understand the changing need of oral health problems in this age and prepare the future demand.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2006

Disparities in health and disease between various population subgroups, such as racial and ethnic groups, are a major focus of public health research but also pose considerable challenges. Diet is a key contributor to disparities in many chronic diseases and conditions. Therefore, in order to understand and address racial and ethnic health disparities, it is important to characterize the dietary patterns of the populations of interest. African Americans are at higher risk for many diet-related chronic disease conditions, such as obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and many cancers relative to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. In this report, I describe the diet-related chronic disease profiles of African Americans, characterize their dietary patterns and food preferences, identify demographic, psychosocial, environmental, and cultural factors that may affect their dietary choices, and propose strategies for improving the dietary and health profiles of African Americans.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.438-444
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• 2023

Background: To examine the influences of psychosocial work conditions on mental health risk and intention to leave the public sector among workers of public health agencies in Taiwan. Methods: We surveyed 492 public health workers in March 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information on job demands, job control, workplace justice, experiences of workplace violence and its type and origin, and mental health status (assessed by the 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale, BSRS-5) was obtained. Of them, 192 participated in a follow-up survey conducted in May 2023 that assessed mental health status, employment changes, and intention to leave. Results: In the initial survey, 32.93% of participants reported poor mental health status, defined by having a score of BSRS-5 ≧ 10, and 48.17% experienced some form of workplace violence over the past year. Notably, high psychosocial job demands (OR = 3.64, 95% CI = 1.93-6.87), low workplace justice (OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.45-4.58), and workplace violence (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.51-3.77) were significantly associated with increased risk of mental disorders. Among those who participated in the followup survey, 22.40% had persistent poor mental health, and 30.73% considered leaving or have left the public sector. Longitudinal analyses indicated that job demands predicted persistent mental disorders and intention to leave the public sector, and the experience of workplace violence added additional mental health risks. Conclusion: The public health workforce is crucial for effective and resilient public health systems. Our findings that public health workers were at high mental health risk and had a high intention to leave the job warrant attention and policy interventions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.80-80
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• 2004

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.29-38
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• 2010

Objectives: This study purports to comparatively study health condition, health behaviors, and health care utilization of Koreans living in Korea and in the US, and then, to analyze the factors influencing them. Methods: The collected data were analyzed on the basis of the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Of 25,196 adults aged 19 or older, 7,802 respondents to health behavior survey and 5,526 respondents to physical examination survey. The analyzed data of the Korean Americans were the results of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in 2005. This study analyzed the responses of 645 known Korean respondents to the 2005 CHIS. Results: In regard to differences in overall health condition between the two groups, it was found that both the male and female Korean Americans thought their own overall health conditions were relatively poor compared to Koreans, especially in relation to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. For smoking status considered as one of health behavior factors, smokers of the Koreans account for 46.1% which is higher than that of the Korean Americans and the proportion of the Koreans smoking daily is also at least two times higher than that of the Korean Americans. Similarly, for alcohol drinking, the Koreans showed higher drinking experience rate and no less than three times higher drinking frequency than that of Korean Americans. Conclusion: It is expected that this study will contribute greatly to solving health problems among foreign immigrants and overseas Koreans in future by clarifying any differences in health status and health behaviors resulting from sociocultural differences despite of similar genetic factors.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.4-11
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• 2016

Background: Hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), which are widely used as an indicator of poor access to primary care, can be used as an efficiency indicator of healthcare use in countries providing good access to health care. Korea, which has a national health insurance (NHI) system and a good supply of health care resources, is one such country. To quantify admission rates of ACSC and identify characteristics influencing variation in Korean health care institutions. Methods: By using NHI claims data, we computed the mean ACSC admission rate for all institutions with ACSC admissions. Results: The average ACSC admission rate for 4,461 institutions was 1.45%. Hospitals and clinics with inpatient beds showed larger variations in the ACSC admission rate (0%-87.9% and 0%-99.6%, respectively) and a higher coefficient of variation (7.96 and 2.29) than general/tertiary care hospitals (0%-19.1%, 0.85). The regression analysis results indicate that the ACSC admission rate was significantly higher for hospitals than for clinics (${\beta}=0.986$, p<0.05), and for private corporate institutions than public institutions (${\beta}=0.271$, p<0.05). Conclusion: Substantial variations in ACSC admission rates could suggest the potential problem of inefficient use of healthcare resources. Since hospitals and private corporate institutions tend to increase ACSC admission rates, future health policy should focus on these types of institutions.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.43-54
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• 2008

Objectives: To identify the willingness of laypersons to perform the cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR), we analyzed their characteristics of socio-economic status and health-medical conditions associated with their willingness. Methods: Based on a health survey of Incheon Metropolitan City adults(N=5,114), tests of the differences between a group with willingness to perform CPR(=1,531) and a group with non-willingness to perform CPR(=3,583), and a logistic regression analysis of two groups were executed on socio-economic status-gender, age, marital stats, education level, jobs, and monthly household income-and health-medical conditions-CPR-related self-confidence, CPR education, chronic diseases, accident experience, EMS(emergency medical service) experience, and health status. Results: The rate of the willingness group was 29.9%, which was relatively lower than other developed countries. There were statistically significant differences between the willingness group with the non-willingness group on gender, age, jobs, CPR-related self-confidence, CPR education, and so on. Furthermore, Gender, age, students or armed forces among jobs, CPR-related self-confidence, and CPR education were statistically significant influential factors on the willingness to perform CPR. Conclusion: This study indicated that there was considerable variation in socio-economic status and health-medical conditions associated with willingness to perform CPR in Incheon. The CPR education aimed at increasing CPR-related self-confidence and correcting inaccurate perceptions of CPR attitudes would promote its use in response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.423-432
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the effect of repeated oral health education on the oral health of preschool children. This study classified the control group of children of 5~6 years of age where the oral health education was conducted one time, and the experiment group where the oral health education was conducted 4 times. The oral health conditions of each group and their risk of developing dental caries were also assessed. No significant difference was observed in the participants in terms of general characteristics, oral health conditions, risk of developing dental caries, and oral health behavior after oral health education. The two groups did not show a significant difference (p<0.001) in dental plaque index before and after oral health education, and showed a significant difference (p<0.001) according to the number of education sessions. Before oral health education, the participants in both groups were brushing their teeth incorrectly. However, after the third session, 56.7% of the participants in the experimental group and 9.4% in the control group used the correct method of tooth brushing. A significant difference was observed between the two groups (p<0.05). In addition, when the tooth-brushing time was compared, the two groups showed a significant difference (p<0.001), and a significant difference was observed in terms of the number of education sessions (p<0.05). In summary, repeated oral health education had significant influences on the dental plaque index, tooth-brushing method, brushing occlusal surfaces, and tooth-brushing time. Therefore, when oral health education is carried out, repeated oral health education in children is more effective than one-time oral health education as reflected in the changes in dental plaque index and oral health behavior. Moreover, oral health education is considered effective in changing the oral health behavior of children when conducted at least 3 times.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.324-328
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• 2015

Background: Employee job satisfaction and its relationship with health and quality of life has been an issue of major concern over the past decades. Nurses experience difficult working conditions that affect their job satisfaction, health, and quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in three general hospitals and their respective health centers. Stratified random sampling by level of education was used, and 508 nurses and nursing assistants were included. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire, which included the Measure of Job Satisfaction, the 36-item Short Form Health Survey, as well as demographic details, education, and work conditions data, was used. Results: Greek nurses were found to be dissatisfied with their job according to the total score of the job satisfaction scale, although personal satisfaction and satisfaction with support had had higher scores. Their general health was reported as average, because of physical and mental health problems, low vitality, low energy, and increased physical pain. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that males and those wishing to stay in the job had higher physical and mental health. Increased job satisfaction was related to increased physical and mental health. Conclusion: Although Greek nurses are not satisfied with their work, those with high levels of job satisfaction had better health-related quality of life. The findings suggest that improvement of the work environment would contribute to a healthier and more satisfied nursing workforce.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.131-146
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• 2011

The purposes of this study were to identify and compared the selection conditions of spouses and the perceptions of marriage and childbirth by sex. Moreover, this study tried to find the number of child the study subjects want to have in their marriage and what factors were important for whether they have no or one child or more than two children. The study subjects were college students who were belong to 6 health care related departments selected randomly from all health care related departments in one metropolitan area. In the selection conditions as their spouses, they ranked 'love', 'personality' and 'wealthiness' as important factors in order. Male ranked females' employment as 10th but female ranked it 5th. In conclusion, there were concordances and dis-concordances on the perceptions of marriage and child birth by sex. Understanding these factors caused by gender roles in our society could contribute to making new policies for promoting marriage rate in younger age and overcoming the problems of low birth rates by giving more specific data to policy makers for increasing child birth rate.