• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.267-278
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• 2018

Purpose: This study is to investigate working conditions including job stress among visiting nurses in public health centers in Korea. Methods: An social network based mobile survey was conducted in May 2017 (N=936, response rate: 47.0%). Results: The visiting nurses in this study had their average total career as a nurse is 13.7 years. The 68.3% of them were employed in an indefinite term, 17.0% were hired in a fixed term, and 11.0% came from outsourcing. They responded as high job-stress level including inadequate compensation (71.22/100) and job demands (71.91/100). They experienced down-talk (63.4%), swearwords (32.9%), being made a dirty face (39.9%), sexual jokes (30.8%), or being likened or evaluated with their appearance sexually (14.3%). Among the causes of job related conflicts and discrimination, deprived salary level was the most frequent reason (83.4%). The conflicts and discrimination were incurred by government officers (52.4%). There were no significant differences in overall job stress, emotional labor, organizational commitment, violence, and discrimination experience based on their employment types. Conclusion: The differences in working conditions among the non-regular nurses were trivial, and their overall working conditions were poor. It is necessary to improve non-regular nurses' working conditions in order to make up the limitations of the Korean healthcare system which is centered on hospitals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.64-75
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• 2013

This study suggests basic data on optimum thermal insulation for spring wear through an investigation of subjective thermal sensation, self-health image and actual wearing conditions. A survey of university students using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted to collect data on subjective thermal sensation, self-health image, wearing conditions, demographics and physical characteristics. The variable of wearing conditions was measured as the response to the clothing they were wearing. Garment items (26 types for males and 41 types for females) were suggested and the items worn by the students were converted into the thermal insulation values for clothing. The main results are as follows. As for the body type perception, males perceived themselves as not fat while females perceived themselves as not thin. As for the health perception, males perceived themselves healthier than females. As for the climate adaptability perception, females were more sensitive to cold than males. The average thermal insulation of clothing was 0.97clo (0.34-1.95clo) with higher insulation for males than females. Students were more sensitive to the cold when their BMI was lower, their body surface area per body weight was larger, and the more they perceived themselves as not healthy. There was a significant correlation between the self-health image of sensitiveness to cold and the thermal insulation of clothing. The results were synthetically discussed in terms of environmental physiology.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.37-48
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• 2014

This study was performed to identify effects of hospital selection factors on patient satisfaction and reuse intention. For this purpose, a survey was performed subject to outpatients and inpatients in 10 hospitals located in Busan district from March 7, 2013 to June 21, 2013 and total 447 copies were used as final study data. As results of this study, it was found that among the hospital selection factors of outpatients, internal conditions and medical service gave effects to patient satisfaction and internal conditions, service of medical staffs and medical service gave effects to reuse intention. It was found also that among the hospital selections factors of inpatients, internal conditions, service of medical staffs and medical service gave effects to patient satisfaction and external conditions, internal conditions, service of medical staffs and medical service gave effects to reuse intention. It was suggested that in the effect of patient satisfaction on reuse intention, both inpatients and outpatients gave the effect and thus higher patient satisfaction was related to higher reuse intention. Therefore, instead of hospital-centered medical treatments, hospitals should restructure its medical and service systems that are patient-centered. Also, it is necessary for the hospital managers to recognize that patient satisfaction is an important factor in increasing its profit.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.67-68
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• 2002

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.140-143
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• 2018

Background: The Occupational Safety and Health Monitoring and Assessment Tool (OSH-MAT) is a practical instrument that is currently used in the German woodworking and metalworking industries to monitor safety conditions at workplaces. The 12-item scoring system has three subscales rating technical, organizational, and personnel-related conditions in a company. Each item has a rating value ranging from 1 to 9, with higher values indicating higher standard of safety conditions. Methods: The reliability of this instrument was evaluated in a cross-sectional survey among 128 companies and its validity among 30,514 companies. The inter-rater reliability of the instrument was examined independently and simultaneously by two well-trained safety engineers. Agreement between the double ratings was quantified by the intraclass correlation coefficient and absolute agreement of the rating values. The content validity of the OSH-MAT was evaluated by quantifying the association between OSH-MAT values and 5-year average injury rates by Poisson regression analysis adjusted for the size of the companies and industrial sectors. The construct validity of OSH-MAT was examined by principle component factor analysis. Results: Our analysis indicated good to very good inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.64-0.74) of OSH-MAT values with an absolute agreement of between 72% and 81%. Factor analysis identified three component subscales that met exactly the structure theory of this instrument. The Poisson regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant exposure-response relationship between OSH-MAT values and the 5-year average injury rates. Conclusion: These analyses indicate that OSH-MAT is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used effectively to monitor safety conditions at workplaces.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2022

Background: Coal mining is a hazardous industry. The purpose of the study is to identify the nature of occupational injuries and diseases among coal miners and to determine the factors that affect the rate of injury and duration of time loss from work. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using accepted workers' compensation claims data of 30,390 Australian coal miners between July 2003 and June 2017. Results: Musculoskeletal and fracture conditions accounted for approximately 60% of claims in all occupational groups. Cox regression analysis showed that older age and female gender were significant predictors of longer time off work. Injury types and occupations were associated with work time loss: mental health conditions, and machine operators and drivers had significantly longer durations of time off work. Conclusion: Future research can further address how these factors led to longer time off work so that coal industry regulators, employers, and healthcare providers can target interventions more effectively to these at-risk workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.16-25
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• 2023

This study investigated health problems and work-relatedness for fishermen. In total, 121 fishermen (103 males and 18 females) were extracted from the data of the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey. Two groups (Symptomatic and Asymptomatic) were statistically compared in terms of health problems and exposure to hazards. The most common health problems identified for fishermen were muscular pain in the shoulder, neck, and upper limbs (73.6%), backache (71.1%), muscular pain in the lower limbs (58.7%), overall fatigue (33.9%), headaches or eyestrain (22.3%), and anxiety (8.3%). These health problems were found to be related to the working conditions of the fishermen (low temperatures, tiring or painful postures, stance, sitting position, repetitive hand or arm placement, and the experience of stress). This study's findings may help us better understand the characteristics of the health problems and work-relatedness of fishermen and could be helpful for improving fishermen's overall health and safety.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2015

Background: The purposes of this study is to analysis the differences of the job satisfaction between regular and non-regular workers in hospitals. Methods: The samples used for data analysis are 632 workers of 6 hospitals using a standardized questionnaires in B, C, D, and G provinces. In research methodology, all the data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson's correlation, and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: In case of regular workers, communication, working conditions and employee benefit, and education were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on job satisfaction. In case of non-regular workers, empowerment, reward systems, communication, working conditions, and employee benefit had a significant positive (+) effect on job satisfaction. Conclusion: These results showed that hospitals needed to reinforce communication, working conditions and employee benefit to regular and non-regular workers in order to improve job satisfaction. Especially, more empowerment, working conditions, and employee benefit should be given to non-regular workers.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.181-191
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• 2015

Change in labor time is affecting occupational safety and health. Recently reduction in labor time brought innovational operation method, investment in plant and equipment, and flexible labor time in some companies, thereby affecting working conditions for labourers. However, working conditions for some vulnerable social groups have deteriorated. As a result, they are becoming more exposed to risk factors such as injury and emotional stress. In this study we use 2014 KWCS data in order to find the social and demographic characteristics in Korean working conditions. To this end, we use exploratory data analysis approach to find the relationship between some of the important variables in the KWCS data. We also use Press-State-Response model to find which group of people are vulnerable to Press and State. We find that women, people over age 50 and business owners are more vulnerable to Press and State than men, people below age 50 and wage workers.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.397-403
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• 2013

Objective: This article aims to report the results of ergonomic evaluation of some university laboratories. Background: Laboratory researchers are at risk for musculoskeletal injuries during routine laboratory procedures. However, little attention has paid to the working conditions of laboratory researchers, especially in Korea. Method: A checklist and questionnaire was developed and used to analyze the work conditions of 27 laboratories of chemistry, biology and pharmacy. Results: It was found that glove box, clean bench, and computer workstation are better than microscopy, and fume hood tasks, from ergonomic point of view. Conclusion: No domestic guideline is available for ergonomic intervention of laboratories. Further attention and studies are anticipated to improve the working conditions of laboratories.