• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2013

This study aims to measure oral health knowledge and practice level among dental clinic patients, and examine their relationships with decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMF) index and the oral health-related quality of life (QOL). Empirical data have been collected from 311 patients through structured questionnaires and dental examinations conducted in Busan area. According to the analysis of causal relationship, oral health knowledge turned out to have a direct effect on oral health practices, which exerted both direct and indirect effects on DMF index and oral health-related QOL. While DMF index directly affected the oral health-related QOL, oral health knowledge proved to have only an indirect effect on DMF index and oral health-related QOL, mediated by oral health practices. Considering all these findings, effective oral health education and other intervention programs should focus on motivating people to participate in the active practices of desirable oral health behaviors, which will lead to the prevention of oral diseases and the subsequent improvement in the QOL.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.95-107
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• 2010

Hand-washing is one of the major factors in personal hygiene and public health. This study was undertaken to investigate the hygienic behavior of food-service employees, focusing on awareness of hand washing, hand washing practices, and the load of index microorganisms (aerobic plate count, total and fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus) on the hands of food-service employees. A questionnaire survey completed by direct interview, direct observation of restrooms by the researcher and trained observers, and microbiological examination according to the Food Code of Korea were carried out. In the survey, a positive attitude toward hand washing compliance was reported; however, improper hand washing and poor hand hygiene of the food-service employees were seen under direct observation. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found between the questionnaire survey and the direct observations in hand washing compliance after using the toilet, duration of hand washing, use of hand washing agents, use of hand washing tools, washing of different parts of the hands, hand-drying method, temperature of water, and method of turning off the water. Samples taken from employees' hands before washing showed higher levels of bacteria than those taken during work and/or after washing (p<0.05). Poor hand washing practices were indicated by the positive results for total and fecal coliforms, E. coli, and S. aureus on the hands of some food-service employees. This study showed that there is a marked difference between the food-service employees' awareness of hand-washing and their actual hand-washing practices. The poor hand hygiene of and improper hand washing by the food-service employees should be addressed for improved food safety.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.469-476
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• 2000

Objectives : To analyze differences in health behaviors among the social strata in Korea by using the 1995 National Health and Health Behavior Survey Data. Methods : Study Participants numbered 2,352 men and 1,016 women aged between 15-64 years old, with housewives, students and non-waged family workers excluded. Health behaviors in this study were defined according to the recommendations of the Alameda 7 study. The measure of health behaviors was based on the Health Practices Index(HPI; 0-5 range, with the exclusion of snacking between meals and regularly eating breakfast) developed by the Alameda County research. The significance of the relationship between social strata and HPI was assessed by considering the adjusted means from the multi-variate model. Results : For men, incidence rates of never having smoked, no/moderate use of alcohol, regular exercise, and regular 7-8 hours sleep per night were higher in the upper social strate. Meanwhile, for women, incidence rates of never having smoked, no/moderate use of alcohol, appropriate weight, regular exercise, and regular 7-8 hours sleep per night were higher in the upper strata. HPI varied significantly among social strata in both sexes (p<0.001), a result which held true when adjusted for age, education, income, social insurance type, marital status and region. Conclusions : Health behaviors assessed by Health Practices Index(HPI) varied significantly among social strata for both sexes. Therefore, the existing gap in health behaviors among social strata can be corrected more effectively by target oriented health promotional activities.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.222-228
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• 2010

Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the infants. The benefits of breastfeeding practices to infants and mothers are well documented. However, information on breastfeeding practices and its effect on body mass index (BMI) of mothers are scarce, particularly in Ekiti State of Nigeria. Therefore, the present study is designed to assess breastfeeding practices and its association with BMI of mothers. A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted among breastfeeding mothers that attended postnatal clinic of the state specialist hospitals and maternity centers in the study location. The specialist hospital and two-third of the nine maternity centers were purposively selected because of their health facilities and personnel. The mother-child pairs (200 respondents) were randomly selected from the study locations. Information on demographic characteristic, socio-economic parameters, nutritional knowledge of breastfeeding and dietary intakes of mothers were collected using questionnaires. BMI of mothers was determined as described by World Health Organization. Age distribution of mothers was between 25-34 years; and almost half of respondents had good educational background and were engaged in different occupations. The respondent monthly income ranged between = N = 3500 - 26000 ($26.92 - $200); and their dietary intakes varied between starchy and protein-based food. The result also showed that the respondent consumed enough nutrients to meet up the recommended daily allowance for protein, carbohydrate, fat, zinc, magnesium, sodium and phosphorous requirements. The BMI classifications showed that over three-fifth of respondents were normal, while the remaining were underweight (6%) and overweight/obese (26.5%). Also, large proportion of respondents engaged in exclusive breastfeeding and with good knowledge of breastfeeding practices. Statistically, exclusive breastfeeding practices had no correlation between the BMI and frequency of breastfeeding. The study, therefore, concluded that mothers had good knowledge of breastfeeding practice; and that there was no association between breastfeeding practices and BMI.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.254-266
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• 2013

Purpose: This study examined the characteristics of in-home injuries of children in low-income families and sought to identify the factors affecting parental in-home injury prevention practices. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was applied, using questionnaires on in-home injury characteristics in children, parental in-home injury prevention practices, parental perceptions and knowledge on childhood injuries, and the Parental Stress Index. We queried 169 parents of children less than 5years of age who were enrolled in Nutrition Plus Projects at community health centers. Results: Overall, 92.7% of children had experienced in-home injuries, with sliding crashes and bumping injuries as the most frequent type of injury. The recovery rate with a scar after injury was 26.3%. Parental practices for in-home injury prevention were higher according parental age, educational status, and previous learning experiences regarding in-home safety and injury prevention. The two most significant factors affecting parental in-home injury prevention practices were age and parental perception of childhood injuries as being controllable and preventable. Conclusions: Considering the high risk of in-home childhood injuries in low-income families, safety education and the promotion of injury prevention practices for parents are recommended. The strategy to enhance the parental perception on preventing childhood injuries needs to be addressed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.225-235
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to examine the association between regular exercise habit, self-rated health status, health practice index, and health promotion lifestyle profile among 241 college male students from Gyeonggi-do. Subjects were divided into two groups: students majoring in physical education(PE) and students who are not majoring in PE. The average BMI were $22.77{\pm}2.74$ among PE majors and $21.57{\pm}4.30$ among the other group. PE majors showed higher results in all of physiological, subjective and social health conditions. Both groups showed low scores in health practice index, which were $2.86{\pm}1.10$ among PE majors and $2.97{\pm}1.46$ among non-PE majors, showing no difference in statistical significance. Index for health promoting lifestyle practices were somewhat higher among PE majors; however, there were no statistical significance with the results of $123.38{\pm}19.93$ among PE majors and $119.98{\pm}22.04$ among non-PE majors. The analysis on the index for health promoting lifestyle practices in sub-categories showed that PE majors showed significantly higher scores compared with non-PE majors in physical activities area and vice versa in nutrition area.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.269-289
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• 1999

This study was conducted to examine the relationship among health concern, health practice and ADL of elderly staying at home in a rural community and their affecting factors. Data were collected through direct interviews made with 480 old people aged more than sixty-five from November 15, 1998 to December 20, 1998. Out of 189 male and 291 female, the high-level group that showed high health concern accounted for 44.4%, the medium-level group for 13.1%, and the low-level group for 42.5%, in the health practice, the high-level group accounted for 3.8%, the medium-level group for 18.8%, and the low-level group for 77.5%. In the self-rated health status, the high-level group accounted for 29.0%, the medium-level group for 31.0%, and the low-level group for 40.0%, and in the ADL, the high ADL group accounted for 91.5%, and the low-level ADL group for 8.5%. The result of the chi-square test showed that for male, there was a significant relation between the health concern and the health practice index score. In the relation between the health practice index score and the self-rated health status, there was significant positive relationship between health practice index and self-rated health status, and in the relation between the health practice Index score and the ADL, old people with higher health practices showed good ADL(but not significant). Old people with good ADL also showed good self-rated health status. In the multiple regression analysis where the health practice was used as a dependent variable, the health concern was added to the sociodemographic variables as an independent variables, a formula was formed for male old people only and ones with high concern in health showed good health practice. In the multiple logistic regression analysis where the sociodemographic variables to which the health practices was added were used as an independent variable and the ADL as a dependent variable, the ADL appeared to be not good if for male old people the living costs were born by their sons and daughters and as for female old people their ages increased, but it was good if old people had sources of health information such as hospitals or health centers. The self-rated health status was worse, for male old people, if they had short living costs or diseases and for female old people, if they had spouses, living costs born by their sons and daughters or diseases, but it was better, for male old people, if they had periodical gatherings or carried out health practices a lot, and for female old people, if they had sources of health information such as hospitals or health centers or carried out health practices a lot. In view of the results stated above, the higher the old people had health concern, the more they carried out health practices, and the more they carried out health practices, the better they had ADL and self-rated health status that served as the level of health. Further, the better ADL, the better self-rated health status.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was to investigate how body-shape perception could influence to weight control practice both in normal and obese group. Methods: We used 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to analysis 1) weight control practices of population; 2) consistency between body-shape perception and body mass index; 3) comparison weight control practices between normal group and body mass index (BMI) obese group in perceptional obese group; 4) odds ratio of BMI obese group using herbal drugs for weight control practice in perceptional obese group. Results: We found that study population tends to choose exercise, dietary restriction, meal skip, health functional food, one-food, drug, herbal drug, fasting and self-medication in order of frequency to control weight. The agreement between body-shape perception and BMI within obese group was approximately 64% with 0.40 of Cohen's Kappa coefficient, ranging from 0.384 to 0.423. Within perceptional obese group, choosing each weight control practice methods ratios between normal BMI group and obese BMI group were not significantly different. Within perceptional obese group, obese BMI group showed significant odds ratio (2.58, 95% confidence intervals, 1.38~4.85) than normal BMI group in choosing herbal medication for weight loss when adjusting other variables. Conclusions: We concluded that body-shape perception might be an important factor for choosing weight control program, and roles of Korean medical doctors thought to be enhanced for using herbal medication for weight loss.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.41-53
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• 2020

Purpose: This study tests the validity of a standard evaluation tool of ambulance ride practices with new evaluation items and supports its application by 119 preceptors. Methods: We tested the validity of standard evaluation items collected from 19 on-site professionals assessing ambulance ride practices. New evaluation items, 'understanding of emergency rescue equipment' and 'ability to communicate', were added as additional criteria. The modified Delphi technique was used to test the three evaluation areas and ten evaluation items. We used the analytic hierarchy process to analyze the weighting value of the reconstructed evaluation tool model. Results: All three evaluation areas and 10 evaluation items within the standard evaluation tools used for ambulance ride practices corresponded with the consistency index, degree of convergence, and agreement in the modified Delphi panel. Conclusion: These results provide evidence of the consistency and usefulness behind preceptors' use of this standard evaluation tool in ambulance ride practice.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.187-205
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among the health concern, health practice and health status of Koreans. This study utilized the data from Korean National Health Survey (KNHS) in 1992. The data consisted of random sample of 2,799 individuals (1,304 male and 1,495 females) whose ages were between 20 and 59. The data were analyzed using SAS version 6.04 and LISREL version 7.13. The analytic methods for the study were chi-square analysis and covariance structural analysis. The results of the study were as follows. (1) There were significant positive relationships between health concern level and health practice index, and between health practice index and self-perceived health status. (2) There were negative relationships between practice index and chronic illness, and between health practice index and acute illness only in female. (3) Based on the findings, the structural model of the health concern, health practice, health status and socioeconomic variables was established and then the covariance structural analysis was used. The higher educational level and economic status were, the higher the health concern was. And urban residents were much more concerned with their health than rural residents. The more persons were concerned with health, the more they did health practices. And the more the health practice was, the higher the health status was. The younger the persons were and the higher the health status of one's family was, the higher the health status was. In female, the higher the economic status was, the higher the health status was.