• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.369-393
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• 2010

This study examines the factors influencing Korean international adoptee's search for their birthparents. Considering that the search for birthparents is general needs for adoptees, Korean government should support their searching activities and, first of all, understand their characteristics. The research model was constructed based on the results of previous studies, and the data set of conducted by ministry of health and welfare was reanalyzed for this study. The subjects of the survey were Korean-born adoptees (who are more than 16 years old) in North America, Europe, and Australia. The research questionnaire was translated to English and French, and the survey was conducted on line. A total of 290 questionnaires were included in the analysis. Since survey was conducted on line, the missing rate of the data was relatively high. So, multiply imputed five data sets were used for analysis. Among the variables included in research model, the age group of adoptees, experience of identity crisis in their life, the first time when they became actively interested in Korean roots, the age at the time of adoption, and the attitudes of adoptive parents toward their search were significantly related to their search for birthparents. Adoptees in the age group of 30~34 had more actively participated in search compared to their reference group (which is the age group of more than 35 years old). The earlier they became actively interested in Korean roots, they tended to be more active in searching activities. Also, the experience of identity crisis in life and the age at the time of adoption were positively related to their search. Although most of adoptive parents have supported their search, the adoptees who reported that they didn't know their adoptive parents' attitude toward search, or their parents deceased had more actively participated in search for their birthparents. Some implications for adoption policy and practice were discussed based on the results of the study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2293-2303
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• 2013

Objective: This study aims to determine whether national patient safety indicators (PSIs) can be calculated. Methods: Using PSI criteria from Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Health Technical Papers 19 based on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), PSIs were identified in the Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey (KNHDIIS) database for 875,622 inpatient admissions between 2004 and 2008. Logistic regression was used to estimate factors of variations for PSIs. Results: From 2004 to 2008, 3,084 PSI events of 8 PSIs occurred for over 80 thousands discharges. Rates per 1,000 events for decubitus ulcer (PSI3, 4.88), foreign body left during procedure (PSI5, 0.05), postoperative sepsis (PSI13, 1.32), birth trauma-injury to neonate (PSI17, 7.92) and obstetric trauma-vaginal delivery (PSI18, 32.81) are all identified between ranges from maximum to minimum of OECD rates, respectively. However, rates per 1,000 events for selected infections due to medical care (PSI7, 0.22), postoperative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis (PSI12, 0.90) and accidental puncture or laceration (PSI15, 0.71) are below the minimum of OECD range. 7 PSIs except PSI 18 showed statistically significant relationship with number of secondary diagnoses. When adjusting patient characteristics, there are statistically significant different rates according to bed size or location of hospitals. Conclusion: This is the first empirical study to identify nationally number of adverse events and PSIs using administrative database. While many factors influencing these results such as quality of data, clinical data and so on are remain, the results indicate opportunities for estimate national statistics for patient safety. Furthermore outcome research such as mortality related to adverse events is needed based on results of this study.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2007

Objectives : Considering the impact of depressive illness on physical and mental health of both mother and fetus, specification of a treatment algorithm for depressive disorder during pregnancy is legitimated. This article provides a systemic review of treatments for depressive disorder during pregnancy and lactation. Methods : According to the search strategy of the Clinical Research Center for Depression of Korean Health 21 R & D Project, PubMed and EMBASE were searched using terms with regard to the treatment of depressive disorders during pregnancy and lactation. Reference lists of related reviews and studies were searched. In addition, relevant practice guidelines were searched using the PubMed. All identified clinical literatures were reviewed and summarized in a narrative manner. Results : Pharmacotherapy during pregnancy and lactation requires a comprehensive assessment of the risks and benefits of treatment for both mother and fetus or neonate. Recently, there is growing evidence that the use of tricyclic and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during pregnancy and lactation does not result in increased risks of teratogenicity. Treatment strategies are described according to the point of time of pregnancy or lactation. FDA categories for antidepressants during pregnancy and lactation are described. In addition, issues regarding to the electroconvulsive therapy and psychosocial treatment are discussed. Conclusion : The treatment option for depressive disorders during pregnancy and lactation depends on the severity of depressive illnesses of the individual patient. For mild to moderate depression, the non-pharmacological treatment should be considered first. For moderate to severe depression, pharmacotherapy should be administered in addition to the psychosocial treatment. ECT is recommended for depressive disorder of severe intensity. As the research knowledge is limited, the recommendations should based on the best judgement of psychiatrists.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.6
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• pp.17-34
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to examine the sex-consciousness and sexual values of school children by geographic region. It's specifically attempted to make a comparative analysis of sex-consciousness and sexual values between urban and rural elementary schoolers to help provide efficient sex education for them to build the right sexual values. The subjects in this study were 400 elementary schoolers in their sixth year of elementary schools located in Danyang-gun and Chungju city, north Chungcheong province. After a survey was conducted, answer sheets from 387 students that were analyzable were analyzed. For data handling, SPSS program was employed, and t-test was utilized to see if there's any differences between the urban and rural elementary school youngsters in sex consciousness and sexual values. And $x^2$ test was used to make a comparative analysis of their view of sex education. The findings of the study were as follows : First, regarding sex-consciousness, they had general knowledge on sex. Especially, they were highly aware of sexual violence and the generation of baby, but many of them didn't know about where and how egg cells were produced. This indicated that systematic education should be offered in various ways. Concerning geographic gap, there was a significant difference in sexual knowledge between the urban and rural students. As to sexual attitude, they took a relatively positive attitude toward display of affection or sex-related talk on TV or in movies, as they viewed it as natural. This finding implied that the elementary schoolers were recipient toward sex and took an active attitude toward sexual expressions. Concerning geographic gap, there was no difference between the rural and urban students. As for sexual practices, the largest group of the students had a liking for the opposite sex, which showed that their needs for sex were unveiled in the course of having some trouble due to the other sex rather than through firsthand experiences or activities. As to geographic gap, there was a significant difference between the urban and rural students in that regard. Besides, the urban students put their sex-consciousness in practice more often than the rural students did. After they are educated to build the right sexual values, systematic sex-education programs should also be offered for them to be exposed to sustained sex education and to team how to apply their sex-consciousness to real life. Second, as for sexual values, the school children had relatively positive and equalitarian sexual values. Regarding geographic gap, there were significant gaps between the two groups' view of the opposite sex, sexual roles and chastity. Concerning view of the opposite sex, they attached more importance to the inner aspects of the opposite sex than his or her look, and they wanted to date in a natural manner. Regarding sexual roles, they were relatively well cognizant of gender equity and the importance of male and female roles. As to view of chastity, they looked upon sex as natural, not as what's ugly or ashamed of. Third, concerning their outlook on sex education, approximately more than half the students felt the needs for sex education, and there was a significant difference between the urban and rural students. They wanted to receive education about the prevention of sexual violence and physical changes during puberty the most, and there was a significant gap between the urban and rural students in this aspect. As to the time for sex education, they thought that students should start to be exposed to sex education in their fifth or sixth year. This finding signified that fifth or sixth graders who were in the beginning of puberty started to have a lot of interest in their own physical changes. Therefore, sex education would produce better effects when it's provided to fifth or sixth graders. Nearly half them preferred single-gender class when they received sex education, and there's no gap between the urban and rural students in that regard.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.81-119
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• 2022

Medical device market is strongly related with health care market. Public regulation in medical device market tends to be more lenient than health care market. In this market, competition law, administrative law and intellectual property law are intertwined, and thereby a variety of legal issues could be developed. Recently, dominant undertaking's abuse case was dealt with KFTC(Korea Fair Trade Commission) and Seoul High Court. The issues were whether dominant undertaking discriminated trading partners and this discrimination was anticompetitive. In this case, Seoul High Court revoked the KFTC's decision, holding that the undertaking did not harm competition, though it has dominant power in the relevant medical device market. This decision would be a meaningful precedent, not only that there have been small numbers of dominance abuse cases in Korea, but also that this case happened in medical device market. This case dealt with various issues like market definition, market power, alleged abuse and its anticompetitive effect. The court held that medical device markets are distinguished from medical device repairing market. However, the court did not clarify that medical device repairing market is a single branded market only for repairing the plaintiff's medical devices. Second, plaintiff's dominance is based on the lock-in effect, which means that hospitals could not switch devices like CT or MRI from plaintiff to other competitors. This could be supplemented from the fact that medical devices are expensive and the using period are significantly long. However market definition based on single branded market theory could be applied in rare and exceptional cases. Therefore the general application of single branded market theory might result in overestimate of market power. This type of abuse pattern requires improper condition contrary to resonable trade practice. KFTC asserted free charge for plaintiff's copy right. However, it is not clear whether the cases for free charge are general or not. Even if so, the intention and motive of providers for free charge should be proved. The main issue of anticompetitive effect was whether plaintiff raised rival's cost. Competitor's cost was increased due to plaintiff's copy right and its license fee. However the charge for license could be within the scope of fair and legal exercise of copy right. If competitors are excluded due to legal exercise of copy right or efficiency, the exclusionary abuse could not be proved.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2023

Background: The elderly population aged 65 or older in Korea is expected to continue to increase to 18.4% in 2023, and to enter a super-aged society at 20.6% in 2025. In clinical practice, the elderly discrimination of dental hygienists may experience difficulties during dental hygiene treatment due to an increase in the number of elderly patients due to aging, which can lead to maladjustment to work and turnover, so education on the understanding of the elderly is essential for students in the Department of Dentistry, who are prospective dental hygienists. Accordingly, a study was conducted to prepare for a super-aged society by studying the relationship between elderly discrimination and the knowledge and attitudes of the elderly, and to change the curriculum of universities and develop programs related to the elderly. Method: 204 students enrolled in the Department of Dentistry in D area were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 25.0 program. The subject's geriatric discrimination, knowledge about the elderly, and attitude toward the elderly were calculated as the mean and standard deviation. T-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to verify the difference in geriatric discrimination according to the general characteristics of the subject, with a Scheffe' test applied for post-hoc analysis. Correlation analysis was conducted on the subject's geriatric discrimination, knowledge about the elderly, and attitudes toward the elderly. Results: Geriatrics scored 2.03±0.36 out of 4. Knowledge about the elderly was categorized as follows: physical domain 0.57±0.15; social domain 0.36±0.17; and psychological domain 0.35±0.20. The attitude toward the elderly was 3.86±0.27. Knowledge of the elderly averaged 11.27±3.30 points out of 25. The question with the highest percentage of correct answers to knowledge about the elderly was 'physical strength tends to decrease with age', which was 93.1%. The attitude toward the elderly according to the general characteristics of the study subjects showed significant differences in gender (p=0.040), age (p=0.026), and life experience with grandparents (p=0.001). The elderly discrimination of the study subjects showed a negative correlation in both attitude and knowledge toward the elderly, and among the elderly discrimination, there was a high positive correlation with regard to emotional avoidance (r=.892, p<0.001). Conclusion: College students are the leading players in caring for the elderly and are directly affected by aging social problems. Therefore, it is considered necessary to apply various programs in the state, society, and educational institutions to avoid negative prejudices that lead to positive thinking and discrimination against the elderly.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.447-458
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted among 235 children aged 3 up to 11 yrs to examine the relationship between subjects' eating behaviors and obesity. Methods: The subjects were divided into three age groups: preschoolers aged 3 to 5 yrs, early elementary school students aged 6 to 8 yrs, and late elementary school students aged 9 to 11 yrs. As a tool for eating behaviors, the recently developed nutrition quotient (NQ) questionnaire was utilized. By age group, scores were gathered and calculated in the five factors, "Balance", "Diversity", "Moderation", "Regularity", and "Practice", which make up the NQ scores. Results: The NQ scores among those aged 3 to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 to 11 yrs did not exhibit any significant differences. Among the scores for the five factors of the NQ, the Diversity scores of those aged 9 to 11 yrs were significantly higher than the scores of those aged 3 to 5 and those aged 6 to 8 yrs. The scores of those aged 3 to 5 and those aged 6 to 8 yrs were higher than the scores of those aged 9 to 11 yrs in Moderation and Regularity. When the subjects were divided into loww-eight/normal and overweight/obese groups, among those aged 6 to 8 yrs, the NQ scores, Moderation, Regularity, and Practice scores were higher in the overweight/obese group than those in the low-weight/normal group. Among those aged 9 to 11 yrs, the overweight/obese group scored higher than the low-weight/normal group only in the Moderation component. Conclusion: From the results, to prevent obesity in elementary school students, it is practical to focus on training related to eating behavior items included in the Moderation component. Furthermore, personalized instructions on eating behaviors and nutritional education based on age are necessary to prevent obesity in children.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 2012

This study was conducted on 4th and 5th grade elementary school students in Daegu, Korea for the purpose of promoting health and proper dietary habits. A children food safety education program was developed and its effects evaluated on 4th and 5th graders (3,932 students for 4th year, 4,438 students for 5th year) at 46 elementary schools, which were under the jurisdiction of the four educational bureaus of Daegu city. Education was conducted in accordance with an education design plan, of which there were two goals, including know the contents of 'special act on children's dietary life safety management' and 'practice proper hand-washing'. 'Special act on children's dietary life safety management' was explained, and the education curriculum included proper hand-washing for prevention of food poisoning, quality certification mark on children's favorite foods, harmful foods such as unsanitary and adulterated foods, and green food zone. Flash songs, PowerPoint, 'glitter burger' notice note, and banner were used as education media. It was found that the awareness level of items related to 'special act on children's dietary life safety management' increased significantly after education (p<0.001). 'Necessity of nutrition education and children's food safety' also increased significantly (p<0.05) after education. Lastly, children answered that they washed their hands more often after education (62.9%) than before (60.7%).

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2013

Objectives There are only a limited number of studies on instruments assessing fatigue in university students, although fatigue exerts negative influences on their health and academic performances and fatigue-related complaints are more frequently reported in young adults than middle-aged adults. The aim of this study was to validate the 9-item Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) among university students including both undergraduate and graduate students in South Korea. Methods A total of 176 university students completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including the FSS, the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 version 2 (MOS-SF36v2), and the Inclusion of Community in the Self Scale (ICS). The data were collected from February of 2012 to June of 2012. The reliability, convergent validity, divergent validity, and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to assess psychometric properties of the FSS. Results The mean FSS score was 3.20 (standard deviation = 1.43). The FSS demonstrated an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ = 0.93) and item-total correlations ranged from 0.56 to 0.90. Correlations of the FSS with the BFI (r = 0.71, p < 0.01), BDI-II (r = 0.54, p < 0.01), BAI (r = 0.46, p < 0.01), MOS-SF36v2 physical component summary (r = -0.28, p < 0.01), MOS-SF36v2 mental component summary (r = -0.55, p < 0.01), and ICS (Spearman's rho = -0.07, p = 0.33) showed acceptable convergent and divergent validity. Exploratory factor analysis defined one underlying factor (eigenvalue = 5.67) that explained 93.50% of the total variance. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate reliability and validity of the FSS in university students. The FSS exhibits good psychometric properties for evaluation of fatigue among university students in South Korea. Since the FSS is easy to administer, score, and interpret, it could be a useful tool in research and practice for assessing fatigue among university students.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.421-426
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge of dental hygiene students of the quality assurance of dental radiation such quality assurance and related educational experiences in an effort to accelerate the preparation of a curriculum for systematic quality-assurance. The subjects in this study were 453 dental hygiene students who participated in dental radiography courses. Varied statistical analyses such as frequency analyses, reliability, chi-square, and independent samples t-tests were conducted on the data collected, using SPSS 12.0. Scheffe test was also used after one-way ANOVA as post-hoc tests. Results showed that (a) the students' acknowledge level of Radiographic Quality Assurance was $7.71{\pm}1.7$ out of 12 on average. The more theory and practical classes students took, the higher points they got (p<0.001); (b) Most of the students experienced 1-3 lessons out of 13 in practical training and 26.3% of students did not take any practical lesson. ;(c)Students who did not take any practical training got 7.20 points out of 13, students who took 1-3 lessons got 7.84 points out of 13, students who took 4-5 lessons got 7.87 points out of 13, and students who took more than 6 lessons got 8.14 points out of 13 on average. The more practical classes they took the higher acknowledge level they were. Therefore it needs to provide adequate practical lessons to them.