• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.83-94
• /
• 2013

This study with emphasis on protecting human rights of people with mental disorder investigated human rights awareness among mental health workers and identify factors affecting their awareness. Questionnaires were sent out to employees working in mental health facilities in all parts of the country and of those 1094 were used to analyze. According to the analysis, employees' human rights awareness was ranked highest in the areas of occupational therapy and lowest in the areas of admission and discharge. Those who are women, aged between 30 and 40, highly educated, with long tenure, employed as social workers and working at rehabilitation programs presented high awareness of human rights so did employees with license in mental health and training experience in human rights. The result also presented negative correlation between employees' human rights awareness and their prejudice against people with mental disorder. Through this study, guidelines will be set up to help employees acknowledge the importance of human rights awareness and raise their awareness to promote and practice human rights of people with mental disorder.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.311-324
• /
• 2023

Background: Long-term care insurance for the elderly has been stably established along with the quantitative expansion of long-term care facilities. Indeed, the need for a paradigm about human rights-based service approach is being raised throughout society from a service perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the association between elderly human rights awareness and quality of service by considering human rights education as a moderate variable. Methods: This study conducted surveys with 138 caregivers working in long-term care facilities located in Seoul and Gangwon. General characteristics, awareness of human rights, and the level of service quality were examined using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, and correlation analysis. And multi-variable linear regression with a hierarchical framework was employed. These analyses were performed using IBM SPSS ver. 25.0. Results: Of the 138 caregivers, 97.1% were female, 87.7% were more than 50 years old, and most of their education level was high-school graduates. Their length of employment ranged from more than 5 years to less than 10 years. The level of awareness regarding elderly human rights of the elderly was below normal (mean=2.21), but the quality of service was high (mean=4.21), and the need for human rights education was also high (mean=4.28). Among the general characteristics, the length of employment was significantly associated with awareness of elderly human rights. Moreover, political rights awareness, included as sub-domains of human rights, was positively associated with quality of service. However, the moderating variable, human rights education, was not significantly associated with the quality of service. Conclusion: In this study, human rights education, as a moderating variable, did not have a statistically significant effect on caregivers' human rights awareness in relation to service quality. This finding is inconsistent with previous research results. These results can be explained by the fact that the frequency of education in long-term care facilities was a significant factor in the practice of protecting the human rights of the elderly. Therefore ongoing encouragement for the frequency of current human rights education and improvements in the educational approach appear to be necessary. In addition, these findings reveal the need for strength of education policies and effective in-depth research about human rights and quality of service to respect the human rights of the elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.370-375
• /
• 2023

The responsibility to ensure the health rights of detainees, particularly their medical rights, fundamentally lies with the state in all nations. However, in the correctional facilities of the Republic of Korea, these rights are currently not adequately safeguarded. Numerous detainees express dissatisfaction with the medical services provided and show a preference for voluntary external treatment. However, barriers such as prolonged application processes for external treatment and the requirement for detainees to cover their medical expenses present significant challenges. Therefore, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has advocated for an increased medical budget in correctional facilities and a bolstered professional medical workforce to improve the medical care of detainees. Recommendations for improvements include: (1) establishing dedicated correctional hospitals for detainees, (2) setting up specialized correctional wards, (3) collaborating with military hospitals, (4) launching mobile medical buses for diverse specialties, (5) enhancing collaboration with public and private medical institutions, (6) increasing compensation for partnering external medical institutions, (7) improving the working conditions of medical officers, (8) safeguarding the defense rights of medical staff, (9) improving the working conditions of public health doctors from the Ministry of Justice in correctional facilities, and (10) pre-assigning public health specialists and military doctors to correctional facilities. By implementing these measures, it is anticipated that the quality of medical services in the Republic of Korea's correctional facilities will improve, reducing the demand for external treatments among detainees and ensuring their health and medical rights are realistically upheld.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.3-17
• /
• 2017

In the traditional medical field, the patient was a person to receive protection from the doctor because there are vertical relationship between the patient and the doctor. But in modern medical field, patients change their role to health-care consumer to be guaranteed their rights more actively. This study compare patient's rights in doctor's vocational ethics and patient's rights in law, consumer rights. This study analyzes what is type of law-relationship between patients and doctor and how can they act health-care as health-care consumer.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.5-15
• /
• 2020

Purpose: To identify the relationship between care worker's awareness of human rights and the compliance of caring behaviors among long-term care workers, and to identify factors affecting compliance with caring behaviors. Methods: Using self-report questionnaires, data were collected from 153 long-term care workers between October 4th and October 20th, 2019. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 26.0 program. Results: The data indicate a difference in awareness of human rights according to: the careers of care workers, the possession of other health care-related licenses, and the perceived needs of human rights education. The data also indicate a difference in the compliance of caring behaviors according to: gender, family care experience, and dementia care experience. The factors influencing compliance of caring behaviors, according to the study, are gender (β=.19, p=.009), family care experience (β=.19, p=.023), and human rights (β=.38, p<.001). It was found that 23% could explain the compliance of caring behaviors. Conclusion: Long term care workers were found to have a higher level of the compliance of caring behaviors as their awareness of human rights increased. In order to increase the compliance of caring behaviors among long-term care workers, more educational programs on human rights should be provided.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.115-132
• /
• 2023

This study aimed to propose application directions for South Korea's digital health policy by conducting a literature review, data analysis, and examining foreign cases. The objective was to enhance the healthcare rights of individuals with disabilities, considering the potential expansion of the digital health policy. The findings indicate that digital health holds significant promise in improving mobility and accessibility for the healthcare rights of disabled individuals in Korea. However, addressing the digital gap is crucial for achieving smooth utilization. To ensure seamless use of the digital health system, it is imperative to attain digital inclusion, encompassing digital technology, connectivity, and accessibility. Additionally, establishing governance for digital health and expanding infrastructure for affordable access to high-quality internet are essential. Despite the study's limitations arising from relying on literature research, it is anticipated that the findings can serve as foundational data for preemptive responses and provide insights into the direction of the government's digital health policy to enhance the healthcare rights of individuals with disabilities.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.330-333
• /
• 2022

Korea's quarantine response to the novel coronavirus (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) pandemic is based on the sacrifice of health professionals, especially public health doctors (PHDs) who were called out first and put in the first place in the country. PHDs performed major quarantine tasks, such as collecting samples from screening clinics and epidemiological investigations, in various parts of the country, including the Daegu area, where the first large-scale COVID-19 confirmed cases in Korea and explosively increased. Because of their position as fixed-term civil servants, however, PHDs' professionalism as doctors was ignored, and they were not properly compensated for their work. They were also exposed to problems such as a high risk of infection, mental suffering, and various human rights violations. We must prepare concrete measures to improve the fundamental treatment of PHDs and protect their human rights in order to prepare for a possible infectious disease pandemic in the future.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.11 no.11
• /
• pp.455-462
• /
• 2013

This study was to examine the recognition and guarantee for psychiatric patients' rights of mental health care workers. The participants of this study were 231 mental health care workers from 10 mental health care institutions located in J city, Korea. Data was collected using questionnaires consisting of one instrument measuring participants' recognition and guarantee for psychiatric patients' rights, and participants' characteristics. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA with SPSS 12.0. The results of this study showed the mental healthcare workers' recognition and guarantee were significantly different in every subscales. Besides, the difference between recognition and guarantee toward psychiatric patients' rights was significantly associated with participants' occupations. Based on the findings, guiding where nursing education efforts should be focused to help putting in place the psychiatric patients' rights.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.339-344
• /
• 2008

Objectives : The objective of this paper is to discuss the importance of obtaining informed consent for conducting epidemiological studies and public health activities, based on the Report of the UNESCO's Working Group on Informed Consent. Methods : The Report of the UNESCO's Working Group on Informed Consent was reviewed and discussed in connection with the ethical considerations of public health activities and epidemiological research. Results : It was at the Nuremberg Trial for the German war criminals of the Second World War that the principle of 'consent' was first stated as a consequence of the medical abuses carried out during the War. As a result of the Trial, the Nuremberg Code came out in 1947. Since then, various international declarations or ethical principles on 'informed consent' have been developed and published. These ethical principles on 'informed consent' have mostly to do with the clinical research that involves human subjects, and not with epidemiological studies and public health activities. However, UNESCO recently issued a comprehensive Report on Informed Consent based on the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights adopted in 2005, and this included detailed guidelines on informed consent in epidemiological studies and public health activities. Conclusions : Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights emphasizes the principle of autonomy to protect the human rights of the human subjects involved in any public health activities and epidemiological research. As a practical guideline, obtaining informed consent is strongly recommended.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.16-23
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a program for rights advocacy on the level of human rights perception and self-esteem for those who are mentally ill. Methods: A quasi-experimental study using a nonequivalent control group pre-post test design was used. The data were collected from January 20 to March. 17, 2010. Forty one (23 in the experimental group and 19 in the control group) individuals participated in this study. The program was developed based on the education program for human rights developed by the Gyeonggi-do community mental health center in 2009. The program consisted of 8 sessions lasting 8 weeks. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the demographic variables or the outcome variables between the two groups before the intervention. The level of human rights perception and self-esteem increased after the program in the experimental group but not significantly (t=1.87, p=.07; t=0.88, p=.384). Conclusion: Despite the fact that the program was not effective in increasing the level of human rights perception and self-esteem, the study was timely in that it suggests directions for those who develop rights advocacy programs for the mentally ill.