• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.98-107
• /
• 2013

Purpose: This study was done to identify the relationship of malnutrition, social network and health-related quality of life and to investigate the main factors influencing health-related quality of life in elders. Methods: The research design was a descriptive survey design using a convenience sampling. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires from 196 elders. Data analysis was done using SPSS 18.0 pc+ program for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The average score for health related quality of life was 3.33 (SD=0.86). Differences in health-related quality of life were statistically significant according to age, gender, occupation, presence of spouse, monthly income, source of income, economic status, medicine, and existence of chronic disease. Health-related quality of life was significantly correlated with malnutrition and social network. Major factors affecting health related quality of life for elders were malnutrition, occupation, age, social network, and economic status which explained 52.0% of the variance in health related quality of life. Conclusion: Findings provide a basis for developing nursing interventions to improve health-related quality of life. Future studies are needed a wide variety of variables that might influence health -related quality of life in elders.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.336-345
• /
• 2013

Objectives: Research has shown that obesity appears to spread through social ties. However, the association between other characteristics of social networks and obesity is unclear. This study aimed to identify the association between social network characteristics and body mass index (BMI, $kg/m^2$) in an elderly Korean population. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 657 Koreans (273 men, 384 women) aged 60 years or older who participated in the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Network size is a count of the number of friends. Density of communication network is the number of connections in the social network reported as a fraction of the total links possible in the personal (ego-centric) network. Average frequency of communication (or meeting) measures how often network members communicate (or meet) each other. The association of each social network measure with BMI was investigated by multiple linear regression analysis. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, the men with lower density (<0.71) and higher network size (4-6) had the higher BMI (${\beta}$=1.089, p=0.037) compared to the men with higher density (>0.83) and lower size (1-2), but not in the women (p=0.393). The lowest tertile of communication frequency was associated with higher BMI in the women (${\beta}$=0.885, p=0.049), but not in the men (p=0.140). Conclusions: Our study suggests that social network structure (network size and density) and activation (communication frequency and meeting frequency) are associated with obesity among the elderly. There may also be gender differences in this association.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.173-193
• /
• 2005

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze the peer group factor related to adolescent smoking in the social structure(network) of adolescent groups, by applying the theory of social network. Methods: The data was collected from boy students of one high school located in Gun-Po city of Kyonggi Province. The total number of the sample was 605(223 first grade, 198 second grade, 184 third grade). The survey using the questionnaire was carried out in April 2005. Social position is finally classified as clique member, liaison, isolate group by using the NetMiner II 2.5 version. Results: The current smoking rate was 15.0%, and the life-time smoking rate was 34.9%. The smoking rate increased significantly, as the grade went up. And it was significantly high among the group having smoking friends. The logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio of the smoking friends group was about 4 times higher than the no smoking friends group in experience of smoking. But the smoking rate was higher significantly in the isolate group within the network composed of 2. person's social-link. The odds ratio of the isolate group was about 4.5 times higher than the clique member. However, this pattern was not found in the network composed of 3 person's social-link. Therefore, the hypothesis that clique member would have a correlation with smoking was rejected. In reality, the isolate group had a tendency of smoking more frequently. Conclusions: The result of this study suggests that the role of the peer group in smoking is to be considered in the prevention program. More attentions should be paid for the isolate group.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
• /
• v.20
• /
• pp.297-330
• /
• 1991

The work presents the theoretical background and methodology to network analysis. This approach to information network has been widespread use in many researches of social science. Theoretically based idea of structural analysis of information flow were reviewed and the major perspective and the practical aspects of the analysis were discussed. To show an approach of the methodology to library environment, HISP project which analyzed the network structure of a health information dissemination to a health community was demonstrated.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.56 no.1
• /
• pp.31-40
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study investigated the effect of cognitive impairment on the association between social network properties and mortality among older Korean adults. Methods: This study used data from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. It obtained 814 older adults' complete network maps across an entire village in 2011-2012. Participants' deaths until December 31, 2020 were confirmed by cause-of-death statistics. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the risks of poor social network properties (low degree centrality, perceived loneliness, social non-participation, group-level segregation, and lack of support) on mortality according to cognitive impairment. Results: In total, 675 participants (5510.4 person-years) were analyzed, excluding those with missing data and those whose deaths could not be verified. Along with cognitive impairment, all social network properties except loneliness were independently associated with mortality. When stratified by cognitive function, some variables indicating poor social relations had higher risks among older adults with cognitive impairment, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of 2.12 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34 to 3.35) for social nonparticipation, 1.58 (95% CI, 0.94 to 2.65) for group-level segregation, and 3.44 (95% CI, 1.55 to 7.60) for lack of support. On the contrary, these effects were not observed among those with normal cognition, with adjusted HRs of 0.73 (95% CI, 0.31 to 1.71), 0.96 (95% CI, 0.42 to 2.21), and 0.95 (95% CI, 0.23 to 3.96), respectively. Conclusions: The effect of social network properties was more critical among the elderly with cognitive impairment. Older adults with poor cognitive function are particularly encouraged to participate in social activities to reduce the risk of mortality.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.14 no.12
• /
• pp.764-774
• /
• 2014

The purpose of the study is that which has to do with changes that are inherent in life or mental health of the local population, which appears as a subjective aspect of social capital of local residents. To examine factors that affect the mental health of the residents of a social capital accumulation and changes, as described a positive relationship between social capital in several previous studies related to the quality of life of local residents. The results showed that affect the mental health is the only community consciousness in 2010, higher community consciousness and higher network capacity of 2011 residents, but higher mental health scores, lower mental health scores were greater participation in social participation. Also score high in the mental health component of the group of the high number of people in all social capital and more social capital were higher than residents in low mental health score group. The indirect effects on mental health of the residents of social capital accumulation and changes.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.199-214
• /
• 2004

This study was aimed to assess the social functions of rural residents and to identify factors related with social function. This study conducted a survey using interview-type questionnaires with the Rand social health battery, and measured social function and the related factors between August 21th and August 23th, at 2001. The study subjects were 546 people (158 males, 388 females) living in Chungju-City. The social functions of the subjects were very weak. 20.7 % of respondents said they had no family in their neighbors and they were not well enough acquainted with neighborhood to visit each other. The 24.2 % of respondents said they had no mend that they felt at ease with and could talk frankly. Social function scores were significantly associated with economic status (p＝0.0494), having a vehicle (p＝0.0019), daily living activity (p＝0.0092) in multiple analysis. However, there was no association with age, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, and chronic disease. Our finding showed that social function was not associated with health behaviors definitely. However, It may be important to change existing social network and social function in order to change health behaviors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.327-337
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Considering the importance of social determinants of health (SDHs) in promoting the health of residents of informal settlements and their diversity, abundance, and breadth, this study aimed to identify, measure, and rank SDHs for health promotion interventions targeting informal settlement residents in a metropolitan area in Iran. Methods: Using a hybrid method, this study was conducted in 3 phases from 2019 to 2020. SDHs were identified by reviewing studies and using the Delphi method. To examine the SDHs among informal settlement residents, a cross-sectional analysis was conducted using researcher-made questionnaires. Multilayer perceptron analysis using an artificial neural network was used to rank the SDHs by priority. Results: Of the 96 determinants identified in the first phase of the study, 43 were examined, and 15 were identified as high-priority SDHs for use in health-promotion interventions for informal settlement residents in the study area. They included individual health literacy, nutrition, occupational factors, housing-related factors, and access to public resources. Conclusions: Since identifying and addressing SDHs could improve health justice and mitigate the poor health status of settlement residents, ranking these determinants by priority using artificial intelligence will enable policymakers to improve the health of settlement residents through interventions targeting the most important SDHs.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.765-783
• /
• 2016

This study examines 2014 National Survey on Older Koreans (10,279 persons aged 65 or above) to understand social networks among older Koreans. In order to classify the types of social relationships, the latent profile analysis is conducted based on such structural aspects of social networks as network size, frequencies of contact, and closeness. The results show that older Koreans can be categorized into 5 distinct social network types: disengaged (11.6%), ritual-family-focused (17.7%), close-family-focused (23.6%), close-restricted (28,4%), and diverse (18.8%). Characteristics by each social network type are compared and multinominal logistic regression analyses are applied to figure out the influencing factors of social network type. Older persons with disengaged social network ties tend to be overwhelmingly female, living alone, old-old, and of low socioeconomic status. On the other hand, older persons with diverse social network ties tend to be young-old and had highly-ranked jobs in their mid-life. Spouse/children are the focal point of social relationships in both ritual-family-focused and close-restricted social network. However, the proportion of men is higher in the close-family-focused type than in the ritual-family-focused. Older Koreans with close-restricted social network ties tend to be female, uneducated, and have engaged in agricultural and allied activities. This study discusses the implications of its findings and how research in this area should develop in the future.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.39-57
• /
• 2012

Objectives: This study was to measure community capacity using individual-level and organizational-level capacity indicators and illuminated the relationship of community capacity and self-rated health status in two regions in Seoul, Korea. Methods: The data from individual surveys were obtained by quota sampling the residents of two autonomous gu in Seoul (N=1,000). The data from organizational surveys were obtained by snowball sampling lists of organizations in the possession of gu offices with a sampling frame (N=153). The survey tools were 6 indicators regarding residents' social capital and a sense of community and 5 indicators regarding community-based organizations and their networks. The analysis methods consisted of the effect of the components of capacity on health status and social network analysis. Results: As for capacity on individual levels, while D-gu was mainly developed inn individual capacity in terms of social interaction, Y-gu was stronger in a sense of community and cohesion among residents. As for capacity on organizational levels, Y-gu was more developed than was D-gu in associational networks. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop health promotion program per community and to strengthen partnerships with and among grassroots organizations based in local communities through the measurement of community capacity.