• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.31-55
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• 2004

The elder abuse draws an increasing concern as the elderly population grows rapidly, and increasing demands to provide long-term care to the impaired elderly are imposed on the families. This study compares Korean American elders' and their adult children's perceptions of possible elder abuse under care-giving situation, and related help-seeking behaviors using five scenarios developed by the author. The subjects consist of ten elders and their ten adult children including daughters-in-law who live in Los Angeles, the USA. Content analysis reveals very similar help-seeking behaviors of the two generations within the family despite the substanally generational difference towards the perceptions of elder abuse under care-giving situation. Mann-Whitney test shows a significant difference in the perceptions of elder abuse between the elderly and their adult children. It means that the elderly are substantially less likely to perceive a given situation as abusive than their adult children would. But there is no significant difference between the elderly and their adult children in their intended use of formal sources of help. Implications for gerontological social work practice and program development are discussed.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2009

The nursing home for the elderly has a weak point for evacuation from the fire because most of all the users are suffering from a dementia or paralysis. When it comes to night shift, it is much difficult to get them evacuated due to the lack of staffs. In addition to that, the nursing home for the elderly has such a strict control system for access that does not have a utility for escape opening. That is why they need the differentiated evacuation planning. This study is to consider the point at issues on the present conditions of law, system, and evacuation plans for the nursing home for the elderly that has some difficulties because of impaired functions of residences. This study dealt with the point at facilities and operations of the emergency evacuation system. First of all, for the point at the facilities, I found that it need to be considered on the characteristics of the elderly who has any difficulties of the self evacuation. And the established regulation did not reflect the characteristics of closed area of the nursing home for the elderly. The second, for the point at the operation of the institutions, it is pointed that there seems to be a lack of ways to manage to a emergency situation and educations on the operation staff. And the last, for the point at the operation, the requirement for the managers of fire prevention facilities are similar to that of a normal building. Furthermore there is a lack of corporation with the fire station.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.123-139
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to understand the adult day care center as a place for the elders and adults and to develop an initial understanding of the services and activity programs for adult day care for the cognitively-impaired in the U.S.A. The data were collected from 12 Adult Day Care Centers(ADC) from 2001 to 2002 by personal interview and the documents about the programs. ADC programs provided primarily social, recreational, and health activities and services in a group setting. Centers offered participants to socialize, enjoy peer support, and receive health and social services in a stimulating and supportive environment that promotes better physical and mental health. For this purpose those centers offered not only professional health care, occupational.speech.physical therapies but also socio-recreation and therapeutic-recreation services.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.9-17
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• 2019

PURPOSE: This research was designed to study the correlations between physical activities such as foot sensory impairment, balance and ambulatory abilities, as well as fall risk factors and mental activities such as cognitive performance and depression in order to provide fundamental data for the prevention of falling in the elderly. METHODS: A total of 36 elderly people over the age of 65 years who voluntarily joined the research were selected as subjects. Sensory perception in both feet was measured by using a monofilament in 10 parts with each part given one point. The points for each foot were integrated to analyze the correlations between physical and mental activities indices, and the results were analyzed by using Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The results of this research show that the extent to which senses in feet were impaired was correlated to TUG, a functional activity index involved in tranfers, gait, and turning movements, which was correlated to BBS (balance index) as well as MMSE-K and K-GDS (mental activities index). BBS was interrelated to FES-K (physical activities index) and MMSE-K. The muscular strength of the right ankle dorsiflexor had mutual relations with FES-K. CONCLUSION: The results of this research indicate that TUG is widely correlated to foot sensory impairment as well as general physical and mental activities in elderly people. BBS was also shown to be correlated with TUG, FES-K, and MMSE-K. Thus, it might be necessary that TUG and BBS be included as two items in physical and mental check-ups for the elderly, and further studies on correlations using evaluation items for physical and mental activities should lead to the simplification of the evaluation criteria.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.713-721
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was to determine the mediator or moderator role of social support in the relationship between stress and depression among family caregivers of older adults with dementia. Method: Sixty nine family caregivers were randomly selected from health care centers in P city and a face-to-face interview was conducted using questionnaires from January to May of 2002. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression using SPSS program. Result: Family caregivers of older adults with higher dependency in ADLs and higher problematic behaviors, provided care to the older adults for a longer period of time, and perceived less social support reported higher depression. Social support showed mediating effects between stress and depression, while did not show moderating effects. Elderly dependency on ADLs and caregiving duration decreased perceived social support and decreased social support increased depression. Conclusion: To increase family and social support to the caregivers of more functionally impaired elderly, family education to increase emotional support and physical assistance to the caregivers and broader and flexible application of social support such as increasing accessibility to the elderly daycare service with lower price may prove beneficial.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.3_1spc
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• pp.600-606
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• 2013

This paper describes the development of a novel walking assistance robot for the elderly and infirm. In the case of simple walking assistance devices, the walking safety and effectiveness are somewhat low; hence, caregivers are frequently required. The walking assistance robot developed in this research is capable of securely and conveniently assisting a walking user by using electric motors and various devices without a caregiver. The main features include the following. First, the walking safety is improved by using a pelvis supporter, and the robot is able to follow the user effectively by means of ergonomic motion sensors and electric powered wheels. Second, it is possible to adjust the load applied to the lower body by adjusting the height of the pelvis supporter. Finally, it is possible to inform the approximate distance and direction of any obstacle around the robot using the sounds and vibrations for the blind and the hearing impaired. The performance of the developed walking assistance robot was successfully verified using a walking assistance test in a narrow-corridor environment.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.214-227
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• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the socio-demographic factors, the disaster related factors, the physical health related factors and the psychological factors of older adults exposed to natural disaster and these factors may possibly cause the occurrence of PTSD. Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed using the secondary data from the 3rd Disaster Victims Panel Survey (2012-2017). The data from 1,397 disaster victims were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. Results: Compared with the younger adult disaster victims, the elderly were more likely to have symptoms of PTSD (15.0% vs. 12.1%). Factors such as the number of years since being exposed to the disaster, anxiety, depression and social adjustment were significantly associated with occurrence of PTSD for both older and younger adults. Female gender was the additional risk factors for the older adults, while marital status, income, having witnessed another person's injury or death, and having lost a home were associated with the occurrence of PTSD. Conclusion: The elderly were more likely to develop PTSD as compared with younger adults. More targeted post-disaster mental health services to the elderly with the symptoms of depressive, anxiety and impaired social adjustments, should be provided to improve their mental health.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.41-56
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• 2020

This study suggests multisensory interaction techniques to help visually impaired people appreciate and understand artworks through non-visual senses such as tactile, auditory, and olfactory senses. A user study was conducted on the basis of a qualitative interview about the experience of appreciating artwork through the multisensory interaction system to visually impaired people so as to verify the development of the interaction techniques. The user test shows that the multisensory interactions in artwork generally not only help them appreciate and understand it but also give them satisfaction through artwork appreciation. However, it also indicates that some multisensory interactions caused the visually impaired people confusion and could not be perceived during the appreciation. On the basis of these outcomes, implications in this study are as follows. This study has contributed to providing specific development guidelines and indicators of non-visual multisensory interactions as a technical alternative to improve accessibility to cultural and artistic activities for the visually impaired. Furthermore, this study is expected to contribute to building a technical background, which can provide comprehensive sensory experiences with not only blind people but also non-blind people such as children and the elderly through universal interaction techniques beyond existing visual-oriented fragmentary experience.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the status of depression and the cognitive function among the elderly over 65 years of age who use the welfare facilities for the aged in the community. Methods: For this study the data were collected from March 27, 2006 to April 14, 2006. Subjects were 92 elderly over 65 years old. The level of depression was estimated with the Beck Depression Inventory, and the cognitive function with the modified Mental Status Questionnaire (MSQ). The Data were analyzed using frequencies, t-test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient with the SPSS/PC program. Results: The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1. The mean score was 13.09 for depression and 8.27 for cognitive function. 2. Analysis according to the demographic characteristics confirmed a statistically significant difference on the level of cognitive function between the elderly who live alone and those who live together(f=4.293, p<0.01) 3. The percentage of the severely and mildly impaired in cognitive function was 7.6% and 6.5%, respectively. 4. The variables of age(f=11.17, p<0.01), educational level(f=15.23, p<0.01), martial status(f=4.084, p<0.01), and economic activity(t=4.41, p<0.01) showed a significant effect on cognitive function. 5. There was no relationship between depression and cognitive function. Conclusion: Social support and a variety of programs at welfare facilities in the community were recommended in order to reduce depression and cognitive impairment in the elderly.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2021

Objectives: Physical inactivity is the fourth leading global risk factor for mortality, followed by obesity. The combination of these risk factors is associated with non-communicable diseases, impaired physical function, and declining mental function. The World Health Organization recommends physical activity to reduce the mortality rate. Thus, this study examined the effects on anthropometric measurements of a 12-week walking program for elderly people in Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia with a 7000-step goal and weekly group walking activities. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted involving 109 elderly people with a body mass index (BMI) ≥25.0 kg/m². BMI, body composition, and average daily steps were measured at baseline, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26.0, and repeated-measures analysis of variance with the paired t-test for post-hoc analysis was conducted. Results: In total, 48 participants in the intervention group and 61 participants in the control group completed the study. A significant interaction was found between time and group. The post-hoc analysis showed a significant difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention (within the intervention group). The post-intervention analysis revealed an increase in the mean number of daily steps by 3571.59, with decreases in body weight (-2.20 kg), BMI (-0.94 kg/m²), body fat percentage (-3.52%), visceral fat percentage (-1.29%) and waist circumference (-2.91 cm). Skeletal muscle percentage also showed a significant increase (1.67%). Conclusions: A 12-week walking program combining a 7000-step goals with weekly group walking activities had a significant effect on the anthropometric measurements of previously inactive and overweight/obese elderly people.