• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.10-22
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• 2010

Purpose: Through a thorough examination of the CCSC (Community Comprehensive Support Center) system in Japan, this study suggests a scheme to provide community-based preventive health care services for the elderly in Korea. Methods: The study inquired into the applicability of the Japanese model by reviewing the data related to the CCSC project, aided by both in-depth interviews with staff in the field and consultations with specialists. Results: Rearrangement of the Visiting Health Management Project system is needed to manage the collective or individual visiting care management for frailty prevention of the elderly in communities. The delegated service system for preventive care in the community, including direct management by one of the public health centers, also needs to be reviewed and the application of stricter standards for the selection of the agency or corporation to run the delegated service is necessary. Long-Term Care Insurance, along with national and local grants, is to be considered as a financial resource for the community-based preventive health care model for the elderly. By making active use of education rooms at district offices, senior citizen centers in neighborhoods for the elderly with easy access can be created. The project needs to raise active supports from communities, develop programs which can be absorbed into particular local cultures, and promote the understanding of the preventive project in local communities. The preventive program should focus on first solving the problems of depression, seclusion, and lack of mobility of the elderly. Second, the program should instruct physical self-management for exercise-nutrition-dental maintenance, and third, the program should strengthen the cognitive abilities of the elderly. In addition, it is necessary to systematize and implement counter-plans of the family and community to protect the elderly who has mental and cognitive problems. Finally, by establishing a network of public health welfare resources based upon research on a community level, assessment and planning for the health of the elderly should be one with their family, and comprehensive consultation and recommendations should be provided to the family. Conclusion: Taking into consideration the experience Japan has had with respect to a similar project, it is appropriate to develop and implement a service system which would combine the Visiting Health Management Project system which has already been established and a preventive health care model for the elderly on a community level.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.127-147
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of 10-year psychosocial rehabilitation services provided by a psychosocial rehabilitation center on the quality of life for the mentally ill. The data were collected from a psychosocial rehabilitation center located in Daegu metropolitan area using a quasi-experimental study design. The experimental group consisted of 23 mentally ill subjects and the comparison group consisted of 23 mentally ill subjects that did not use the mental health services voluntarily. The quality of life were measured at baseline and every year over 10-year period. The collected data were analyzed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling(HLM). The findings of this study were as follows: First, it was found that the psychosocial rehabilitation services were effective increasing experimental group's quality of life outcomes. Second, the analyses indicated that the psychosocial rehabilitation services' effectiveness could be maintained at least 10 years indicating that the services had a long-term positive impact on the mentally ill. Third, it was revealed that the experimental group's quality of life outcomes improved over time showing a curvelinear shape rather than showing a linear pattern. The psychosocial rehabilitation services provided by a psychosocial rehabilitation center were positively affected the quality of life as well as maintained at least 10 years for the mentally ill. Finally, the implications and limitations of these findings were discussed.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2015

Purpose: Confronting the growing burden of dementia requires understanding the causes and predictors of dementia in order to develop preventive strategies. In Korea a large proportion (71%) of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, and the risk factors have not yet been elucidated. Dietary factors may be possible risk factors, however research on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and dietary behaviors has been insufficient. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between compliance with the "Dietary Guidelines for Elderly (The Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2011)" and Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly. Methods: Elderly persons who visited a University hospital or a dementia center of Seoul and agreed to participate in the examinations were selected. Among 277 subjects, 89 Alzheimer patients were selected with diagnosis and 118 subjects were assigned to the control group. Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was based on Alzheimer's disease criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) and criteria of National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA). Information on the general characteristics, health related behaviors and compliance with the dietary guidelines for Korean elderly was collected by face to face interview using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric variables were measured during the survey. Results: Total compliance score of dietary guidelines was significantly lower in the Alzheimer's disease group than in the control group (p = 0.0001). The odds ratio of Alzheimer's disease was significantly decreased in the group with the highest dietary guideline compliance score (OR = 0.47, 95 % CI = 0.18~1.09) compared to the group with the lowest compliance score. Conclusion: The results indicate that increasing compliance with the dietary guidelines could be an effective strategy to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease among Korean elderly.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.58-67
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of a mindfulness-based Body-Mind Intervention Program using marine resources on the improvement of quality of sleep, mood symptoms, and cognitive function in Korean female emotional labor workers. Methods: Twelve female workers who experienced excess emotional labor participated at the training camp program for five days in Danghangpo-ocean park, Goseung-gun, Gyeongnam Province in South Korea. Participant sleep quality, mood symptoms, and cognitive functioning before, after, and 1.5 months later were evaluated and analyzed. Results: After participating in the marine resource program, participants reported significantly decreased sleep latency. Global sleep quality, cognitive functions (attention, flexibility, and inhibition control), and mood states, including depression, tension, anger, fatigue, were also improved. These effects were generally maintained after 1. 5 months (PSQI t = 2.63, p = 0.02 ; HAM-D t = 5.92, p < 0.001). Conclusion: A Body-Mind Intervention Program using marine resources was effective in relaxing emotion-related tension and improving cognitive function. To advance this pilot study, it is necessary to carry out further research to investigate the use of marine resources in mental health interventions.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.781-800
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between residential environment satisfaction and elderly depression with a focus on the mediating effect of physical activity. The survey of Living Conditions and Welfare Needs of Korean Older Persons performed in 2017 was used for analysis. Among total 10,299 who aged 65 years or above and participated in survey, only 10,059 people who answered the survey questions by themselves without missing main questions were included in this analysis. Mediation effects were tested with Baron & Kenny(1986) method and Sobel test(Sobel, 1982). As results, first, residential environment satisfaction was negatively associated with elderly depression. Second, residential environment satisfaction was positively related to physical activity. Lastly, it was found that physical activity mediated the relationship between residential environment satisfaction and elderly depression. The results showed that older adults who satisfied in residential environment were more likely to participate in physical activity, and older people who participated in physical activity were less likely to experience depressive symptoms. Based on these results, the paper suggests the importance of subjective satisfaction of residential environment and participation of physical activity for mental health in later life, and some intervention strategies for Aging In Place.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.899-915
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was examined effect of physical fitness and exercise participation on healthy aging of the elderly. The subjecrts were a total 319 people that they were participate in the regular exercise, and go to welfare center in Seoul. Data were collected during the period from November 1 to November 30, 2006. The collected data were analyzed frequency, descriptive statistics, correlation and hierarchical regression analysis using the SPSS-Win 12.0 program. The results of hierarchical regression analysis were appeared as follows. According to the results of hierarchical regression analysis, significant factors influencing healthy aging were monthly income, monthly pocket money, self-perceived health status, leg muscle strength, exercise behavior and period of exercise. 2. According to the results, significant factors influencing physiological health were age, marital status, self-perceived health status, exercise behavior and period of exercise. 3. According to the results, significant factors influencing cognitive-mental health were monthly income, monthly pocket money, self-perceived health status, leg muscle strength, exercise behavior and period of exercise. 4. According to the results, significant factors influencing social-support health were monthly income, age, education, self-perceived health status, leg muscle strength, exercise behavior and period of exercise. In conclusion, First, this questionnaire demonstrates good reliability and validity and therefore it is an appropriate measurement of healthy aging for the elderly in Korea. Second, it is important that exercise behavior is main factor to healthy aging life on the elderly. Third, There is important mean values of the items for healthy aging.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
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• no.55
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• pp.31-58
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• 2017

This study aims to explore the longitudinal reciprocal relationship between family conflict and depression level of household head. Using the Korean Welfare Panel study (KOWEPS) of 2006-2009, the study applied multiple regression analysis and autoregressive cross-lagged model to test the hypothesis. Results of multiple regression analysis indicate that single direction of the impact of family conflict on a head of household's levels of depression and the vise versa were statistically significant. That is, higher level of family conflict in 2006 caused an increased levels of depression of household head in 2009, controlling gender, age and depression level in 2006. Also, the higher level of depression of household head in 2006 increased the level of family conflict in 2009 fixed with same control variables. The autoregressive and cross-lagged coefficients of family conflict and a head of household's levels of depression were statistically significant during the 4 years. The findings support the family system theory, indicating that there are reciprocal causal relationships between the whole family conflict and individual depression level. The strategies of social welfare practice and policy should thus aim to decrease individual's levels of depression and improve positive family function simultaneously to break the vicious circle.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.255-280
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• 2016

This study examined sexual violence characteristics among the individuals who utilized victim support services provided by National Rape Crisis Intervention Centers in Korea. The study is the part of a Korean longitudinal study on sexual assault characteristics and its implications for post-abuse adjustments, which is supported by Korean Mental Health Technology R&D Project. Eleven national rape crisis centers nationwide and 29 NGO's participated in the study. The participating centers provided the data on sexual abuse characteristics from their standardized case management system. The cases were randomly selected from the system. Total of 1077 cases were gleaned from the system and utilized for this analysis. Results indicated that the abuse characteristics differed by victims' age (children, adolescent vs. adults) as well as relationship with perpetrator. We could identify six different profile groups based on the detailed violence characteristics. The results assured us of the importance to understand the detailed characteristics of sexual violence and the old notion that 'one size may not fit all'. The results from the profile analyses may have important implication for developing victim support programs and appropriately allocating agency resources according to the different profiles of the service users.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.517-526
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to provide convenience to the senior center staff and policy makers through a research of "Life satisfaction" in the senior centers with a systematic review and meta-analysis of the considerations of the elderly, published in foreign journals for the past 10 years. We searched published studies in the Medline Complete, Pub-med central and Scopus databases from January 2007 to November 2017. The main key words used "Elderly AND(And OR aged) AND Personal Satisfaction/ or life satisfaction" and out of 595 searched articles a total of 6 studies were selected. After qualitative analysis of the contents of the study, meta - analyzes were conducted for factors with more than three quantitative values. The factors affecting life satisfaction of the elderly were physical health (pooled effect size 0.582, p = .000), mental health (pooled effect size 0.423, p = .000), economic problems (r = .51, p =. 001), social activities, and daily living. It is expected that this study which provides an understanding of life satisfaction of the elderly would contribute to provide general information for developing social consensus on the employment in the super aging society should help improve the quality of welfare facilities for senior citizens in the future.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.583-600
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to explore qualitatively what kind of coping strategy the Korean older adults use when they are depressed and why. Participants were users, older than 60, of an elderly welfare center in Seoul, and answers of 34 respondents who experienced depression were included in the analysis. The collected data were analyzed through content analysis. The results of the analysis showed that strategies to cope with depression used by participants were composed of 6 domains and 11 sub-domains: health behavior (medical approach / exercise and diet), family and social contact (social interaction / going out and going on a trip / communication with family), Religious activities (Religious activities), lifelong education (hobbies / educational activities), productive activities (labor), health risk behaviors (drinking and gambling / resignation). The depression coping strategies of the older adults and their characteristics are as follows. First, older adults used diverse problem-focused coping strategies to cope with depression. Second, older adults considered various coping strategies together and used them simultaneously. Third, the facility space for older adults functions as a shelter. Fourth, although there were cases where medical approach was used, the intention to reuse was very low. Through this study, the following suggestions were made to help older adults cope with depression more successfully. First, access to various coping strategies should be promoted. Second, more places where older adults can spend their time comfortably need to be provided. Third, resistance to mental health care should be resolved.