• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.518-530
• /
• 2021

Background: This study examined the effect of having a usual source of care on the degree of patient-centered communication among persons with disability. The role of the usual source of care has been emphasized to improve patient experience, especially for patients with complex health conditions. Methods: This study used the 2017-2018 Korean Health Panel data, and the final study observations were 22,475 (20,806 people without disability and 1,669 people with disability). We applied generalized estimating equation model to show the effect of having a usual source of care on patient-centered communication, and subgroup analysis considering the types and severity of disabilities. Results: Persons who have disabilities, compared with ones without it, significantly had more usual sources of care (32.4% vs. 24.6%). By type of disability, persons with mental (51.4%), internal organ (43.8%), visual (37%), and physical disabilities (31.6%) had more usual sources of care than hearing/speech (26.6%), and developmental disabilities (18.6%). The average score of patient-centered communication was higher among who had a usual sources of care (3.2 vs. 2.7), and the regression analysis showed that having a usual sources of care was positively associated with higher patient-centered communication score (𝛽=0.476, p<0.05). However, the positive effects of usual sources of care was not observed among persons with severe hearing/speech, developmental, and mental disabilities. Conclusion: This study showed that role of patient-centered communication was limited in persons with severe hearing/speech disabilities, developmental, and mental disabilities. The education programs and supports are needed to improve communication skills between medical staff and persons with specific types of disabilities.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.344-355
• /
• 2020

Purpose: Recovery has a growing influence on policy for individuals with mental illness and their families. This study was designed to examine the meaning of recovery from the perspectives of community-dwelling patients with mental illness and their families. Methods: Using a descriptive qualitative approach, in-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted on 24 adults (14 patients with mental illness and 10 family members). All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The findings showed that recovery for the patients with mental illness suggested gradual changes by individual will and self-awareness, the relationship with both their family and self-help group, and the support of a therapeutic environment. Seven primary themes emerged from the analysis: improving insight on illness, strong will toward hope, discovering changed myself, helping each other together, gradual influence of positivity, being oriented to a therapeutic setting, and recognizing of home as a calm place. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that based on the conceptual elements of recovery of the patients with mental illness and their families, we expect to improve the systematic, comprehensive, and quality mental health services.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.26 no.12
• /
• pp.195-200
• /
• 2021

Seafarers play an important role in shipping and logistics. However, seafarers are relatively vulnerable to mental illness because they have to board ships for a considerable period of time and work in isolation. In particular, in the pandemic situation caused by COVID-19, the crew change is delayed due to the closure of many ports around the world, increasing the mental burden on seafarers. The mental health management of the crew is important because these mental problems can lead to major accidents of lives and ships. This paper identified the necessity of mental health management of seafarers through a survey and identified problems with the currently operated mental health management program and curriculum. Especially, this study proposed VR-based programs to help crews receive mentally counseling treatment in a timely manner and to reduce the mental burden on them by preventing sensitive personal information exposure. Through this, it is expected to contribute to the stable development of the logistics industry by establishing a safe seafarers working environment.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
• /
• no.121
• /
• pp.1-24
• /
• 2018

The aim of this paper is to expound upon the concept of mental health and disease in Plato. In ancient Greece, philosophy was to care for the health of the soul and to pursue the happiness of the life, while medicine was to care for the health of the body. It is the role of philosophy that defines what the mental disease is, rather than the realm of medicine, and the practical function of philosophy is the life of caring for our souls. In order to take care of the soul, it is important to diagnose what the mental disease is and where it comes from. In ancient Greek, medicine disease was initially regarded as a divine punishment and healing as, quite literally, a gift from the gods. Plato, however, insists that mental illness is not just brain problem but a human whole problem, (2) it is caused by imbalance and discord, and (3) ignorance is also a mental disease, (4) and furthermore, injustice and vice are mental diseases as well. Therefore Plato argues that the aim of philosophy is to practice a virtue as the mental health and further to achieve political justice to maintain the health of the soul.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.10
• /
• pp.274-282
• /
• 2020

This study examined the effect of job stress and mental health factors on the oral symptoms of caring service workers in Seoul. For the research method, a survey was conducted from July 24 to August 6, targeting 150 caring service workers. The survey items were job stress, mental health (physical symptoms, anxiety, and insomnia), and self-diagnosed oral symptoms. The results of the study were as follows. Job stress (p=0.001) had a significant effect on the oral symptoms. In addition, physical symptoms (p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (p<0.001), and insomnia symptoms (p<0.001) all had significant effects on the oral symptoms. Among the risk factors, physical symptoms had the greatest influence on oral symptoms. In addition, according to the correlation result of job stress, anxiety symptoms, insomnia symptoms, oral symptoms, as job stress increases, physical symptoms (p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (p<0.001), insomnia symptoms (p<0.001), oral symptoms (p<0.01) showed an increasing positive correlation and a statistically significant difference. Physical and psychological labor power is greatly exhausted by care service workers performing tasks that require physical and mental care for those who are being cared for. Therefore, there is a need for systematic expansion measures for the mental health of workers and the introduction of customized oral health education programs to improve oral health because improved health and oral health conditions can increase work performance.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.475-487
• /
• 2011

Objectives : The growing elderly population and social changes have fueled a rapid increase in demand for elderly care facilities, but health care services for the elderly, especially oral health services, have long been overlooked. The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health care of elderly residents in elderly care facilities in an effort to provide some information on the elderly's oral health care and the development of dental care programs geared toward institutionalized elderly people. Methods : The subjects in this study were 230 elderly people who were in elderly care facilities in Jeolla Province. An individual interview was held, and they got a dental checkup. As for data analysis, t-test and ANOVA were utilized, and Scheffe post-hoc test was employed. Results : 1. In relation to the subfactors of the quality of life related to oral health, the elderly people investigated got a mean of 4.58, 4.47, 4.38, 4.09, 3.94, 3.91 and 3.76 respectively in activity disorder, mental disorder, social disorder, mental inconvenience, functional disorder, physical pain and physical disorder. 2. Concerning the overall quality of life related to oral health, there were statistically significant gaps in this aspect according to gender, age, presence or absence of systemic disorder, presence or absence of eating difficulties, subjective health status, subjective oral health state and oral health concern. 3. The presence or absence of root caries had a significant relationship to physical pain and social disorder among the subfactors of the OHIP-14, but that had nothing to do with functional disorder, mental inconvenience, physical disorder, mental disorder and activity disorder. Conclusions : The oral health indexes of the institutionalized elderly people in Jeolla Province were measured, and what factors affected the subfactors of oral health was checked. As a result, there appeared a close relation ship between oral health and the quality of life. Therefore effective oral health plans that cater to the elderly should be carried out to improve elderly people's quality of life related to oral health who stay in long-term elderly care facilities. In the future, prolonged research should be implemented from diverse angles for the sake of institutionalized elderly people.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.77-85
• /
• 2023

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 has deteriorated mental health, particularly in mothers with elementary school children. Although the country has developed several health promotion programs to preserve mental health, no program has incorporated Korean medicine. Thus, this study focuses on developing vital Korean medicine mental health care programs. Methods: The program follows the Korean medicine health promotion program principles. Guidelines, reports, research, and previous programs were analyzed to form interventions and lecture content. Results: Pellets, hot packs, meditation, lavender oil, and green tea were selected as final intervention strategies. Mental health-related guidelines were analyzed to produce stress management lecture materials. In addition, an operational methods and evaluation tool manual was created. Conclusion: We designed a health promotion program capitalizing on Korean medicine to improve mental health. This program will be assessed and accordingly improved through practical applications.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.331-338
• /
• 2008

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to measure the workload of home visit care activities and their relative values. This study examined also factors that affect the workload of home visit care activities. Methods : The participants of this study were 126 home-helpers of 50 home visit care agencies at the 2nd Long-term Care Insurance Demonstration Project. The workload of home visit care activities was divided into total work and four dimensions ; physical efforts, mental efforts, stress and time. Home visit care activities consisted of four categories with 24 items. We used magnitude estimation method to measure their relative values of the four dimensions. The participants answered the relative values of each activities based on the reference service. We used the activity for supporting their elderly's evacuation as the reference service. Results : Most of the respondents were over 40 years old female. They consumed most their time supporting elderly's going out. They consumed their highest physical, mental efforts, and stress for activities of coping with emergency situation. The Pearson correlation coefficients showed significant relationships between workload and each dimensions. This study showed that all four dimensions are statistically significant predictors of workload of home visit care activities. Also, we found that the home-helper's career affects the workload of home visit care activities. Conclusions : The workload of home visit care activities could be explained by physical efforts, mental efforts, stress and time.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
• /
• no.55
• /
• pp.157-188
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-care activities on physical and mental health of primary caregivers of functionally impaired elderly. Data were collected from 185 primary caregivers who were caring for their spouses or parents with functional impairment at home in Daejon. SPSS 21.0 software was used for descriptive analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that (1) primary caregivers reported their physical health status as poor (2) the domains of health responsibility, physical activity in their self-care activities were significant predictors of their physical health level (3) primary caregivers reported very high level of depression (4) their mental health was significantly influenced by spiritual growth among self-care activities. Based on these findings, social work intervention and policy suggestions were discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.247-260
• /
• 2018

This study examined the mental health status (depression, cognitive impairment and dementia) and its association with the related factors in the elderly people who were admitted from long-term care insurance. The study subjects were 1,488 people (male 740, female 748) aged over 70 years of age who had been recognized for long-term care insurance services in the years 2011~2014 from the National Health Insurance Corporation. The data collected from the National Health Insurance Corporation set forth a lifestyle questionnaire, itemized health screening tests, and long-term care as recognition data for research purposes. As a result, depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia of subjects increased significantly with age. As a multiple logistic regression result, the risk ratios of depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia, which indicated the mental health status, were significantly higher in women than in men, in the lower body weight group than in the overweight group, in the smoking group than in the non-smoking group, and in the drinking group than in the non-drinking group. These results suggest that the mental health status (depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia) of subjects decreased with increasing age, particularly the group with poor health related behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, and regular exercise, indicating that the mental health condition is lower than in the good group.