• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2011

Korea enacted the occupational safety and health law in order to prevent industrial accidents in 1981. Led by ministry of labor, occupational safety and health support services policy has been built through government-affiliated organizations, research institutions and academic research. Korea's accident rate has remained at 0.7% for last 10 years despite continuous efforts over the last 30 years. These results means that the occupational safety and health support services policy conducted by the government have reached their limits. Therefore, the necessity of assessment about occupational safety and health support services policy is proposed. The main objective of this study, through the IPA analysis, is to grasp the point of worker's needs about occupational safety and health support services policy and to help formulate the efficient policy.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.280-292
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the perceived needs and confidence of school nurses in health education at middle and high schools in Seoul, Korea. Methods: A descriptive survey questionnaire was developed by a research team to investigate the perceived needs and confidence across eight health education areas. A total of 329 school nurses at secondary schools in the metropolitan areas of Seoul participated. Descriptive statistics, the t-test, and ANOVA were conducted to analyze the data. Results: Generally high means in perceived education needs(Mean: 3.8~4.7/5) and health education confidence (Mean 3.3~4.5/5) were reported. However, there were significantly low means of health education confidence related to perceived needs in health education for all areas of health education. While injury prevention and emergency care education were the highest perceived educational needs and were also areas with high confidence of school nurses, mental health, social health, and sexual health were areas where nurses showed a significantly lower confidence. In general, nurses with a longer clinical experience and educational career had a higher confidence in injury prevention, emergency care, and mental health. Conclusions: Multi-level support, including the continuing education and proactive in-service training, for the school nurses needs to be developed to improve their teaching competency.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.182-196
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study examined potential determinants of gender differences in utilization of health care services among Korean adults. Methods: The study population was 21,647 adults ${\geq}$25-years-of-age who had responded to a health interview survey conducted as part of the 2005 National Health and Nutrition Surveys. Relative gender differences in the use of each health service were assessed using chi-square test and sex ratios. The contribution of potential factors of sex differences in the use of health services was evaluated by comparing the odds ratio and sex ratio before and after adjustment for such variables. Results & Conclusions: More females had visited a physician and been admitted to hospital, but hospitalization time was longer for males. Adjustment for poor self-rated health, number of chronic disease and limit of full term for ADL led to a reduction in the odds ratio of females compared to males for health service utilization. However, adjustment for socioeconomic factors (household income, education, occupation, and health insurance) magnified the gender difference concerning length of hospitalization. Factors that explain gender-related differences in utilization of health care services are concluded to be different health needs and socioeconomic status.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.71-84
• /
• 2000

This paper presents the status of nutrition education for older adults in Korea, and examines considerations in developing effective nutrition education programs for the elderly based on literature reviews. Finally, strategies of nutrition education for older adults in Korea are examined. Status of nutrition education were examined by surveying 90 senior centers, and 46 public health centers providing nutrition services. Most senior centers(96%) provided health education programs, however, nutrition was only a part of health programs. Among the 41 public health centers which responded to the survey, 73.1% provided nutrition education for older adults. The frequently covered topics were prevention & management of hypertension/stroke, diabetes, nutritional management during later adulthood, and osteoporosis. Common barriers in planning and implementing elderly education were; lack of educational materials for older adults, reliance on lectures, difficulty in following-up. To develop effective nutrition education, four stages consisting of needs assessment, planning and implementation of programs, and evaluation should be carefully done. Needs assessment might be done using quantitative or qualitative assessment. Factors influencing nutrition behavior of older adults can be systematically examined using a theoretical approach such as the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework. Qualitative methods, such as focus group interviews, also provide insightful information regarding the needs of older adults. In planning nutrition education programs, physical and pshychological changes associated with aging should be considered. Literature regarding elderly education suggest that active participation or participatory learning is also effective for older adults. Educational materials are developed following the principle of KISS and pre-tested. Program evaluation has been rarely done in practice, although it provides valuable feedback to the program. Strategies for developing nutrition education for Korean elderly include; performing needs assessment, developing a standard program by topics in a logical and systematic way, developing programs for subgroups of elderly, applying diverse education methods developing educational materials for the elderly, evaluating programs using simple tools, and delivering a nutrition program as a part of health promotion program. Finally, the interaction and communication between researchers and practitioners is strongly recommended to ensure better nutrition education and services to the elderly.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.97-119
• /
• 1991

Korea has made a rapid economic development since the last three decades. This has helped Korea narrow the gap in health service differences in resource availability and in quality of care. However urban and rural differentials are still remarkable. This study has maintained that health status of rural residents is inferior to that of urban dwellers. Therefore, this study was carried out to develop policy measures for improving health services in rural areas. In order to achieve the objective of this study the authors collaborated closely and made field visits, interviews and conducted an extensive literature review regarding rural health services. The following policy options are recommended as a summary ; First, the quality of rural health personnel is a single most important factor influencing the level of rural health services. An innovative program for public health doctors to the internship and/or residency training program such as specialty board program of family medicine. Second, dissatisfaction regarding employment of public health doctors is problematic. More rational employment and deployment programs are needed to meet their personal desire. One way to do this is to make it wide open and competitive. Third this study shows how to increase physician productivity in the rural public health sector. Incentive system needs to be elaborated for the career development of rural health workers. University linked job opportunity as clinical professor is an example. Fourth, without straightening the function of health centers and subcenters, the future of rural health services is doomed to failure. Straightening primary health care is one way to enrich the program of public health facilities and reactivating the operation of health center/hospital is another. A close linkage of public facilities with private hospitals is a minimum requirement for the operation of health delivery system within a health district. Fifth, some measures are urgently required to enhance hospital services in medically underserved areas. Financial subsidy, tax exemption, long-term public loans and higher priority of health manpower deployment are some of them. Sixth, new health programs should be in tiated to meet changing needs of peoples in rural areas. Home health care program, hospice program, nursing home, residential program for the elderly are recommended.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.673-683
• /
• 2008

Purpose: This study was aimed to evaluate the performance of a community-based home care services model. Method: The subjects were 138 patients who have been enrolled during a 6 month's period, nursing records and nursing service bills. The data was collected by self report and chart review. The mean cost per visit was compared with those of hospitalization & clinic visit in the data from National Health Insurance Corporation. Result: A significant number of patients were bed ridden(63.8%) and unconscious (27.5%), and most of the patients had complex chronic diseases. Except nursing assessment, bed sore care was the most frequent nursing treatment(25.1%) in home care services. The mean cost per visit of home care services was 34,665 won, which was lower than those of hospitalization & clinic visit for medical aid. The patients were highly satisfied with the services by visiting nurse specialists. Conclusion: Community-based home care services provided cost-effective and satisfied services. Community-based home care services needs systematic supports to expand it's domain for promoting community health.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.770-780
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the unmet healthcare needs of married immigrant women. Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis using data from the 2009 National Survey of Multicultural Families. Data collected from 58,735 married immigrant women who had spouses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and logistic regression. Results: Overall, 9.9% of married immigrant women have unmet healthcare needs. The significant predictors related to unmet healthcare needs were young age, high level of education, employed, country of origin, long period of residence, low income, uninsured, urban area, low level of subjective health status, and illness experience over past two weeks. In particular, four variables (long period of residence, low income, subjective health status, and illness experience over past two weeks) significantly predicted unmet healthcare needs for women from all countries of origin. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that common predictors related to unmet healthcare needs of married immigrant women are a long period of residence, low income, subjective health status, and illness experience over past two weeks. Therefore intervention strategies to decrease unmet healthcare needs should focus on these significant predictors.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.115-121
• /
• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the needs of family caregivers of home care patients. Methods: A total of 40 caregivers had been selected from a hospital-based home care agency in Gyunggi province. The instrument developed by Hileman, Lackey, & Hassanein(1992) was modified to 55 items and used in this study. The instrument consists of 6 categories: informational, household, patient care, personal, spiritual, and psychological needs. Out of 29 analysed with descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman correlation test using SPSS 14.0. Results: Most caregivers were females, with a mean age of $60.0{\pm}15.5$, 32.1% were spouses, and 92.9% were living with patients. Patient's activities of daily living score was very low, and 44% of patients had cerebrovascular disease. Caregiver's needs were moderate, and the greatest being personal need. There was a significant difference between caregiver's monthly income and needs. Conclusion: Home care nurses need to teach and support family caregivers with specific programs and services to meet the identified and unmet needs of caregivers of home care patients. In-home respite and institutional respite are recommended for family caregivers taking care of patients with chronic disease.

• Korean Medical Education Review
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.10-17
• /
• 2022

South Korea is not a wasteland of publicly funded health care-instead, it has a good medical social security system known as the national health insurance (NHI). The NHI of Korea has three unique features; (1) low premiums, low insurance fees, and low coverage; (2) obligatory designation of medical institutions; (3) and allowance of non-benefit services. These features have made hospitals and doctors interested in profit-seeking. However, the commercialization of medical institutions has taken place in both private- and public-established sectors. A basic problem of commercialization is the co-existence of the obligatory designation of medical institutions and non-benefit services. The problem became worse in the Kim Dae-Jung government because it officially permitted non-benefit services. Since 2000, the Korean government has consistently pursued benefit extension policies, but the coverage rates of the NHI have stagnated. In addition, premiums and current medical expenses have markedly increased because policy-makers have emphasized accessibility to the NHI, while ignoring important principles of medical social security such as a needs-based approach and patient-referral system. In order to resolve the commercialization problem, the obligatory designation of medical institutions to the NHI should be changed to a contract system, and non-benefit services should be prohibited at NHI institutions. We must re-establish the patient-referral system via a needs-based approach. We also need to build a primary healthcare system and public health policies. We should make a long-term plan for healthcare reform.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.117-129
• /
• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of demographic characteristics and oral health status on unmet dental needs among preschool children and to provide a basis for improvement of the dental care equality and accessibility using data from the $6^{th}$ National Health and Nutrition Survey. Methods: This study was performed using data collected from the $6^{th}$ National Health and Nutrition Survey. The subjects were 1,472 out of 22,940 people, who participated in the survey and under went oral examination. IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 20.0) was used for statistical analyses based on the complex sampling design. Frequency analysis was performed to determine the distribution of unmet dental needs according to the characteristics of the subjects. The Rao-Scott ${\chi}^2$ test was performed to examine the relationship of unmet dental needs with general characteristics and health- and oral health-related variables. Relevant factors were determined using binary logistic regression analysis. Results: The factors that had statistically significant relations with unmet dental needs included age, medical insurance, household income, limited physical activity, history of dental caries in deciduous teeth, and subjective health status. Logistic regression analysis of complex samples was conducted to determine factors related to unmet dental needs. The results of analysis showed that limited physical activity and history of dental caries in deciduous teeth were related to unmet dental needs. Conclusions: The results show the factors affecting, and the reasons for, the unmet dental needs of preschool children. Future studies are needed to develop national projects and oral health education reforms to address inequalities in preschool children's dental care.