• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.63-77
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• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of task-oriented training with functional electrical stimulation on hand function in incomplete cervical cord injury. Method : The subjects of the study were 3 adults diagnosed as incomplete cervical cord injury. The design of this study was ABA single-subject research design to compare dominant hand function of before and after intervention and detect individual effects. The experiment consisted of 30sessions, in which baseline process A1 and A2 were implemented 5 sessions each for 10sessions. Intervention B was implemented 20 sessions. The dependent variable was converted to the change of hand function every session, and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test(JTHFT), Wolf Motor Function Test(WMFT) were selected for outcome measurements. Result analysis was suggested through visual analysis using a graph and comparison of pre, post and follow-up intervention measurements. Results : As a result, the quality and quantity of dominant hand function increased during intervention B compared to the baseline A1 for all subjects. Baseline A2 was also maintained without training. Additionally, JTHFT, WMFT and COPM scores demonstrated improvement and maintain. The follow up JTHFT and WMFT showed increased required time on all subjects and decrease or maintain task performance and satisfaction in COPM. Conclusion : The task-oriented training with function electrical stimulation in this study has been positive effects on hand function and task performance and satisfaction.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.25-35
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• 2012

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of virtual reality program on fall efficacy and activities of daily living(ADL) for patients with stroke. Method : Twenty stroke patients were participated voluntarily and were assigned randomly into the control and the experimental groups. Both control and experimental groups were given same basic rehabilitation treatment while only the experimental group was given virtual reality program. The fall efficacy of both groups was assessed using fall efficacy scale(FES) and ADL performance ability was assessed by functional independence measure(FIM). Result : Fall efficacy and ADL performance ability showed a statistically meaningful difference for both experimental and control groups(p< .05), the fall efficacy and ADL performance ability of the experimental group improved meaningfully in a statistical way than that of the control group(p<. 05). Conclusion : It was found that carrying out virtual reality program with occupational therapy has an effect on fall efficacy and ADL performance ability of patients with stroke. Therefore, virtual reality program can be a way of treatment for patients with stroke to improve their fall efficacy and ADL performance ability, and the program can also be applied in clinics as well as occupational therapy.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.76-85
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify knowledge structure of the Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing from 1991 to 2014. Methods: 400 articles between 1991 and 2014 were collected. 1,369 keywords as noun phrases were extracted from articles and standardized for analysis. Co-occurrence matrix was generated via a cosine similarity measure, then the network was analyzed and visualized using PFNet. Also NodeXL was applied to visualize intellectual interchanges among keywords. Results: According to the results of the content analysis and the cluster analysis of author keywords from the Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing articles, 7 most important research topics of the journal were 'Workers & Work-related Health Problem', 'Recognition & Preventive Health Behaviors', 'Health Promotion & Quality of Life', 'Occupational Health Nursing & Management', 'Clinical Nursing Environment', 'Caregivers and Social Support', and 'Job Satisfaction, Stress & Performance'. Newly emerging topics for 4-year period units were observed as research trends. Conclusion: Through this study, the knowledge structure of the Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing was identified. The network analysis of this study will be useful for identifying the knowledge structure as well as finding general view and current research trends. Furthermore, The results of this study could be utilized to seek the research direction in the Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.80-86
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• 2018

The intervention of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is limited research focus on the effect of occupational-based intervention. This study sought to determine the effect of occupational-based intervention of chopstick skills for children with ASD. This study included a total of 3 children with ASD.Using single-subject study design, a changing criterion design and ABC design were implemented. The participants' behavior was observed and recorded throughout each session. In this study, the results were analyzed through visual graphs. The amount of food that was moved using the chopsticks was gradually increased. The results show that all participants significantly improved in their ability to use chopsticks in each intervention session. In addition, Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) improved the generalization. According to the AMPS, both the overall motor and process skills increased from baseline an average of 0.7 logit. The results of this study showed occupational-based intervention on chopsticks skill to be effective in acquisition and generalization of chopstick skill in children with ASD.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.321-327
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• 2011

Objectives: To find out from an analysis of empirical data the levels of influence, which a labor union (LU) and Occupational Safety and Health Committee (OSHC) have in reducing the occupational injury and illness rate (OIIR) through their accident prevention activities in manufacturing industries with five or more employees. Methods: The empirical data used in this study are the Occupational Safety and Health Tendency survey data, Occupational Accident Compensation data and labor productivity and sales data for the years 2003 to 2007. By matching these three sources of data, a final data set (n = 280) was developed and analyzed using SPSS version 18 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: It was found that a workplace with a LU has a lower OIIR than one without a LU. In manufacturing industries with five or more employees in 2007, the OIIR of the workplaces without a LU was 0.87%, while that of workplaces with a LU was much lower at 0.45%. In addition, workplaces with an established OSHC had a lower OIIR than those without an OSHC. Conclusion: It was found that the OIIR of workplaces with a LU is lower than those without a LU. Moreover, those with the OSHC usually had a lower OIIR than those without. The workplace OIIR may have an impact on management performance because the rate is negatively correlated with labor productivity and sales. In the long run, the OIIR of workplaces will be reduced when workers and employers join forces and recognize that the safety and health activities of the workplace are necessary, not only for securing the health rights of the workers, but also for raising labor productivity.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.4
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• pp.5-29
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• 1995

Occupational health services in Korea have been operated as dual types : one is operated by occupational health care manager and the other is health care agency without their own personnel. The performance of occupational health service should be different due to the variety of characteristics of health care manager and workplace, qualification of health care manager. This study is to analyze performance of occupational health care services with a particular consideration of job performance shape and efficiency, based on comparing those two types of health care management to show on the basic data for the settlement of more qualitative health care management system at workplace. For this study, total 391 places in Seoul and Inchon city area ; 154 places (39.4%) managed by designated health care manager and 237 places (60.6%) by the agency with their commission are selected as research samples. Tools for data collection are questionnares that have been investigated during the period of 20 September 1993-20 December 1993. Those data are compared with percentiles, mean, standard deviation and B/C ratio using SPSS PC program. Conclusions observed from the tests and each comparison could be summerized as follows : 1. Occupational health care have been accomplished at workplaces with designated people than with agencies people, and coverage rate of the occupational health care services has differences, due to management types. The reason of these results is due to visit only one or two times monthly by the agencies, while their own health care manager obsess, at the workplaces all the times. 2. Most of the expense for environmental control of all health care services expenditures shows that there is almost no fundamental improvement because more expenses are needed for procuring personal protective equipment and measuring work environment instead of environmental improvement. 3. It is investigated how much the cost of occupational health care services needs per worker, and calculated how much the cost needs per service hour per worker. The results from this show that the cost of occupational health services at workplaces with their own managers used less than the cost of health care agencies, eventually the former gives better services with less cost than the latter. 4. Benefit/Cost ratio is also produced by total benefit/total cost. The result from the above way reads 4.57 as a whole, while their own manager having workplaces reads 4.82 and the agencies do l.56. Even if their own manager performing workplaces spent more cost, this system produces more benefit than the agencies management. 5. The B/C ratio for medical organization such as local clinic, health care center and pharmacy shows more than or equal to at the workplaces controlled by the agencies. It is inferred that benefit would be much less than the cost used, with so being inefficient. 6. It is assumed that the efficiency ratio of health education is equal to reduction rate of workers medical organization visit. Estimated reduction rate 5%, 10%, 15%, show that the efficiency ratio of health education have an effect on producing benefits. It is estimated that more benefit can be produced if more qualitative education will be provided for enhancing health care efficiency. 7. Results of this study cannot be generalized because there are large scale of deviation in case of workplaces with less than 300 full time workers, but B/C ratio reads 2.69 as a whole and 3.25 at workplaces with their own health care manager are higher than 1.63 at the workplaces manged by the agencies. Finally, all the benefit concerning health care services could not be quantified, measured and shown on the value of money. This is a reason that a considerable part of benefits are so underestimated. This is also thought that measurement tools should be developed for measuring benefits of health care services with a comprehensive quantification. in the future. It is also expected that efficiency of occupational health care services should be investigated using cost-effectiveness analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.313-321
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• 1996

Our laboratoy has been participated in Proficiency Analytical Testing (PAT) program which is operated by the Americal Industrial Hygiene Association in cooperation with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The program is designed to assist a laboratory improve its analytical performance by providing samples on a quarterly basis, evaluating the results, and providing reports on how well the laboratory performed. Evaluation of the results reported here covers five rounds of the PAT program (round 121~round 125). The way a laboratory is evaluated by PAT program is as follows: 1) There is no overall proficiency rating given to a laboratory. 2) A proficiency rating is given for each type of analyze (i.e., metals, silica, asbestos, solvents) that a laboratory analyzed. 3) Proficiency is rated acceptable ("A") if Z score lies between -3 and +3, and unacceptable if Z score is either higher than +3 ("H") or lower than -3 ("Lo"). Z score = (reported data - reference value) / standard deviation 4) For a laboratory to be rated proficient it must either have had no outliers over the most recent two rounds or of the samples actually analyzed over the past year (past four rounds), 75 % or more of the analyze sample results must be acceptable. According to the above rating criteria of PAT program, performance of metals including cadmium, lead, chromium and zinc, and asbestos sample analyses were rated acceptable ("A"). For silica analyses, all samples except one out of four samples in round 122 was rated high("H") were acceptable showing 95 % of ing 95 % of acceptance rate (19/20) throughout the rounds. Analyses of organic solvents were done on 52 samples in 9 types including methanol(MOH), 1,1,1-trichloroethane(MCM), tetrachloroethylene(PCE), trichloroethylene(TCE), benzene(BNZ), o-xylene(OXY), toluene(TOL), chloroform(CFM), 1,2-dichloroethane(DCE). All samples analyzed were rated acceptable except 2 samples that were rated high; one out of each four MCM and TCE samples in round 121, and one that was low out of four o-xylene analyses in round 122 indicating 94 % of acceptance rate(49/52) throughout the rounds. According to the laboratory rating criteria, our laboratory is rated proficient so far for all types of contaminants.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.225-230
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• 2016

Background: This study seeks to examine the relationship and impact of occupational health and safety on employees' organizational commitment in Ghana's mining industry. The study explores occupational health and safety and the different dimensions of organizational commitment. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used for this study. The respondents were selected based on simple random sampling. Out of 400 questionnaires administered, 370 were returned (77.3% male and 22.7% female) and used for the study. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to determine the relationship and impact between the variables. Results: The findings of this study revealed positive and significant relationship between occupational health and safety management, and affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Additionally, the results revealed the significant impact of occupational health and safety on affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Conclusion: Management within the mining sector of Ghana must recognize the fact that workers who feel healthy and safe in the performance of their duties, develop emotional attachment and have a sense of obligation to their organization and are most likely committed to the organization. Employees do not just become committed to the organization; rather, they expect management to first think about their health and safety needs by instituting good and sound policy measures. Thus, management should invest in the protection of employees' health and safety in organizations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2011

Objectives: Although phthalates like dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) are commonly used as plasticizers and their metabolites are especially suspected of reproductive toxicity, little is known about occupational exposure to those phthalates. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of measuring the metabolite concentrations of DBP and DEHP in serum and urine samples as an indicator of occupational exposure to those phthalates. Methods: Phthalate metabolites were analyzed by using column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results: We detected phthalate metabolites in serum and urine matrices at approximately 10-fold lower than the limit of detection of those metabolites in the same matrix by LC-MS/MS without column switching, which was sufficient to evaluate concentrations of phthalate metabolites for industrial workers and the general population. Conclusion: The accuracy and precision of the analytical method indicate that urinary metabolite determination can be a more acceptable biomarker for studying phthalate exposure and adverse health outcomes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2013

Objectives: This study assessed the status of domestic industrial hygiene laboratories using data from on-site investigation for revision of quality control systems in 2012-2013. Methods: The target laboratories were 60 industrial hygiene laboratories chosen by random selection and nationwide distribution which had participated in on-site investigations for revision of quality control systems from March 2012 to August 2013. The investigation was performed on-site following standard quality control procedures. The score between each group was compared using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the correlation between analytical career, sex, academic major of analyst and score of analytical performance was expressed as Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: The assessment revealed that the items to be improved, in sequence, were effort at staff training (score 65.5), ability to calculate data (score 73.4), establishment of internal quality control guidelines (score 75.7), laboratory facilities (score 77.1), degree of understanding and skill at gas chromatography (score 77.1). Analysis performance showed a positive correlation with career of analyst (r=0.56, p<0.01). Conclusions: The practice of on-site investigation for quality control systems showed the current status of industrial hygiene laboratories in the first trial. There were many laboratories which needed improvement and development of analytical systems. This assessment can provide information for the systematic operation and improvement of facilities at each laboratory. Further practice of this investigation will lead to a proficiency testing and accreditation system for autonomous quality control as is the practice in many countries, rather than mandatory practice by legal regulation.