• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.3-23
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• 2020

This study aims to conceptualize the settlement inclusivity for overcoming social exclusion and the decline in quality of life of older people and to examine its effects on their mental health. The concept of the settlement inclusivity for older people focuses on the immediate environment around the place where they live. We proposed two domains for the conceptual framework; social domain that provides opportunities for community cohesion; spatial domain that provides security of residential area and access to basic services within walking distance. The social domain was represented by participation and interdependence, while the spatial domain by security and accessibility in the settlement inclusivity. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression model was constructed with 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans data to analyze the factors influencing depressive symptoms of older adults. The empirical results demonstrate that increased level of neighborhood network and social participation is associated with a decrease in the number of depressive symptoms. In addition, higher satisfaction in neighborhood environment and good accessibility to public transport/stores are associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Finally, housing condition and home ownership have a moderating effect on the relationship between social network/participation and depressive symptoms level, whereas they have no direct effects on depressive symptoms. This study demonstrates multi-dimensionally and mutually significant associations between settlement inclusivity and depressive symptoms for older people providing implications for urban planning and policies to improve mental well-being of older population.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.108-114
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• 2018

One of the most performed action in daily life is standing up from sitting position. As the population of the world is aging at the high rates, people may face problems with reduced muscle strength as well as psychological changes. This can lead elderly people having difficulties with standing up from chair. Now, with the aging trend worldwide, products are being developed that can support the lives of the elderly. This study examines the distribution of hip pressure in relation to the seating positions of the standing assistance seats under development to prevent standing up accidents in older adults. The currently developing standing assistant chair designed to tilt to a maximum angle of 25 degrees. At over $25^{\circ}$, design considers that older people are at risk of thrown back out of that force and that the forces exerted on their arms and legs can be a significant burden to older people. By considering danger of higher than $25^{\circ}$ for older people which is experimented in the basis of static capturing approach in previous papers, it is experimented people with age group of 20~60 on $0^{\circ}$ to $25^{\circ}$ tilting angle on the basis of dynamic capturing method in order to pick convenient angle of inclination. Moreover, tried to find the optimum angle by comparing the hip pressure distribution when seated at the edge of the seat and at the center of the seat with the pressure distribution sensor.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.59-70
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to develop a program that allows older women to provide voluntary services for child nursing facilities, making those women have more social participation, effectively their spare time and ultimately improve the quality of their life. Results of the study can be described as follows. First, social requests about the use of older women as volunteers for child nursing services were analyzed to show that most people working at child nursing facilities perceived lack in the number of child nursing teachers. Those people recognized the need of using older women as service volunteers for the facilities. They were very positive about such use. Second, it is recommendable that volunteers of child nursing service should be not too much older women, or below 65. Voluntary activities that those women participate include taking care of younger children, reading interesting stories for children, helping works of child homes, teaching manners and living attitudes, instructing dietary etiquettes and cooking. Voluntary service activities should be made 1 to 3 times a week, 1 to 2 hours a time, considering psychological and physical states of older people. Third, such older volunteers should be educated about 6 areas, 'the operation and management of child homes, 'practices', 'child health and safety', 'the quality of child nursing', 'child development and counseling' and 'voluntary service training'. Out of these six areas, 'child health and safety' and 'voluntary service training' are more required to be instructed. such training needs to focus on activities in which older women can actually engage as volunteers. Fourth, it is advisable that the recruitment and management of such volunteers are led by the city and that the development of training programs for voluntary service activities and education of the volunteers are referred to universities.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-314
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of and factors associated with long-term care (LTC) utilization under public long-term care insurance (LTCI) among end-of-life older adults in Korea. Methods: Using a 5% sample of older people aged 65 or older and their health and LTC insurance data, two-part model analyses were conducted. We compared LTC uses and their determinants during the last year of life among decedents in the year 2010 with those of survivors. We also compared the medical uses of the same sample with their LTC uses. Results: The end-of-life elderly were more likely to use LTC, and their expenditure on LTC was higher than their counterparts. Whether or not older people used LTC during their last year of life was significantly affected by age, sex, health insurance, household income, and living alone; however, LTC costs of the decedents were only affected by functional status, which may have been due to the reimbursement scheme of the current LTCI, which is mainly based on functional dependency level. For the survivors, having chronic diseases significantly increased the likelihood of LTC use, which was not the case for the decedents. End-of-life elderly with relatively low social economic status were more likely to use the LTC other than medical services, while the health conditions affected their medical uses most significantly. Conclusion: The study findings provide key information for predicting demand related to the increasing LTC needs of Korean older people at the end of life.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.119-128
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• 2002

This study was intended to investigate the breakfast habits of salaried people. Total 446 subjects (male:256 and female:190) living in Seoul participated in the study. The results obtained were as follows : About 88.8% of the respondents perceived well the importance of breakfast, but only 33.2% of them responded to have breakfast every morning. It was found that males, older people, married people and people with higher education had a tendency to have breakfast regularly. The main reasons for having breakfast were 'for nutritional intake'(42.2%) and 'for relieving hunger' (31.3%). Cooked rice with soup (78.4%) was the most popular menu for breakfast. The time for breakfast was about 5∼15 minutes. The reasons for skipping breakfast were 'the lack of time > low appetite > habitually', but 59.6% of the respondents answered to have cooked rice with soup if they would. The 95.6% of the respondents showed more than the 'moderate' score on nutritional knowledge. Female salaried people showed higher scores on nutritional knowledge than male counterparts. People with higher education had a better nutritional knowledge. It was found that male, older people, people with higher education, and members in the extended family or nuclear family had good eating habits. Nutritial knowledge showed a significant positive relationship with eating habits. Overall, salaried people perceived the importance of breakfast, but had Poor dietary habit of skipping breakfast at 23.3%. Therefore, convenient and nutritional substitute for breakfast should be developed for salaried people.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.73-78
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• 2009

In this paper, we developed the care system for older people living alone using the RFID technologies and the living informations. The care system store living informations, extracted through a unconstrained detection method by the RFID tags and readers, into a monitering server. The unconstrained detection method improved a weakness of existing systems that detected a living informations through an infrared sensor, ultrasonic sensor, camera, consumed quantity of the tap water or gas. The result of this study will playa very important role, as a part of a composite older-welfare services. Also, in the future, accumulated living informations will be allowed for a health data of older peoples.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.317-351
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• 2024

This study aims to determine the impact of digital literacy skills of middle-aged and older people using public libraries on their life satisfaction. For this study, a survey was conducted on 192 middle-aged and older people aged 40 to 64 living in area G. The collected data were analyzed using the statistical package SPSS 27 program. The analysis methods in this study included frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test for post-hoc analysis, and regression analysis. The results of this study are as follows: First, digital literacy competency has a significant positive impact on the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older adults; as their digital literacy skills improve, their life satisfaction increases. Second, digital literacy competency varies based on gender, education level, employment status, and average monthly income, influencing their engagement in activities such as study or work. Additionally, higher levels of digital literacy competency, as determined by the highest level of education, positively affect life satisfaction, leisure activities, and cultural life.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2018

Objective: Older persons with diabetes mellitus (DM) are particularly more likely to have fallen in the previous year than those without DM. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the risk of falls and type 2 DM in older adults who are 65 years of age or above. Design: A systematic review. Methods: PubMed and other two databases were searched up to August 2, 2018. Observational and cohort studies evaluating fall risk in people who are 65 years of age or above with DM were included. This review extracted the following information from each study selected: first author's surname, year of publication, country, average follow-up period, sex, age at enrollment, study population, measurement variables, relative risk, 95% confidence intervals and controlled variables. Results: This review involved nine cohort studies with 3,765 older adults with DM and 12,989 older adults without DM. Six studies compared with or without DM and two studies compared fallers with non-fallers with DM. Risk factors for falls included impaired cognitive function, diabetes-related complications (peripheral nerve dysfunction, visual impairment), and physical function (balance, gait velocity, muscle strength, and severity of physical activities). Conclusions: People who are 65 years of age or above with DM have increased risk of falling caused by impaired cognitive function, peripheral nerve dysfunction, visual impairment, and physical function in community-dwellers. For adults who are 65 years of age or older with DM, research fields and clinical settings should consider therapeutic approaches to improve these risk factors for falls.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.23 no.3 s.75
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• pp.53-62
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• 2005

In this study, we challenge recent apocalyptic rhetoric about idle, burdensome, and dependent older people. Our primary objective is to examine and compare the productive activities of older adults in both Korea and Canada using a broader definition of productivity that included household work. Another objective is to identify and compare the factors related to the participation of household work of older adults in both countries. In order to conduct a comparative culture study two data sets were used; one was the 1999 Survey of Time Use collected by Korean Statistics Office and the other was 1998 Survey of Time Use collected by Canadian Statistics Office. Many countries have been collected a time use survey and used to study labor, welfare, and culture. Total number of 17,730 Korean and 2,729 Canadian between when and 84 were included to analyze the data. It is clear from the results that older people engage in productive behaviors, particularly when the definition of activities is broadened to include unpaid work. However, it is also clear the productive contributions in terms of household work ale lower among older Koreans than among older Canadians.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.17-34
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• 2019

Older women who live alone are among society's most vulnerable people, since they experience increased risk of multiple chronic diseases and have limited financial protection. This can lead older women living alone to catastrophic health expenditure(CHE), which is defined as a healthcare expenditure that exceeds a certain portion of a household's ability to pay. Using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA), this study investigated the incidence of CHE among older women living alone and identified the factors related to this incidence. Applying health expenditure thresholds of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of ability to pay, the proportions of those with CHE were 41.3%, 22.9%, 14.6%, and 9.4%, respectively. Logistic regression models were used to identify factors related to CHE incidence, which include demographics, income, the number of chronic diseases, perceived health status, and health insurance type. The results show that the health care safety net in South Korea is insufficient for older women living alone. The findings can guide policymakers in improving healthcare and welfare policies to protect people from catastrophic payments. Particularly, welfare policies should be established for poor non-recipients who are not included within the benefits scope of the National Basic Livelihood Security System due to the unrealistic criteria of income recognition and family support obligation.