• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.417-427
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• 2001

Purpose: The aim of this study is to identify the influence of visual and hearing impairment on the activities of daily living of community dwelling elderly. Methods: Data were collected by home visiting interviewers from 452 older people aged 65 years or older living in community. Resident Assessment Instrument MDS-HC(2.0version) was used for data collection. Data analysis for descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and multiple regression was made by SAS 6.2 Results: 34.7% of the subject had hearing impairment and 64.3% had visual impairment Among IADL. one half of them were dependent in ordinary house work and meal preparation. In the case of ADL. 13.9% of subjects were dependent in bathing and 8.9% in personal hygiene. There was significant difference in IADL performance by visual and hearing impairment On the other hand, ADL performance showed the significant difference. only in the case of hearing impairment. As the result of input of visual and hearing impairment in the process of regression. variances were increased from 3% to 11%. Conclusions: Large proportions of older people living in the community have visual and hearing impairment. It could be confirmed that hearing and vision were significant factors influencing on IADL performance of older people. Intervention and support policy for elderly needs to focus on improvement of visual and hearing impairment.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.340-351
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• 2015

To investigate male office workers' dietary habits and their perception and intake of health functional foods, 234 male employees were surveyed by questionnaire. The results were categorized into three age groups: under 35 years, 35 and 45 years, and over 45 years. The over 45 years group had significantly better dietary habits than the others (p<0.05). The most common reason for skipping breakfast was lack of time. Frequency of drinking alcohol was higher in the older group, where tiredness after drinking was lower in the younger group. The perception score of health functional foods was highest in the over 45 years group. Perception of health functional foods was more positive as the age of the groups increased (p<0.01). The number of health functional foods consumed, duration of intake, and beneficial health effects were higher in older groups. Although older people are more concerned about health than relatively younger people, they did not necessarily have reduced the amounts of smoking and drinking. Instead, they simply showed higher intakes of health functional foods to prevent and cure disease and improve their health. Therefore, older people need to receive education about their dietary and living habits instead of simply eating health functional foods. It is necessary to provide correct information about health functional foods by nutritional education.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Purpose: This study sought to investigate the perceptions and service needs of tele-physical therapy among people in their 50s and older in Korea. Methods: Subjects were inducted during a 14-day survey of 104 people over the age of 50 in Korea and were administered a questionnaire consisting of 14 questions about their general characteristics and another 14 questions about tele-physical therapy. Results: The general characteristics of the participants (participants' gender, whether they were single or married, number of cohabiting families, final education, major, job, physical therapy experience, tele-physical therapy experience, presence of a physical therapy worker among relatives, subjective health awareness, chronic disease conditions if any, frequency of drinking, and smoking) were investigated. Among the perceptions of the subjects about tele-physical therapy, the score of 'awareness' was the lowest, and that of 'resolving restrictions on hospital visits' was the highest. In an analysis of the correlation between perceptions and needs, there was a significant correlation with factors other than 'awareness' and 'information protection' factors. The regression analysis of necessity and factors revealed that the awareness of necessity increased as the intention to use, health improvement, and time efficiency improved. Conclusion: These findings presented the perception and necessity of tele-physical therapy for adults in their 50s or older in Korea. These results will help confirm the demand for tele-physical therapy in this age group in Korea and the need to improve the available physical therapy services.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.428-437
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe health status and to identify the factors related to health behavior in older adults in South Korea. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 186 older people (mean age =68.2yrs, 65.1% Female) registered at one senior center. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires or through face to face interview. The instruments were the Modified Health Behavior Assessment Scale, Stanford Research Instruments for Chronic Disease, Self-Efficacy, SOF Frailty Index and Quality of life questionnaire. The data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: 58.6% older adults perceived their health status positively. Education level and economic status were significantly related to health behaviors of older adults. Self-rated health, sleep, stress, quality of life, health distress, depression, and frailty were significantly correlated with the health behaviors of older adults. Frailty, education level, and sleep disturbance were the significant factors predicting the health behaviors. Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest that nurses should take into consideration education level of older adults to promote their health behaviors and health promotion program which focuses on maintaining the quality of sleep and preventing frailty.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.362-365
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• 2010

2010 is the year when the Korean baby boomer generation faces retirement. With the need for affective strategies to keep this population healthy, the government has placed much effort to increase the regular physical activity (PA) level of older adults. Yet the prevalence of active seniors is still relatively low. This paper reviews the recent government strategies and efforts to enhance the physical activity levels of older adults and the PA programs provided in the community settings by major organizations and institutions. In addition, the problems of the current approaches are shown, and based on a review, the author provides five suggestions for promoting the PA level of older adults as follows. First, specific physical activity goals and objectives for older adults should be included in the National Health Plan 2020. Second, the recommendations for PA for seniors, which include a proper intensity, duration and frequency of exercise, should be provided. Third, the role of organizations and institutions should be rearranged for the proper dissemination of government provided community-based exercise programs. Fourth, a standard quality-control system should be provided, and finally, an evidence-based exercise program, which should be specifically created for the older Korean population, should be developed. Physical activity offers opportunities for people to extend the years of their active independent life and reduce functional limitations. To maximize the effects of government efforts to promote PA for seniors, we feel the comments provided in this paper should be closely examined.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.201-211
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a local community based multi-factorial program for high-risk younger and older elderly people. Methods: The quasi-experimental research design (pretest-post test) was employed. Participants were recruited in Seoul and a total of 98 elders completed an 8-week multi-factorial program for preventing frailty. Descriptive statistics, $x^2$-test and GLM were used in the data analysis with SPSS/WIN 15.0. Results: The high-risk elderly people in the younger and older stages showed differences in IADL, TUG and BMI, and after being provided with the multi-factorial program for preventing frailty, some effects were shown on improving the total score of frailty, a physical function, TUG, BMI, depression, subjective feeling of health, and social interaction. Conclusion: The 8-week multi-factorial program for preventing frailty had positive effects on improving physical, emotional and social functions of the high-risk elderly people. It is necessary to evaluate the effects after individual intervention as well as group intervention and to evaluate the effects of the program by setting a control group in the future.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.39 no.sup2
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• pp.261-268
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• 2009

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of periodontitis in Korean adults and to examine the associations between periodontitis and known risk factors. Methods: Using Korean National Oral Health Survey 2006 data, a total of 4,263 people who had taken oral examination, interviewed by questionnaire, and aged 18 or older were sampled. The prevalence of periodontitis measured by Community Periodontal Index (CPI) was calculated and the differences in prevalence according to known risk factors (age, sex, monthly income, education, residential area, tooth-brushing frequency, regular dental visit, smoking, and diabetes) were examined with chi-square test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to see the effects of each risk factor on the risk of having periodontitis. All statistical approaches were reflected national sampling design using Survey procedures in SAS 9.1. Results: The overall prevalence of periodontitis in Korean adults was 10.3%. There existed statistically significant differences in crude prevalence for periodontitis according to the all risk factors. In logistic regression, older age groups (O.R.:2.94-3.71), people living in rural area (O.R.:1.87), and current smokers (O.R.:1.77) were significantly prone to have periodontitis. People who earned monthly income of more than 2 million Korean won (O.R.:0.64) and brushed their teeth two or more times per day (O.R.:0.60-0.62) had significantly lower risk of having periodontitis. Conclusions: About 10% of Korean adults had periodontitis in 2006. People who were older, living in rural region, in lower income status, smoking, less tooth brushing were more likely to have periodontitis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.408-414
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• 2005

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the sociodemographic and health characteristics on the out-of-pocket health spending of the individuals aged 20 and older in Korea. Methods : We used the data from the 2001 National Public Health and Nutrition Survey. The final sample size was 26,154 persons. Multiple linear regression models were used according to the age groups, that is, one model was used for those people under the age of sixty-five and the other was used for those people aged sixty-five and older. In these analyses, the expenditures were transformed to a logarithmic scale to reduce the skewness of the results. Results : Out-of-pocket health expenditures for those people under the age of 65 averaged 14,800 won per month, whereas expenditures for those people aged 65 and older averaged 27,200 won per month. In the regression analysis, the insurance type, resident area, self-reported health status, acute or chronic condition and bed-disability days were the statistically significant determinants for both age groups. Gender and age were statistically significant determinants only for the non-elderly. Conclusions : The findings from this study show that the mean out-of-pocket health expenditures varied according to the age groups and also several diverse characteristics. Thus, policymakers should consider the out-of-pocket health expenditure differential between the elderly and non-elderly persons. Improvement of the insurance coverage for the economically vulnerable subgroups that were identified in this study should be carefully considered. In addition, it is necessary to assess the impact of out-of-pocket spending on the peoples' health care utilization.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.153-163
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• 2014

This study examines how online community activity influences social capital and the moderating effect of personal characteristic between them. Hierarchical regression and two-way ANOVA analysis were conducted with 9,479 samples. The results show that online community activity positively associated with off-line social capital, and it is observed that the effect in older people is stronger than younger people. This study extends previous perspective on the online community activity toward social capital and empirically proves that the activity have also an impact on off-line social capital. The moderating effect of age implies that activation plans of community for older people are required in order to increase social capital.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.557-564
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• 2018

Along with the aging society, the prevalence of dementia is also increasing. Dementia causes short-term memory loss as well as difficulties of performing daily activities and gradually causes suffering of the patients and their family. In spite of various programs for prevention of dementia of older people are being implemented, there is a lack of developing natural-based program for physical and mental health promotion. Therefore, it is necessary to develop programs for the elderly living alone who are more vulnerable to dementia because of their social and economic isolation. The purpose of this study was to develop a natural-based program and investigate the effects of 10 weeks forest therapy program for dementia prevention to improve the psychological and physical health of the elderly living alone. The experimental subjects were 30 elderly (aged 65 or older) and 31 elderly participated in control group. The Stress response, depressive symptoms, weight, body mass index (BMI), fat mass and muscle mass were measured for pre and post test. The results showed that the experimental group showed subjective stress relief (t=5.249, p=.000), improvement in symptoms of depression (t=4.152, p=.000), and decreases in weight (t=2.686, p=.012), BMI (t=2.629, p=.014) and fat mass (t=2.918, p=.007) after the forest therapy program. The experimental group showed lower stress reactions(t=-7.185, p=.000) and less depressive symptoms (t=-5.303, p=.000) than control group after participating the program. These results suggest that periodic forest exposure can help having less stressful and depressive status than non-forest exposure and the forest therapy program can reduce participants' psychological and physical risk factors of dementia.