• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.545-559
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• 2006

This paper is to introduce guidelines for application, inclusion, reference and adoption of standards and specifications. International standards such as IEC 60300-3-4, ISO/IEC Guide 50, ISO/IEC Guide 51, IEC 81714-3 and ISO/IEC Guide 21-1, 2 are considered. This paper is to discuss guide to the specification of dependability and environmental requirements and guidelines for safety inclusion in standards, and guidelines for standards developers to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities, etc.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.53
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• pp.231-255
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of social work intervention for the family caregivers of the older persons with stroke. Twelve caregivers were assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. The treatment group intervention consisted of 8 weekly, 2-hour sessions which included education, peer and professional support, individual counselling. Wilcoxon test of the pretest and posttest scores of the two groups showed that those in the treatment program experienced significant decrease in caregiving burden and loneliness compared with caregivers who received no intervention. They also experienced increase in self-esteem, self-efficacy in dealing with caregiving tasks, satisfaction with a relationship with the care-receiver, emotional support. Most of these intervention effects were maintained in the 3-month follow-up measurement except loneliness and the caregiver-carereceiver relationship. Caregivers in the treatment group showed overall satisfaction with the program and willingness to continue to attend in the interventions. Based on these findings, implications for social work practice including self-help groups, psychotherapy for the caregivers, expanding social work intervention for the family caregivers of the older persons were discussed.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.55-88
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• 2012

This article investigates the patterns of workforce aging in each industry, and examines how changing industrial structure affected the labor-market demand for and employment security of older workers in Korea. The relative size of the industries that are major employers of older workers has relatively declined since 2001, resulting in a decrease in labor-market demand for aged persons. Changes in industrial structure that occurred during the last decade have also brought an overall deterioration in the extent of employment security of older workers. These results suggest that the economic environment surrounding policies aimed at encouraging the employment of older workers is not entirely favorable. This paper also points out that policy makers need to consider that employment conditions of older workers are highly heterogenous across industries.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1479-1500
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• 2009

This study examined BMI distributions among older adults in three different countries: the U.S., Japan, and Korea. The paper also explored differences in the factors predicting BMI in the three countries using three data sets: the U.S. Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA II, 8,589 persons), the Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging (NUJLSOA, 2,888 persons), and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA, 2,397 persons). Descriptive analysis and multiple regression were performed. Japanese older adults were somewhat lighter than Koreans with fewer people at the upper end of the BMI distribution. Distributions of BMI among both Koreans and Japanese are shifted leftward relative to Americans. There is less dispersion in the distribution of BMI for Koreans and Japanese than among Americans. The association between socioeconomic variables and BMI is stronger in the U.S. and Japan than in Korea. Demographic variables are strong predictors of BMI in Korea. In Japan, all health behaviors have significant effects on BMI. It is concluded that the relationships between behavioral, demographical, and socioeconomic factors and BMI are not the same across countries. Results have policy implications for the involvement of health practitioners in helping older adults to control weight.

• 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 the Korean housing association
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.139-147
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors which affect older people's innovativeness toward technologies and factors which affect their demand of home automation system. The study collected data from 289 persons who are 50 years and older with experience living in an apartment currently or past. Innovativeness toward technologies of respondents were low level and the significant factors which affected their innovativeness were age, education, employment, marital status, current housing types, health status of self and spouse, consideration of home automation system for a newly-moved house. Education, employment types, consideration of home automation system for a newly-moved house, and plan for moving were the major factors which affect demand of home automation system. Also, older people's innovativeness toward technologies was the most important factor which affected demand of home automation system. Th results of this study explained that high technologies which are adopted in residential environment should be considered target consumers' abilities and attitudes for acceptance toward new ideas. Especially, for older consumers, various ideas to expand their understanding of new technologies should be developed and the positive effect of technologies to increase the quality of their later life should be educated.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.33-42
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• 2015

Objectives: It has been found that health promotion interventions are effective to decrease morbidity among older people. The acceptability of interventions are, however, still troublesome for achievement of efficacy of health promotion interventions. The current study examines the effects of age identity and attitude toward aging on the use of health promotion programs among older people. Methods: Data from the Survey of Living Conditions of Korean Older Persons were used. Logistic regression models were tested using a nationally representative sample of 9,461 community-dwelling older individuals who are 65 years old and over. Results: Older individuals who have younger age identity and more negative attitude toward aging were less likely to use health promotion programs, after adjusting the effects of other predisposing, enabling, and need factors such as demographic characteristics and personal health characteristics. Conclusions: Strategies for mitigating the possible effects of age identity and attitude toward aging on the acceptability of health promotion programs are also discussed.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.67-72
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors which affect older people's innovativeness toward technologies and factors which affect their demand of home automation system. The study collected data from 289 persons who are 50 years and older with experience living in an apartment currently or past. Innovativeness toward technologies of respondents were low level and the significant factors which affect their innovativeness were age, education, employment, marital status, current housing types, health status of self and spouse, consideration of home automation system for a newly-moved house. Education, employment types, consideration of home automation system for a newly-moved house, and plan for moving were the major factors which affect demand of home automation system. Also, older people's innovativeness toward technologies was the most important factors which affect demand of home automation system. Th results of this study explained that high technologies which are adopted in residential environment should be considered target consumers' abilities and attitudes for acceptance toward new ideas. Especially, for older consumers, various ideas to expand their understanding of new technologies should be developed and the positive effect of technologies to increase the qualify of their later life should be educated.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.495-503
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• 2023

Objectives: While older adults using community care services are known to be vulnerable for depression, community care utilization (CCU) may help to improve the mental health of these elderly. To date, however, it is much less clear how CCU affects depressive symptoms in the elderly population. This study focuses on the trajectory of depressive symptoms across years of CCU among older adults in Korea. Methods: Using the 2006-2019 Korean Welfare Panel Survey, this study is focused on elderly born in 1940 or earlier and selected 3281 persons for baseline interviews in 2006. This consisted of 35 800 person-year observations during a period of 14 years. Panel data analysis were employed to construct years of CCU. Results: After controlling for covariates, linear term of years using community care was negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but a quadratic term was positively significant. The trajectory of depressive symptoms across the years of CCU follows a U-shaped curve. Older adults in the first year of using community care reported the highest level of depressive symptoms. However, a significant and steady decrease in depressive symptoms was observed during the following 9 years of CCU, which then gradually increased. The level of depressive symptoms at the 14th year of using community care remains significantly lower than the level at the outset of its utilization. Conclusions: This finding implies that CCU could be beneficial for improving mental health among older adults.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.352-364
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Given the increasing proportion of the Korean population that is aged 65 years and older, the present study analyzed the relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia in elderly persons by using data from the 2008-2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data for 3,373 persons aged 65 years and over (men: 1,455, 43.1%) were selected from the 2008-2011 KNHANES. Sarcopenia assessments are based on a formula that divides a subject's appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) by their weight (wt) and multiplies that result by 100 ([ASM/wt] × 100). Sarcopenia is present if the subject's result was less than one standard deviation (SD) below the sex-specific mean for a young reference group. For evaluation of diet quality, data obtained via the 24-hour recall method were used to calculate the Diet Quality Index for Koreans (DQI-K). A general linear model was applied in order to analyze general information and nutritional intake according to sarcopenia status. For analysis of the relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia, a binominal logistic regression analysis was undertaken. RESULTS: The sarcopenia prevalence rate among the study subjects aged 65 years and over was 37.6%. The DQI-K of those without sarcopenia was 3.33 ± 0.04 points, while that of those with sarcopenia was 3.45 ± 0.04 points (P < 0.05). The relationship between diet quality and sarcopenia revealed that subjects aged 75 and older had a poor diet quality, and their odds ratio (OR) of sarcopenia presence was significantly higher (OR: 1.807, 95% confidence interval: 1.003-3.254, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that poor diet quality was related to sarcopenia presence in Koreans aged 75 and older. In order to improve the diet quality of the elderly (aged 75 and older), it is necessary to develop dietary improvement guidelines.