• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.389-398
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• 2011

Purpose: This study of this study was to identify factors influencing the burden of main family caregivers who take care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases. Methods: This was conducted as descriptive research and data were collected from 255 main family caregivers who were taking care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases from 4 hospitals in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province. Stepwise-multiple regression was used to identify the influencing factors of burden felt. Results: As the score of burden felt by the main family, economic, social, physical, interdependent and emotional burdens were high in order. Factors influencing burden felt by main family care givers taking care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases were changed relation with patient after hospitalization, daily life ability, marital status, education and family caregiver's personality (explanatory power of 24.6%). Family caregivers felt a heavier burden when their relation with the patient was changed negatively or when the patient's activity of daily living was low. Conclusion: Based on these results, we need to develop coping measures and interventional programs for reducing the burden felt by the main family caregivers of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.768-781
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• 1996

The problem of care of patients and families with Alzheimer's disease has become a conscious raising social policy issue in Korea. The government of the Republic of Korea has become cognizant of the situation and has begun searching for ways to remedy it. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive under-standing of the situation in which patients and their families are struggling and the enormous problems of care. With a realization of the urgent need, this study was done to investigate the situation and the care needs of families with patients with Alzheimer's Disease, and to compare the effectiveness of services utilized by the families in terms of cost and effects on patient's conditions and on family live. The Subjects for the study were 29 families with hospitalized patients, 25 families utilizing hospital outpatient clinics, 14 families utilizing day care facilities, and 16 families with homebound patients. A total of 84 families were interviewed by four trained interviewers using structured and semistructured questionnaires. The data produced from these interviews included : the patient's stage of Alzheimer's disease, patient's bizarre behavior, hours spent on patient care per day, family burden and quality of life, direct and indirect costs encountered in the care of patients, and the families' evaluation of the effectiveness of the services received. The data were analyzed to determine the relationships between family charactersistics, patient's conditions and services utilization. The effectiveness of each of the service entities was assessed through families evaluation and hoped for service and comparisons were made between services in terms of the cost-effectiveness ratios. After initial comparison of cost-effectiveness ratios, further analysis was done to compare between groups for incremental effectiveness for each incremental unit of cost to determine the most cost-effective service entities. The findings of the study are as fellows : 1. The choice of living arrangement and the types of services are a function of the stage of Alzheimer's condition and the economic status of the family. 2. Comparision of the cost of care showed that most expenses were encountered in by families with hospitalization, families using outpatient services, and families using day care services in that order. The least expense was involved in the care of homebound patients. The economic burden felt by families was in the same order as expenses. 3. The average number of hours spent on daily patient care was 9.9 hours for the outpatient clinic users, 9.7 hours for homebound patients, and 5.4 hours for day care users. 4. There were significant differences in the patient's conditions (CDRL), bizarre behaviors and the families's burden by living arrangement and /or types of service. However, no significant difference was found between groups in the family's quality of life. 5. The families rated the services of day care center as most effective for the care of the patients and families, except for a few families who had experienced some improvement in the patient's conditions. The outpatient clinic users expressed psychological comforts mainly in that the patient was being taken care of. For those hospitalized patients, families expressed the comfort of being relieved of the burden of care and that the patient is being professionally cared for. Form the analysis of the costs, hours of patient care, patient's bizarre behaviors, family's quality of life and burdens, and family's evaluation of services, it is concluded that up to the mid stage of Alzheimer's condition, the utilization of day care center services is found to be the most cost-effective, and toward the end stage of the Alzheimer's disease, it is hoped that there will be a establishment of long term or short term in-patient facilities for the protection of patients and preservation of the integrity of families for less cost. Thus. it was concluded that the family centered system of care is the most effective for Korea with systematic support systems developed for the care of patients and their families according to the needs of families as the patient's condition deteriorates.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.58-72
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived burden of the terminally III patients's caregiver and to analyze relationship between the perceived burden and the various demographics, illness characteristics, family relationships, and economic factor of the family & patients. The sample of 132 caregivers who care for the terminally III patients Kyung-Gi province, Seoul, Korea. The period of this study was from August to September, 2002. The perceived burden of the family caregiver was measured by the burden scale(20 items, 4 point scale) developed by Montgomery et al. (1985). The Data was analyzed using SAS-program by t-test and ANOVA. The results were as follows; 1. The mean of the family caregiver's burden score was 3.02. The score showed that caregivers perceive severe the level of burden. The hight items of the family caregiver's burden were' I feel it is painful to watch patient's diseases'(3.77). 'I feel afraid for what the future holds for my patients'(3.66), 'I feel it reduced to amount of privacy time'(3.64). 2. The caregiver's burden was significantly related to patient's gender(F=3.17, p= 0.0020), patient's job(F=2.49, p=0.0476), caregiver's age(F=4.29, p=0.0030), and caregiver's job(F=2.49, p=0.0476). 3. The caregiver's burden according to illness characteristics showed no significant difference. 4. The caregiver's burden was significantly associated with patient's family relationship (F=4.05, p=0.0041), patient's care mean period in a day(F=47.18,

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.58-74
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• 2002

This paper constitutes a descriptive investigation and used a structured questionnaire to investigate nurses' and doctors' recognition of cancer patients. The subjects were extracted from the medical personnel working at the internal medicine, the surgery ward, the obstetrics and gynecology department, the pediatrics department, the cancer ward, and the emergency room of five general hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The research lasted from August, 2001 to September 2001. Total 137 nurses and 65 doctors were included and made out the questionnaires directly distributed by the investigator. The study tool was also developed by the investigator and consisted of such items as the demographic and social characteristics, the medical personnel's recognition degree of cancer and cancer patients, their recognition of the management of cancer patients, and their participation in a hospice. The results were analyzed using the SPSS Window program in terms of technological statistics, ranks, t-test, and ANOVA. The reliability was represented in Cronbach' α=.75. The nurses' and doctors' recognition degree of cancer and cancer patients had an overall average of 3.86 at the 5 point-scale. The items that received an average of 4.0 or more included 'Medical personnel should explain about the cancer cure plans to the cancer patient and his or her family', 'A patient whose case has been diagnosed as a terminal cancer should be notified of it, 'If I were a cancer patient, I would want to get informed of it,' and 'Cancer shall be conquered whenever it is'. In the meantime, the items that received an average of 3.0 or less was 'My relationship with the cancer patient's family has gotten worse since I announced his or her impending death.' And according to the general characteristics and the difference test, the recognition degree of cancer and cancer patient was high among the subgroups of nurses, females, married persons, who were in their 30s, who had a family member that was a cancer patient, and who received a hospice education. The biggest number of the nurses and doctors saw 'a gradual approach over several days'(68.8%) as a method to tell a cancer patient about his or her cancer diagnosis or impending death. Those who usually tell tragic news were the physician in charge(62.8%), the family members or relatives(32.1%) and the clergymen(3.8%) in the order. The greatest number of them recommended a cancer patient's home as the place where he or she should face death because they thought 'it would stabilize his or her mentality'(91.9%) while a number of them recommended the hospital because they 'should give the psychological satisfaction to the patient'(40%) or 'should try their best until the last moment of the patient's death'(30%). A majority of the medical personnel regarded 'smoking or drinking' and 'diet' as the causes of cancer. The biggest symptom of a cancer patient was 'pain' and the pain management of a cancer patient was mostly impeded by the 'excessive fear of drug addiction, tolerance to drugs and side effects of drugs' by medical personnel, the patient, and his or her family. The most frequently adopted treatment plan of a terminal cancer patient was 'to do whatever the patient or his or her family wants' to resort to a hospice' and 'to continue active treatment efforts' in the order. The biggest reasons why a terminal cancer patient went to see a doctor were 'pain alleviation' 'control of symptoms other than pain(intravenous supply)' and 'incapability of the patient's family' in the order. Terminal cancer patients placed their major concern in 'spiritual(religious) matter' 'emotional matters' their family' 'existence' and 'physical matters' in the order. 113(58.5%) of the whole medical personnel answered they 'would recommend' an alternative treatment to a terminal cancer patient mostly because they assumed it would 'stabilize the patient's mentality.' Meanwhile, 80(41.5%) of them chose 'not to recommend it mostly due to the unverified effects and high cost of it(78.7%). A majority of them, I. e. 190(94.1%) subjects said they 'would recommend' a hospice to a terminal cancer patient mostly because they thought it would help the patient to 'mentally prepare'(66.6%) Only 17.3% of them, however, had received a hospice education, most of which was done through the hospital duty education(41.4%) and volunteer training(34.5%). The follows are results of this study: 1. The nurses and the doctors turned out to be still passive and experience confusion in dealing with a cancer patient despite their great sense of responsibility for him or her. 2.Nurses and Doctors realize the need of a hospice, but an extremely small number of them participate in a hospice education or performance. Thus, a whole recognition of a hospice should be changed, for which purpose a hospice education for nurses and doctors should be provided. 3.Terminal cancer patients preferred their home to a hospital as the place to face their impending death because they felt it would bring 'mental stability.' And most of nurses and doctors think it would be unnecessary for them to be hospitalized just for control of their symptoms. Accordingly a terminal cancer patient can be cared at home, and a home hospice care needs to be activated.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.457-467
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the main factors influencing family functioning of caregivers in families with stroke. Method: A Convenient sample of 173 primary family caregivers who take care of a stroke patient at an Oriental medicine hospital in Jeonbuk. Interviews were done with a standardized questionnaire including family functioning by nurses. Results: In Pearson's correlation analysis, the influencing factors related to family functioning were ADL(p=.017), level of paralysis(p=.019) as stressors, Quality of relation(p=.000) as situational variables, and family caregivers' burden(p=.000). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed 29.9% of the variance family functioning was significantly accounted for by the quality of relationship between stroke patient and caregiver(26.8%), and caregiver burden(3.1%). Conclusions: Findings indicate that families of stroke patients need family-focused nursing intervention as supported care to improve the relationship between patient and primary caregiver and relieve caregiver burden by culturally tailoring to Korean.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was to identify the relationship between perceived family support and quality of life in hospitalized patient with terminal cancer. Method: Study subjects were 104 patients with terminal cancer who were hospitalized and treated at K university hospital, in Busan. Perceived family support and quality of life were measured using the Kang's Revised Family Support Scale and Youn's Quality of Life scale for terminal patients. Results: 1) The mean score of perceived family support was $4.23{\pm}0.61$. The mean score of quality of life was $5.83{\pm}1.37$. 2) The perceived family support was significantly different with primary care giver, food type, medical period after diagnosis. 3) The levels of quality of life was significantly different by number of children, effect of religion on the one' life, perceived state of disease and pain. 4) There was moderate positive correlation between perceived family support and quality of life. Conclusions: Increase in perceived family support was associated with increase in quality of life in hospitalized patients with terminal cancer. It is necessary that the development of nursing education program for family which help to support the patient with terminal cancer for increasing the quality of life of patient with terminal cancer.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.2
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• pp.60-76
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to analysis level on family caregiver's burden for the elderly with senile dementia in a rural area and to choose priority care group, thereby facilitating the development of interventions to reduce the caregiver's burden. For this purpose, data were collected by questionaire from June 10 to October 8, 1994. The instruments for data collection were Caregiver Burden Inventory by Novak(1989) and Zarit et al(1982), severity of dementia by Hughes Scales (1982), ADL by Lawton (1971), patients' family caregiving activity by pre-survey and reference review(Lee, 1993 ; Jang, 1990 ; Yoo, 1982). The subjects were 60 family caregiver of senile dementia in a rural area. The data was analysed by the use of t-test, ANOVA, correlation and multiple regression. The results were as follows : 1. Total burden was evaluated over average, the mean of family burden was 61.24. 2. Significant variables which were correlated to the family caregiver's burden were the severity of dementia(F=30.52, p<0.001), ADL(F=5.43, p<0.01), PADL(F=6.14, p<0.01), caregiver's health status(F=6.05, p<0.01), a view of patient's prognosis(F=4.08, p<0.05), the number of hours per day spent on caregiving(F=19.64, p<0.001), level of intimacy of caregiver and patients(F=7.16, p<0.001), the frequency of caregiving activity(F=5.31, p<0.01). 3. ADL was the most important predictor to family caregiver burden(R2=0.6611). In addition to this, the severity of dementia, level of intimacy of caregiver and patient, relationship with the patient accounted for 79% of family caregiver burden. 4. The criteria of priority care group were as follows ; the mean of family caregiver burden was above 58, above of moderate ADL, the number of hours per day spent on caregiving above of 8 hours, above of moderate dementia. By the the severity of dementia, number of priority care group, mild dementia was 10(43.4%), moderate dementia 23 (92.0%), sever dementia 12(100.0%).

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.73-84
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ethical awareness and attitude of patients' families towards Do-Not-Resuscitate(DNR), and thus provide basic information required to develop Korean appropriate DNR instructions and practice informed consent for DNR. Methods: During April 2010, 219 patient family members visiting the hospital were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results: Most of the participants preferred DNR to meaningless treatment for incurable patients. They recognized the necessity of explaining DNR to the patient with a terminal disease. They also requested DNR orders for themselves if they were in the same medical condition. In making a DNR decision, the patient's family agreed and preferred that it reflect the opinion of the patient and the doctor in charge. They also agreed that treatment should be given with the best efforts even if a DNR decision had been made for the patient. Conclusion: To make a decision on DNR for a patient who is terminally ill or for whom survival is not possible, a practice of informed consent and guidelines for executing the DNR reflecting the patient's opinion are required.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the effect of food craving, patient activation, and family support on dietary self-care performance in hemodialysis patients. The study will provide baseline data for developing nursing interventions to improve hemodialysis patients' dietary self-care. Methods: The data was collected from 132 patients who regularly underwent outpatient hemodialysis between October 26 and November 12, 2022. Frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data, and all analyses were performed using SPSS 27.0. Results: The average scores of the main variables were 39.55±7.42 for food craving, 77.37±10.50 for patient activation, 63.62±11.72 for family support, and 38.21±5.54 for dietary self-care. The factors affecting the dietary self-care were age (β=.36, p<.001), family support (β=.36, p<.001), and patient activation (β=.20 p=.007). The total explanatory power of all variables was 34.0% (F=18.20, p<.001). Conclusion: Based on these results, it is necessary to consider the characteristics of age and improve the level of family support and patient activation when developing programs to improve dietary self-care in hemodialysis patients.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.25-32
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide the basic data to decrease the stress of the family caregivers. Methods: The questionnaire was administrated to the family caregivers of 156 patients with stroke who consented to be interviewed. Among 156 caregivers, we analyzed 120 caregivers. We evaluated on the stress of the family caregivers. Results: First, the general characteristics of patient with CVA were high at 82.55% in male, 55.83% in infarction, 53.33% in the left hemiplegia, 47.50% in sixties, 80.83% in 1 recurrence rate, 27.50% in 1-2 years of disease period. Second, the general characteristics of family caregivers were high in above sixties, female in gender, existence in religion, married in marital status, high school in educational level, below 1 million-won in monthly income, spouse in relationship with patient, below 1 years in total caring period. Third, it showed that stress of family caregivers above 3.0 score has 8 items. Forth, the patient's characteristic that have the influence on the stress was significant in the period of disease(p<0.05). Finally, the characteristics of family caregivers that have the influence on the stress were the monthly income, caring period(p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings indicated that the stress of the family caregivers was correlated with the time in hospital, the income and nursing period.