• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.308-320
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• 2019

This study aims at investigating the major symptoms that help family carers detect mental illness in elderly patients. Another purpose of this study is to empirically verify the major factors determining the utilization of mental health services with a focus on family carers. The results of this study are as follows. First, the most commonly detected symptoms that caused the family carers to suspect mental illness in the elderly patients were memory decline and other forms of cognitive function decline. Second, the determinants of the elderly's utilization of mental health services included the patient's long-term care insurance level, the age of the family carer, the period of care, the level stress associated with the provision of care felt by the carer, his understanding of geriatric mental illness, and the level of perception about community mental health services. Based on these findings, this study suggests policies and practical implications for the early detection of and response to elderly mental health problems and the utilization of related services from the viewpoint of the family carers of the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.55-60
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• 2017

Objectives : Severe mental illness is a major risk factor for suicide. This study aimed to identify characteristics of patients who died by suicide among subjects who had been received service from a community mental health center. Methods : We searched individuals who had committed suicide in Gwangju Bukgu Community Mental Health Center since 2006. Sociodemographic and clinical data were gathered from medical records and their case managers and they were compared with those of general members in the center. Characteristics of schizophrenia patients who died by suicide were particularly summarized. Results : Twelve person committed suicide between 2006 and 2016. The characteristics of those who died by suicide were male (67%), diagnosis of schizophrenia (75%), aged below 50 (83%), unemployed (92%), past history of psychiatric hospitalization (100%), recent admission within 3 months (67%), past history of suicidal attempt (78%), family history of schizophrenia (58%), poor adherence to medication (58%), and use of daily rehabilitation program (42%). Ten out of twelve (83%) showed warning sign for suicide. All identified method of suicide in patients with schizophrenia was jumping from high building. Many patients with schizophrenia, who committed suicide, suffered from comorbid depressive symptoms (67%) and auditory hallucination (78%). Conclusion : Case managers should pay attention to and carefully manage individuals who showed suicidal warning, particularly with risk factors for suicide, such as unemployment, admission state or recent discharge from psychiatric hospital, poor adherence to medication, family history of schizophrenia, and a history of suicidal attempt.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.59-82
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• 2008

This study investigated the effect of spouse attitude of psychiatric patients on relapse. The research was based on the concept that spouses' attitudes toward mental illness influences relapse, mediated by marital relationship and social adaptation. Data were collected from 102 of the psychiatrically disordered who were married, and analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling to validate causal paths and mediator effects of the variables. The marital relationship was shown to act as a mediator between spouse attitude and social adaptation, while social adaptation showed a complete mediation effect between marital relationship and relapse. Thus, spouse attitude towards mental illness was shown to have a statistically meaningful effect on relapse indirectly and through sequential mediation effect of marital relationship and social adaptation. This study proposes the facilitation of counseling and training programs to improve the marital relationships of psychiatric patients. The emphasis is on the educational program for the spouses to improve their knowledge of mental illness.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.352-361
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• 1992

This study was designed to identify the relation between the perceived family support and social adjustment of discharged patients with chronic mental illnesses. The subjects for this study were 50 patients with chronic mental illnesses receiving out-patient treatment at one general hospital and one private hospital in Seoul. The data were collected during the period from April 25, 1991 to May 27, 1991. The perceived family support was measured by the Family Support Scale developed by Hyun Sook Kang. A questionnaire which was developed by Weissman was modified by the author of this study to measure the Social Adjustment. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson Correlation Coefficients, using the SPSS program. The results of this study can be summarized as following ; 1) For the perceived family support, the mean was 2.63 points and the source of family support was almost always the mother. 2) For the social adjustment level, the mean was 2.62 points, and the results showed the best social adjustment was in the area of parental role and family adjustment, and the poorer adjustment was in the area of work and leisure. 3) The relationship between the perceived family support and social adjustment revealed a significant correlation.(r＝.38, p＜.05) Therefore the hypothesis “the higher the level of perceived family support, the higher the social adjustment level” was accepted. In conclusion, the study revealed that family support is an important factor related to the social adjustment level in patients with chronic mental illnesses.

• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.45-51
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• 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically impacted our society and health care system. People with schizophrenia are more vulnerable to this burden of illness and related societal changes. In addition, they are more susceptible to the transmission of COVID-19 and have a significantly higher mortality rate compared to the general population. In a recent study, vaccinated patients with schizophrenia showed a greatly decreased mortality level similar to that of the general population. However, patients with schizophrenia were less likely to be vaccinated. Mental health professionals should provide them with appropriate information on prevention strategies against COVID-19 and vaccination. Long-lasting social distancing and social disconnection can make people with schizophrenia more vulnerable to loneliness and depression. Furthermore, patients with schizophrenia may face challenges continuing psychiatric treatment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social support and suitable mental health services using novel technologies should be developed and provided to patients with schizophrenia.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.211-220
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• 2018

This study was conducted to identify the mediating effects of the therapeutic relationship with mental health professionals between empowerment and recovery in mental illness. The participants were 168 adults in two community mental health centers and three rehabilitation centers in Jeonbuk. The data were collected by structured questionnaires from April 15 to April 30, 2015 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis with the SPSS 19.0 statistical program. The mean score of empowerment for mental illness, recovery and therapeutic relationship were $60.4{\pm}10.85$, $101.8{\pm}20.70$ and $74.5{\pm}14.30$, respectively. There were significantly positive correlations between recovery in empowerment and therapeutic relationship (r=0.33, p<0.001), as well as empowerment and recovery (r=0.51, p<0.001), while there were significantly positive correlations between therapeutic relationship and recovery (r=0.55, p<0.001). Therapeutic relationship had a partial mediated effect between empowerment and recovery, which was found to be significant by the Sobel test (z=3.706, p<0.001). The results of this study can be used as basic data for development of a practical recovery-enhancing program to promote therapeutic relationships and improve empowerment in relation to therapist of the mentally disabled.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2014

Objectives This study aimed to identify the relationship between quality of life (QoL) and psychosocial factors of schizophrenia patients registered in a community mental health center. Methods The ninety patients with schizophrenia, diagnosed by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision, registered in a community mental health center were studied cross-sectionally. Four trained personnels interviewed each subject individually for the assessment of QoL, psychopathology, severity of depressed mood, insight of illness, attitude toward drugs, social function, degree of social supports and conflicts. Results QoL was significantly related to the psychopathology, depressed mood, social conflict, social support; and other aspects of QoL were slightly differently related to depressed mood, social conflict, social support and attitude toward drug by scales. In multiple regression analysis, depressed mood (20.0%) and social conflict (10.3%) were contributed to QoL assessed by Korean version of 4th revision of Schizophrenia Quality of Life. Social support (21.4%), social conflict (20.9%) and depressed mood (3.1%) were contributed to QoL assessed by Korean modification of the Scale to measure Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic treatment. Conclusions These findings demonstrated that QoL of schizophrenia patients in a community is affected by depressed mood, social support and conflict rather than psychotic symptoms, insight and attitude toward drugs. And this result suggests the necessity of approaching not only to the psychotic symptoms but also to the psychosocial characteristics in caring schizophrenia patients in the community.

• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.34-41
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was performed to examine the effects of the public attention to 'crime of schizophrenia' on the use of mental health services in patients with schizophrenia using big data analysis. Methods: Data on the frequency of internet searches for 'crime of schizophrenia' and the patterns of mental health service utilization by patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders by month were collected from Naver big data and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Services in Korea, respectively. Their correlations in the same and following month for lagged effect were examined. Results: The number of outpatients correlated negatively with public attention to 'crime of schizophrenia' in the same month. The lagged relationship between public attention and the number of admissions in psychiatric wards was also found. In terms of sex differences, the use of outpatient services among female patients correlated negatively with public attention in the same month while the number of male patients' admissions in both same and following month correlated positively with public attention. Conclusion: These findings suggested that public attention to 'crime of schizophrenia' could negatively affect illness behavior in patients with schizophrenia.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.9-15
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between empathy ability and attitude toward mental illness in nursing college students. The subjects of this study were collected in June, 2017 for the 4th grade students attending the nursing department in D city. The data were collected using the SPSS.19 program. The results showed that empathy ability of nursing college students had a significant effect on the attitude toward mentally ill patients. The explanatory power of empathy ability on each subscale was 18% for benevolence, 16% for authoritarianism, 9 % for social restrictiveness, and 4% for community mental health ideology. In conclusion, the empathy ability of nursing college students was found to affect the attitude toward the mentally ill. As the empathy increased, the authoritarianism of the mentally ill was lowered, the benevolence was increased, the social life support and community mental health ideology was positive, so the positive attitude toward mental illness was increased overall. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically train and education nursing college students to develop empathy needed for the therapeutic relationship. These efforts will contribute to the improvement of the awareness of the mentally ill.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.75-80
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• 2023

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by extreme mood and behavioral swings, such as highs of euphoria and lows of depression. It is a socially significant disorder in which people with the disorder experience intense mood swings and, for those with severe bipolar disorder, it is even difficult leading a normal life. High stress levels in people with mental illness can lead to neuroendocrine disruption, and it is strongly linked to aging. When the neuroendocrine system becomes vulnerable to these mental illnesses and stress, it is likely to accelerate aging. And it's the epigenetic clock that can measure the extent of this accelerated aging. The Epi clock, a pan tissue clock, measures aging through DNA methylation, and the degree of methylation is modified and changed by environmental conditions in the body. Therefore we wanted to check the changes in the epigenetic age of the patients with bipolar disorder. While we found no significant differences in epigenetic age, we did confirm the possibility that people with bipolar disorder have different methylation than normal people. We also found that the EPIC array data fit better on the Epi clock than on the Horvath clock with age-accelerated data from normal people.