• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.53-61
• /
• 2010

This study investigated the relationships between Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), contributing factors, and the occupational stress of physical therapists. Self-reported questionnaires were given to 180 physical therapists in Gangwon Province. Variables examined included the prevalence of pain sites related to WMSDs; pain intensity; pain pattern; and job stress, which is thought to involve the physical environment; job demand; insufficient job control; interpersonal conflict; job insecurity; organizational system; reward system; and occupational culture. Among physical therapists, work-related musculoskeletal pain commonly affected the low back (30.1%), shoulder (29.3%), and wrist (12.2%). The sites of work-related musculoskeletal pain treated medically were the low back (22.8%), shoulder (19.8%), neck (12.7%), and wrist (12.1%). "Repeating the same work constantly" was suggested to be the major cause of the pain. The younger therapists were significantly more likely to feel high job stress due to the physical environment (p<.05), job demand (p<.05), and organizational system (p<.01). Women were more likely to feel greater job stress related to job demand, insufficient job control, the organization system, and job rewards. Men were more likely to feel greater job stress related to job insecurity. Weak positive relationships were observed between work-related musculoskeletal pain and job stress, which is thought to involve the physical environment; job demand; insufficient job control; interpersonal conflict; job insecurity; organizational system; reward system; and occupational culture. Physical therapists appear to be at higher risk of WMSDs because 80.1% of the physical therapists studied experienced work-related musculoskeletal pain. To reduce the risk, we need intervention strategies such as preventive education, ergonomically designed medical equipment, a psychosocial approach to work conditions, improved mechanical conditions related to therapeutic patterns, and an institutional infrastructure with sufficient personnel and scheduling.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.377-382
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the application of clinical reasoning throughout clinical and therapeutic knowledge of clinical pediatric physical therapists under physician prescriptions. Methods: Purposive sampling techniques were used in selection of nine clinical pediatric physical therapists in South Korea. Open and semi structured interviews were conducted, and were thoroughly examined and reviewed, followed by analysis of the clinical reasoning portion. Results: Pediatric physical therapists have been influenced by information gathering, physical function and evaluation of their patients, hypothesis-orientation, and re-evaluation and self-monitoring. Novice physical therapists were more dependent on physician prescriptions and parent's hope than the result of their own evaluation and critical pathway. Middle experienced pediatric physical therapists were more dependent on rapport with children and their parents. Highly experienced pediatric physical therapists were more reliant on hypothesis-orientation and self-monitoring. As reports on clinical experience of pediatric physical therapists have accumulated, clinical reasoning of pediatric physical therapists has been influenced by their experience, such as education, clinical pathology conference, their own clinical experience and rapport with patients and their parents than physicians' prescriptions. Conclusion: The findings of the current study are generally consistent with existing research on clinical reasoning. The results of the current study may be used by educators for enhancement of clinical reasoning abilities and knowledge of students or novices as well as development of a guide for use by suitable novices or students, and could provide important information for use in physical therapy practice and research.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.9-16
• /
• 2013

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to survey the needs for joining of Korean Physical Therapists and the concerns of Physical Therapy students in the field of international development aid cooperation. Method : we conducted a survey of students whose major is Physical Therapy and employees and volunteers who participated in the international aid business of KOICA. Results : The results of this study were as follow. 1) Employees and volunteers who participated in the international aid business of KOICA recognized that there was the needs for joining of 1 to 3 or more than 3 Physical Therapist as a member of overseas volunteers programs. 2) Even though Physical Therapy students have a great interest in volunteering in the field of international development aid cooperation, they have few information. Conclusion : Firstly, there are needs to extend the participation of Physical Therapist to 1~3 or more than 3 in the KOICA project in the field of international development aid cooperation. Secondly, we should be able to give a lot of information and to make a plan for Physical Therapist students to be a member of oversees volunteers to enhance their understanding and recognition about international collaboration. Finally we could examined the needs for joining of Korean Physical Therapists and the concerns of Physical Therapy students in the field of international development aid cooperation.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.183-197
• /
• 1995

This study was performed to investigate the characteristic of physical touch in caring situation. The subjects of this study were adults in caring situation, therefore they were composed of 7 patients, 6 nurses, 3 doctors, 3 pharmacologists, 3 men in paramedicine area, 3 nursing educators and 13 normal general adults. The datas were gathered through nonstructured questionaire from June, 20th to September, 15th in 1995. The datas were subjects' descriptions about the intention, perception, and form of physical touch in caring situation and analysed by content analysis. The results as follow : The datas were divided into four areas. There were the situation being necessiated the physical touch, meaning of physical touch, form of physical touch and perception about physical touch in caring situation. The situation being necessiated physical touch were the situation that required physical treatment, to deliver the active expression of concern about the patients, to determine the treatment due to the identification of physical condition of patients and to induce the psychological eqilibrium into patient's mind. The meanings of physical touch in caring situation were - Good meanings that intention is to encourage, to be have hope about health and to deliver the affection willing to help patient. - therapeutic methods that were to facillitate the circulation of blood, to reduce the pain perception and to facillitate the circulation of qi. - interpersonal affectionate relation that the intentions were to deliver the understanding of patient's pain, were to delivery the meaning to the patient not be alone. The forms of physical touch in caring situation were none invasive forms just like laying hands on hand, head, shoulder, gentle knocking on the shoulder or back, massage of legs and back and finger pressure on acupuncture points. The perception of physical touch in caring situation divided into two parts. In family, the perceptions of physical touch in caring situation were to promote health status because physical touch induce the psychological peace, and to evoke the importance of relationship among family members. In relation with care giver, perception of physical touch in caring situation were inevitable process in treatment, and to deliver the trust and concern about patients.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.247-255
• /
• 2014

Purpose. This study is based on physical and mental health and physical activity differences in Practice rate each physical activity according to the body to target the 319 people who live in rural areas of 65 and older who have chronic diseases Practice rate activities, general characteristics of chronic diseases, elderly differences in physical activity and investigate the factors that influence. Methods. Physical activity Practice rate was used for descriptive statistics. Each physical activity Practice rate in accordance with the general characteristics of the rural elderly chronic disease were independent T test and One-way ANOVA test. To evaluate the factors influencing the physical activity was the multiple logistic regression analysis. Results. Results of physical activity practice was the most flexibility exercise was walking then, Practice rate each physical activity in accordance with the general characteristics of the elderly are tangible and physical activity radish age, housing type, education level, health insurance part statistically significant were different. Physical health status according to the presence or absence of physical activity showed a significant difference in daily life activities and limited mental health differences were not significant. Factors affecting the physical activity of the elderly with chronic diseases appeared to limit the presence and activities of daily living. Conclusions. As well there is no activity restrictions can be more physically active everyday life well. It is suggested that it is important to approach everyday life, I can help eliminate the factors that independently giving limits on the activities of the elderly with chronic diseases.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2014

Purpose : This study is to research about the need of a home visiting physical therapy for children with disabilities. Methods : We surveyed the guardians related to it and one hundred and three questionnaires of one hundred and twenty were returned and analyzed. The results are listed below. Results : First, there are many opinions that a need of physical therapy is necessary, but many people suffer from financial problem to use this service. Second, most of opinions using a home visiting physical therapy of children with disabilities are positive. People who need this service prefer it to manage by national public organization. They also want physical therapists who have worked more than five years to treat them and one hour for treatment time required with about twenty thousand won and At last, in the survey, people ranked solving the inconvenience of coming and going hospitals as a highest expectation and avoiding discharge by force due to long-term hospitalization as a lowest one. Conclusion : To sum it up, high demand and expectation of effectiveness of a home visiting physical therapy for children with disabilities mean that study and analysis are essential to establish this system through implementation on a trial basis within a certain period of time for verifying the effectiveness of this service.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.39-47
• /
• 2017

Purpose : This study was conducted to analyze the job stress factors affecting the job satisfaction and job involvement of physical therapists and to provide basic information for the prevention of job stress among physical therapists. Method : One hundred and eighty-four physical therapists working in hospitals participated in the study by completing the Korean Occupational Stress Scale and surveys about job satisfaction and job involvement. The results were collected and analyzed. Result : The job stress factors the significantly influenced job satisfaction are the following, in order of importance: the organizational climate (p<.05), inter-personal conflict (p<.01), insufficient job control (p<.001), lack of reward (p<.001), and the occupational system (p<.001). The following factors significantly influenced job involvement, again in order of importance: job demand (p<.001), the organizational climate (p<.05), lack of reward (p<.05), the occupational system (p<.01), and insufficient job control (p<.001). Conclusion : The purpose of this study was to analyze the job stress factors affecting the job satisfaction and job involvement of physical therapists and to provide basic information to prevent job stress among physical therapists. The results indicate the need for more studies that analyze the job stress factors of physical therapists and additional studies that specifically analyze the tasks of physical therapists. Studies on how to reduce job stress among physical therapists must also be conducted in the future.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.19-29
• /
• 2011

Purpose : The aim of this study was to analyze the duties of physical therapists by developing a curriculum( DACUM) method, and to present the frequency, importance and difficulty of the main duties and tasks currently conducted in Korea. Methods : The definition of physical therapists and job description was developed based on DACUM. In order to achieve this analysis, a DACUM workshop, and a survey was conducted on 524 Korean physical therapists working in the whole country 84 areas in order to analyze the order of priority for all tasks. Results : This study defined the task of physical therapists and five kinds of duties were identified : diagnosis and evaluation, intervention, education and counseling, management and community service. Twenty-six tasks and Sixty-three task elements were classified. Conclusions : The results of this study will be of help for the development in clinical education and university curriculum.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.403-410
• /
• 2014

Purpose: This study attempted to provide the basic data for the institutional improvement of the clinical practice of physical therapy department students. Methods: Research for this study included 390 participants used for the analysis of the present study. The statistical analysis was of the characteristics and satisfaction of the clinical practices of subjects, the reasons for major employment preferences before and after clinical practices, and the preferred institution and field of major employment before and after clinical practice. Results: The general characteristics of students of the physical therapy department include females in their third year of college at age 20~24 years-old. As well, no religion, usual satisfaction with major, and motivation of choosing a physical therapy employment rate were the most common. A residency type in the form where one would cook one's own food and a clinical practice with a general hospital grade were seen most often. Regarding preference of major employment before and after clinical practice, the preference of major employment was 88%, which increased by 5.2% after clinical practice from 82.8% before clinical practice. The preference for no major employment due to lack of interest and no aptitude increased 43.5% from 23.9% after clinical practice. Conclusion: The number of apprentices will increase despite practice institutions being limited; for practice of environment, content, etc., relatively changes are slow, and progress rapidly medical technology. It is a society in which expertise is required; in the present study, there is a value in providing the clinical data missing in physical therapy.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.61-72
• /
• 2012

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the associations between physical therapists' work-related musculoskeletal pain, quality of life (QoL), and presenteeism. Methods: Self-reported questionnaires were given to 402 physical therapists in Korea. Variables examined included the prevalence of pain sites related to work, pain intensity, pain pattern, pain frequency, pain duration, pain rating score (PRS), general characteristics, QoL, and presenteeism. Results: Of the 314 physical therapists who responded, 251 (79.9%) reported work -related musculoskeletal pain in at least one body part. The most affected regions included the wrist and hand (21.0%), shoulder (19.6%), and lower back (19.1%). On average patients, QoL and presenteeism differed significantly between physical therapists who reported pain and those who did not (P < 0.05). QoL showed a negative correlation with the work-related musculoskeletal pain (P < 0.01) and presenteeism (P < 0.01), while the presenteeism and work-related musculoskeletal pain showed positive one(P < 0.01). Factors influencing a physical therapist's QoL included presenteeism, Working venues (Convalescent hospital), Work status (Contra ct worker) and professional experience, while the presenteeism included QoL, work status (Intern), PRS, working venues (Convalescent hospital), Area of specialty (Pediatrics), age, sex and working hour. Conclusions: Results show that physical therapists appear to be at a higher risk for work-related musculoskeletal pain. Therefore, administrators need to use the intervention strategies to manage the presenteeism and QoL of physical therapists.