• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.354-377
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• 2002

Aging population is a global trend and Korea is no exception. Due to the progress of the medical and scientific sectors, increase in the average lifetime incurred increase in the number of elderly people. Meanwhile, the family function of supporting the elderly has become a major issue in a society due to the changes in the society's structure and increased entry of the women into the workforce. As a means to substitute the protection of the elderly who are not protected at their respective homes and to replace the tending needs, weekly protection centers and short-stay centers for the elderly were established and operated in Seoul since 1992. However, structured and satisfactory services are not yet to be provided, thus this research intends to understand the current situation at the short-stay centers for the elderly, to identify users' characteristics and to conduct study on nursing need for the health reasons so that the results of the research can be utilized as basic data for the development of nursing care program. Towards this end, this research targeted 142 elderly people who were undergoing treatment at the 11 short-stay centers for the elderly out of total of 13 located in Seoul that were willing to cooperate. The research was conducted from April to May 2002, with the measurement tool developed by Rhee, Seon-ja (2001) to measure the level of nursing need. Then data was collected and analyzed using SPSS program. The results are as follows. The general characteristics of users of the short-stay centers for the elderly were: 123 females $(86.6\%)$, 19 males $(13.4\%)$ and 72 elderly were over the age of 80 $(50.7\%)$. Among these, 24$(16.9\%)$ were living by themselves. Among the illnesses that the subjects were inflicted with were: dementia $(54.2\%)$, stroke $(54.1\%)$ and high blood pressure $(50.7\%)$, in the respective order. Despite the fact that they were diagnosed with illnesses, $47.2\%$ responded that they do not undergo special treatment due to financial reasons. When the level of needs for nursing care among the elderly who use the short-stay centers is divided into informational. physical. and emotional need levels and scored between zero to two, the level of emotional need is the highest with 1.80, followed by physical (1.45) and informational (1.44) need levels. As for the realities of services at the centers and improvement areas, restriction on term was cited as the greatest inconvenience with $38.7\%$, followed by lack of budget (24 respondents, $16.9\%$). Wishful services were financial assistance $(46.5\%)$, medical and nursing services $(40.1\%)$, meal provision service $(8.5\%)$ and counseling service $(4.9\%)$, in the respective order. Based on the above mentioned results, the research identified the need to develop nursing program for the patients of dementia that can be applied onto the short-stay centers and the need to develop volunteer service, backed by societal support. Also, placement of specialized cadre of professionals is needed so that medical and nursing service functions can be provided in a complementary manner.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.86-97
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• 1978

The mobile medical service has been operated for many years by a number of medical schools and hospitals as a most convenient means of medical service delivery to the people residing in such area where the geographical and socioeconomic conditions are not good enough to enjoy modern medical care. Despite of official appraisal showing off simply with numbers of outpatients treated and medical persons participated, however, as well recognized, the capability (in respect of budget, equipment and time) of those mobile medical teams is so limitted that it often discourages the recipients as well as medical participants themselves. In the midst of rising need to secure medical service of good quality to all parts of the country, and of developing concept of primary health care system, authors evaluated the effectiveness of and problems associated with mobile medical servies program through the community diagnosis of a village (Opo-myun, Kwangju-gun) to obtain the information which may be halpful for future improvement. 1. Owing to the nationwide Sae-Maul movement powerfully practiced during last several years, living environment of farm villages generally and remarkably improved including houses, water supply and wastes disposal etc. Neverthless, due to limitations in budget time and lack of knowledge (probably the most important), these improvements tend to keep up appearances only and are far from the goal which may being practical benefit in promoting the health of the community. 2. As a result of intensive population policy led by the government since 1962, there has been considerable advances in understanding and the rate of practicing family planning through out the villages and yet, one should see many things, especially education, to be done. Fifty eight per cent of mothers have not received prenatal check and the care for most (72%) delivery was offered by laymen at home. 3. Approximately seven per cent of the population was reported to have chronic illness but since only a few (practically none) of the people has had physical check up by doctors, the actual prevalence of chronic diseases may reach many times of the reported. The same fact was observed also in prevalence of tuberculosis; the patients registered at local health center totaled 31 comprising only 0.51% while the numbers in two neighboring villages (designated as demonstration area of tuberculosis control and mass examination was done recently) were 3.5 and 4.0% respectively. Prevalence rate of all dieseses and injuries expereinced during one month (July, 1977) was 15.8%. Only one tenth of those patients received treatment by physicians and one fifth was not treated at all. The situation was worse as for the chronic patients; 84% of all cases either have never been treated or discontinued therapy, and the main reasons were known to be financial difficulty and ignorance or indifference. 4. Among the patients treated by our mobile clinic, one third was chronic cases and 45% of all patients, by the opinion of doctors attended, were those who may be treated by specially trained nurses or other paramedics (objects of primary care). Besides, 20% of the cases required professional managements of level beyond the mobile team's capability and in this sense one may conclude that the effectiveness (performance) of present mobile medical team is quite limitted. According to above findings, the authors would like to suggest following for mobile medical service and overall medicare program for the people living in remote country side. 1. Establishment of primary health care system secured with effective communication and evacuation (between villages and local medical center) measures. 2. Nationwide enforcement of medical insurance system. 3. Simple outpatient care which now constitutes the main part of the most mobile medical services should largely be yielded up to primary health care unit of the village and the mobile team itself should be assigned on new and more urgent missions such as mass screening health examination of the villagers, health education with modern and effective audiovisual aids, professional training and consultant services for the primary health care organization.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.82-90
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• 1998

This study is attempted to examine Korean teachers’ perceptions of mental health problems in students and their attitudes towards psychiatric consultations through a questionnaire survey. The results of this study are as follows. 1) Teachers thought that 5.3% of their students had mental health problems, 1.9% of students required psychiatric evaluation, and 1.2% of students were referred or recommended psychiatric evaluation by their teachers. 2) The most frequent mental health problems in students discovered by teachers were distractibility and inattention, lack of academic skills, and language difficulties in elementary schools；distractibility and inattention, conduct problems, and lack of academic skills in middle schools；and conduct problems, distractibility and inattention, physical symptoms, and substance abuse in high schools. 3) Teachers thought the mental health problems in students were caused by the family environment, psychological factors, the educational system, and a lack of mental health services. 4) Teachers desired smaller classes, improvement of the school environment, more time, regular mental health education, a special program for students with mental health problems, and the counseling staffs or consultants for the school mental health. 5) Teachers consulted with other teachers, the parents of the students, the counseling teachers, the health care teachers, the counseling institutes, the psychiatric clinics, and the principals in descending order to handle the hard case problems. The frequent reasons for failing in psychiatric consultations were the prejudice of parents against psychiatric services, the teachers’ sense of superiority in dealing with the problems of students, the prejudice of teachers themselves against psychiatric practice, and inaccessible professional consultation. 6) About 20.4% of teachers reported they had proposed psychiatric consultations or had recommended their students to receive psychiatric evaluations.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.19-30
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to suggest predictors of participation restriction in community-dwelling Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) based on environmental, functional, injury-related, psychosocial, and sociodemographic factors. Methods: The participants were 82 community-dwelling SCI adults over the age of 18. They were all included in the American Spinal Injury Association's (ASIA) Levels A, B, and C. This study surveyed participants' participation using the CHART-K-SF, environmental factors using the CHIEF-25 Korean version, and functional factors using the SCIM III. Further, pain and distress were surveyed using Zung's Self-rating Pain and the PAD, self-esteem was assessed using the RSES, and self-efficacy using the GSS. Finally, information concerning injury levels, post-injury period, causes of injury-related factors, and sociodemographic factors such as gender, age, marriage, education level, and residence information were collected. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 21.0 Results: Participants' risk factors were environmental and functional. The Nagelkerke's $R^2$ was.737. The OddsRatio(OR) of environmental factors(referent,0-1) was 40.346. Moreover, the OR of the $1^{st}$ quartile functional factor(referent,4thquartile) was 236. 621, and that of the$2^{nd}$ quartile was 21.174. In addition, the occupational predictors included the "policies" subscales in the CHART-K-SF, "physical/structural" in the CHIEF-25, and "mobility" in the SCIM III. Further, the predictors of "physical independence" were "services/assistance" in CHIEF-25, and "respiration and sphincter management' on the SCIM III. Additionally, "mobility" was predicted by "physical/structural" on the CHIEF-25 and "mobility" on the SCIM III. Conclusions: This study multidimensionally confirmed predictors of participation restriction. Through these facts, we investigated occupational therapists' roles in community setting. Therefore, this study's results will provide useful information for occupational therapy services, for which the goal is SCI participation improvement within the community.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.555-562
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Childhood obesity has become a global epidemic. Development of effective and sustainable programs to promote healthy behaviors from a young age is important. This study developed and tested an intervention program designed to promote healthy eating and physical activity among young children in South Korea by adaptation of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mission X (MX) Program. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The intervention program consisted of 4 weeks of fitness and 2 weeks of nutrition education. A sample of 104 subjects completed pre- and post- surveys on the Children's Nutrition Acknowledgement Test (NAT). Parents were asked for their children's characteristics and two 24-hour dietary records, the Nutrition Quotient (NQ) at baseline and a 6-week follow-up. Child weight status was assessed using Korean body mass index (BMI) percentiles. RESULTS: At baseline, 16.4% (boy: 15.4%; girl: 19.2%) of subjects were overweight or obese (based on $BMI{\geq}85%tile$). Fat consumption significantly decreased in normal BMI children ($48.6{\pm}16.8g$ at baseline to $41.9{\pm}18.1g$ after intervention, P < 0.05); total NQ score significantly increased from 66.4 to 67.9 (P < 0.05); total NAT score significantly improved in normal BMI children (74.3 at baseline to 81.9 after the program), children being underweight (from 71.0 to 77.0), and overweight children (77.1 at baseline vs. 88.2 after intervention, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The 6-week South Korean NASA MX project is feasible and shows favorable changes in eating behaviors and nutritional knowledge among young children.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.56-70
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• 2005

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to develop a linking model between industrial injury insurance organs and local organizations providing social welfare health services, for the activation of medical rehabilitation services for industrial injury patients. Method: Research design for this study was a multi-step research through literature review, field research, and group interviews with persons in charge, to compare local society-oriented medical rehabilitation programs. The term of researches Sep.1 ~ Nov. 30, 2004. Results: 1. Home nurses from Workers Accident Medical Corporation have been taken to be adequate to case managers, who link industrial accident insurance institutions to local society services for the activation of medical rehabilitation services for industrial injury patients. They have been chosen for case managers because they have richer understanding and experiences of objects of industrial accidents than any other specialists, and because they have proved to be able to provide direct home services as a specialist. We have established the center for case management affairs within the workers accident general hospital, organized the committee for case management with doctors in charge, doctors in rehabilitation, rehabilitation consultants, social welfare workers, physical therapists, and nurses, determined objects of case managements from those of long-term recuperation, and constructed a course of case management containing from case management plans to evaluation. 2. We have made files of community resources, and organized the council of industrial accident administration to have it in charge of the adjustment and linking of services in case management affairs. 3. Because there are inequality of community resources between areas, differences in experiences in and bases for linking, and disparity of core organizations with active linking in the system of linking between public and civil sectors, we have taken a system of linking between parallel organs to be the core. In our linking model, workers accident general hospital, hospitals designated for industrial injury, and rehabilitation hospitals are linked in parallel, inadequate long-term recuperation managers are trusted to an workers accident medical corporations through examination by the examination committee in Korea Labor Welfare Corporation, and are dealt with by the committee for case management. Of the hospitals designated for industrial accidents, those running a home caring center provide home caring services for the handicapped at home from industrial injury. 4. Workers Accident Medical Corporation take part in medical rehabilitation, and Korea Labor Welfare Corporation in vocational/social rehabilitation. Furthermore, in the model, the latter should construct a system for job opportunities through Internet portals and provide cyber vocational consultation and introduction. Conclusion: Improvement of systems is needed to apply the linking model to practical affairs. Because this model is centered for practical affairs, it should be put under the analysis of effects, and evaluation of its adequacy to practical application, and its effects and efficiency through experimental running in the 8 workers accident general hospital in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.111-119
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• 2018

This study was conducted to evaluate the converge effects of the Be Happy and Strong (BeHaS) exercise program on female elders living alone, using a nonequivalent control-group pretest-posttest design. The BeHaS exercise program was conducted twice each week for 4 weeks (total 8 sessions). The outcome measures included pain, shoulder flexibility, grip strength, depression, and suicidal ideation. Independent t-test, Chi-squre test, paired t-tests and ANCOVA were used for the statistical data analysis. A statistically significant improvement emerged in pain (t=4.044, p=.000) and right and left shoulder flexibility (t=2.192, p=.038 and t=2.568, p=.016) 4 weeks later. In a group comparison, a statistically significant difference arose in changed scores of suicidal ideation (F=7.32, p=.010) between groups. The BeHaS exercise program may effectively improve the physical and psychological health of female elders living alone.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2004

This study was conducted to evaluated musculoskeletal subjective symptoms and the degree of stress of industrial workers to present fundamental materials of preventive oriental medicine for improving their health and quality of life. During the medical examination with oriental medicine method, presence of subjective symptoms of musculoskeletal pain, Psychosocial Well-being Index(PWI) and life style were checked by using questionnaire method in 474 industrial workers. The collected data were analyzed with crosstabs, ANOVA and T-test. The results were as follows; 1. In general differences according to musculoskeletal subjective symptoms, education level of high school graduation had significantly higher distribution than that of below middle school or above university graduation in the pain present group. 2. In the musculoskeletal subjective symptoms and the degree of stress, all of Factor1, Factor2. Factor3, Factor4. and PWI had higher score in pain present group than in pain free group and the difference was statistically significant. 3. According to degree of stress and general character of subjects, single and education level of high school graduation had high score in Factor2, Factor3 and PWI. Factor1 and Factor3 was high in income group of low 1.49 million won. Factor2, Factor4, and PWI was high significantly in income group of 1.50 - 2.99 million won. In job type, manufacturing worker group had significantly high score in Factor3. 4. In degree of stress and life style difference, there was significant difference in PWI score in the field of alcohol chinking, smoking, exercise, obesity except sleeping hours. In the present study. as a result, it is found out that musculoskeletal subjective symptoms present group had higher score in psychosocial stress across the fields than symptom-free group and it is recommended that continuous studies on the relationship of job-related musculoskeletal disorders and psychosocial stress should be performed for improvement and prevention of mental and physical health of industrial worke

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.631-647
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of climacteric women's attitude to developmental phenomena and their menopausal symptoms on their meaning of life in an attempt to provide some information on the improvement of climacteric women's quality of life. The subjects in this study were 313 women who resided in different regions involving a large city D and another city C. They were aged between 40 and 60 and were going through their menopause. They were aged between 40 and 60 and were going through their menopause. The subjects were selected by convenient sampling, which was one of nonprobability sampling methods. The collected data were analyzed by the statistical package SPSS. The major findings of the study were as follows: First, the climacteric women didn't take a positive attitude toward developmental phenomena. They occasionally suffered severe menopausal symptoms, and they didn't find a great meaning in their life. Second, the climacteric women found a more meaning in their life when they took a more positive attitude to developmental phenomena, and those who underwent severer menopausal symptoms found a less meaning in their life. Third, the climacteric women's meaning of life was under the influence of their attitude toward developmental phenomena and menopausal symptoms. Specifically, their attitude to menopause and mental symptoms had a large impact on that. Given the findings of the study, social welfare intervention should be provided for climacteric women to promote their physical health related to menopausal symptoms and psychological health related to attitude toward developmental phenomena to find a more meaning in their life. Besides, local welfare centers should be open to climacteric women as one of governmental policies so that they could lead a healthy life. Education should be provided for them to be ready for their own menopause, and social welfare counseling service should be offered from diverse angles

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.480-494
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• 2023

Objectives: This study sought to assess the effectiveness of community-based nutrition counseling on improving nutritional status, managing complex chronic diseases, and enhancing the quality of life for elderly individuals with chronic conditions, particularly in older adults with high levels of food insecurity and multiple chronic illnesses. Methods: Thirty elderly subjects with diabetes and hypertension who were registered at local Senior Welfare Center received individualized nutrition counseling, based on their Nutrition Quotient for the Elderly (NQ-E) index. Over a 16-week period, they received tailored counseling and underwent various health and nutritional assessments. The final analysis included 28 participants after two dropped out. Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS v28.0. Results: The subjects were over 70, with multiple chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension and predominantly female. After 16 weeks, significant improvements were observed in the subjects' grip strength, and HbA1c levels, as well as in their NQ-E scores, indicating improved dietary balance and diversity. There were no significant improvements in the 'Moderation' subdomain of the NQ-E index, suggesting that this aspect requires further attention in nutritional counseling. The subjects' nutritional risk scores (NSI) were also significantly decreased, indicating less nutritional risk. Lastly, as measured by the SF-36K, the subjects' quality of life showed significant improvement in several domains including physical role performance and social function. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that tailored nutrition counseling, based on the NQ-E index, can improve elderly health, manage chronic diseases, and enhance quality of life. This approach potentially broadens the scope of community nutritionists' roles within an aging society. However, additional research is necessary to evaluate these interventions' long-term effects and sustainability.