• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.35
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• pp.231-261
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• 1998

This study was designed to find out a degree of social stigman on people with mental disorder. Many comparisons were made. The first was a comparison with the stigma on the physically disabled. And the differences between general public, the mentally ill, their families, and professionals were explored. Among general public attitudes, the sociodemographic and regional differences were also explored. The subject was 600 people, including 300 general public, 100 mentally ill, 100 families, 100 professionals. They were evenly distributed to 3 regions - big city, urban area, and rural area. The data were collected by a survey questionnaire consisting of the Attitude toward People with Mental Illness Scale, and the Attitude toward People with Physical Disabilities Scale. The analysis showed that the public attitude toward the mentally ill was quite acceptable. Social stigma was low in areas like accepting his/her human right. But the public also showed low acceptance on areas in allowing social functioning roles, and social integration. High stigma on the hospitalized mentally ill was expressed to those hospitalized patients regarding divorce against their will. However, volunteer experiences with this population seemed influential in high acceptance and low stigma. In comparison with the stigma on people with physical disabilities, the results showed. different levels in different areas. In regional comparison, the results showed that big city is the lowest among three. And the results of urban and rural area revealed different levels in different areas. In regard to self-stigma, while the subjects expressed low in general, they revealed high on areas like relating with others. Based on the findings, the study would conclude that mental health policy should be community-based, social integration oriented policy instead of in-patient oriented policy. Moreover, the professionals should intervene on the elements affecting both negative and positive attitudes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.115-121
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• 2019

Background: Due to the diversification and advancement of research, researchers have become to deal with a variety of chemical and biological harmful materials in the laboratories of universities and research institutes and the risk has increased as well. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the social safety net for laboratory accidents by strengthening the compensation to the level comparable to that of Korean Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service, when the researchers become physically disabled by laboratory accidents. The purpose of this study is to secure researchers' health rights and to create a research environment where researchers can work with confidence by strengthening the compensation to the level comparable to that of Korean Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service. Method: We analyzed the laboratory accidents by year, injury type, severity of accident and disability grade with the 6 year data from 2011 to 2016, provided by Laboratory Safety Insurance. Based on the analysis result, we predicted the financial impact on Laboratory Safety Insurance if we introduce a compensation annuity by disability grade which is similar to Injury-Disease Compensation Annuity of Korean Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service. Result :As of 2011, the insured number of Laboratory Safety Insurance was approximately 700,000. The Average premium per insured was KRW 3,339 and there were 158 claims. Total claim amount was KRW 130 million, whereas the premium was about KRW 2.3 billion. The loss ratio was very low at 5.75%. If we introduce a compensation annuity by disability grade similar to Injury-Disease Compensation Annuity of Korean Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service, the expected benefit amount for 1 case of disability grade 1 would be KRW 1.6 billion, assuming 2% of interest rate. Given current premium, the loss ratio, the ratio of premium income to claim payment, is expected 41.4% in 2017 and 151.6% in 2026. The increased loss ratio due to the introduce of the compensation annuity by disability grade is estimated to be 11.0% in 2017 and 40.4% in 2026. Conclusion: Currently, laboratories can purchase insurance companies' laboratory safety insurance that meets the standards prescribed by Act on the Establishment of Safe Laboratory Environment. However, if a compensation annuity is introduced, it would be difficult for insurance companies to operate the laboratory safety insurance due to financial losses from a large-scale accident. Therefore, it is desirable that one or designated entities operate laboratory safety insurance. We think that it is more desirable for laboratory safety insurance to be operated by a public entity rather than private entities.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.5
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• pp.25-42
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• 2004

This study set out to investigate the relations between middle school students' perception of body image and their allowance for plastic surgery, to understand their perception of body image and desire for plastic surgery, and provide some data needed to warn against reckless plastic surgery and guide the students effectively. For those purposes, an examination was conducted of the relationships between the individual characteristics and perception levels of body image, the individual characteristics and allowance for plastic surgery, and perception levels of body image and allowance for plastic surgery. The subjects were drawn from sour middle schools located in two regions of Gyeonggi Province. Total 922 boys and girls were surveyed on a questionnaire, which was developed based on the pretest of previous literature, reviewed for appropriateness, and tested for reliability and reasonableness. The body image on the five scale was greater as the perception level was higher. The allowance for plastic surgery was also greater as the scores were more. The findings were as follows: First, the relationships between individual characteristics and perception levels of body image were examined. The third graders showed the highest perception level, being followed by the first and second graders. The girls were more perceptive than the boys, and those who were extrovert were more perceptive than those who were introvert. Those students whose parents earned 2 million won or more a month and who adapted themselves to the environmental changes had a higher perception level. In a word, the girls from the middle class that were well adapted, felt happy, and were extrovert had a higher perception level of body image. Second, the connections between individual characteristics and allowance for plastic surgery were investigated. The third graders were the most admissive of plastic surgery, followed by the second and first graders. That is, the upper graders were more admissive of plastic surgery. In addition, the girls were more admissive than the boys, and those who were extrovert were more than those who were introvert. There were no significant differences according to the monthly income of the parents, grades, adaptability to surroundings, and happiness, which results almost resembled the findings of a study conducted on adults. Third, there were negative correlations found between the perception levels of body image and the allowance for plastic surgery. To elaborate, the higher the perception levels were, the lower the allowance was, and vice versa. As for the items, the subjects showed more allowance for plastic surgery when they scored less in the item of caring about appearance, importance of looking pretty to others, and efforts to improve appearance. When they had a low value of body and easily felt tired, they were highly acceptive of plastic surgery. The allowance for plastic surgery was also great when their perception was much of how healthy they felt, how important they felt about their bodies, how they were satisfied with their current appearances, how they evaluated the appearance of others, how much they were satisfied physically, and how much demanding they were for physical changes. Meanwhile, there were no correlations between the allowance and physical attraction, the degree for one's activities to be hindered, and sickness. In short, the demand for plastic surgery was 41% for the girls and 20.2% for the boys. Just as the study on adults reported, those who had a low or negative perception of body image were more acceptive of plastic surgery. The middle school students were generally positive about their bodies with the lowest perception level at 2.91 and the highest at 3.21. Their individual allowance for plastic surgery was related to their individual body images, which were in turn affected by the mass communication, surrounding environments, and social values. Thus it's necessary for the entire society to try to improve or change the overall perception. Helping measures should be taken so that the students can form right sense of values about their bodies, avoid the obsession with appearance and appearance-based evaluation, and exercise righteous criteria against humans beings and things. In conclusions, the following suggestions were made: they need to develop such questionnaires or tools as can measure the body image of teens and fit the reality. Moreover, body image improvement programs should be more diverse and more applicable to teens. Despite the consistent reports that prove the correlations between body image and plastic surgery, there has been little effort to apply such factors as experience of the life of the disabled, volunteer activities for the disabled and at the hospitals, and others that can induce changes to body image to the body image improvement programs. In the future, comparative research should be carried out on body image and plastic surgery.