• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.323-327
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• 2008

The population of the elderly and elderly living alone goes on increasing. Most elderly does not want to move into another place out of their present living environment. So it is essential to know their living conditions for the quality of living, especially the aged living alone out of their children' care. Unfortunately there is scarcely any house designed for the aged, especially elderly living alone until now. So this study investigated the living environment of the elderly living alone in gunsan city. The ratio of the female aged living alone is about 3 times than the male but the male population is increasing. Most of them are troubled with more than a disease and use aids and feel the necessity of the others' help. The ratio of the absolute poverty among the elderly living alone is about 30%. The majority of them are almost 65-84 years old with living detached house. Most of them own their house. They living in detached house are of a mind to remodel bath/toilet first of all and they living in apartment or row houses have a intention of remodeling an air conditioner and paper walls and ceiling and flooring of all things in house. As the bath and restroom have been pointed as a dangerous space for elderly, the elderly living alone pointed out them as to be remodeled. It seemed the air conditioner in house do not work well in view of their poor economic condition. For the elderly It is needed economic and institutional supports of private organization or government.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.51-77
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• 2012

This study examines the scale of occurrence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure, and identifies the factors influencing Catastrophic Health Expenditure among disabled elderly households. Catastrophic Health Expenditure is defined by when the households' health care spending out of ability to pay exceeds 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%. This study used the 2008, 2009, and 2010 surveys of the Panel Survey of Employment for the Disabled(PSED) to explore how gender, age, spouse, the level of education, the degree of disability, the type of disability, disability duration, subjective health status, chronic disease, the number of household members, the proportion of disabled households, the proportion of working households, the proportion of aged households, the type of poverty, household income, net asset, determine Catastrophic Health Expenditure among disabled elderly households. The study examines the frequency of Catastrophic Health Expenditure with 726 households, and conducted the panel logit model. The empirical results show that Catastrophic Health Expenditures are significantly related to age, spouse, the type of disability, subjective health status, chronic disease, the number of households, the proportion of disabled households, the proportion of aged households, the type of poverty. This study showed that the health care safety net in South Korea was insufficient for disabled elderly households and that a policy should be established in ordered to protect disabled elderly households from occurrence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure.

• 한국노년학
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.325-345
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is a exploratory study for understanding the process of the social isolation of the socially isolated elderly through the approach to their life history. The research was analyzed by one of the methods of qualitative research on life history, the conceptual framework of 'Dimensions, turning, and adaptation' of Mandelbaum(1973). According to the results of this study, the socially isolated elderly people were found to be socially isolated by experiencing complex difficulties such as family disconnection, poverty, poor job and health deterioration. Specifically, in the area of life, there was experience of poor relationship with parent, absence of family, poverty of family and unfavorable relationship with surrounding people in life with original family before isolation. They had bad jobs in the labor market, such as hard labor, delivery, business, and chores. In the area of turning point, we experienced family break due to the separation of the original family and the spouse due to various reasons such as financial crisis, parental divorce and death, spouse affair, economic difficulty. In a transitional stage in the life, many reasons such as the financial crisis, the death of parents, the extramarital affair and economic difficulties led to the disconnection from their original family and their spouses. In an adaptive phase, participants accepted the changed life at each turning point in their lives, carrying out their roles, compromising and trying to adapt properly. He said that their current life, which has entered the social safety net system of the people's basic recipients, has led him to live a more stable life and is adapting to personal hobbies and vicarious satisfaction through networks. This result is somewhat different from previous studies in which isolated elderly people were severely exposed to the risk of depression and loneliness. However, we should also consider the characteristics of this study that interviewed elderly people with relatively low isolation. Based on the results of this research, he presented various practical policy implications.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.221-229
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to identify the convergence factors affecting the unmet health needs of the indigent elderly. The data the study is the Korean medical panel of 2011 and the parameters belonging to each factors were selected based on the Anderson model. We analyzed the general characteristics using frequency analysis and the correlations between variables using cross analysis. Finally, logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the factors affecting unmet health needs. The indigent elderly with no education and elementary school graduates were 1.5 times more likely to experience unmet health needs than the poverty elderly with high school graduates. The indigent elderly who does not work for income, who were employers and self-employeds were 1.5 times more likely to experience unmet health care need than unpaid family workers. The indigent elderly with disabilities in activites of daily living were 2.9 time more likely to experience unmet health care needs than the indigent elderly with no disability in activites of daily living. The results of this study confirm that the increase in the economic burden of medical care for the indigent elderly can lead to the unmet health needs.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.92-101
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore the functional status and long-term care services for the community-dwelling low-income elderly. Method: A descriptive research design was used in this study. The functional status of the participants was obtained using Minimum Data Set-Home Care Version 2.0 and the long-term care services were identified via Michigan's choice. Total of 154 persons aged 65 years or older completed Korean Minimum Data Set-Home Care Version 2.0 on the community dwelling low-income elderly. Results: The average of Activities of Daily Living was 4.19, and the range was 0-55, while the average of Instrument of Activities of Daily Living was 4.85 and the range was 0-56. Among the subjects, 46.1% belonged to the Information and Referral group and 1.3% to the Nursing Home group. Severe daily pain was reported by 14.9%, and 76.6% of the participants had impaired vision. The Activities of Daily Living was difference according to living with, education, vision, and depression. The long-term care services differed according to gender, pain, vision, hearing, and depression. Conclusion: The support policy for the elderly needed to focus on impaired visual and depression to enhance the activities of daily living. Moreover, there is a need for the Information and Referral group to arrange and develop nursing intervention resources.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.79-94
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• 2017

Objectives : The elderly in South Korea are the poorest among OECD countries in 2015. The aim of this study was to explore the health and life of the low-income elderly living in vulnerable areas in a metropolitan city. Methods : Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews with 7 participants from October to November 2015 and analyzed through Colaizzi's phenomenological methodology. The participants were interviewed for over 60 minutes in each person. Results : 7 categories were identified from 17 subcategories: "My life history: sick body," "Living with a sick body," "My poor but precious life," "A sense of distance from the hospital," "Narrowed area of my life," "Thankful for help," and "The village where I have lived my destiny." There is a lack of medical accessibility, mobility, and economic independence for low-income seniors. In addition, full-fledged redevelopment comes to them as violence. Conclusions : The health and life of the low-income elderly in vulnerable areas are products of many social factors, reaffirming the importance of social health.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.241-253
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand the meaning of the depression in low income elderly women. Methods: Participants were 15 elderly women, aged between 60 and 80 who were registered in two senior welfare centers in Seoul. Data were collected from June to December, 2012 after having obtained consent from participants. In-depth interviews were done with open-ended questions about their depression experiences, which were audio-taped and transcribed with verbatim. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis to discover the categories considering their relationships and abstractness. Results: Depressions of aged women were a part of the their life throughout their long lived hardship and was implied unhealed wounds within the relationship. Participants did not know how to manage with depression symptoms that they tried to overcome individually but due to decreased activities and interpersonal relationships, their depressions were tended to continue. They have tried to get out from depressive symptoms, but it still remains unseen shadow of mind. Conclusion: This results suppose that social support and aged welfare policy included reliving the economical difficulty and improving relationships will be provided to manage the depression for low income elderly women.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.17-25
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• 2018

Purpose: Korean society is undergoing the rapid increase and poverty of elderly population. Therefore, the appropriate supply and planning of public rental housing for the low-income elderly is more important. The purpose of this study is to present the basic data for the study and planning of the elderly housing complex by analyzing the cognitive characteristics of the elderly residing in the rental housing. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify health characteristics of the elderly living in the 'Gongreung SH Apartment'. 100 random samples were collected and 82 valid samples were analysed. Statistical analysis was performed using Excel and R for the age, sex, health, outdoor walking frequency and characteristics of Cognitive map of the elderly. Results: The characteristics of cognitive map were classified into point shapes and linear shapes. The linear group was lower in average age than the point group and tended to draw the map wider. The wider the map was, the more the number of elements in cognitive map was. The number of elements on the cognitive map decreased as respondents' age increased. On the other hand it was not related to residence period and gender of the elderly. Implication: The cognitive extent of the residential environment tends to decrease with age. Men's cognitive range is wider than women's. There is no corelation between the number of cognitive elements and cognitive map type. Men tend to have a systematic image of city, whereas women focus on relational and social urban factors. For sustainable apartment complex design, various characteristics of the group including men and women, different age and different health status should be considered.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.675-687
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• 2004

This study is designed to assess the prevalence at risk of malnutrition according to the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and evaluate the factors influencing on the nutritional risk of the elderly. Three hundred and nine elderly (110 men and 199 women: mean age =74.1) who participated in meal service in the Chung-buk province were investigated. Mean MNA total score was 21.9 and women had significantly lower MNA scores than men (respectively, 21.5 and 22.8). In the mean time mean MNA-SF (Short Form) score was 10.7, respectively 10.6 for the women and 11.0 for the men, with the difference being statistically significant. The MNA classified 33% of the elderly as well-nourished, 61.7% as at risk of malnutrition and 5.3% as overt malnourished. However, MNA-SF categorized the examinees 40.2% as good and 59.8% at nutritional risk. Those who identified as malnourished elderly had significantly lower mean BMI, mid-arm and calf circumference, poorer functional abilities (ADL, IADL) , lower MAR and food habits scores, and higher number of nutrient $\leq$ 75% of RDA than those with at risk of malnutrition and well nourished. Also socioeconomic status such as educational level, self-rated economic status, poverty level, and marital status significantly influenced nutritional status. Similar effect was observed in self-rated nutritional status and health status, dental status, appetite change according to MNA score. Stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that weight loss was the most predictive item in the total MNA and MNA-SF score. It was found that items such as mobility, living status (home vs institution) , mode of feeding, and pressure sores were inappropriate for assessment of the elderly who are able to participate meal service program. Also, some modifications of items in MNA are needed in order to apply to Korean elderly. Even though the MNA seems to be an useful tool to screen those old people at risk of malnourished, a lot of work is still to be done with this assessment tool to secure its reliability.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2016

The government has switched the purpose of housing policy, from the 'housing supply' to 'housing welfare', with the Housing Laws established in 2015 under evaluation that resident stability and resident standard were improved. But, as 'affordable' housing is gradually decreasing, residential environment has become more poor. Residential environment is a basic element for the child safety, health, and better education. This study explored that the poor resident environment had effect on the child, figured out the situation on housing poverty of domestic child and searched the situation of the residential policy of domestic and foreign child. The main results are as follows. First, the poor resident environment of childhood has a bad effect on the physical health, mental health, academic achievement and cognitive development. Second, 1.29 million children (11.9%) are living in condition of housing poverty below minimum resident standard and are concentrated in certain areas. Third, the policy on housing poverty of domestic child is almost absent and focuses on the elderly, young people. this study discussed political and practical solutions based on these research results. On the basis of these research results, as policy suggestions we proposed housing policy making based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, evidence-based housing policy enforcement and, residential policy suggestions under the responsibility of central government, and as practical suggestions community working as the subject and related agency's solidarity from prevention activity of housing poverty and child advocacy point and we discussed way for issue and analyzed related laws, policies, commitments.