• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 2012

Purpose: According to the statistics announced by the Ministry of Unification, the number of North Korean refugees living in South Korea has increased by 200 on average monthly in 2010. The number of refugees increased only by 300 annually until 2000. The total number of refugees as of February 2012 was 20,956. This study aims to investigate the psychobiology of the North Korean refugees who consulted psychiatric clinics among those living daily life in South Korea. Methods: The subjects of this study were 85 North Korean refugees that consulted psychiatric clinics from January 1, 2005 to July 2011. This study obtained demographic and psychiatric information in a retrospective approach. Results: Among the 85 North Korean refugees, 75 (88.2%) were females and their average age was 48 years of age. A total of 16 (18.8%) were admitted to a clinic and among the inpatients, 4 were admitted twice and two were admitted three times. As for the claimed symptoms of outpatients, insomnia was shown in 47 (55.3%) patients, headaches in 37 (43.5%), anxiety in 20 (23.5%), depression in 19 (22.4%), etc. The major symptoms represented by inpatients were insomnia in 14 (87.5%) patients, depression in 12 (75%), and headaches in 8 (50%), etc. Conclusion: The most frequent psychiatric symptoms of North Korean refugees living in South Korea were insomnia and headaches. It suggests that when performing psychiatric diagnosis and treatment of North Korean refugees, we have to take into consideration the fact that they claimed the physical symptoms more than the emotional ones. Also, from the aspect that most symptoms of North Korean refugees were insomnia, more profound research on sleep is required in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.231-239
• /
• 2000

Objectives：The major goal of this study was to investigate the treatment outcome of psychiatric treatment in inpatients with conduct disorder and to elucidate factors affecting its prognosis. Methods：We reviewed the medical records of 300 inpatients with conduct disorder who had been treated with a specialized adolescent treatment program. Follow-up structured telephone interview had been performed in 96 patients. Results：1) At the point of follow-up, 90% of the patients were improved in behavioral patterns, 2% of the patients were worse, and 8% of the patients were unchanged. 2) Intrafamilial relationship was improved in 70% of the patients, worse in 2%, and unchanged in 28%. 3) Fifty-seven percent of families thought to be helped by psychiatric inpatient treatment, 6% replied to be harmed, and 37% thought not to be helpful. 4) Comparing the good prognosis group who were all better in behavioral patterns, intrafamilial relationship, and efficacy of treatment with the rest of subjects, the good prognosis group was significantly younger and had more history of problems in familial structure. Conclusion：Although the present study had some meterological limits, the promising positive results in the outcome of inpatients with conduct disorder encourages further more sophisticated investigations in this problematic psychiatric conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 1993

The objective of this paper was to determine the degree of diagnostic overlap. In a pilot study of 56 inpatients(mean age 12) with DSM-III-R axis I and/or II disorders, the degree of psychiatric comorbidity was examined. 64.3% had two or more diagnoses. The samples were divided into the following 9 groups 1) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder 2) conduct disorder 3) oppositional defiant disorder 4) schizophrenia 5) mood disorders 6) tie disorders 7) elimination disorders 8) mental retardation 9) personality disorders Substantial overlap(especially tic disorders, elimination disorders, disruptive behavior disorders) occured among inpatients Patients had about 2 DSM-III-R axis I & II diagnoses. Additional research with increased sample size is necessary to clarify its relationship with other psychiatric diagnoses.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.70-82
• /
• 1997

Objective：This study was performed to identify and understand the characteristics of adolescents who had a history of police arrest and/or were adjudicated unruly/delinquent by the juvenile court. Method：The study employed a retrospective reivew of coumputer-recorded data set on 210 consecutive admissions to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit. Three groups(No Police Contact, N=115；Police Contact Only, N=60；Adjudicated, N=35) were compared on the areas of a) cognitive and educational performance b) emotion：anxiety, depression, suicidality c) personality d) family and life experiences. Standardized assessments were administered to all subjects using WISC-Ⅲ, Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory, Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, Revised-Chilren’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, Suicide Ideation Questionnarie, Suicide Behavior Interive, Life Events Checklist, and Family Environmental Scale. A subgroup of the subjects, 60 cases also received a standardized interview by Child Assessment Schedule. Results：The characteristic findings of the delinquent group(the police contact only and adjudicated subjects combined) included (1) a high rate of adoption, sexual promiscuity, out of home placement, and repeated psychiatric hospitalization, (2) low verbal IQ scores and educational achievements, (3) high impulsivity, low social conformity, and high forcefulness in personality inventory, (4) low activityrecreation orientation and low moral religious emphasis in family environment, (5)a high frequency of adverse life experiences, (6) among 3 groups, the Police Contact Only group showed the lowest depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation scores, (7) a high diagnostic frequency of conduct disorder, ODD, and ADHD. Conclusions：The adolescent psychiatric inpatients with a delinquent history presented with a certain clinical, family, psychometric characteristics that warrant specific clinical intervention strategies for their cognitive deficits, an impulsive personality style, family dysfunction with adverse life experiences and disruptive behavioral disorders, different from the rest of adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

• 재활복지
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.113-130
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of guided imagery activities using music on both mood states and physiological responses of psychiatric inpatients. The experimental group was consisted of 27 psychiatric patients participating in the guided imagery activities using music for 11 minutes. Also, the control group was formed with 27 psychiatric patients with non-musical intervention. Mood states, blood pressure, pulse and skin temperature were checked before and after session. We could see the significant difference in the score of five areas-tension, depression, anger, vigor, fatigue-showed most differences in score. Also, the score of skin temperature of both experimental group and between two groups showed significant differences, too. Therefore, we can conclude that these results were showing that guided imagery activities using music was an effective nursing intervention method for altering mood state of psychiatric patients. Besides, it seemed to have physiological impact to make patients relax tension backed up by change of skin temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.141-150
• /
• 2013

Objectives : The objective of this report is to identify the utilization of hospital school service during hospitalization among patients in their childhood and adolescence with psychiatric disorders. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical record of child and adolescent psychiatric who were hospitalized during March 2009 through October 2012. We compared the one-year successful schooling and outpatient follow up rate between users and nonusers of the inpatient hospital school service. The hospital schooling experiences of the users were investigated upon follow-up visits to the outpatient clinic. Results : Sixty-three students received hospital school service during hospitalization among total 122 child and adolescent inpatients. Hospital school participants showed a significantly higher school reentry rate (61.9%) than non-participants (40.7%). However, there was no difference on follow up rate between the two groups. More than 60% of the 22 interviewed participants expressed an above-average level of satisfaction about hospital school service. Conclusion : Many patients with mental illness experience difficulty in receiving school education during treatment. That induces deterioration in disease, academic failure, poor social skills, low self-esteem, economic difficulties, and future job opportunities. The results of this study emphasize the importance of hospital school service and offer useful guidance for hospital school operation.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.42 no.7
• /
• pp.1062-1069
• /
• 2012

Purpose: Meager research has been carried out to determine the effectiveness of the token economy among patients behaving violently in mental hospitals. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Short-Term Token Economy (STTE) on violent behavior among chronic psychiatric in-patients. Methods: A nonequivalent control group design method was utilized. Participants in an experimental group (n=22) and control group (n=22) took part in this study from January to April, 2008. Observation on aggressive behavior among male in-patients in one hospital as a baseline was made during the week before the behavior modification program and measurement of aggressive behavior was done using the Overt Aggression Scale (OAS), which includes verbal attacks, property damage and physical attacks. Results: The aggressive behavior scores of the experimental group decreased, those of the control group, scores showed an increase after the eight-week behavior modification program utilizing STTE. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that STTE is effective in reducing the incidence of aggressive behavior among male in-patients in psychiatric hospitals. The outcome of this study should be helpful in reducing the use of coercive measures or psychoactive medication in controlling the violent behavior among in-patients in hospitals.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.53-60
• /
• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the magnitude of and the factors associated with the downward mobility of first-episode psychiatric patients. Methods: This study used the claims data from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The study population included 19 293 first-episode psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision [ICD-10] code F10), schizophrenia and related disorders (ICD-10 codes F20-F29), and mood disorders (ICD-10 codes F30-F33) in the first half of 2005. This study included only National Health Insurance beneficiaries in 2005. The dependent variable was the occurrence of downward mobility, which was defined as a health insurance status change from National Health Insurance to Medical Aid. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors associated with downward drift of first-episode psychiatric patients. Results: About 10% of the study population who were National Health Insurance beneficiaries in 2005 became Medical Aid recipients in 2007. The logistic regression analysis showed that age, gender, primary diagnosis, type of hospital at first admission, regular use of outpatient clinic, and long-term hospitalization are significant predictors in determining downward drift in newly diagnosed psychiatric patients. Conclusions: This research showed that the downward mobility of psychiatric patients is affected by long-term hospitalization and medical care utilization. The findings suggest that early intensive intervention might reduce long-term hospitalization and the downward mobility of psychiatric patients.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.103-113
• /
• 2018

Objectives: The study aimed to compare the indicators of infrastructure of the whole country with those of Busan through National Medical Care Psychiatric (hospital level) Quality Assesment and to provide the basic evidence for presenting vision and strategies of mental health policy. Methods: National Medical Care Psychiatric (hospital level) Quality Assesment Data was used from 2011 to 2015. A total of 8 indicators were analyzed including facility and workforce. Results: The median value of the capacity per ward was decreasing with years both whole country and Busan. The number of beds out of total inpatient occupancy was improved over the years. There was no clear change in the number of inpatients per toilet in the hospitalized ward, but the indicator was decreasing obviously. Therefore, the median value of whole country and Busan was same with 10.2 in 2015. Conclusions: We confirmed that indicators for infrastructure were improving in a generally positive change over the years. The infrastructure is related to the patient-centered treatment environment, and the workforce is related to the quality of care. Therefore, the structural area should be continuously evaluated and improved.

• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.38-44
• /
• 2020

Objectives: Dehospitalization of long-term inpatients with schizophrenia can be difficult because of complex factors such as chronic symptoms and low family and social support. The aim of this study was to identify factors related to dehospitalization and readmission of long-term inpatients with schizophrenia. Methods: This retrospective study reviewed the medical records of patients discharged from a psychiatric hospital in Yongin, South Korea, from February 1, 2016, to July 31, 2017. Patients who were hospitalized for over 3 months were divided into two groups: readmission (n=47) and dehospitalization (n=55). Differences in sociodemographic and clinical factors were analyzed between the two groups. Results: Regarding sociodemographic characteristics, female sex, familylessness, discharge to nursing homes, and discharge after symptom improvement were more prevalent in the dehospitalization group, whereas male sex, having a sibling as next of kin, and discharge because of other problems were more prevalent in the readmission group. Among clinical characteristics, hospital stay was longer in the readmission group. Conclusion: In this study, patients without a family showed a tendency to not be readmitted when they were discharged to nursing homes after symptom improvement. Expansion of social welfare support may encourage dehospitalization of long-term inpatients with schizophrenia.