• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.24-33
• /
• 2023

This research aimed to validate the Korean version of the Workforce Agility Scale (K-WAS) among care workers for community-dwelling frail elderly. The study involved 192 care workers from Gyengsangnam-do, who completed a structured questionnaire between May 31 and July 15, 2023. The K-WAS, a 13-item instrument measured on a 5-point Likert scale, captures three key aspects of workforce agility: proactivity, adaptability, and resilience. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to ascertain the scale's construct validity. The K-WAS demonstrated a significant positive correlation with psychological empowerment (r=.560, p<.001), thereby establishing its criterion validity. Although the results suggest that the K-WAS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing workforce agility among care workers, further refinement is recommended. The K-WAS is anticipated to aid in the implementation and evaluation of interventions focused on enhancing workforce agility among care workers for frail elderly. By providing a valid and reliable measure of workforce agility, the K-WAS can facilitate the evaluation of these interventions' effectiveness in improving outcomes for the frail elderly and_ enhancing the overall quality of care delivery.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.76-86
• /
• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to describe the experience of school health teachers in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using content analysis. Ten school health teachers were recruited from 6 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and 2 high schools in Seoul, using purposive sampling. They participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews in person or using an online communication system from January to February, 2021. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three main categories and nine generic categories emerged from the analysis. Firstly, it was discovered that school health teachers had psychological and physical stress to cope with COVID-19 due to the 1) fear of the unexpected infectious disease, 2) burden of having to deal with it alone, 3) breakdown of personal life and physical exhaustion and 4) heavy duty as a health teacher caused by the lack of an organic cooperation system with institutions related to school infectious diseases. Secondly, school health teachers had an increased sense of empowerment in regard to infectious disease management as a result of 1) feeling rewarded and appreciated and 2) gaining confidence and trust in infectious disease management. Finally, school health teachers experienced the urgent need for an effective response strategy for infection control because of the 1) confusion over infectious disease response due to lack of practical manuals applicable to the field as well as training, 2) disappointing response system without an expert response team dedicated to managing infectious diseases in schools, and 3) growing awareness of the need for change. Conclusion: It is expected that school health teachers' experience of COVID-19 will be used as important data for building effective and advanced school infectious disease response systems.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.58 no.1
• /
• pp.237-264
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study is to examine the level of social integration of the person with physical disabilities based on independent living paradigm according to life span and to find factors affecting social integration and therefore to make policy implications for a better rehabilitation system. The data was obtained through telephone interviews with physically disabled residing in the city of Seoul and the suburb area of the city. The final sample consists of 591 respondents. The data was analyzed through frequency, oneway anova, pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression. In this study, social integration based on independent living paradigm was divided into separate but related dimensions: autonomy of activity daily living, accessibility, economic level, degree of social support satisfaction, consumer control, psychological empowerment. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, the levels of six dimensions of social integration based on independent living paradigm were very different and especially the level of dimensions such as degree of social support satisfaction and consumer control were lower than other dimensions of social integration. Second, each level of social integration by life span was very different. Finally, the factors affecting social integration were socio-psychological traits such as social support, rehabilitation services, self esteem and acceptance of disability as well as the attribution to disability. The current findings suggest that improving nay only ADL or accessibility but also consumer control or social support should be considered by professional and policy makers. And differentiated intervention and policy according to life span necessary to policy makers and field practitioners.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2020

Objective : The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting occupational therapist's job stress through meta-analysis. Methods : In order to achieve the purpose of the study, 15 studies that examined job stress of occupational therapists were selected for analysis. The general characteristics of individual papers and the magnitude of the effect of related variables on job stress were calculated. The effect size of related variables on job stress and sub-factors (Fisher z) were calculated. Results : The results were found that the effect size on job stress was not significant in the variables of education level, salary and age. The largest effect size was found to be turnover intention (ES=1.161). There was no significant effect size in sub-factors of interpersonal conflict, organization system and insufficient job control. There was a significant effects in physical environment, lack of reward, job insecurity, job demand and occupational climate. Conclusion : The results of this study were suggested that an approach depending on sub-factors is needed to reduce job stress of occupational therapists. Satisfaction, burnout, and self-efficacy, which are psychological factors, are considered to be needed a program for psychological empowerment in order to reduce the job stress of the occupational therapist with a medium effect size according to individual sub-factors.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.113-121
• /
• 2016

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to identify team commitment affecting employees' innovative activities and factors affecting team commitment including empowerment by leaders and job enrichment factors. In other words, so as to explain outcome variables of innovative activities, this study aims to emphasize employees' attachment roles towards their groups within nomological network, and identify the motives encouraging employees' innovative activities. The research purpose is significant due to the realistic situation of hotel industry. The reason why innovative activities are important can be found in recent changes of business environment. Also, unlike other various studies on precedence factors encouraging employees' innovative activities, this study classified those precedence factors into job and leader characteristics, and it emphasized the importance of team commitment as the process that job and leader characteristics are connected to innovative activities. Research design, data and methodology - The survey for this study was conducted during October 6^th ~ November 10^th in 2014 to the employees who are working in 5-star hotels in Korea. As for the selection of hotels and sampling method, convenience sampling method was used to the employees in 5-star hotels. Self-report method was used in the survey, judging that the employees' characteristics would be relatively homogeneous. 311 questionnaires were distributed in total, and 275 reponses were collected. After excluding the missing and unreliable responses, 245 questionnaires were used in the research. SPSS and AMOS programs were used for the analysis. Results - First, empowering leadership had positive effects on hotel employees' team commitment. It indicates that hotel employees are more committed to their team when their leaders set examples, provide information, and involve employees in decision-making process. Second, as a result of the relationship analysis in task diversity, task significance, task identity and team commitment, task diversity and task significance had significant effect on team commitment, while task identity had no significant effect on team commitment. It indicates that team commitment is enhanced when the employees can conduct diverse types of jobs and get more opportunities to talk with the guests. Also, the repetition for the same jobs in hotel rooms and the space for preparing food and beverage do not lead to team commitment, even though the employees fulfill their duties to the end. Third, hotel employees' team commitment has positive effect on their innovative activities. It indicates that employees voluntarily conduct innovative activities when they are attached to their team and identifies themselves with the team. Conclusions - There are theoretical and practical implications in this study. First, in terms of the theoretical perspective, this study proposes structural framework in team commitment, and it identifies the psychological mechanism in team commitment from the aspect of social exchange, which resulted in identification of precedence factors related to team commitment. In addition, this study presents new possibilities for relevant studies about team commitment by examining the effect on team commitment when the importance of innovative activities is emphasized in recent business environment.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.52
• /
• pp.273-299
• /
• 2003

Children in one-parent families have difficulties from negative perception and prejudice in society in spite of increasing divorce rate and the substantial number of one-parent families. This research aims to provide basic setting-up materials of the equal educational environment to children in one-parent families by examining teachers' perception and attitudes towards those children, and also analysing which factors are associated with the teachers' perceptions and attitudes. In particular, by exploring teachers' internalized value system and stereotyped conception are closely related to the process of evaluating children's personality and behavior, this research suggests that social consciousness to one-parent families should be changed and improved in terms of equality. According to the research result, most teachers notice that children in one-parent families are increasing by number at schools, however, they do not seem to understand properly children's situations including psychological condition. Teachers' negative perception of children in one-parent families are not only influenced by teachers' socio-demographic characteristics, experience factors and children's school life, but also by teachers' own personal value of familism and divorce. Such teachers' attitudes towards one-parent family children are easily predicted to influence children's confidentiality and self-respect. Therefore, it is proposed that the change of social consciousness on one-parent families, the change of educational system and educational environment, development of educational training program for teachers, allocation of school social worker or school counsellor, and empowerment of one-parent family are necessary in order children in one-parent families to have more equitable opportunities at school.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.60 no.2
• /
• pp.99-129
• /
• 2008

This study analyzed the resilience process of persons with disabilities using the grounded theory approach. To conduct this study, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 8 persons with disabilities. In data analysis, this study identified 393 concepts on the resilience process of persons with disabilities and the concepts were categorized into 45 sub-categories and 18 primary categories. In the paradigm model on the resilience process of persons with disabilities, it was identified that casual conditions included 'unawareness of disability before being disability', 'extreme pain', 'repressing psychological pain', and the contingent conditions were 'dis-empowerment by staying in home', 'isolation by himself with difficulty in accepting the disability', 'experience of frustration from social barriers with prejudice against persons with disabilities'. Also, it was identified that the resilience process could be dependent on the type and the degree of the disability, the gender, and the length of time being disability. In spite of the casual and contingent conditions, the central way in which persons with disabilities could acquire resilience was identified as 'enhancement of the power of positive thinking'. The control conditions which accelerate or retard central phenomenon were 'the awareness of not being alone through family, friends, neighborhood and the social system' externally and 'finding purpose in life through religion and help from other persons with disabilities', internally. The action/interactional sequences enhanced the efforts, self searching and active acting, and as a result, persons with disabilities could find comfort in life, participate in society and change the perspective of disability in society. The core categories of resilience process in persons with disabilities were a belief in affirmation and choice of life by initiative. In the process analysis, stages developed in the following: 'pain', 'strangeness', 'reflection', 'daily life'. This stage was more continuous and causal than discrete and complete. In this process, the types of resilience of persons with disabilities are divided into 'existence reflection', 'course development', 'implicit endeavor', and 'active execution'. This study showed the details of the paradigm models, the process and types with an in-depth understanding of the resilience process of persons with disabilities using grounded theory as well as theory construction and policy and clinical involvement on the study of persons with disabilities.