• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.354-360
• /
• 2001

This study was carried out to investigate the present status of nutrition services for infants in public health centers and the need for nutrition services of health workers and infants mothers. The study subjects were 146 health workers and 197 infants mothers. The results were as follows : At present, the only major nutrition services for infants were vaccination and dental care. Proper nutrition management services were available to infants. Nutrition knowledge scores were 16.8 for health workers and 15.3 for mothers out of 20 possible points. Health workers strongly demanded a well-organized nutrition education program, government support, audio-visual materials and the employment of a community nutritionist. The public health workers, in particular, demanded the development of education programs for breastfeeding and weaning. The infants mothers demanded services of nutrition information and teaching of cooking and menu planning. Based on this, the results suggest that the employment of a community nutritionist and the development of practical nutrition service programs for infants are needed very urgently for public health centers.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.890-902
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to develop a standardized job description for dietitians working in the public health nutrition area. Work-oriented job analysis methodology was employed for the study purpose. Subjects of 38 dietitians currently working at health centers in 2002 were recruited. Based on the focus group interview with 7 public health nutritionists and 7 professors, information about task elements was collected. Questionnaires measuring work performance and self-perception of importance of the selected task elements were administered. Reliability and validity of this instrument were tested by Chronbach's alpha and factor analysis. SAS PC package program was used for the statistical analysis. The final developed job description for public health nutritionists included 5 duties, 20 tasks and 93 task elements. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; 1) 5 duty areas are A. plan and evaluation of public health nutrition services, B. developing nutrition education materials, C. implementing nutrition services, D. networking community, and E. self development. 2) Each duty area from A to E was composed with 6, 2, 6, 4, 2 tasks, respectively. 3) Each duty area from A to E was composed with 24, 8, 38, 14, 9, and 2 task elements, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.254-262
• /
• 1998

The purposes of this study were to investigate the perception of community nutrition programs and the conditions to carry them out, for 32 directors of health centers where public health nutritionists are not employed. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. Nutrition intervention programs were not carried out actively except those for infants but the health center directors strongly felt the necessity of carrying out various nutrition programs. The factors that affect the selecting and priotizing of nutrition programs were the need of community residents, the perception of the local congressmen, and the head of the local government. The most urgent and important problem to be solved in order to intervene nutrition programs was employing public health nutritionists on a tenure basis. Other were securing necessary revenue, precise guidance, political support, hardwares, etc. These results showed the importance of employing public health nutritionists for intervening appropriate nutrition programs and improving the perception of nutrition services for health center directors, local congressmen and personnels in charge of formulating nutrition policies.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.83-94
• /
• 1999

This study was carried out to investigate the general characteristics of public health nutritionists, the current status of nutrition services operation, the recognition about nutrition services of public health center related man power, the job satisfaction and self-assessment and the need for a retraining course of public health nutritionists. The subjects were 58 public health nutritionists who responded to the questionnaire distributed at the annual retraining program in 1998. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1) 46.5% of the nutritionists were 26-30 years old, 62.1% were 4 year university graduates 74.1% were food and nutrition majors and 51.7% were daily workers. 2) Among the public health center-related manpower, the recognition about nutrition services was the highest for the manager of family health section, followed by the head of public health centers, and then the general nurse in public health centers. 3) The ranking of the reasons for job satisfaction of the public health nutritionists was, relationship with colleagues(3.84), inhabitants response after nutrition counselling(3.53), specialized value realization/conviction about duty(3.35), contents of the work(3.10), value achievement(3.08), self achievement/development(3.00), self discretion(2.92), participation in policy decisions(2.90), work load(2.75), chance of retraining and acquisition of new information(2.73), working environment(2.69), supervisio $n^port by superiors(2.67), salary(2.38), supply of necessary education material, technique(2.37), and budget security(2.22). 4) The satisfaction of the inhabitant's responses after nutrition counseling was the highest among the 4 year university graduates(p<0.05), the satisfaction of the specialized value realization/conviction about duty was the highest among the nutritionists 26-30 years old(p<0.05). Food and nutrition majors(p<0.05) and those having worked less than 3-5years at public health centers also showed much satisfaction(p<0.05). Satisfaction with the salary was the lowest among the food and nutrition majors(p<0.01) and daily workers(p<0.001). The satisfaction with the participation in policy decisions was the lowest among the daily workers(p<0.01). 5) The ranking for the level of self-assessment were, nutrition and dietetic practice(2.92), communication(2.80), management(2.77), public health science and practice(2.66)(p<0.01). The general characteristics such as the level of education, major, employment condition, current public health center's tenure, and charge experience of the nutrition guidance work were not significantly related to self-assessment except the management part(p<0.05). The higher the satisfaction of specialized value realization/conviction about the duty, the better the total score on the self-assessment(p<0.05)..

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.379-387
• /
• 2024

Objectives: Mental health issues have become a growing concern worldwide. Research has shown that regular physical activity (PA) can positively affect mental health. This study investigated the associations between PA and mental health problems (MHPs) in middle-aged Indonesians. Methods: The study utilized data from the 2018 Indonesian Basic Health Research Survey and used a cross-sectional approach. The participants included individuals aged 40-60 years who completed the 20-question Self-Reporting Questionnaire. A logistic regression was performed to analyze a sample of 263 930 data points. Results: Nearly 10.4% of the participants suffered from mental health issues. Notably, among those who did not engage in moderate and vigorous PA, a sign of MHPs was found in 12.5% of participants. Those who met World Health Organization standards for PA were less likely to experience MHPs (10.1%). This study found a significant association between PA and mental health. After adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, non-communicable diseases, and socio-demographic variables like age, sex, education, occupation, marital status, and residence, the connection between PA and mental health became even stronger (adjusted odds ratio, 0.81; 95% confidence interval, 0.78 to 0.85; p<0.001). Conclusions: Regular PA has been shown to affect mental health positively. Therefore, it is important to improve health education and efforts to raise awareness among middle-aged Indonesians about the importance of PA in maintaining good mental health.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
• /
• 1999.05b
• /
• pp.97-98
• /
• 1999

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.42-49
• /
• 2005

Many of the non-communicable diseases, which are now the major causes of death and disability worldwide, can be linked to our lifestyles, and thus to what eat The life-style related risk factors are - to a great extent - preventable. Public health nutrition (PHN) policies are means through which govemments can have an enornous impact on the reduction of nutrition-related non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer and cardiovascular disease, by creating and supporting environments which enable healthier food choices and which are conducive to healthy nutrition behavior. More and more countries are developing nutrition policies. Nutrition policies are tools through which governments can intervene and control nutrition-related concerns throughout all levels of society. The need for more concerted action in the Republic of Korea is demonstrated, by showing the lack of priority for nutrition issues. Four recommendations for action are made; the first recommendation places emphasis on the need to implement a structure at the political level, through which nutrition concerns can be addressed, such as a nutrition unit within the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The second recommendation stresses the need for a strong nutrition advocacy strategy, to raise the awareness of the gains that can be achieved by promoting healthy nutrition. The third recommendation calls for more vigorous regulations and stricter enforcement of food and nutrition advertisement, and the fourth recommendation emphasizes the need for a settings-bsed approach to nutrition interventions. Acknowledging the developments that have already occurred in Korea, public health nutrition has yet to become a priority on the agenda of policy makers in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.540-554
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to analyze task performance and importance level of the dietitian who is working in the public health nutrition area. Work oriented job analysis methodology was employed for the study purpose. Subjects of 38 dietitians currently working at health centers in 2002 were recruited. Based on the focus group interview with 7 public health nutritionists and 7 professors, information about task elements was collected. Questionnaires measuring work performance and self-perception of importance of the selected task elements were administered. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; 1) The tasks with high performance and importance level among 20 tasks are developing nutrition education material (B1), nutrition services for adults and the elderly (C3), writing the proposal for nutrition services (A2), evaluating service effect (A4), improving professionalism (E1), and self management (E2). 2) The task elements with high performance and importance level among weekly task elements are nutrition education for diabetes (C56), nutrition counseling for adults (C47), nutrition for hypertension (C53), managing and keeping records (C80), nutrition education for kindergarten and nursery school children (C42), searching for nutrition education materials (B26), and searching for media (B27). 3) The number of task elements with high performance and importance level among monthly task elements are 13 in the planning and evaluation of public health nutrition service, and 5 in developing nutrition education materials. The tasks of a dietitian in the public health center show a very wide spectrum. However dietitians recognize most of the tasks are important even though they cannot perform those tasks adequately.

• Proceedings of the KSCN Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.66-66
• /
• 2005

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.242-249
• /
• 2019

Objectives: Elderly individuals with diabetes should maintain a normal body mass index (BMI) to help control their blood glucose levels. This study investigated barriers to physical activity (PA), self-efficacy to overcome those barriers, and PA self-efficacy among elderly individuals with diabetes in relation to BMI. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 56 participants. Data were collected by a questionnaire interview and direct measurements for anthropometric data. PA self-efficacy was measured using 8 questions describing different levels of PA, where participants rated the strength of their belief that they could engage in that activity. Self-efficacy to overcome barriers was measured using 10 questions capturing participants' confidence in their ability to engage in PA despite different possible barriers. Mean scores for these parameters were analyzed using the chi-square test and the independent t-test. Results: In total, 89.3% of participants had a low PA level and 58.9% had more than 3 hours of sedentary activity per day. Furthermore, 55.4% were obese and 14.3% were overweight. The mean scores for PA self-efficacy and self-efficacy to overcome barriers were $59.1{\pm}26.4$ and $52.5{\pm}13.8$, respectively. PA level was related to BMI (p<0.001; r=0.116) and sedentary activity (p<0.05; r=0.274). PA self-efficacy and age were not related to BMI. Barriers to PA were associated with PA levels (p<0.05). Conclusions: Physical inactivity was a major problem in elderly individuals with diabetes, and was correlated with higher BMI. Lower levels of PA might be mediated by sedentary activity.