• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.260-270
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to develop a program to help emergency nurses overcome compassion fatigue, and to analyze the effects of the program. Methods: A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. There were 14 participants in the experimental group and 18 subjects in the control group. The program was comprised of five, weekly 80-minute sessions including understanding and assessment of compassion fatigue, enhancing positive affect, balancing work-life, planning self care, training in relaxation techniques and cognitive restructuring, and getting social support. Research variables were ego-resiliency, compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue of the ProQOL 5, and salivary cortisol. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, independent t-test, and paired t-test. Results: The first hypothesis, "There will be a difference in scores for ego resiliency between the experimental group and the control group". was not supported. The second hypothesis, "There will be a difference in scores for compassion satisfaction between the experimental group and the control group" was supported (t=2.15, p=.046). The third hypothesis, "There will be a difference in scores for compassion fatigue between the experimental group and the control group" was not supported. Conclusion: The first program for emergency nurses to overcome compassion fatigue in Korea was effective in increasing emergency nurses' compassion satisfaction and decreasing salivary cortisol level in the experimental group. Therefore, this program for overcoming compassion fatigue is useful to increase emergency nurses' compassion satisfaction. However replication studies of short-term intensive program reflecting emergency nurses' opinion are needed.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2016

Background: Previous research has shown that paramedics are exposed to risks in the form of injuries to the musculoskeletal system. In addition, there are studies showing that they are also at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and psychiatric diseases, which can partly be explained by their constant exposure to stress. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the use of shoulder straps decreases physical effort in the form of decreased heart rate and cortisol concentration. Methods: A stretcher with a dummy was carried by 20 participants for 400 m on two occasions, one with and one without the shoulder straps. Heart rate was monitored continuously and cortisol samples were taken at intervals of 0 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes. Each participant was her or his own control. Results: A significant decrease in heart rate and cortisol concentration was seen when shoulder straps were used. The median values for men (with shoulder straps) at 0 minutes was 78 bpm/21.1 nmol/L (heart rate/cortisol concentration), at 15 minutes was 85 bpm/16.9 nmol/L, and at 60 minutes was 76 bpm/15.7 nmol/L; for men without shoulder straps, these values were 78 bpm/21.9 nmol/L, 93 bpm/21.9 nmol/L, and 73 bpm/20.5 nmol/L. For women, the values were 85 bpm/23.3 nmol/L, 92 bpm/20.8 nmol/L, and 70 bpm/18.4 nmol/L and 84 bpm/32.4 nmol/L, 100 bpm/32.5 nmol/L, and 75 bpm/25.2 nmol/L, respectively. Conclusion: The use of shoulder straps decreases measurable physical stress and should therefore be implemented when heavy equipment or a stretcher needs to be carried. An easy way to ensure that staff use these or similar lifting aids is to provide them with personalized, well-adapted shoulder straps. Another better option would be to routinely sewn these straps into the staff's personal alarm jackets so they are always in place and ready to be used.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2020

Background and objective: This study was conducted to find out the effects of healing farm resources and participant satisfaction on the level of stress and loyalty. Methods: The experiment was conducted on 18 subjects who participated in agro-healing activities (aged 49.5 years on average) and the concentration of cortisol, the level of stress and satisfaction with the services and program of a healing farm. The healing-agriculture activities were performed once a week, a total of 7 sessions, for 90 minutes and their saliva was collected before and after the activities. Results: The concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, was statistically significantly reduced after the healing-agriculture activities in 5 out of 7 sessions. The total cortisol concentration showed statistically significant differences. The 6th session was comprised of different activities, compared to others, such as understanding weeds, managing a garden and making a pizza with fermentation enzymes, and the level of cortisol in the 6th session was the lowest after participating in the agro-healing activities, which indicated that the activities have the positive effect of lowering the level of stress. The level of stress was lowered from 18.39 to 16.78, which was consistent with the results of the concentration of cortisol. The level of satisfaction in the last session was below 50%, which indicated that the owner of the farm might be a little inexperienced in education and marketing on information and safety. The variables of participants including stress and satisfaction with services showed a strong influence on their loyalty. Conclusion: Satisfaction with services and loyalty to the healing farm showed a very high correlation, which was statistically significant. It also showed that participants' stress level and satisfaction with the services and program of the healing farm have a strong influence on their loyalty.

• Stress
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.199-204
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• 2019

Backgoround: This study aimed to examine the influence of anxiety sensitivity on task performance and physiological stress response, and to assess the effect of depression in this process for the youth population. Methods: We presented participants with an uncontrollable stress situation where they were required to perform mental arithmetic, based on the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST). A total of 29 participants volunteered for this study. They completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to measure their levels of anxiety sensitivity and depression. Two saliva samples, one before and one after the experiment, were collected to assess the change in cortisol levels as an index of physiological stress response. Results: Participants with high anxiety sensitivity showed lower performance on the mental arithmetic tasks and a significant increase in a salivary cortisol level, compared to those with low anxiety sensitivity. Furthermore, cortisol levels showed a remarkable increase where high anxiety sensitivity was coupled with depressed mood. In other hands, the levels of cortisol remained unchanged despite high anxiety sensitivity with low depressed mood. Conclusions: Our results confirm that the interaction between anxiety sensitivity and depression affects participants' task performance and stress response, as measured through behavioral tasks and physiological data with self-report indices. Also, through the physiological data, we examined that those who have a high level of anxiety sensitivity showed maladaptive responses under high stressful situation.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.349-360
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• 2018

This study analyzed variations of learning stress by comparing the salivary cortisol levels of students who participated in Earth Science inquiry activities. The cortisol concentrations between the pre- and post-inquiries of the sample of 34 university students, who had taken the course of 'Basic Earth Science and Experiments', were analyzed. The Earth Science inquiries consisted of geology and astronomy activities. The observational geology activities consisted of a session of 'structure contours and map patterns' and the cognitive astronomy activities consisted of a session of 'representations of horizontal and equatorial coordinates'. These Earth Science inquiry activities were found to cause students to have anxiety, and the thought processes that these activities involved were found to cause learning stress. The variations in cortisol concentrations of students increased by $1.6{\pm}5.9ng\;mL^{-1}$ after conducting observational activities in geology compared with $2.1{\pm}6.2ng\;mL^{-1}$ after doing cognitive activities in astronomy. The analysis of the observational activities in the geology inquiry activities indicated that they were consistent with low levels of learning stress. Conversely, the analysis of the cognitive activities in the astronomy inquiry activities showed significant individual variations in cortisol concentrations. Furthermore, individual differences in cognitive ability were reflected in the astronomy inquiry activities. While students, who received high scores, exhibited low levels of stress in the geology inquiry activities, they showed high levels of stress in the astronomy inquiry activities. It was concluded that, in the case of students with high scores in the study, the level of learning stress increased due to the raised anxiety in cognitive inquiry activities. In contrast, students, who received low scores in the study, exhibited high levels of stress in the geology inquiry activities, and low levels of stress in the astronomy inquiry activities.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.475-488
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• 2015

Economic activity and social participation by women has recently increased; however, working mothers raising young children are under new stress due to the simultaneous combination of job and parenting responsibilities. This stress has resulted in social problems of career break and low fertility. This study investigates the effect of clinical art therapy on occupational stress and parenting stress of working mothers. We analyzed 34 working mothers in full-time employment (over 8 hours a day) who have preschool children (0-6 years old). They were divided into 17 subjects in the experimental group and 17 subjects in the control group. For the experimental group, 10 hours and a half sessions of group art therapy were participated in once a week from April to August in 2014. We perform Dan Occupational Stress Index by Ivancevich and Matteson, Parenting Stress Index/Short Form and salivary cortisol test before and after the group art therapy. For qualitative analysis, Kinetic House-Tree-Person (KHTP) drawing test was used. Using SPSS ver. 19.0, paired t -test or Wilcoxon signed rank test compared the pre and post analysis results. The results of this study are as follows. First, scores of 'occupational stress factor' subpart showed significant improvement in the Occupational Stress Index after the clinical art therapy. Second, scores of 'parental distress,' 'parent-child dysfunctional interaction,' and 'difficult child' subpart in Parenting Stress Index also showed a significant improvement. Third, a positive change was observed after the clinical art therapy in the KHTP drawing test. In conclusion, this study suggests that the clinical art therapy can be effective for occupational stress factors and the parenting stress of working mothers.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.96-100
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• 2013

Purpose: Chronic periodontitis (CP) seems to be associated with stress and depression, but little information on this possible association is available in the literature. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the association among stress, the salivary cortisol level (SCL), and CP. Methods: Seventy systemically healthy subjects were included in the study from January to September 2011. Full medical and dental histories were obtained, and the following measurements were recorded: 1) probing depth; 2) clinical attachment level; 3) bleeding on probing; and 4) tooth mobility. Saliva samples were collected for the evaluation of SCL (via a highly sensitive electrochemiluminescence immunoassay), and all subjects also answered a questionnaire (i.e., the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale). The odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated, and one way analysis of variance and the Tukey-Kramer method were performed. Results: A total of 36 subjects with CP (51.4%) and 34 without CP were evaluated. Of them, all of the subjects with CP and one periodontally healthy subject were diagnosed with depression. Subjects with moderate CP had statistically significantly higher levels of SCL than subjects with a diagnosis of slight CP (P=0.006). Also, subjects with severe CP showed the same outcome when compared to those with slight CP (P=0.012). In addition, 46 subjects presented high SCL whereas 24 had a normal level. CP was found to be correlated with the SCL, with an OR of 4.14 (95% CI, 1.43 to 12.01). Conclusions: Subjects with a high SCL and depression may show an increased risk for CP.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of inhalation therapy using Zizyphus jujuba var. spinosa blended oil and spa therapy on stress in adults. Methods : The study design was a double blind, randomized, single center clinical trial. A total of 30 volunteers who were highly stressed and were over 9 points on POMS(profile of mood states) participated in this study. Inhalation therapy using Zizyphus jujuba var. spinosa blended oil and spa therapy were applicate for the experimental group and Jojoba oil inhalation and spa therapy was given for the control group. During the 2 weeks, the participants were treated about inhalation and spa therapy twice a week. The treatment sequence is spa therapy after inhalation therapy. Result : The improvement of stress was evaluated by POMS, HRV(Heart Rate Variability), EEG(Electroencephalography), PSQI(Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), salivary cortisol. After treatment, POMS was significantly decreased between the experimental group and the control group. In other measurement(HRV, EEG, PSQI, salivary cortisol) except POMS, there were not significant. Overall, however, they showed a tendency to alleviate stress in the experimental group. Conclusions : We suggest that inhalation therapy using Zizyphus jujuba var. spinosa blended oil and spa therapy might be effective on stress.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 2007

Purpose: The present study was done to examine the effect of music therapy on anxiety and pain in patients for whom a ureteral stent was inserted under local anesthesia. Method: The participants in this study were 22 patients who received a ureteral stent at the Day Surgery Center of C University Hospital during the period from May to October in 2006. The patients were divided into a control group (n=11) and an experimental group (n=11). For the experimental group, music was played according to their musical preference using headphones. The music was provided from the point when the patient took the posture for the operation and was covered with a sterilized drape to the point when the cystoscope was removed after finishing the operation. The control group was only provided with ordinary nursing services. Results: The results show that the provision of music therapy to these patients is effective in reducing the patients' salivary cortisol and Vas-anxiety score and stabilizing their systolic blood pressure. Conclusion: We conclude that music therapy can be actively used as a nursing intervention for reducing anxiety in patients who receive operations under local anesthesia.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.330-339
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop an interpersonal relationship harmony program and to investigate the effect of interpersonal relationship harmony program on interpersonal relations, conflict resolution methods, interpersonal anxiety, salivary cortisol level for nursing students. Methods: The 8-week interpersonal relationship harmony program was developed based on interpersonal relationship harmony theory. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated using a quasi-experimental design. The participants were 58 third-year nursing students, 29 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group. Data were collected from July 5, 2014 to August 25, 2014 and analyzed through t-test. Results: The experimental group showed significantly higher post-test scores in interpersonal relationship harmony, interpersonal relationship ability, active conflict mitigation and significantly lower post-test scores in active conflict intensification, interpersonal relationship anxiety than those of the control group. Conclusion: The interpersonal relationship harmony program improved nursing students' interpersonal skills and conflict resolution methods and reduced interpersonal relationship anxiety through an integrated approach that covered the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical aspects of harmony.