• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2002

Objectives : To examine the relationships among health promoting lifestyle, anxiety, and self-esteem for korean immigrants in New York. Methods : The study included 425 adults aged 18 and over, who were chosen from Korean church and social organizations located in New York. The data were collected from April to July, 1996 using self-administered questionnaires. Data analyses were conducted using stepwise multiple regression, Pearson's correlation coefficients, 1-test, and ANOVA. Results : Health promoting lifestyle was significantly different by age, religion, occupation, and the length of residence. Those insured and those with no current medial diagnosis revealed significantly higher score in health promoting lifestyle than their counterparts. As for the level of anxiety, significant differences were found by educational level, marital status, occupation, income, and the length of residence. Self-esteem varied significantly by education, marital status, occupation, income, and the length of residence. Those with no current medical diagnosis and those insured experienced significantly higher level of self-esteem than their counterparts. Negative correlations were observed between health promoting lifestyle and anxiety. Perceived health status at present was positively correlated to perceived health status in the future. Health promoting lifestyle was significantly predicted by anxiety, age, and insurance. Conclusions : The above findings suggested that it is necessary to develop programs improving the perceived health status and lowering the level of anxiety. In this context, further researches on the relation between health promoting lifestyle and anxiety is required.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3281-3288
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• 2013

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Despite being associated with high morbidity and mortality, breast cancer is a disease that can be diagnosed and treated early. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study of 321 women, data were collected by Questionnaire, Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Form and Champion's Health Belief Model Scale. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, Chisquared tests and logistic regression were used in the statistical analysis. Results: It was found that only 2.2% of women have high and very high risk levels of breast cancer risk. There is a positive correlation between early diagnosis techniques and Health Belief Model Sub-Dimension scores which are sensibility, health motivation, BSE (Breast self-examination) self-efficient perception and negative correlation between mammography barrier score and BSE barrier score (p 0.05). When factors for not having BSE were examined, it was determined that the women who do not have information about breast cancer and the women who smoke have a higher risk of not having BSE. Conclusions: It is important to determine health beliefs and breast cancer risk levels of women to increase the frequency of early diagnosis. Women's health beliefs are thought to be a good guide for planning health education programs for nurses working in this area.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.397-405
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate health literacy, diabetic knowledge, and diabetic self-care among foreign diabetic patients at a hospital in South Korea. Methods: Participants was 134 foreign patients diagnosed with diabetes and who understand English. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 20.0. Results: Health literacy significantly differed with HbA1c levels, whereas diabetic knowledge significantly differed with education levels, and time since diagnosed. Diabetic self-care significantly differed with time since the diagnosis. Health literacy significantly differed with diabetic knowledge and diabetic self-care. There was a correlation between health literacy and diabetic knowledge and between diabetic knowledge and diabetic self-care but not between health literacy and diabetic self-care. Conclusion: There are significant results on health literacy, diabetic knowledge and diabetic self-care. Subject with adequate health literacy had high scores on diabetic knowledge and self-care.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1463-1467
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• 2016

Background: The incidence of breast cancer is rapidly increasing in Yemen with recent indications of constituting one-third of female cancers. The main problem in Yemen remains very late presentation of breast cancer, most of which should have been easily recognisable. Since stage of disease at diagnosis is the most important prognostic variable, early diagnosis is an important option to be considered for control of breast cancer in low resourced settings like Yemen. In the present study, we aimed at describing breast cancer knowledge, perceptions and breast self-examination (BSE) practices among a sample of Yemeni women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study covered 400 women attending four reproductive health centres in Aden, Yemen through face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire during April - July 2014. We collected data on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge about breast cancer, and screening practices as well as respondents' perceptions based on the five sub scales of the Health Belief Model (HBM): perceived susceptibility; perceived severity; perceived barriers; perceived benefits; and self-efficacy. The response format was a five-point Likert scale. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20) was used for statistical analysis. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Logistic regression analysis was conducted with BSE as a dependent variable. Results: The mean age of women was 26.5 (S.D=5.6) years. The majority (89.0%) had never ever performed any screening. Two-thirds of respondents had poor knowledge. Perceived BSE benefits and self-efficacy and lower BSE barriers perception were significant independent predictors of BSE practice. Conclusions: Poor knowledge and inadequate BSE practices are prevailing in Yemen. The need for implementing culturally sensitive targeted education measures is mandatory in the effort to improve early detection and reduce the burden of breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5869-5873
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• 2015

Background: Breast and cervical cancers are among the most frequent and most fatal cancers in women. Life span of patients may be increased and quality of life improved through early diagnosis and treatment. This investigation was performed in order to determine knowledge and practices of female health personnel working at a university hospital regarding breast and cervical cancers. Materials and Methods: This descriptive investigation was performed in Erciyes University Hospitals in 2014. A total of 524 female health personnel were included in the study. Data were collected through a questionnaire of 36 questions prepared by the researchers. The Chi square test and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. Results: The mean age of the study group was $32.8{\pm}6.9$ years, 18.3% being doctors and 81.7% nurses. Of the study group, 60.5% stated that they performed self breast-examination, 4.4% underwent HPV testing, 26.3% thought about taking an HPV test, 34.7% of those who are 40 years and over had mammography regularly and 19.5% of those who were married had a Pap smear conducted regularly. Most important causes of not performing the methods for early diagnosis of breast and cervical cancers are "forget and neglect". Conclusions: It was concluded that female doctors and nurses do not pay sufficient attention to screening programs for breast and cervical cancers. The importance of early diagnosis and treatment should be emphasized during the undergraduate education and in-service training programs. Health condition of personnel and their utilization of preventive health care should be followed by occupational physicians.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.11-18
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• 2014

In this paper, we propose a self-diagnosis system that is based on the ART2 algorithm in order to extract more detailed disease information by fuzzy reasoning method especially when the boundary of perceived symptoms are not clearly classified into disease categories. With that modification from previous version of the self health pre-diagnosis system, the proposed one is verified as more effective by field experts' evaluation as an intelligent assistant tool for public users before they consult with medical experts.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.2 s.57
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• pp.342-355
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• 1997

This research was carried out to determine the performance rate of health related practices, to measure the agreement between morbidity by doctor's diagnosis and morbidity by subject' self-reported and the degree of association between health related practices and morbidity rate by doctor's diagnosis, to identify their effects on morbidity among rural area populations. The data were gathered by volunteer residents (over the age of 20) of Haman Myeon, Haman Gun, Kyeongsangnam Do in Korea, from June 10, 1993 to June 12, 1993 (369 male and 516 female). Face to face interview, lab, chest P-A, EKG and physical examination were completed. Descriptive statistics, agreement analysis and multiple logistic regression procedures were employed for analyses. The results of the study were summarized as follows : 1) Age adjusted morbidity rates by doctor's diagnosis and self-reported were 38.5% (male:37.3%, female:36.5%), 26.4% (male:33.3%, female:27.5%), respectively. Kappa coefficient between morbidity by doctor's diagnosis and morbidity by self-reported was 0.21 (male:0.21, female:0.22). 2) The frequency of disease by doctor's diagnosis was as follows: hypertension(15.3%), gastritis (9.6%), diabetes mellitus (8.5%), live. disease (8.1%), and degenerative arthritis (6.2%) in the study population. 3) Order of health practice performance rate was as follows: Males-normal body weight (62.1%), non-heavy alcohol consumption (57.5%), 7-8 hours of sleeping (50.1%), non-smoking (21.7%), and exercise (19.8%). Females- non-heavy alcohol consumption (97.3%), non-smoking (84.7%), normal body weight (57.8%), 7-8 hours of sleeping (45.0%), and exercise (9.9%). 4) There was no significant relationship between health related practice and morbidity except exercise among health related practices. 5) Health related practice index which was recategorized by high, medium, and low had effects on the probability of developing morbidity.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.342-354
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• 2000

This study was conducted to identify the characteristics of activities of daily living(ADU) and its influencing factors in patients with chronic arthritis. The data were obtained from 104 patients with chronic arthritis in one university hospital from May to August. 2000. For analysing data. SAS program was used for t-test. ANOVA, Schefte test. Pearson correlation. and stepwise multiple regression. The results were as follows: 1. The variables which influenced self-efficacy were duration of disease. number of painful joint, quality of sleep and alcohol drinking. 2. The variables which influenced fatigue were diagnosis and number of painful joint. 3. The variables which influenced ADL were age. duration of disease. diagnosis. number of painful joint. number of exercise and alcohol drinking. 4. ADL was positive correlation with self-efficacy and negative correlation with fatigue. And self-efficacy was negative correlation with fatigue. 5. The predictors to explain ADL were self-efficacy. number of painful joint. lupus. duration of disease and religion. These predictors explained $66.01\%$ of the activites of daily living. According to these findings. the most significant influencing factor of ADL was self-efficacy. therefore the development of nursing intervention for enhancing self-efficacy would be needed. Also. it is suggested that an exercise program should be recommended as one of useful and appropriate nursing intervention for reducing fatigue and increasing ADL.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.582-593
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a self-management program on patients with thyroid cancer, particularly during the time of waiting for surgery after cancer diagnosis. Psychological distress, biological responses of immune cell counts, and quality of life were the variables of this study. Methods: One group pre-post test design was used with the nature of a pilot study. Ten newly diagnosed thyroid cancer patients were recruited through physicians' referrals. After drop out of 4 participants, final data were collected from six participants. Small group technique, a one and half hour-session per week for one month (total 4 sessions, 6 hours) was used. Relaxation techniques, meditation training, and strategies to reduce distress were provided by researchers. Standardized questionnaires and an established bio-assay were used for collection of data. Results: Participants showed significant lowering of psychological distress (p<.05) and improvement in global quality of life (p<.05). Biological responses of immune cell counts did not show statistical significance. Conclusion: The self-management program may reduce psychological distress and improve quality of life of patients with thyroid cancer between the time of diagnosis and surgery. The self-management program would be a valuable approach for patients with an unexpected cancer diagnosis to prepare for their disease experience in a community setting.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.3
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• pp.78-98
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• 1997

Health education, as the most fundamental concept for national health promotion, alms for developing the self-care ability of the general public. High school days are regarded as the period when most important physical, mental and social developments occur, and most health-related behaviors are formed. School health education is one of the major learning resources influencing health potential in the home and community as well as for the individual student. High school health education in Korea has a fundamental systemic flaw in that health-related subjects are divided and taught under various subjects areas at school. In order to achieve the goal of school health education, it is essential to make a systematic assessment of the learner's concerns connected with his health and life, and the factors affecting them. So far, most of the research projects that had been carried out for improving high school health education were limited in their concerns to a particular aspect of health. Even though some had been done in view of comprehensive school health education, they failed to Include a health assessment of the learner. Therefore, in this study the high school students' concerns related to health and life were investigated in the first place on the basis of the PRECEDE model, developed by Green and others for the purpose of a comprehensive diagnostic research on high school health education. This study was done in two steps : one was the basic study for developing research instrument and the other was the main one. The former was conducted at five high schools in Seoul and Cheongju for 2 months-beginning in March, 1996. The students were asked to respond to questions related to their health and lives in unstructured open-ended question forms. On the basis of analysis of the basic study, the diagnostic instruments for the quality of life, health problems, health behavior and educational factors were constructed to be used for the collection of data for main study. An expert panel and the pilot study were used to improve content validity and reliability of the instruments. The reliability of the instruments was measured at between .7697 and .9611 by the Cronbach $\alpha$. The data for this study were collected from the sample consisted of the junior and senior classes of twenty general and vocational high schools in Seoul and Cheongju for two months period beginning in July, 1996. In analyzing the data, both t-test and $X^2$-test were done by using SAS-$PC^+$ Program to compare data between the sexes of the high school students and the types of high school. A canonical correlation analysis was carried out to determine the relationships among the diagnostic variables, and a multivariate multiple regression analysis was conducted by using LISREL 8.03 to ascertain the influences of variables on the high school students' health and quality of life. The results were as follows : 1) The findings of the hypothesis tests (1) The canonical correlation between the educational diagnosis variables and behavioral, epidemiological, social diagnosis variables was .7221, which was significant at the level of p<.001. (2) The canonical correlation between the educational diagnosis variables and the behavior variables was .6851, which also was significant (p<.001). (3) The canonical correlation between the behavioral diagnosis variables and the epidemiological variables was 4295, which was significant (p<.001). (4) The canonical correlation between the epidemiological diagnosis variables and the social variables was .6005, which was also significant (p<.001). Therefore, the relationship between each diagnosis variable suggested by the PRECEDE model had been experimentally proven to be valid, supporting the conceptual framework of the study as appropriate for assessing the multi-dimensional factors affecting high school students' health and quality of life. Health behavior self-efficacy, the level of parents' interest and knowledge of health, and the level of the perception of school health education, all of which are the educational diagnostic variables, are the most influential variables in students' health and quality of life. In particular, health behavior self-efficacy, a causative factor, was one of the main influential variables in their health and quality of life. Other diagnostic variables suggested in the steps of the PRECEDE model were found to have reciprocal relations rather than a unidirectional causative relationship. The significance of this research is that it has diagnosed the needs of high school health education by the learner-centered assessment of variety of factors related to the health and the life of the students. This research findings suggest an integrated system of school health education to be contrived to enhance the effectiveness of the education by strengthening the influential factors such as self-efficacy to improve the health and quality of the lives of high school students.