• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2012

Objectives: This study examined the trends in gender disparity in the self-rated health of people aged 25 to 64 in South Korea, a rapidly changing society, with specific attention to socio-structural inequality. Methods: Representative sample data were obtained from six successive, nationwide Social Statistics Surveys of the Korean National Statistical Office performed during 1992 to 2010. Results: The results showed a convergent trend in poor self-rated health between genders since 1992, with a sharper decline in gender disparity observed in younger adults (aged 25 to 44) than in older adults (aged 45 to 64). The diminishing gender gap seemed to be attributable to an increase in women;s educational attainment levels and to their higher status in the labor market. Conclusions: The study indicated the importance of equitable social opportunities for both genders for understanding the historical trends in the gender gap in the self-reported health data from South Korea.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.29.1-29.10
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• 2023

Background: Lone workers are generally defined as individuals who work alone without supervision, including self-employed people. While lone workers are considered a vulnerable group in some countries, there is a lack of research on their health status in domestic studies. Globally, the number of lone workers has been increasing, and this trend has been further accelerated since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with the rise of remote work. Methods: The study analyzed data from 44,281 participants, excluding unpaid family workers, soldiers, and those with missing data. Lone workers were defined as individuals who reported having no colleagues with the same job at their current workplace. Self-rated health status was categorized as "good" or "poor." Results: This study found a statistically significant higher number of lone workers among women compare to men. The largest occupational category for lone workers was service and sales workers, followed by agriculture and fisheries workers. A majority of non-lone workers reported working 40 hours or less per week, while the majority of lone workers reported working 53 hours or more per week. In addition, lone workers had significantly poorer health status evaluations compared to non-lone workers (odds ratio: 1.297; 95% confidence interval: 1.165-1.444). Conclusions: Further research is needed to investigate the causal relationship between lone work and health, using data collected after the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.171-178
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• 2007

Purpose. To identify trends in patient satisfaction adjusted for sociodemographic factors and health status from 1989-2003. Methods. Five repeated cross-sectional surveys were used. The study sample included 290,534 household members 20 years of age and over from the five survey periods of 1989, 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2003. Satisfaction was measured using a five-point scale, ranging from "very satisfied" to "very dissatisfied." Crude satisfaction rates, representing the proportion of patients satisfied (very satisfied or satisfied), were calculated for each survey period. Satisfaction rates adjusted for age, sex, marital status, education, and self-rated health status were calculated for each of the five years. Results. Crude satisfaction rates increased from 15.4% in 1989 to 40.5% in 2003. The proportions of satisfaction and dissatisfaction were reversed after 15 years had passed. However, the satisfaction trend was not linear throughout the different years, with 1992 being the year with the lowest satisfaction rate (9.7%). These trends in crude rates did not change even after adjusting for patient characteristics. The odds of satisfaction in 1992 were 38% lower (odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.64) than the odds in 1989. In 2003, the odds of satisfaction were 4.01 times (95% CI 3.89 to 4.13) the odds for 1989. Older, female, married, and less-educated people were more likely to be satisfied. Patients who rated their health as 'very good' had the highest satisfaction rate, and those with "neutral" health ratings had the lowest. General hospitals achieved substantial improvement whereas pharmacies became the lowest-rated of all institutions. Conclusions. The Korean health system has achieved better patient satisfaction rates over the past 15 years. Increased health expenditure, resources, and quality improvement efforts may have contributed to this progress.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.300-309
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to understand about the influence of female undergraduates health behavior and health state upon sociality and the influence of sociality upon college life satisfaction. The subjects were 335 female junior-college students with major related to public health in Busan, Daegu, and Gyeongnam and were carried out questionnaire survey on general characteristics, sociality, college life satisfaction, health behavior, health status, and internet addiction. An analytical method was made through chi-square test, t-test, one-way ANOVA, ANOVA for trend, and structural equation modeling(SEM). As a result, the influence of accountability had the greatest influence as sub-factor. Accountability and age had a positive correlation(p<0.001). Accountability was low when self-cognitive body shape was very thin(p=0.005). In sociality, full age(p<0.001), self rated health(p<0.001), and physical education instruction for the 3rd grade of high school(p=0.004) showed direct effect. Also, sociality showed direct influence upon college life satisfaction. The older age, the higher self rated health, and the more instruction for the 3rd grade of high school led to the higher sociality, thereby having been indicated to be higher in college life satisfaction. Accordingly, a multi-dimensional effort is judged to be necessary for reinforcing physical education activity for high school students and for improving their quality of life as a plan for increasing college life satisfaction.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.99-127
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• 2011

This study examines whether educational differentials in health are greater in more recent cohorts in Korea. This study utilizes latent growth-curve modeling to examine intercohort trends in health for three educational subgroups, using panel data (2003-2007) based on a national probability sample of 9,639 adults. Among young and middle adults with less than a high school diploma, the 4-year newer cohort demonstrated better health at the same age, implying a favorable trend. Middle and older adults with college level and a high school diploma also enjoyed favorable trends in health. This study suggests the possibility that the education-based overall disparity in health is increasing, but there are variations in the trend depending on age group. The increasing disparity mainly occurred among older adults.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.212-228
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• 2001

This is a cross-sectional descriptive correlation study that aimed to understand the relationship between the level of sexual contacts during the dates and psycho-social factors in teenage girls who have or had boyfriends. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between sexual contacts and self-esteem and self- assertiveness. The subjects of the study were 6,130 teenage girls who have or had boyfriends. They were selected convienently 12,733 teenage girls from 254 secondary schools located in 7 large cities and 9 provinces in Korea. A structured questionaire was used it included items one general characteristics, the levels of sexual contacts, self-esteem and self-assertiveness. Seven levels of sexual contacts were rated they were holding a hand, putting arms around each other's shoulders, kiss, french kiss, touching breast, petting genitalia, and sexual intercourse during the dates. Self-esteem and self-assertiveness were measured by the "Self-esteem scale" of Rogenberg (1971) and the questionaires developed by S. B. Chang et al(2000), respectively. The self-reported questionaires were collected from October 2, to October 28, 2000 and analyzed by using SPSS 10.0 Program. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, reliability, One-way ANOVA with Duncan method & Scheffe method. The results of the analysis were as follows. 1.An average Percentage of the respondents who have (46.1%) or had (53.9%) boyfriends was 48.1% (n=6,130) and the most common sexual contact during the dates was french kiss (26.7%, n=1,634). While 7.5%(458) of respondents had a sexual intercourse, 13.7%(842) of respondents didn't have any sexual contact during the dates. 2. Distribution of starting point of the first sexual contact demonstrates that 1,950 respondents (31.8%) held partner's hand at the first date and 1,367 respondents (22.3%) put arms around each other's shoulders at the 2nd or 3rd date. Sexual contacts such as kiss, french kiss, touching breast, petting genitalia, or sexual intercourse were experienced mostly at the later than the 10th date. However, surprisingly large number(1.7%) of respondents had genital contact and sexual intercourses at the first date. 3. The means of self-esteem and self-assertiveness socres of the respondents who have or had boyfriends are 27.43$({\pm}4.03)$ and 17.96$({\pm}2.55)$, respectively. The range of scores for self esteem was 10-40, 40 with most self esteem. The range of scores for self assertiveness was 7-21, 21 with most self assertiveness. 4. As sexual contacts proceeded, the means of self-esteem and self-assertiveness values decreased. In detail, the respondents having no or light sexual contacts (kiss, putting arms around each other's shoulder, holding a hand) had similar self-esteem values($p{\leq}0.05$). However, ones having relatively intensive sexual contacts (french kiss, touching breast) showed significantly lower self-esteem values($p{\leq}0.05$). Same trend has been obtained for self-assertiveness value. 5. The higher values of self-esteem and self-assertiveness values the respondents had, the later they started the moderate sexual contact (kiss, french kiss) during the dates. Interestingly, among the respondents having intensive sexual contacts (petting genitalia, sexual intercourse) during the dates, those who experienced the such contacts at the first date or later than 10th date have higher self-esteem and self-assertiveness values than one experienced the such contacts during the 2nd$\sim$9th dates, giving U-shape curve. 6. There was a significant relationship between self-esteem and self-assertiveness in girls who have or had boyfriends($P{\leq}.001$). In conclusion, the research shows that self-esteem and self-assertiveness values are significantly related with the sexual contacts of the teenage girls who have or had boyfriends. These results strongly suggest that proper sex education program for teenage girls should contain the program on improving the self-esteem and self-assertiveness. We believe that sex education program is the one of the best ways to prevent the unwanted sexual contacts and pregnancy of teenage girls.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.868-877
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• 1996

This study was done to analyze research trends and to suggest future perspectives for nursing research on fatigue. The author reviewed 31 Korean and foreign research papers which have been published in the literature since 1970. An analysis of the study focused on the type of research subjects, type of study design. measurement instrument, and its correlated parameters. The results of the study are summarized as follows : First, within all of the studies analayzed, 14 studies were publised in Korea and 17 were published abroad. The number of studies done abroad have been increasing rapidly since 1991. Second, an analysis of the research design of the studies showed, eight studies each, Korean and foreign used survey design. Two Korean studies and seven foreign studies used a correlational design. Four comparative studies were done in Korea, but only two experimetal studies were performed abroad. Therefore, it was found that the trend of the study design used is survey design and there are more correlational studies done abroad than in Korea. Third, the type of the study subjects ; 11 Korean and three foreign studies dealt with healthy people. In addition, three Korean and 14 foreign studies investigated patients with various illnesses. It was found that patients with various illnesses were studied more frequently in foreign studies than in Korean studies. Fourth, the measurement tool used in the Korean studies ; 13 studies used a testible tool to assess patients' subjective symtoms or complaints of fatigue. The most commonly used tool used in 10 studies, was the Fatigue Self-Perception Scale, which was designed by the Labor and Health Institute of Japan. The Visual Analogue Scale was used in two studies, and Piper Fatigue Scale, addtional with physiologic parameters, was used in one study. In the foreign studies, subjective measurement tools were used in 16 studies. A combination of a subjective measurement tool with objective parameters was used in ten studies. For the subjective measurement tool used in the foreign studies, a specific measurement tool developed by the researcher which was used in seven studies. Either Rhoten Fatigue Scale or the Visual Analog Scale were used in three studies. Additionally, in order to identify the relationship between fatigue and psychological factors, The Profile of Mood State was used in three studies. Beck Depression Inventory was used in two studies. The Self Rated Depression Scale, developed by Zung, was used in one study and other measurement tools were used to measure various psychological parameters. Rhoten fatigue Checklist was also used to observe behavior patterns. Lastly, nine studies identified correlations between fatigue and other parameters. A significant correlation was found between fatigue and psychological factors such as depression, and pain. As a result of the above findings, it can be said that research trends on fatigue are increasing internationally. The selected study designs are survey studies both in Korea and abroad. There are more correlational studies abroad than in Korea. In addition, subjective measurement tools and objective parameters are used variously and combined with each other. had, there is a significant correlation between fatigue and psychological factors such as depression, and pain. More survey and correlational studies need to be done to identify the relationship of fatigue in patients with various condition or diagnoses and to suggest a scientific basis for nursing interventions with fatigue. Also, a tool to assess patient's subjective, objective, and behavioral aspects on fatigue needs to be developed.