• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2009

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of social support with health status and health behavior. Methods:　This study was conducted with 79 elderly people in Gunja-ri, Dongsan-myun, Chuncheon. We performed face to face interview which was composed of socio-demographic characteristics, social support, health status and health behavior. The association between social support and result variables was analysed by Chi-square test and logistic regression. We used SAS ver9.1 for statistic analysis. Results: Mean age of the study population was 72.0$\pm$7.0, social support score was 14.3$\pm$4.7 with full marks of 20 and 36.25% of the total population were shown to have depression. When the social support score was changed, depression (p=0.0007) and physical exercise (p=0.0312) showed significant difference. The self-rated health status was significantly related to the relationship with family members (OR=0.25, 95% CI=0.07-0.95) and the quality of sleep was also significantly associated to the relationship with family members (OR=0.21, 95% CI=0.06-0.73). The physical exercise was done significantly less in the group without close friends than in the group with many close friends (OR=0.21, 95% CI=0.05-0.94) and the depression was significantly more in the group without community participation than in the group with community participation (OR=4.79, 95% CI=1.62-14.15). Conclusions: Through this study, we could conclude that the social support factors are associated with health status and health behavior. Therefore, to improve the health status of rural elderly, we need to approach to develop social support.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3903-3907
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• 2013

Background: Patients with colorectal cancer are usually treated with chemotherapy, which reduces the number of blood cells, especially white blood cells, and consequently increases the risk of infections. Some research studies have reported that aromatherapy massage affects the immune system and improves immune function by, for example, increasing the numbers of natural killer cells and peripheral blood lymphocytes. However, there has been no report of any study which provided good evidence as to whether aromatherapy with Thai massage could improve the immune system in patients with colorectal cancer. The objectives of this study were to determine whether the use of aromatherapy with light Thai massage in patients with colorectal cancer, who have received chemotherapy, can result in improvement of the cellular immunity and reduce the severity of the common symptoms of side effects. Materials and Methods: Sixty-six patients with colorectal cancer in Phichit Hospital, Thailand, were enrolled in a single-blind, randomised-controlled trial. The intervention consisted of three massage sessions with ginger and coconut oil over a 1-week period. The control group received standard supportive care only. Assessments were conducted at pre-assessment and at the end of one week of massage or standard care. Changes from pre-assessment to the end of treatment were measured in terms of white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, CD4 and CD8 cells and the CD4/CD8 ratio and also the severity of self-rated symptom scores. Results: The main finding was that after adjusting for pre-assessment values the mean lymphocyte count at the post-assessment was significantly higher (P=0.04) in the treatment group than in the controls. The size of this difference suggested that aromatherapy with Thai massage could boost lymphocyte numbers by 11%. The secondary outcomes were that at the post assessment the symptom severity scores for fatigue, presenting symptom, pain and stress were significantly lower in the massage group than in the standard care controls. Conclusions: Aromatherapy with light Thai massage can be beneficial for the immune systems of cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy by increasing the number of lymphocytes and can help to reduce the severity of common symptoms.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.44-54
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• 2018

The main goal of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the life satisfaction of elderly individuals living alone. We analyzed the data obtained in 2016 through "Survey on Residents'Quality of Life in Gyeonggi Province", performing stepwise multiple regression on 824 cases. The results were as follows: First, age, income, and education had a significant impact on life satisfaction, while sex, marital status, and employment had no influence on life satisfaction. Second, as individual-level factors, self-rated health, exercise, and participation in religious activities and social associations had a significant and positive impact on life satisfaction. Third, the results showed that both helping others in neighborhood and trusting people in the neighborhood, between-person factors, positively influenced their subjective quality of life, but receiving help from the neighborhood did not significantly affect life satisfaction. Fourth, satisfaction with cultural facilities, one of the physical environmental factors, was associated with life satisfaction. These results suggest that multi-level factors influencing life satisfaction should be considered to enhance the quality of life of elderly individuals. In particular, they suggest that when planning measures, it is necessary to consider built-environments for the elderly.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.551-567
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• 2018

Demographic and socio-structural information is useful to identify potential welfare recipients who are in need of disease-prevention and intervention services. Thus, the present study aims to explore the differences in grip strength among middle and old-aged adults by living conditions and by living area. The 5th wave data of Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging was utilized. The dependent variable was grip strength, and the independent variables were living alone (living alone or not) and living area (city or non-city). Covariates were age, education, log-transformed household income, spouse existence, body mass index, self-rated health conditions, depressive symptoms, cognitive function, smoking, regular exercise, frequency of meeting with friends, and the number of social participation. Regression analysis was performed for middle-aged men, middle-aged women, old-aged men, and old-aged women, respectively. ANOVA and Chi-test were additionally used to specifically discuss significant results. Cross-sectional weight was applied to all analyses. According to the results, living alone and living area did not have significant effects on grip strength among middle-aged men, old-aged men, and old-aged women. In middle-aged women, however, living alone and living area were significantly associated with grip strength. To be specific, middle-aged women who lived alone in rural areas had the lowest grip strength compared to other middle-aged women. Additional analysis showed that middle-aged women who lived alone in rural areas had risk factors, such as low education level, low income, or high depressive symptoms. It implies that middle-aged women living alone in rural areas may have physical health risks, so they might be in need of disease prevention. This study is meaningful in that it can provide reliable information on the latent welfare recipients by using representative panel data and applying weight values.