• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.89-100
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• 2017

Since smart devices are able to efficiently provide information without barriers of time and location, they are widely utilized with advent of the hyper-connected society. Especially, the smart devices have been developed in the form of wearable devices for mutual interaction between human and objects. Smart clothing, which embeds smart devices within clothes, measures and obtains a variety of bio-signals as it is in close contact with the human bodies. Conventional smart clothing generated wearers' discomfort because they were developed by simple attachment of electronic devices to clothes. Therefore, it is highly recommended to develop novel smart clothing based on smart textiles which integrate electronic devices as parts of textiles. As smart watches are currently the most available wearable devices in the market, smart watch users were selected in this study, for the purpose of investigating core needs of wearable smart device users based on the user experience and user's sensibility. Qualitative research was performed through semi-structured interview in order to obtain detailed answers about user sensibility based on smart watch user experience. After the in-depth interview, the user's sensibility was categorized into four aspects; functional, aesthetic, social, and empirical. Sensibility adjectives and key words were assigned to each aspect and their frequency was analyzed. It was the functional aspect of sensibility that the wearable device users require the most. The results of this study will be utilized as a fundamental data to develop the smart textiles required for the next generation of smart clothing which is attracting as a future wearable device.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.172-182
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• 2020

Objectives : In this study, we conducted a focus group interview among expatriates living in Korea, to investigate their experiences and perceptions of acupuncture and Korean Medicine in order to improve the usage of Korean Medicine in the medical tourism market. Methods : The inclusion criteria for the focus group interview was: (1) participants between the age of 20 to 75 years old; (2) those who had lived in Korea for more than 90 days, and (3) those who were able to express their thoughts freely in English. The participants were informed that the interviews will be recorded and transcribed. We ended recruitment once saturation of materials was met. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the data was analyzed after each interview. Results : The interviews were held between June to December 2016. Twenty-four participants were recruited but four dropped out and a total of twenty participants successfully finished the interviews. Six focus group interviews were conducted. Analysis revealed that Korean Medicine was relatively less known compared to Traditional Chinese Medicine or Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Participants automatically associated acupuncture with the management of pain or stress and replied that these were the areas that they thought acupuncture would be most effective. Positive experiences with acupuncture and with the acupuncture practitioners were factors that promoted the use of acupuncture whereas lack of awareness, accessibility and accreditation were factors that hindered its use. Other factors that hindered the use of acupuncture was needle phobia and the perception that acupuncture lacks scientific evidence. Conclusions : Awareness on Korean Medicine and acupuncture is low. Participants lack awareness on what diseases acupuncture can treat, the scientific evidence behind the mechanism of action, and the rigorous education system that Korean Medicine doctors must go through to get their license. Rigorous marketing should be encouraged, which includes greater exposure in the media, more honest reviews from patients, and promotion of the scientific evidence base.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.53-75
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• 2013

This article explores the impact of mergers on the experiences of students. A case design is used to gain an in-depth understanding of the students in a Korean university that was combined with a two-year college in 2007. Semi-structured interviews of 11 direct entrants, 5 transfer students, and 7 professors were conducted in 2010 for the data collection. The results suggest that mergers do not necessarily ensure the integration of the students involved. Since mergers pose enormous challenges to both transfer students and direct entrants, university leaders need to give careful attention to students' persistence and integration as the campus changes. The results also reveal that students' experience of mergers may be affected by cultural backgrounds as well as the hierarchical structure of higher education. In Korean society, where credentialism prevails, mergers can have different impacts on students who come from initial institutions of differing perceived quality, and thus mergers may incite tension among the students. In light of these concerns, this study's findings highlight the importance of student integration as a key element in mergers.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.71-95
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• 2014

This is a pilot study of multifaceted longitudinal research project to explore educational experiences of students with multicultural family backgrounds in Korea. Especially for this pilot study, I selected three foreign-born immigrant youths and tried to explore how these youths describe constraints of their learning experience in different culture. The data for this study were mainly collected through qualitative research methods. For a better understanding of the research participants' perceptions in this study, narrative inquiry and series of semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted for a period of four months which corresponds to one semester of school system in Korea. As a result, this study found that there is an urgent need to establish a systemic and developmentaly appropriate language education programs that ensure educating the language to the foreign-born immigrant youths because their academic achievement, interpersonal relationships, and future depend greatly on the fluency of Korean language. It was also found that it is necessary to take appropriate educational actions in supporting alternative schools where the foreign-born immigrant youths can fully and seriously considered as a whole person. Although this study has some limitations in examining every single aspect of the current state of education of students with multicultural backgrounds in Korea, it provides deep insight into some of their initial educational experiences and proposes several ways to improve these educational programs for them.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.207-236
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• 2013

This article aims to understand the process of effective leadership in the Community Care Centers for the Disabled(CCCD). Using a qualitative approach and the concept of 'Sensemaking', a term introduced by Weick (1995), I described and explored the process of leadership. Sensemaking enables leaders to have a better grasp of what is going on in their environments. Sensemaking theory offers a perspective on leadership that resolves successfully complex situations surrounding the CCCD. The CCCDs face the environmental changes such as a paradigm shift of disability and a rivalry system with private services. In this time of uncertain change, the CCCDs are in need of leadership of the executives who could reduce complexity with shared meaning. Data were collected over 5 weeks from the 6 CCCDs, through semi-structured interviews, with practitioners, middle managers and chief executives. The interview scripts were thematically analyzed through Atlas-ti programme. The findings showed three subjects, the people's perception of environment, organizational visioning and interactions among post positions. Even though the 6 CCCDs were under the same environment, the perceptions and the enactments of the practitioners were influenced by the chief executives' sensemaking. The important factors of the chief executives' sensemaking were the daily interaction as well as ongoing reflection on their experiences.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.247-258
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether character education program using Youtube PSAs affect psychological and social maturity of pre-service teachers. For data collections, questionnaires and semi-structured interview are used by 23 sophomores majoring in teacher education. The results are as follows. First, the participants showed highly significant improvement on each of two maturities as well as entire psychological and social maturity. Second, the score of factors of social maturity was lower than that of those of psycho maturity. it could be estimated that college students live in nuclear family and individualization is valued more. Third, while pre-test scores of entire psycho-social maturity are not statistically significant, post-test scores of each of psycho-social maturity indicated statistical significance. In particular, unlike pre-test, there is a strong positive correlation in post-test due to mutually positive impact of two factors. Fourth, there was no statistically significant sex difference. Lastly, according to the result of interview, participants had strong views on the effects of personality education associated with use of Youtube PSAs on motivation and focus in class, caring for others, and leading to positive behaviors.

• (The) Korean Journal of Educational Psychology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.421-442
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• 2018

This study aimed to explore the constructs of the characteristics of at-risk learners with diverse educational needs in the blind spots of education, in order to understand them comprehensively and detect them early in schools. Participants were 156 elementary, middle, and high school teachers who filled out a semi-structured questionnaire consisting of open questions about their implicit knowledge of the characteristics of at-risk learners in the blind spots of education. Qualitative data were analyzed using a modified consensual qualitative research method. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, five domains and 16 categories were derived as the main constructs of the characteristics of learners in the blind spots of education. Second, the most listed of the five domains was the "domain of low learning and cognition," whereas the least listed domain was the "everyday life domain." Finally, deficiencies of interpersonal skills and interactive communications and categories related to family structure and functions frequently appeared among the 16 categories. Based on these results, implications and potentials for follow-up studies were further discussed.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.168-176
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• 2020

Objectives : Loneliness and poor sleep quality are common phenomena in old age and are associated with negative physical and mental health. However, little is known regarding the relation between loneliness and sleep quality. The aim of this study was to examine the association of loneliness and sleep quality among the elderly living alone. Methods : This is a cross-sectional study that enrolled 1,090 subjects who are the community-residing elderly living alone. Sociodemographic status, medical condition, cognition, mood disorder, sleep quality and levels of loneliness were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and a specific semi-structured interview conducted by trained nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data regarding sociodemographic variable and loneliness. Univariate and Multivariate regression analyses were applied to examine the association between loneliness and sleep quality after adjustment for multiple confounding variables. Results : The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) mean score of "lonely group" (9.2±4.2) was significantly higher than that of "not lonely group" (7.3±3.7) (student-t test, p<0.001). Loneliness was significantly associated with PSQI (standardized β=0.065, p=0.025), sleep disturbance (standardized β=0.086, p=0.005), use of sleep medication (standardized β=0.065, p=0.034) after adjustment for possible confounding variables including sex and mood disorder. Conclusions : Loneliness was associated with sleep disturbance and this finding implied negative impact of loneliness on sleep quality of older adults. Public health promotion efforts to reduce loneliness may improve sleep quality and mental health in the elderly living alone.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.153-170
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• 2021

This study was attempted to derive strategic implications for activating professional sports by conducting in-depth interviews with professional sports officials such as players, teams, federations, agencies, etc., by searching for factors that cause match fixing and deriving preventive strategies based on them. Eight people with more than 3 years of experience working in professional sports were selected using the snowball sampling technique. Data were collected and analyzed by applying a semi-structured in-depth interview method for them. As a result of the analysis, five core categories (the learning effect from the cartel for entering university, the culture learned in a camp training, the manifestation of the latent learning effect, the negative effect of the human network, the personal disposition) were derived as factors causing match-fixing. As for the strategy to prevent match fixing, first, improving the college entrance examination system oriented on individual capability, second, improving the education system for student athlete, third, establishing a prevention system, fourth, continuing education, fifth, and activating the agent system as the core categories. Implications for the derived research results and future research directions were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.605-634
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate families' responses and attitudes and the experiences of Korean LGBT individuals after revealing their sexual identity and sexual orientation and to determine how families' attitudes affected the mental health of these individuals. For this purpose, in-depth interviews were performed with 12 male and female LGBT participants, ranging from 19-30 years of age, who resided in Seoul and metropolitan areas, and reported coming out to or being outed by their families. One-to-one interviews were carried out using semi-structured questions, and the data from the interviews were analyzed using consensual qualitative research (CQR). Most of the families had very negative responses and attitudes to the participants coming out and exhibited rejection or avoidant attitudes; only a few of the families responded with receptive attitudes. As a result, the LGBT participants reacted with friction and coping behaviors, such as persuasion, participation in professional counseling, abandonment or avoidance, and running away from home. Most of the effects of the families' attitudes on the participants were negative psychological effects, such as anger, sadness, a sense of alienation, depression, anxiety, fear, trauma, helplessness, lowered self-esteem, alcohol dependence, and suicidal ideation and attempt, while receptive attitudes provided a sense of stability. For all participants, they reported that they were more likely to be hurt by their families' negative attitudes than by social attitudes. This study is significant because it provides framework for specifying families' attitudes and LGBT individuals' experiences after coming out in Korean society. It also outlines LGBT individuals' coping behaviors, psychological difficulties, and the process of coming out and provides suggestions for individuals to overcome. The results are expected to help counselors create practical strategies to better understand LGBT individuals and the psychological difficulties they may experience and provide proper interventions while counseling both the individual and the family.