• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.129-149
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• 1991

Circadian rhythm is entrained in the 24-hour time interval by periodic factors in the environment, known as zeitgeber. But most rotating work schedules are outside the range of the entrainment of the pacemaker timing the human circadian sleep - wake cycle. It has been postulated that physiological and emotional disturbances occur in most human functions when the circadian rhythm is disturbed. So application of circadian principles to the design of shift schedules can aid in maintaining the temporal integrity of the circadian system and thereby minimize for the shift worker any detrimental consequences of circadian disruption. This study was a quasi-experimental study to test the effect of shift intervals for the clinical nurse on the circadian rhythm. Twenty nurses newly employed in general units of two hospitals were selected as an experimental group and twelve college nursing students as a control group. Both groups were selected according to an established criteria using a purposive sampling technique. Ten subjects were assigned to a weekly shift group and another ten to a biweekly shift group engaged in a semi -continuous shift schedule(sunday off) with a backward direction, that is, morning -evening - night shift. The control group worked a morning shift for 42 days. Oral temperature rhythm, waking tim, sleep - wake cycle, fatigue, and mental performance were measured during the experimental period. The data collection period was from April 30, 1990 to June 10, 1990. MANOVA, paired t-test, ANOVA, and Student Newman Keuls method were used for statistical analysis. The results are summarized as follows. 1. Phase delay in the acrophase of temperature rhythm was shown according to the backward rotating shift. A complete adaptation to work on the night shift was achieved between the sixth and ninth day of the night shift. 2. There was no difference in either waking time or sleep- wake cycle according to the duration of the working day for every shift group. Significant difference was found in the waking time and the sleep -wake cycle for subjects on the morning, evening, and night shift in both of the shift groups(weekly shift group : λ＝0.121, p＜0.01, λ＝0.112, p＜0.01, biweekly shift group : λ＝0.116, p＜0.01, λ＝0.084, p＜0.01). 3. There was no difference in fatigue between the first working day and the last working day for the control group and for the biweekly shift group. In the weekly shift group, physical fatigue was significantly different for the first day and the sixth day of the night shift(t＝-2.28, p＜0.05). Physical fatigue and total fatigue on the first day of the night shift showed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝5.79, p＜0.01, F＝4.56, p＜0.05). There was a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05), Physical fatigue, neurosensory fatigue and total fatigue on the last day of the night shift showed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝12.65, p＜0.01, F＝7.77, p＜0.01, F＝9.68, p＜0.01). There was a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05). 4. No difference in mental performance was seen between the first day and the last day of work in each case. An arithmatic test on the first day of the night shift revealed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝3.79, p＜0.05). There was a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05) . The digital symbol substitution test and the arithmetic test on the last day of the night shift showed a significant difference among the control group, the weekly shift group, and the biweekly shift group(F＝3.68, p＜0.05, F＝5.55, p＜0.01), and both showed a significant difference between the shift groups and the control group(p＜0.05). Accordingly, this study showed that during night duty, the waking time, sleep- wake cycle, and fatigue increased and mental performance decreased compared with morning and evening duty. It was also found that the weekly shift group had a higher fatigue score on the sixth day of night duty as compared to the -first day, but the waking time, sleep- wake cycle, and mental performance revealed no difference for the duration of the night duty or between shift groups, and complete adaptation of temperature rhythm was achieved between the sixth and ninth day of night duty. It is possible to conclude from these results that for intermediate circadian type in a healthy young woman, a biweekly shift system is more compatible with the circadian timing system than weekly shift system.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.465-473
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between worker's health belief in health promotion programs and their demographic, health, and health behavior characteristics. Methods: This study used survey data from 262 small- and large-scale workplaces. The study included 1149 male and female workers who completed the questionnaires. Results: The health belief score increased significantly with age and length of service. Male, married, shift-work, and white-collar workers showed a significantly higher health belief score than female, single, non-shift-work, and blue-collar ones. Workers with disease history, hypertension, or obesity had a significantly higher health belief score. Regular exercise was significantly correlated with the health belief score. When all the variables were included in the model, the health belief score was significantly higher in workers who were married, had a longer length of service, worked in the sales department, were diagnosed with hypertension, exercised regularly, and felt fatigue. Conclusion: The results showed that workplace intervention programs meet more the needs of workers who have a higher health belief score. In addition, given that healthier life style was related to a higher health belief score, further research is required to find how to change health behavior in workers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.138-148
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• 2017

Objectives: Sleep quality is directly related to the health, quality of life and working capacity and is affected by age, gender, exercise, life habits. Gender dissimilarities in sleep quality are acknowledged. However, the gender difference in the quality of sleep in shift workers was not well known. Our aim was to study the less known gender differences in the quality of sleep of shift workers. Methods: 1,008 study subjects aged between 21 and 57 years among these, 637(525 male and 112 female workers) were daytime workers and 371(253 males and 118 female workers) were shift workers. Sleep quality was measured by self-report through the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) and fatigue was measured by using the Chalder Fatigue Scale(CFS). All data was analyzed using SPSS version 19.0 program. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute. Results: Overall, sleep quality was found to be worse in shift workers than in daytime workers and in female than in male. Fatigue in shift female workers was significantly higher than in daytime female workers and shift male workers. In Spearman correlation analysis results, fatigue were significantly associated with gender, drink habit, regular exercise, working hours and sleep quality. With group male workers as the reference, the odds ratio(OR) for having a CFS was 2.115(${\beta}$ value=0.749, p<0.01), and subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction and PSQI were 1.541(${\beta}$ value=0.432, p<0.05), 2.297(${\beta}$ value=0.831, p<0.001), 1.798(${\beta}$ value=0.587, p<0.01) and 2.224(${\beta}$ value=0.799, p<0.01), respectively. Conclusions: Shift work played an important role in lowering the quality of sleep, and the effect was more pronounced in female workers than in male workers. Sleep quality was related to fatigue, especially sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction were significantly related. Therefore, to improve fatigue and sleep quality of shift worker, it is necessary to improve healthy habits such as regular exercise, smoking cessation, and limited drinking. In particular, it is urgent to develop and implement a regular exercise program to reduce fatigue and improve the quality of sleep in workplace.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.96-109
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to identify the major factors affecting performance in health promoting behavior. The subjects for this study were 414 workers employed in one transportation manufacturing plant in Pusan and were obtained by a convenience sample. Data were collected from November 11th to December 21th, 1996 by structured questionnaires. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS PC. The results of this study are as follows. 1. The average score of performance in the health promoting behavior was 2.42 ; the range of the score was from 1.44 to 3.71. The variable with the highest degree of performance was self-actualization, whereas the one with the lowest degree was exercise. 2. In the relationships between demographic variables and performance in the health promoting behavior, only the shift system showed statistically significant differences in the total of health promoting behavior ; especially the group of no shift operation was higher in the performance of subscale such as exercise, nutrition, interpersonal support than that of the shift operation. Some demographic variables showed significant differences in the subscale of the health promoting behavior ; age, worker's career and marital status. 3. Performance in the health promoting behavior was significantly correlated with perceived health status, health conception, self-efficacy, perceived benefits and perceived barriers. 4. The most important factor that affects performance in the health promoting behavior was self-efficacy. The combination of self-efficacy, perceived benefits, perceived health status, perceived barriers, shift system and department of work accounted for 31.05% of the variance in health promoting behavior.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.238-247
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• 2020

This study has a purpose to analyze quantitatively whether ICT industry provides the qualitative indicator of employment to attract excellent human resources. We investigate the relationships of labor market conditions among ICT manufacturing, non-ICT manufacturing, ICT services, non-ICT services. Therefore, the quantitative and qualitative indicators of employment (wages, working hours, admission and turnover, involuntary retirement, and the duration years of job) are analyzed for the ICT industry and IT workers. In order to quantitatively analyze qualitative indicators such as employment status and longevity, we used employment statistics. In order to compensate for the limitations of employment insurance data, the comparison analysis with the survey data of economically active population of the National Statistical Office was conducted. As a result of this research, ICT service industry has to improve the working conditions of employees and establish an ecosystem for a lifelong career base to grow as a specialist, need to pursue an investigation for ICT worker career shift, and promote standard labor contracts. In addition, protection of employees, ICT-related job vision and social respect have to be perused.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.459-468
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the presenteeism and absenteeism in relation to the health problems of nurses. Method: Informed consent was provided before study. Data was collected from January 7 to March 6, 2008 by Stanford Presenteeism Scale-13. Data was collected from 3 hospitals in Seoul Gyeonggi area. The response rate of the questionnaires was 96.2%. Incomplete data was analyzed using SPSS program. Results: Shoulder, back and neck pain were the highest reported health problems and primary health Problem of nurses. Impaired presenteeism was ranked in this order: depression or anxiety, cold, and uterus or ovary disorder. Absenteeism was ranked in this order: uterus or ovary disorder, cold, and dermatological problem. Impaired presenteeism was significantly increasing according to the number of health problems. But Absenteeism was not. Presenteeism was significantly different by age, educational level, religion, whether or not the worker lived with their family, marital status, whether or not the worker has children, time spent in the workforce, experience of turnover, shift work, night work, and level of satisfaction with salary. But absenteeism was not significantly different given these criteria. Conclusions: Health problems of nurses can negatively effect the quality of nursing service and productivity at hospital. Therefore the hospital administrator should control the presenteeism and absenteeism through the management of health problems of nurses.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.303-316
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• 2008

For the past 25 years, Korean semiconductor has experienced enormous growth to be the highest production country in the world. Semiconductor industry is very time sensitive and driven by technology and process, and requires 24-hour full operation. The environment includes many different types of equipment, utilities, different gases and toxic chemicals as well as high voltage electricity. We have performed a survey with 3-shift engineers and workers in one line. The content of the questionnaire was about the correlation between fatigue and performance shaping factor (work type and work ability), and as a result we were able to deduce the correlation, p-value and the pattern of scatter plot. The shape of the model was made of 4 blocks for fatigue, 5 blocks for work type and 5 blocks for work ability, i. e. 14 blocks in total. As a conclusion to this findings, there was a correlation between fatigue and work type and work ability specifically in semiconductor industry, and we need some effort to reduce this.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.488-499
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the characterization of organics solvent exposure among painting workers in the shipbuilding painting process, especially for their daily variations(within worker variance). Methods: Charcoal passive dosimeters were worn throughout each work shift for 20 days for five painting workers from October 19 to November 26, 2015. A total of 100 samples were collected, analyzed and compared with statutory workplace environmental measurements. Results: The geometric mean(GM) and geometric standard deviation(GSD) of mixed organic solvent(six substances) exposure index(EI) for the 100 samples were 0.42 and 4.42 respectively. The median and range of GSD for within worker EI representing five workers' daily EI variation is 3.72 and 2.63 ~ 5.20, respectively, which is classified as a very large variation(GSD>3). We were able to divide the painting process into two similar exposure groups(SEGs), Touch-up and Spray. Spray painting workers were much more exposed to organic solvent than Touch-up painting workers(GM=0.71 vs. 0.19), but less variably (GSD=3.64 vs. 4.10). xylene is the substance to which the workers were most exposed(GM=16.19 ppm, GSD=4.36), and the exposure characteristics of six substances including xylene is similar to those of EI. Conclusions: The daily variation of organic solvent exposure in the shipbuilding painting process is so high that statutory Assessment of Reliability of Work Environment Monitoring needs to be conducted with statistically sufficient number of samples and evidence.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.357-363
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• 1999

Objectives: The purpose of this investigation was to study the health status of apartment guards and associated factors. Materials and Methods: This investigation was conducted for 1 month starting from August, 1997. Study population in this cross-sectional survey consisted of 182 guards of apartments located throughout the district of Taegu. Each subject completed a questionnaire about his general characteristics, health behaviors, job descriptions, subjective GIT symptoms and somatization and depression using Symptom Checklist-90-Reversion (SCL-90-R) by self administrated questionnaire and personal interview. Results: Study subjects had one or more GIT symptoms(53.3%), somatization symptoms(83.5%) and depression symptoms(79.7%). The mean scores of GIT, somatization and depression symptoms were not different among the age groups and based on marital status, respectively, but, significantly different by education level(p<0.05). The mean scores of GIT, somatization and depression symptoms were not different among the age group and based on marital status, respectively, but, significantly different by regular diet and by the subject's health status(p<0.05). The mean scores of GIT, somatization and depression symptoms were not different by duration of shift work, by job tenure and by the number of managed houses but, those of somatization and depression symptoms were significantly different by level of job satisfaction(p<0.05). Conclusion: The health statuses of guards at apartments were different from other shift workers because of healthy worker effects and characteristics of their jobs.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 2013

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the job rotation implementation at medium- or small-industries and to identify the viewpoint on job rotation as preventive activity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs). Background: Job rotation has been implemented in many industrial areas in order to prevent the WMSDs as one part of ergonomic program. Generally, the cases of implementation of ergonomic program or successful cases of job rotation were reported on the side of major or large company. Therefore, this study tried to inspect the current state of job rotation implementation at medium- or small-industries. Method: Survey was carried out for randomly contacted forty seven mangers responsible for safety. Survey contained the questionnaires on the general state of company, shift-work and job rotation. Results: The ratio of work-shift in medium- and small-industry was 34.0% and the ratio of job rotation was 19.1%. For manufacturing industry, the ratio was 37.9% and 17.2%, respectively. Conclusion: The implementation ratio of job rotation was relatively low considering the results of previous studies. Many managers appealed the quality decreasing of goods and the injuries of workers due to job rotation, though agreed to train the multi-functional worker and to prevent the WMSDs. Application: The results can be used for the fundamental data how the job rotation will be properly implemented in medium- and small-industry as an administrative control for MSDs.