• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.271-278
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• 2016

Background: This study purposed to analyze the relationship between regional obesity rates and regional variables. Methods: Data was collected from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) and Community Health Survey in 2012. The units of analysis were administrative districts such as city, county, and district. The dependent variable was the age-sex adjusted regional obesity rates. The independent variables were selected to represent four aspects of regions: health behaviour factor, psychological factor, socio-economic factor, and physical environment factor. Along with the traditional ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis model, this study applied geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis to calculate the regression coefficients for each region. Results: The OLS results showed that there were significant differences in regional obesity rates in high-risk drinking, walking, depression, and financial independence. The GWR results showed that the size of regression coefficients in independent variables was differed by regions. Conclusion: Our results can help in providing useful information for health policy makers. Regional characteristics should be considered when allocating health resources and developing health-related programs.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.1-15
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• 2005

Recently in Korean Society, risk and safety has become a central discourse in not only the social and natural science but also political decision making. The efficient organizational management contributes to controlling the risk factors in the workplace. For the management is influenced and improved by the organizational culture, the alternatives more than simply improving the work environment or enforcing the education of safety on each workers are required. This study was the status of safety culture in organizational members(managers and workers, and specialist) including the attitude on the safety atmosphere and risk perception, and experiences, knowledges, motivation etc. For this part, the method of questionnaire and statistical analysis are mobilized. The degree of safety commitment of organization members appears relatively high (3.97 in five scale estimation), but there are variations in this results according to socio-demographic characteristics. At the same time, managers and professionals actively participation in the program related to safety than workers in production/sales. The higher income level and career is the more attention to the safety is. Based on this survey, we make an rough suggestion of several tasks to the policy -makers: improvement of communication on the risk and safety is required and in particular, the workers in the relatively low level in production/sales. The education system about safety which is, with one-side, provided by government or managers turns out to be inefficient. Rather, small group performance of the organizational members which they participate in the communication with interaction in the various discourse are able to provoke the safety mood in workplace.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.145-161
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• 1992

The purpose of this study are to identify dimensions of leisure motivation of urban housewives. to segment hose wives according to their leisure motivation type and to find out the characteristics of each group. Sample of survey are 574 married women under age 60 living in Seoul. data collected by questionnaire and interview were analyzed through statistical method including factor analysis. ANOVA, Duncan test, MCA and cluster analysis etc. Major finding are as follows; 1) Urban housewives' motivation for leisure activity is composed of self-developmental, relaxatonal, social, family-oriented and imitational dimensions. 2) Main determinants of wives' leisure motivation are their age, education, job, stage in family life cycle. number of family members and household income. Their Sex role personality traits also have effect. 3) The urban housewives' leisure motivation is strongly correlated with their participation in leisure activity. 4) According to the factor scores of each motivation dimensions, subjects can be grouped to 4 typed by use of cluster analysis technique. They were named as Leisure-Indifferent type, Little-Leisure-Seekers. Passive-Leisure-Seekers and Active-Leisure-Seekers. Each of these groups showed different features in socio-demographic factors. different personality traits, and different leisure behavior. For and urban housewife, the most important need for leisure is developing herself. Rest. social life and family are important for leisure, too. Imitation is another reason. Groups with different combination of leisure motivation seem to have different resource and personality. These results have implication for futuer leisure plan for them.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2022

Background: There are regional variations in the incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which means that some regions are more exposed to the risk of COVID-19 than others. Therefore, this study aims to investigate regional variations in the incidence of COVID-19 in Korea and identify risk factors associated with the incidence of COVID-19 using community-level data. Methods: This study was conducted at the districts (si·gun·gu) level in Korea. Data of COVID-19 incidence by districts were collected from the official website of each province. Data was also obtained from the Korean Statistical Information Service and the Community Health Survey; socio-demographic factor, transmission pathway, healthcare resource, and factor in response to COVID-19. Community risk factors that drive the incidence of COVID-19 were selected using a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression. Results: As of June 2021, the incidence of COVID-19 differed by more than 80 times between districts. Among the candidate factors, sex ratio, population aged 20-29, local financial independence, population density, diabetes prevalence, and failure to comply with the quarantine rules were significantly associated with COVID-19 incidence. Conclusion: This study suggests setting COVID-19 quarantine policy and allocating resources, considering the community risk factors. Protecting vulnerable groups should be a high priority for these policies.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.224-234
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the practitioner and organizational characteristics that either detracted from or encouraged the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) by physical therapists. Design: A cross-sectional survey study Methods: Participants were 260 physical therapists currently practicing in South Korea. They completed a questionnaire designed to determine attitudes, beliefs, interest, self-efficacy and barriers to EBP, as well as demographic information about themselves and their practice settings. Logistic regression was used to examine relationships between socio-demographic and work environment characteristics and each practitioner factor. Results: Respondents agreed that the use of evidence in practice was necessary. Although 80% of them agreed that research findings are useful, 71% felt that a divide exists between research and practice. In terms of confidence in their skills, the ability to interpret results of statistical procedures ranked lowest. Despite internet access at work for 63% of respondents, only 14% were given protected work time to search and appraise the literature. Only 2% of respondents stated that their organization had a written requirement to use current evidence in their practice. The primary barrier to implementing EBP was a reported lack of time. Conclusions: In conclusion, most physical therapists stated they had a positive attitude toward EBP and were interested in learning or improving the skills necessary for implementation. Most recognized a need to increase the use of evidence in their daily practice, but a lack of ability to understand the results of research represents a significant barrier to implementing EBP.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 2011

1. Objectives : This study aimed to provide practical insights on the development of traditional Korean medical tourism and maximize the satisfaction of foreign patients. The main objectives of this study were also to evaluate Sasang Constitutional Medicine(S.C.M.) diagnosis cost from foreigners' perspectives. 2. Methods : For this study, the data were collected from tourists to Korea between January 3, 2010 to February 20, 2010. The sample used in this study was mainly composed of Japanese, Chines and US/Canada, because they are the major national visitor origin group to Korea. The primary data were collected by questionnaire survey using a standardized instrument with a convenience sampling procedure, and efforts of the interviews involved an on-site, self-administrated questionnaire to those sitting or visiting tourist attractions. The total size of the sample was 276 of which 275 showed no missing value against the factors needed for final analysis and were for analysis as an effective sample. SPSS 13.0 for window was used to analyze the collected data on which descriptive statistics and the Limited Dependent(LIMDEP) 8.0 program was used in estimating the willingness-to-pay(WTP) for traditional Korean medical tourism through the Contingent Valuation Method(CVM). A dichotomous choice question form of a CVM was applied to estimating the value. 3. Results and Conclusion: 1. There was significant statistical relationship between attributes when considering medical tourism destination and socio-demographic profiles such as age group, nationality, educational level and occupation. 2. In the level of recognition on Korean medicine, north Americans showed low level of recognition compared to other nationalities. In addition, in terms of age group, 20's and 30's showed low level of recognition on Korean medicine, 3. In relation to the level of interest on Korean medicine, Japanese respondents had higher interesting level on Korean medicine. Also singles had higher level of interest. 4. Regarding preferred Korean medical treatment program, there found significant statistical relationship between Korean medical treatment program and socio-demographic characteristics. 5. The estimating result of the logit model showed that the variables affecting the WTP for Sasang Constitutional medicine diagnosis were offered price and potential ability of medical tourism destination. 6. In relation to WTP for Sasang Constitutional medicine diagnosis, Japanese respondents showed a WTP of USD 62.69 and Chinese respondents showed USD 57.09. On the other hands, respondents from north America and other countries showed a WTP of USD 65.50. In conclusion, from this study, the results found that the opportunities in tradition Korean medical tourism are immense and the possible rewards are numerous. It is time to continue to promote 'Sasang Constitutional medicine' and make the Korean medical tourism programs considering on nationalities, age group, gender and WTP.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.157-179
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• 2017

In Korea, 'spoon class discourse' has attracted public attention in the press and among young people, which reflects that mass awareness that the class status structure is clearly rooted in the society becomes widespread. Although income distribution has been improved since late 2000s, it is interesting that Korean people's subjective perception concerning class mobility and social justice has been worsemed. By using the survey data on people's perception of opportunity inequality, this study finds that Korean people have by and large negative subjective awareness regarding socio-economic opportunity inequality, magnitude of opportunity inequality, and achievement by efforts, and that the degree of the negative perception is greater in accordance with the people's subjective identification. The regression analysis reveals that the social status of respondents and their parents(-), experience of discrimination(+), age(-), and high education of college and above (+) have consistent effect over socio-economic opportunity inequality, magnitude of opportunity inequality, and achievement by efforts with statistical significance. More concretely, as people have lower subjective status identification at the time of parent generation and their own generation, as they have the experience of discriminatory misconduct, and as they are young and highly educated, they have negative or pessimistic perception regarding opportuinity inequality. In addition, it is revealed that the unemployed and non-regular workers have significantly negative perception on socio-economic opportunity inequality, magnitude of opportunity inequality, while negative perception on the magnitude of opportunity inequality and achievement by efforts is noticeable among high and middle income households.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.91-97
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• 2007

A survey of risk perception in Korea was conducted in 2001 with a special emphasis on industrial and technological risks. This article summarizes the characteristics of risk perception in consideration of socio-demographic background of respondents. The survey with sample size of 1,870 evaluates the perceived level of 25 risk items in the areas of transportation, chemicals, environment, industry, and nuclear power generation. Risks are categorized by using factor analysis to clarify attitudinal or behavioral properties of risk perception. Research findings show that the level of perceived risk does not correspond to the statistical level. Socio-demographic variables are significant predictors in explaining risk perception, or the discrepancies between "subjective" and "objective" risks. Effective risk communication can reduce the perceptional discrepancies, improve the awareness of technological risks, and ultimately facilitate the process of making and implementing policies for risk management and safety regulation. This article tries to provides policy guidelines for "Who is the target for risk communication" and "Which risk has the policy priority for safety improvement." Married females at the age of 30s and 40s with lower education and lower income in small cities are more vulnerable to risk misperception than other groups. More information and knowledge regarding unfamiliar, intangible, new technological risks should be delivered to the vulnerable groups for reducing perceptional bias. Society-wide safety can be improved by integrating policy, human, and social factors as well as techno-engineering advances.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8541-8551
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• 2016

Background: The coverage of breast and cervical cancer screening has only slightly increased in the past decade in Thailand, and these cancers remain leading causes of death among women. This study identified socioeconomic and contextual factors contributing to the variation in screening uptake and coverage. Materials and Methods: Secondary data from two nationally representative household surveys, the Health and Welfare Survey (HWS) 2007 and the Reproductive Health Survey (RHS) 2009 conducted by the National Statistical Office were used. The study samples comprised 26,951 women aged 30-59 in the 2009 RHS, and 14,619 women aged 35 years and older in the 2007 HWS were analyzed. Households of women were grouped into wealth quintiles, by asset index derived from Principal components analysis. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Screening rates for cervical and breast cancers increased between 2007 and 2009. Education and health insurance coverage including wealth were factors contributing to screening uptake. Lower or non-educated and poor women had lower uptake of screenings, as were young, unmarried, and non-Buddhist women. Coverage of the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme increased the propensity of having both screenings, while the universal coverage scheme increased the probability of cervical screening among the poor. Lack of awareness and knowledge contributed to non-use of both screenings. Women were put off from screening, especially Muslim women on cervical screening, because of embarrassment, fear of pain and other reasons. Conclusions: Although cervical screening is covered by the benefit package of three main public health insurance schemes, free of charge to all eligible women, the low coverage of cervical screening should be addressed by increasing awareness and strengthening the supply side. As mammography was not cost effective and not covered by any scheme, awareness and practice of breast self examination and effective clinical breast examination are recommended. Removal of cultural barriers is essential.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.119-131
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Happiness is an important factor in life, and food literacy (FL) has been emphasized as a core concept for a happy and healthy life. This study examined the level of happiness of Seoul citizens according to their sociodemographic factors and their association with FL. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study used the data from the Seoul Food Survey, a cross-sectional study conducted on 4,039 Seoul citizens from September to October 2021. FL was measured using a validated questionnaire consisting of 33 items from 3 sub-domains: 14 items in the nutrition and safety domain, 8 items in the cultural and relational domain, and 11 items in the socio-ecological domain. Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: Various sociodemographic factors, such as household income, subjective health status, and food insecurity, were found to be associated with the level of happiness. The level of FL was also associated with the happiness scores. After adjusting for variables associated with happiness, the participants with the highest quartile FL scores were 7.32 times more likely to respond that they were happy than those with the lowest FL score. Three FL domains and total FL showed linear increases in overall happiness after controlling for subjective health status and sociodemographic factors (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: After adjusting for the related covariates, higher levels of FL were associated with higher scores in happiness. Based on this study, it would be meaningful to evaluate ways to intervene in FL to improve the level of happiness among the general population.