• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.2667-2676
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• 2013

This study was to examine the relationship between suicidal ideation, depression, stress and their parent's socioeconomic status. Nation-wide representative data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009 were used in this study. 904 adolescents with parent were analysed. Parent's socioeconomic status, especially mother's low educational level and the beneficiaries for national basic livelihood security were significant risk factor for adolescents' suicidal ideation. These associations remained significant in multiple logistic regression controlling for all covariates. The findings in the current study support the global literature on the importance of socioeconomic status in promoting adolescent's mental health. Future prevention intervention efforts to improve adolescent's suicide risk will need to take into consideration parent's and household's socioeconomic conditions. Future study is needed to explore the possible proximal risk factors and mediators between parent's socioeconomic status and mental health among adolescents.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2014

Background: In Japan, more than 60% of employees are reported to suffer from anxiety and stress. Consequently, Japanese society has begun to address such important issues as psychogenic disability and job-related suicide. Furthermore, given the aging of society and the surge in the number of elderly people requiring care, it is necessary to adequately and proactively support employees who care for their elderly relatives. The purpose of the present study was to investigate caregiver burden in caring for elderly relatives and work-related stress factors associated with mental health among employees. Methods: We studied 722 men and women aged 18-83 years in a cross-sectional study. The K10 questionnaire was used to examine mental health status. Results: The proportion of participants with a high K10 score was 15% (n = 106). Having little conversation with their supervisor and/or coworkers significantly increased the risk of depression [odds ratio (OR) 1.8], as did high job overload (OR 2.7) and job dissatisfaction (OR 3.8), compared with employees who frequently conversed with their supervisor and/or coworkers. Caring for elderly relatives as a prominent characteristic of an employee was a significant risk factor for depression (OR 2.1). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that employees who were caring for elderly relatives were significantly associated with an increased risk of depression. To prevent depressive disorders, it may be important to focus on reducing the work-caregiving role conflict, as well as enhancing employees' job control and better rewarding their efforts in the workplace.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.42-57
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• 2020

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is indicated for various mental disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder) and the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in elderly patients. Furthermore, ECT is a useful first-line treatment in emergency and crisis situations such as suicide risk, violent behavior, catatonia, and food refusal, which are more frequent in elderly patients. ECT is also effective in the treatment of the motor symptoms of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. Due to the high risk of various physical diseases, the comorbid physical conditions of elderly patients should be individually controlled to optimize ECT treatment. Compared to young adults, in elderly patients the seizure threshold is higher, the seizure duration is shorter, and the anesthetic dose is lower. On the contrary, the response rate in the elderly is both faster and higher. Considering potential cognitive decline and the prevention of further deterioration of cognitive function in elderly patients, in the absence of significant comorbidities, twice weekly sessions and right unilateral electrode placement with a lower seizure threshold and less cognitive effect are preferred to bilateral electrode placement, which has a high risk of adverse cognitive effects. After an acute course of ECT, continuation and maintenance of ECT, combined with prescription of therapeutic drugs, may prevent possible relapse or recurrence of mental disorders. In conclusion, ECT can be used to treat mental disorders in elderly adults, with safety and effectiveness comparable to that in young adults.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.4777-4785
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• 2015

This study attempted to provide basic data for screening high-risk subjects by confirming suicidal thinking intensity and by identifying its influential factors in mid-aged men. Data No.3 from third National Health and Nutrition Survey in 2012 by the CDCP were used with 40-64 years middle-aged men targets. The collected data were analyzed via applying weight by using the complex sample analysis method of SPSS 19.0 program, frequency analysis, cross-analysis, and logistic regression analysis. The result revealed that 10% of middle-aged men showed suicidal thinking, and low-income earners had suicidal thinking 1.972 times higher than usual, the unmarried 2.587 times higher than men with spouses, men without spouses 1.482 times higher than men with spouses, the underweighted 18.183 times higher the obese. The blue-collared and the unemployed had suicidal thinking 1.349 and 13.342 times higher than the white-collared respectively. Furthermore, inactive subjects showed suicidal thinking 2.998 times higher than active subjects. Therefore, to prevent suicide in mid-aged men, separating these high-risk subjects in primary screening is needed for management, and suicide prevention programs should be developed at social and political level that include the information considering stress, depression, and obesity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2021

Risk factors that threaten public safety such as crime, fire, and traffic accidents have spatial characteristics. Since each region has different dangerous environments, it is necessary to analyze the spatial pattern of risk factors for each sector such as traffic accident, fire, crime, and living safety. The purpose of this study is to analyze the spatial distribution pattern of local safety level index, which act as an index that rates the safety level of each sector (traffic accident, fire, crime, living safety, suicide, and infectious disease) for basic local governments across the nation. The following analysis tools were used to analyze the spatial autocorrelation of local safety level index : Global Moran's I, Local Moran's I, and Getis-Ord's G⁎i. The result of the analysis shows that the distribution of safety level on traffic accidents, fire, and suicide tends to be more clustered spatially compared to the safety level on crime, living safety, and infectious disease. As a result of analyzing significant spatial correlations between different regions, it was found that the Seoul metropolitan areas are relatively safe compared to other cities based on the integrated index of local safety. In addition, hot spot analysis using statistical values from Getis-Ord's G⁎i derived three hot spots(Samchuck, Cheongsong-gun, and Gimje) in which safety-vulnerable areas are clustered and 15 cold spots which are clusters of areas with high safety levels. These research findings can be used as basic data when the government is making policies to improve the safety level by identifying the spatial distribution and the spatial pattern in areas with vulnerable safety levels.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.144-155
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• 2022

The Korea Coast Guard evaluates the risk of major coastal activity places to prevent coastal accidents, and patrols and manages them based on that, but it is not responding properly to the continuously increasing number of coastal accidents. The reason for this is that, despite the gradual expansion of coastal activity places, there is a lack of manpower to manage and supervise them, resulting in blind spots in coastal accident safety management. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, it is necessary to prepare more efficient and effective measures that check and supplement the current coastal safety management system. Coastal accidents show different characteristics of accident causes and places due to differences in the activity characteristics of users according to time. As a result of analyzing coastal accident data (2017~2021), the frequency of daytime accidents is high in the case of sea rock, beach, and offshore, where family leisure activities are frequent. In the case of wharf, tidal flat and bridge, where accidents due to drinking, disorientation, and suicide mainly occur, the frequency of accidents at night is high. In addition, there were more accidents on weekends when the number of users increased compared to weekdays. This trend indicates that the user's temporal activity characteristics must be reflected in the risk assessment of coastal activity places. Therefore, in this study, based on the case of coastal accidents, the characteristics of accidents at coastal activity places according to time were identified, and the criteria were presented for risk evaluation by grading them. It is expected that it will be possible to lay the foundation for reducing coastal accidents by efficiently managing and supervising coastal activity places over time using the presented evaluation criteria.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.524-536
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationships among experiences of traumatic events, post-traumatic stress (PTS), and the needs for health promotion programs of 119 paramedics. Methods: Experiences of traumatic events, PTS, and needs for health promotion programs were measured using a structured questionnaire. The subjects were 193 paramedics in Jeju Island. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and $x^2$ test. Results: The most experienced event out of the 16 different traumatic events was 'retrieve a suicide's body.' A high-risk classification of PTS was observed in 36.2% of the subjects. The rates of experiences were higher than those of the actual needs for all 26 health promotion programs. The programs reported as highly needed by respondents were stress management (75.5%) followed by exercise (74.6%) and PTS management (72.5%). Subjects with longer career periods, a fire sergeant, perceived obesity, numerous experiences of traumatic events, and in the PTS risk group had a higher need for a stress management program. Conclusion: These findings indicate that a significant number of 119 paramedics experienced PTS. They also show that onsite strategic management is strongly required. In addition, implementation of health promotion programs based on the needs of 119 paramedics is highly needed.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.113-128
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of suicidal risk, meaning in life, and life respect in various ages of patients and identify factors influencing their life respect. Method: The participants were 229 patients in a public hospital who completed questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Fisher's exact test, ANOVA with Duncan post hoc test, and multiple regression. Results: There was a negative correlation between the meaning of life and life respect in the old age group (r=-.23, p=.02) and all subjects (r=-.14, p=.01) after controlling for age. Factors significantly influencing life respect were gender (${\beta}$=0.11, p=.050) and educational status (${\beta}$=-0.17, p=.022), and the multiple regression model explained 16.7% of the variance in all subjects (p<.001). In the early adulthood group, factors significantly influencing the life respect were gender (${\beta}$=0.18, p<.001) and suicidal thoughts (${\beta}$=0.21, p=.028), and the multiple regression model explained 6.8% of variance in all subjects (p=.001). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that suicidal prevention and educational programs for increasing an appreciation of life should consider subject's characteristics, such as gender and educational status.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2017

Purpose: To identify the risk factors for suicidal ideation across the life cycle among Korean adults using data from 2015 Korean Psycho-social Anxiety Survey. Methods: The data were statistically analyzed using hierarchical logistic regression analysis. Results: The factors associated with suicidal ideation among the young adult group were education level (odds ratio [OR] 1.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05~2.49), self-esteem (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.12~1.27), stress (OR 3.26, 95% CI 2.07~5.15), anger control problems (OR 3.58, 95% CI 2.34~5.50), and depression (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.66~4.04) whereas among the middle-aged adults the factors were education level (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.12~2.23), existence of a spouse (OR 2.55, 95% CI 1.72~3.78), self-esteem (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.08~1.18), stress (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.81~3.33), anger control problems (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.22~2.36), and depression (OR 2.64, 95% CI 1.91~3.64). Among the older adult group the findings were the existence of a spouse (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.37~3.39), self-esteem (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.13~1.32), stress (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.38~3.54), anxiety (OR 2.42, 95% CI 1.46~4.02), and depression (OR 2.48, 95% CI 1.30~4.72). Conclusion: The findings suggest that there may be a need for different suicide intervention programs to decrease suicidal ideation across the life cycle.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.210-216
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• 2011

Subsyndromal depression (SSD) is found to be more prevalent than major depressive disorder (MDD) and minor depressive disorder (MnDD). SSD is also associated with adverse clinical outcomes, increased risk of suicide, increased social dysfunction and disability, increased risk for future mood disorders, and increased uses of medical and mental health services. DSM-IV diagnostic criteria are not suitable for capturing SSD. Although there is no agreement on gold standard to define SSD so far, three definitions of SSD are available. First, SSD is defined as having two or more current depressive symptoms without core depressive symptoms (depressive mood or loss of interest) and with time threshold (most of the day and nearly every day over at least two weeks). Second, SSD is defined as having two or more current depressive symptoms with core depressive symptoms and without time threshold. Third, SSD is defined by using cutoff points of depression rating scales. SSD may represent a prodromal, residual, or interepisode symptomatic state in the course of MDD and MnDD. More than a half of SSD patients became any type of depressive disorders (SSD, MnDD and MDD) at 1 year. SSD may represent a discrete category of its own, without prior or consequent episodes of MDD. Considering clinical significance of SSD such as its high prevalence, significant psychosocial impairment and chronicity and serious outcomes, researchers and clinicians should be more vigilant in capturing and caring for patients with SSD.