• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.79-85
• /
• 2015

Objectives: A vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is characterized by back pain and fracture of a vertebral body on spinal radiography. VCFs of the thoraco lumbar spine are common in the elderly. In general, appropriate analgesics should be prescribed to reduce pain and, thus, promote early mobilization. The ideal treatment approach for VCFs has not been determined. In Korea, acupuncture and herbal medication have been used to treat VCFs for many years. There is empirical evidence that acupuncture might benefit patients with a VCF. However, no randomized, controlled, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and the safety of acupuncture for treating a VCF have been published. Therefore, we designed a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial to obtain information for the design of a further full scale trial. Methods: A five week protocol for a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial is presented. Fourteen patients will be recruited and randomly allocated to two groups: a control group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections once a week for three weeks, and an experimental group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections plus acupuncture treatment (three acupuncture sessions per week for three weeks, nine sessions in total). The primary outcomes will be the pain intensity (visual analogue scale and PainVision$^{TM}$ system). The secondary outcome measurements will be the answers on the short form McGill pain questionnaire and the oswestry disability index. Assessments will be made at baseline and at one, three, and five weeks. The last assessment (week five) will take place two weeks after treatment cessation. This study will provide both an indication of feasibility and a clinical foundation for a future large scale trial. The outcomes will provide additional resources for incorporating acupuncture into existing treatments, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, narcotics and vertebral augmentation. This article describes the protocol.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.549-565
• /
• 2017

A high-quality workforce is essential to delivering the high-quality care for the older people who are beneficiaries of long term care insurance. Providing adequate education and ongoing training opportunities could be one answer that may lead to the ultimate goal of improving the quality of long-term care services. Thus this study aimed to examine a workforce crisis and difficulties that care workers face in current education system, especially in contents and administration aspects and draw out suitable solutions or improvement measures. The focus group interview approach was chosen to reflect opinions of long-term care workers, directors of the education system in long-term care facilities and managers. The findings from the focus group interviews were analyzed by theme and classified into several categories by common subjects:'Training contents', 'Training environment', 'Administrator', 'Compulsory training', 'Care givers supply', 'Working condition'. Also, four content areas were presented as follows:'Job training', 'Dementia care training', 'Administration system', 'Workforce'. The caregivers demand very practical training programmes and trainers with a lot of field experience. Improving the working condition and treatments for them leeds to expand the opportunity of the on-going training.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.79-88
• /
• 2023

Objective : This study was to apply a cognitive rehabilitation group program based on sensory activity in patients with dementia living in a facility and to check its effectiveness on cognitive function, depression, and quality of life (QOL). Methods : Sensory-based cognitive rehabilitation group programs (20 sessions) were conducted for eight elderly with dementia over the age of 65 living in a nursing facility located in H-gun, Gangwon-do. The participants' cognitive function, depression level, and QOL were evaluated before and after the program. Results : The mean of Mini-Mental State Examination-Dementia Screening increased; however, there was no statistically significant difference. In contrast, the mean post-test score of the Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire decreased, and there was a statistically significant difference (p < .05). The mean post-evaluation score of Short Geriatric Depression Scale measured to confirm the decrease in depression compared to the pre-evaluation score, but there was no statistically significant difference. Finally, the mean post-evaluation score of the World Health Organization QOL assessment instrument-Brief confirmed the change in the QOL, and there was a statistically significant difference (p < .001). Conclusion : This study will provide the basis for suggesting the usefulness of developing a sensory activity-based cognitive rehabilitation group program for dementia patients living in facilities.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.729-742
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to examine the changes of emotion experiences in old age and confirm the effects of emotional characteristics on the subjective well-being in old age by the longitudinal study. This longitudinal study started from 2003 and every two year we performed panel study. We analysed the data from old participants who participated tree-times(2003, 2005, 2007)and over 65 year-old. Finally, 844 old participants(male, 340; female, 504)' data were analysed. The elderly experienced more positive emotions than negatives and these results represented affective optimization. We performed mixed ANOVA method and confirmed significant change of emotion experiences during 6 years. Positive emotion experiences and negative emotion experiences were decreased as they get older. We also examined the effects of emotional experiences on the subjective well-being. In results, emotion experiences were more effective than the demographic variables for maintaining subjective well-being in old age. Decreasing negative emotion experiences and increasing positive emotion experiences can keep happy life up in old age. The importance of the quality of emotional life in old age and the necessity of longitudinal study of aging were discussed.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.243-258
• /
• 2009

Background: Falls are among the most common and serious health problems of older people. The psychological symptoms of falling have received relatively little attention compared to physical problems. Objective: The purpose of this study is to test a model to explain the factors that influence fear of falling among older adults living in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Baltimore city, United States. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted using data obtained from a Health Promotion Survey done on 149 older adults living in a CCRC. Data was originally obtained during face to face interviews with each participant. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to describe the sample and evaluate simple correlations. A path analysis was done using the AMOS 4.0 statistical program. Results: Of the 49 hypothesized paths, 13 were statistically significant, and the model accounted for 22% of the variance in fear of falling among the elderly. There was support for the fit of the model to the data with a nonsignificant chi square at 0.478 (df=2, p=0.79), and the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom was 0.24, a CFI of 0.99 and RMSEA of 0.00. In particular, gender, a history of falling, and exercise were significant predictors of fear of falling. Conclusions/Implications: As anticipated, exercise is an important factor to prevent fear of falling. As a modifiable variable, self-efficacy and outcome expectation indirectly influence fear of falling through exercise.

• 한국노년학
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.683-699
• /
• 2009

Family caregiving to the elderly is one of the most important social issues in recent Korea. Among various kinds of family caregivers, spouse caregivers particularly constitute a special group, generally characterized by continuous intimate association with the care recipients at many levels and by special commitments and responsibilities associated with the marriage bond. And the number of spouse caregiver is expected to increase in the future. Moreover, since a conjugal relation is consisted of husband and wife, their caregiving experiences and caregiving burden may vary by gender. Thus, the present study was to examine the effect of caregiving experience, especially caregiving motivation and social support focusing on the gender differences. We analysed 「2001 Survey of Care-giving Status and welfare Needs of Older Persons in Korea」 data by performing descriptive statistics, t-test and logistic regression. As a result, we found that the husband was likely to feel more burden when he started caregiving because of few alternatives. For wife caregivers, the less awareness of social support they had, the more possibility of economic burden they felt. With these results, we suggest the necessity of having gender-sensitive perspective in research and policy making for caregivers.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 2024

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of smart construction equipment applied at the construction site of the first smart city in the Korea and derive an application strategy for the utilization of smart construction equipment. To achieve this, aythors examined the practical effects and issues of safety systems and construction systems utilizing machine guidance (MG) technology, which is a representative smart construction equipment used in civil engineering construction sites. Both the MG safety system and MG construction system were found to be sufficiently effective in improving construction productivity. However, there are challenges that need to be addressed, such as the approval process for work results using MG systems, system changes due to frequent replacement of on-site equipment, and usability improvements for elderly on-site workers. The study presented some solutions that have been implemented on-site to address these issues. The utilization effects and issues presented in the study were analyzed through direct feedback from workers and managers who have utilized the MG technology on-site for a considerable period of time. These results can be used as preliminary data for the similar construction projects, considering the limited availability of empirical analysis data for equipment automation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.10
• /
• pp.308-325
• /
• 2020

This study examines factual facilites safety of long-term care facilities for eldery, for improvement of Korean policy. So, This study reviewed policies of facilites safety of long-term care facilities on main OECD countries. We analyzed factual survey of facilites safety of long-term care facilities in Seoul metropolitan area. The results of the study were as follows: First, There were differences of law and rule of facilites safety of long-term care facilities in comparison with those of social welfare facilities, child day-care center, hospital. Second, it was the result of location condition analysis. Long-term care facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area were located on more than six floors of buildings. The location conditions of private facilities are weak compared to those of corporations and local governments. Third, there were the result of internal structure of facilities. Overall, the placement status was insufficient. For instance, there are smokeproof masks/fireproof blankets, smoke windows(fire safety windows), smoke smothering. In addition, there were places where legal essential installation structures were insufficient. Private facilities were generally insufficient in facility structures compared to those of local governments and welfare corporations. Fourth, there were the result of safety management. It was confirmed that private facilities were insufficient compared to local government facilities. For instance, there are safety management analysis, response manuals, fire preparedness training, etc. Finally, implications and future directions policies of facilites safety of long-term care facilities were discussed based on the finding of the study.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 2016

This research was to investigate the effect of fatigue reduction and heart rate recovery (HRR) according to whole body vibration (WBV). 20 healthy participants were recruited and divided into vibration group (VG) and none vibration group (NVG). VG was group with provided vibration and NVG was group without vibration. They exercised slope gait with 8.5 degree and 4km/h during 30min. They rested on the chair type vibrator during 30min. The vibration consists of 10hz as frequency and 5mm as amplitude. We measured the lactate in the blood and HRR before, immediately after exercise and after rest session. The results showed that lactate level in VG the more decreased at 95.2%. The result of HRR was similar including recovery at 50.67% in VG. The WBV with stimulated vessel in muscle assisted the recovery function by reducing the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) quickly and improving blood circulation. The rest with WBV could provide efficient cool-down exercise for elderly and women without other physical activities after exercise.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.96-110
• /
• 2020

Recently, due to global warming, it is easily exposed to various disasters such as fire, flood, and earthquake. In particular, large-scale disasters have continuously been occurring in crowded areas such as traditional markets, facilities for the elderly and children, and public facilities where various people stay. Purpose: This study aims to detect a fire occurred in crowded facilities early in the event to analyze and provide an optimal evacuation route using big data and advanced technology. Method: The researchers propose a new algorithm through context-aware 3D object model technology and A* algorithm optimization and propose a scenario-based optimal evacuation route selection technique. Result: Using the HPA* E algorithm, the evacuation simulation in the event of a fire was reproduced as a 3D model and the optimal evacuation route and evacuation time were calculated for each scenario. Conclusion: It is expected to reduce fatalities and injuries through the evacuation induction technique that enables evacuation of the building in the shortest path by analyzing in real-time via fire detection sensors that detects the temperature, flame, and smoke.