• Title/Summary/Keyword: The Social Weak

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A Study for The Prognostic Indicators of Korean Alcoholics in Psychological, Social and Biological Aspects (한국인 알코올중독 환자의 예후인자에 관한 연구 : 심리적, 사회적, 생물학적 요인을 중심으로)

  • Sung, Sang-Kyung;Chang, Hwan-Il
    • Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.218-236
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    • 1995
  • The author studied prognostic indicators of sixty Korean male alcoholics in psychological, social and biological aspects who were divided into abstinent and drinking groups. Thirty patients were assigned to each group. They were controlled in age and sex. Both groups were compared in terms of the demographic characteristics, past drinking history, treatment history, famaily history, ego strength and personality factors differences and distribution of dopamine $D_2$ receptor gene Al allele. Also the author studied relation of clinical course, alcoholic family history and dopamine $D_2$ receptor gene Al allele in both groups. The results were as follows; 1) The abstinent group had higher rate of married state, higher economic status, longer education years and maintained more stable job than the drinking group. But made no differences in occupation and religion. 2) The abstinent group showed higher rate of living with family members than the drinking group, and wives and fellows of the alcoholics anonymous were important factors for maintenance of abstinence. Family loading and parent's characters were not different. 3) The abstinent group had longer maximal length of abstinence but mean amount of alcohol consumption per day were larger than the drinking group. But there were no differences in duration of past drinking, drinking pattern, main drinking time, first drinking age and preference of the kind of alcoholic beverage in the past drinking history. 4) The abstinent group showed stronger treatment motivation, absolute abstinence in treatment goal, more voluntary adimission and maintained longer therapeutic relationship otter discharge than the drinking group. But both groups showed negative attitude toward antabuse therapy. 5) The abstinent group had higher mean score in ego strength scale than the drinking group. 6) In the personality factor questionnaire, the abstinent group showed strong laugh poise and the trait of praxernia, conservatism personality but the drinking group showed tough poise, the trait of weak ego strength(unstableness) and tough mindedness personality. 7) In comparision of dopamine $D_2$ receptor gene A1 allele, the prevalence of A1 allele was seventy percent and the frequency was 0.38 in the abstinent group. The prevalence of A1 allele was sixty percent and the frequency was 0.42 in the drinking group. Both groups were not significantly different in A1 allele prevalence and frequency. 8) In comparision of dopamine $D_2$ receptor gene A1 allele according to alcoholic family history, the prevalence of A1 allele was seventy percent and the frequency was 0.43 in the family history positive group. The prevalence of A1 allele was sixty-one percent and the frequency was 0.38 in the family history negative group. Both groups were not significantly different in A1 allele prevalence and frequency. In comparision of past drinking history according to alcoholic family history, the family history positive group showed earlier first drinking and problem drinking, but the family history negative group hod longer duration of past drinking. The mean amount of alcohol consumption per day, the longest duration of abstinence and Alcoholism Screening Test of Seoul Natoinal Mental Hospital(NAST) results were not significant. In conclusion, the results suggest that successful prognostic indicators of Korean alcoholics are married state, higher economic status, longer education years, stable job, living with family members, longer abstinence during past drinking history, strong treatment motivation, absolute abstinence in treatment goal, voluntary adimission, maintained therapeufic relationship, strong ego strength and the trait of praxernia, conservatism personality. But occupation, religion, alcoholic family history, parent's characters, duration of past drinking, drinking pattern, main drinking time, first drinking age, preference of the kind of alcoholic beverage, attitude to antabuse therapy and distribution of dopamine $D_2$ receptor A1 allele were not significantly related to the prognostic indicators of Korean alcoholics.

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Legality of the Welfare Benefits Termination and Modification Procedure under the National Basic Living Security Act: Applying the Due Process of Law Principle (국민기초생활보장법상의 급여변경 및 중지절차의 적정성에 대한 법적 고찰 : 적법절차원칙의 적용)

  • Kim, Jihye
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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    • v.42 no.4
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    • pp.239-262
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    • 2011
  • The Korean government's recent large-scale termination and modification of welfare benefits revealed a procedural problem under the National Basic Living Security Act. Under the Act, welfare recipients have a legal right to make complaints only after the termination or modification is enforced; the Act fails to provide the recipients with an opportunity for a hearing before termination or modification, and this creates serious threats to the recipients, whose livelihoods are dependent on welfare benefits. Korean jurisprudence has adopted the due process of law principle. The principle originated from the due process in US jurisprudence, and Korea has applied it broadly to any government actions that restrict individuals' constitutional or legal rights. This paper reviews the termination or modification procedure under the Act with the lens of the due process principle and criticizes that the current law is not in compliance with the principle. In supporting that such termination and modification procedure infringes on welfare recipients' protected rights, this paper discusses two theories as to what rights are protected. First, termination or modification of welfare benefits can be considered as deprivation of property. The 'property' theory may be weak under Korean jurisprudence, because the concept of property under the Korean Constitution is narrowly construed. Second, this paper relies on the constitutional provision that recognizes "the right to a life worthy of human beings," which requires the State to guarantee minimum standard of living for all. As welfare recipients are deemed to receive benefits as a right under the Constitution, any deviation from the minimum requirement would constitute a violation of constitutional rights. In any case, termination or modification of welfare benefits that are concretized under the Act should be protected under the due process principle, because the principle would cover any government actions that restrict established legal rights. This paper argues that the procedural due process requires the recipients be guaranteed an opportunity to have a hearing before the termination or modification is enforced. An independent decision-maker should hear the proceedings, and the recipients should have an option to orally present their opinions in front of the decision-maker. The hearing process under the Administrative Procedures Act of Korea offers elements that would satisfy these procedural requirements. Thus, this paper concludes that the National Basic Living Security Act should be amended to adopt the hearing process under the Administrative Procedures Act in its termination and modification procedure.

Is Moral Identity theory a post-kohlbergian? - The function of the reflective reasoning in the moral identity theory and it's implication (도덕적 정체성 이론은 탈 콜버그주의인가?)

  • Son, Kyung-Won
    • The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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    • no.32
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    • pp.395-432
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is (i) to explore arguments of post-kohlbergian approach in moral psychology and; (ii) to analyze Blasi's and Lapsley's positions regarding the relationship between moral philosophy and psychology in terms of reflective reasoning and; (ⅲ) to suggest their's implication concerning the future development of moral identity theory. Moral identity theory has emerged as an alternative approach of the Kohlberg's moral development theory. Theorists of moral identity theory commonly criticize Kohlberg's theory as a philosophical psychology and insist the autonomy of moral psychology. However, one can find different positions within this trend, especially concerning he meaning and role of the reflection in moral functioning. Blasi emphasizes the importance of the reflective reasoning of moral agent, while Lapsley supports moral automacy contrary to Kohlberg's phenomenalism. Although Blasi had been negative about building moral psychology based on the moral philosophy, he has articulated the moral identity theory based on the concept of free will by Frankfurt. However, recently he criticizes intuitionist theory of Haidit and suggests the notion of the moral agent with the skill of reflective reasoning, or post-conventional thinking in Kohlberg's terms. Blasi's perspective of moral identity has two version. The one emphasizes the moral understanding which means strong evaluation, while the other refers to reasoning with weak evaluation. This leads to an inevitable inner contradiction within his theory of moral identity. Lapsley considers moral identity as a heuristic idea and suggests moral chronic as a new model of moral identity. This model is based on the social cognitive theory. His social cognitive model of moral personality provides the account for implicit, tacit, and automatic of moral functioning, while reflecting the core of moral identity. Lapsley suggests that moral function involves conscious and unconscious processes. The former occurs in normal situations of life, while the latter in rare and unusual situations. He does not highlight reasoning in moral functioning as Blasi do. In consequence, I will argue the notion of the moral agent with the skill of reflective reasoning, or post conventional thinking in Kohlberg's terms in the moral functioning like Gibbs and Turiel positions in the Journal of Moral Education' s 2008 special issue. Moral philosophy and psychology should be in complementary relations. It means we explore not only more interdisciplinary researches on the moral functioning, but also researches based on the moral philosophy.

The Characteristic of Shang Yang's Legal Reforms and Thought - Focusing on the application of the three-step theory of norms - (상앙의 변법과 법치사상의 특성 - 규범 3단계설의 적용을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Jong-sung
    • Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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    • v.147
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    • pp.333-356
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    • 2018
  • Shang Yang was a person who, as a representative of the former School of Law, not only had an effect of thought on Han Fei Tzu, but also put a cornerstone of Qin Shi Huang's great universal unification by placing small and weak Qin Dynasty in a border area in the rank of a newly rising powerful nation. He is especially regarded as a person who valued laws and established the theoretical framework of legalist thought of School of Law systematically. To begin with, this writing examines the contents of the enforcement of legal reforms relevant to the prerequisite of Shang Yang's legal thought in historical archives, and confirms that Shang Yang succeeded in accomplishing legal reforms twice and that the aim of the legal reforms was to realize national prosperity and military power for the universal unification. This writing also takes notice of the fact that Shang Yang's legal thought went through specific steps for unifying the legal authority and the power of the monarch. Especially this writing focuses on applying the three-step theory of norms that was presented in the western social and political norm theory to Shang Yang's legal thought and on examining the characteristic and meaning explicitly. In short, the social and political norms go through emergence, cascade, and internalization. This writing aims to confirm that Shang Yang's legal thought also went through these three steps and was specified. Specifying this critical mind, this writing is a result which discusses that Shang Yang's legal thought went though the steps of the selective prescriptivism of emergence, the monarchical absolutism through sever punishment, and the internal monarchism for national prosperity and military power, and that the thought was systemized. Finding that the contents of Shang Yang's legal thought correspond to the three-step theory of norms and produce the individual meaning is the independent characteristic of this writing. It is the aim of this writing that the system and meaning of Shang Yang's legal thought will be confirmed more explicitly through this contextual examination.

A Study for Quality of Life in Musically Talented Students Using Experience Sampling Method (경험표집법(ESM)을 통해 본 음악영재의 삶의 질)

  • Lee, Hyun-Joo;Choe, In-Soo
    • Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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    • v.21 no.1
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    • pp.57-81
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of life of musically talented students as measured by their external experiences (e.g., activities, companions) and internal experiences (e.g., flow, emotion). The participants in this study were 33 musically talented students (10 males, 23 females) aged 13 to 19. Study data were collected for 7 consecutive days using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which employs a cellular-phone as a signaling device. The results were as follows: First, in response to the 1625 random signals, musically talented students reported that 40.9% of their time was spent on productive activities. An additional 33.4% of time was used for maintenance activities and the rest of their time was spent on leisure/social activities. Also, musically talented students reported that 48.5% of their time was spent alone. When they were alone, they spent a lot of time engaging in productive activities (44.3%). Second, in order to measure the flow of their life, two methods were used. One used a 4-channel flow model (i.e. apathy, boredom, flow, anxiety) and the other used 8 dimensions and conditions of the flow experience (i.e. concentration, self-consciousness disappears, action and awareness merge, distorted sense of time, freedom from worry about failure, clear goals, immediate feedback, balance between challenges and skills). According to the former, when engaged in music-related activities, musically talented students usually reported flow (54.0%), while they felt apathy (41.3%) for daily routines activities. According to the latter method, musically talented students experienced flow for most productive activities, while they experienced flow least for maintenance activities. Emotional variables of ESF are comprised of 10 semantic scales (i.e. happy-sad, strong-weak, active-passive, sociablelonely, proud-ashamed, involved-detached, excited-bored, clear-confused, relaxed-worried, cooperative-competitive). Musically talented students reported experiencing the most positive emotion for social activities and experiencing the most negative emotion for maintenance activities. Results of this study assert that musically talented students had to trade off immediate enjoyment for developing their special gifts. They could not afford as much time for socializing with friends, and they had to spend more time alone compared to their peers without such gifts. Consequently, they were found to deprive themselves of the spontaneous good times that teenagers usually thrive on. They were helped in this respect by their autotelic personality traits, especially their strong need for achievement and endurance. The downside, however, is that the moment-to-moment quality of their moods suffered. The argument concerning musically talented students applies for all adolescents. The choices that talented students must make between immediate gratification and long-term development, and between solitude and companionship, are the same choices every young person must make, regardless of her or his level of talent. All of us have gifts that are potentially useful and worthy of being appreciated. But to develop these latent talents we must cultivate them, and this takes time and the investment of mental energy. The lifestyle that musically talented students develop can show us some of the choices all of us must make in order to cultivate our gifts.

An Importance Analysis on the NCS-Based Skin Care Qualification L3 Level of Education in Life Care (라이프케어의 피부미용 NCS기반 자격 L3수준의 교육 중요도 연구)

  • Park, Chae-Young;Park, Jeong-Yeon
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.13 no.5
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    • pp.263-271
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    • 2019
  • The recent phenomenon of job "Miss Match", which is inconsistent with knowledge in the demand of educational training institutes and industries, has spread to an increase in private education costs for reeducation and employment of new hires, resulting in weak individual job competency and poor employment capability, as well as economic and material waste at the national level. To compensate for these problems, the National Competency Standards(NCS), which are available immediately in practice and look for a standard point of national job competency with the aim of fostering human resources sought by industries, were developed, and even the NCS-based qualification system was launched in line with the stream of times. This study is intended to look into the importance and priority of competency units and competency unit elements at the NCS-based qualification L3 level in the skin care field for an overall check of the NCS-based qualification level at a time when educational institutes are organizing and operating the school curriculums according to the NCS and NCS-based qualification level. And it is attempted to provide basic data for the development of curriculum in fostering professional human resources required by industries. To analyze the needs for competency units and competency unit elements at the L3 level, a survey using AHP method was carried out to a group of field experts and a group of education experts. In addition, the SPSS(Statistical Package for Social Science) ver. 21.0 and Expert Choice 2000, an AHP-only solution was used to do statistical processing through the processes of data coding and data cleaning. The findings showed that there was a partial difference of opinion between a group of field experts and a group of education experts. This indicates that the inconsistencies between educational training institutes and industrial sites should be resolved at this time of change with the aim of fostering field customized human resources with professional skills. Consequently, the solution is to combine jobs at industrial sites and standardized educations of educational institutes with human resources required at industrial sites.

Factors Associated with Care Burden among Family Caregivers of Terminally Ill Cancer Patients (말기암환자 가족 간병인의 간병 부담과 관련된 요인)

  • Lee, Jee Hye;Park, Hyun Kyung;Hwang, In Cheol;Kim, Hyo Min;Koh, Su-Jin;Kim, Young Sung;Lee, Yong Joo;Choi, Youn Seon;Hwang, Sun Wook;Ahn, Hong Yup
    • Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.61-69
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    • 2016
  • Purpose: It is important to alleviate care burden for terminal cancer patients and their families. This study investigated the factors associated with care burden among family caregivers (FCs) of terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We analyzed data from 289 FCs of terminal cancer patients who were admitted to palliative care units of seven medical centers in Korea. Care burden was assessed using the Korean version of Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) scale which comprises five domains. A multivariate logistic regression model with stepwise variable selection was used to identify factors associated with care burden. Results: Diverse associating factors were identified in each CRA domain. Emotional factors had broad influence on care burden. FCs with emotional distress were more likely to experience changes to their daily routine (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.54; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.29~5.02), lack of family support (aOR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.04~4.97) and health issues (aOR, 5.44; 2.50~11.88). Family functionality clearly reflected a lack of support, and severe family dysfunction was linked to financial issues as well. FCs without religion or comorbid conditions felt more burdened. The caregiving duration and daily caregiving hours significantly predicted FCs' lifestyle changes and physical burden. FCs who were employed, had weak social support or could not visit frequently, had a low self-esteem. Conclusion: This study indicates that it is helpful to understand FCs' emotional status and family functions to assess their care burden. Thus, efforts are needed to lessen their financial burden through social support systems.

A Study on the Experience of Patients with Chronic Renal Failure who have Received a Kidney Transplant (신장이식 수혜자의 경험)

  • Lee Sook-Hee;Kim Kyung-Hee;Chung Hae-Kyung
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.78-95
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    • 1999
  • The grafting of a kidney has been found to be the best medical treatment for patients who have renal insufficiency failure, but the patients still have experienced much trouble and apprehension. This study was done to further nursing theory developing for patients who have has a kidney graft from another person. The research method followed grounded theory methodology of Strauss and Corbin. The subjects were three female and four male patients. This study done befween Oct. 1997 and Mar. 1998. All of the subjects were interviewed by the author. Interview were done by the long interview technique and observation. In the process of data analysis, 'heart-boiling' was found to be the core phenomenon. The results were composed to 101 concepts. These concepts were grouped into nineteen categories, and then to twelve categories. There were 12 super-class categories as follows ; 'pain', 'heart-boiling', 'experience of dialysis', 'term of admission to a hospital', 'support of other person', 'dependence on God', 'direction', 'negative reaction', 'positive reaction', 'comfortable', 'lacking', 'acceptance'. In this process, 14 hypotheses were derived from the categories as follows ; (1) The more experience with dialysis that the patients have, the stronger the heart-boiling will tend to be. (2) The less experience with dialysis the patients have, the weaker the heart-boiling will tend to be. (3) The longer admission to hospital the patients have, the stronger the heart-boiling will be. (4) The shorter the admission to hospital the patients have, the weaker the heart-boiling will be. (5) The weaker the intense-grief is, the more positive the reaction to heart-boiling the patients wll have. (6) The stronger the intense-grief is, the more negative the reaction to heart-boiling the patients will have. (7) The stronger the support of other persons that the patients have, the more positive the reaction to heart-boiling the patients will have. (8) The weaker the support of other person that the patients have, the more negative the reaction to heart-boiling the patients will have. (9) The stronger the dependence on God that the patients have, the mure positive reaction to heart-boiling the patients will have. (10) The weaker the dependence on God that the patients have, the more negative reaction to heart-boiling the patients will have. (11) The more positive thoughts that the patients have, the more positive reaction to heart-boiling the patinets will have. (12) The more negative thoughts that the patients have, the more negative reaction to heart-boiling the patients will have. (13) The more positive reaction the patients have, the more free from heart-boiling the patients tend to be. (14) The more negative reaction the patients have, the less free from heart-boiling the patients tend to be. From the analysis of observed data and comparing each class, I concluded that there are four formula relation types between reaction of patients and heart-boiling. (1) If patients have the experience of dialysis, have a long term admission to hospital, are strong in heart-boiling, depend on God, have positive thoughts and another's strong support, they experience release by positive reaction to the intense-grief. (2) If patients have the experience of dialysis, have a short term admission to hospital, are weak in heart-boiling, do not depend on God, have negative thoughts, and have few supports from others, they experience attachment to heart-boiling though a negative reaction. (3) If patients have the experience of dialysis, have a long term admission to hospital, are strong in heart-boiling, do not depend on God, and have negative thoughts, they experience attachment to heart-boiling through negative reaction in spite of support from another. (4) If patients have the experience of dialysis, have a long term admission into hospital, are strong in heart-boiling and satisfaction is low, but they have positive thoughts, then they experience acceptance and harmony through the positive reaction to heart-boiling. The results of this study are expected to help the way nurses care for patients who have had a kidney graft from another.

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The life and medical idea of Chu, Dan-Gae.(朱 丹溪) (주단계(朱丹溪)의 생애(生涯)와 의학사상(醫學思想)에 관한 연구(硏究))

  • Lee, Yong-Won;Yoon, Chang-Yeul
    • Journal of Korean Medical classics
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    • v.5
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    • pp.200-251
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    • 1992
  • As concerned the life and the medical idea of Choo, Tan-Kye(朱丹溪), which it can be summarized as follows by studying. 1. Tan-Kye(丹溪) lived in the end of the won dynasty(元代末期), When the people starved and suffered from a flood-disaster and drought. etc, also the social conditions were in disorder on account of the corrupt ion of politics. And Cheol Kang seong(浙江省), located in the south region of China, has sterile soil and the climate condition humid and heatful. So the south district peoples have very weak constitution. So We can found that his medical idea reflected the phases of the periods and the regional enviornmental situations. 2. For that reason, Tan-Kye(丹溪) rejected the prescription of the "WHa Che Gook Bang(和劑局方)" which was prevalent at that time, in which the the pungent-dried herbs were widly used ; So he persisted in the "Sang Wha Lon(相火論)" and the "Positivity is usually excedeed while the negativity deficient(陽有餘陰不足論)". Then he treated with the drugs to nourish the negativity for the prime object to be applied in the clinic. 3. Tan-Kye(丹溪) refined the follows from the natural law; Heaven is to the positivity(陽) and the Earth is defined the negativity(陰), so the heaven is to the Macro(大) and the earth, micro(小):So the Sun is to the Positivity(陽), the Moon, the Negativity(陰): as to the Sun is always full while the moon always defected too. Therefore the "positivity is always excedeed for that the negativity is deficientalways(陽有餘陰不足)". In Human body, "the negativity energy (陰精) "is hard formed-easily defected(難成易虧)". And the heat(相火) in the body can be moved easily and let the negative energy to leak out. Therefore the more the positivity excedeed, the more the negativity deficient"(陽當有餘陰常不足). 4. He made it expanded the contents of the "Heat(相火)" in the Chapter Woon Chi of the Nae Kyeong(內徑) and discribed, the Life-string of the human body is originated from the movement of the "Heat with unique energy(相火一氣)". And more in human body, it is specifically regulated by the two visceras, Liver and Kidney, and is distributed in the 'Pericardium(心包絡)' 'Tripie Warmer(三焦)' 'Gallbladder(膽)' etc. In the point of his assertion of heat(相火), it is concluded both the physiological and the pathological heat of all. 5. Tan-Kye(丹溪) grew up in the family or the Confucianism. He was instructed the Confucianism(性理學) from Heo-Kyeom(許謙), the fourth diciple of Chu-Ja(朱子), and was received the Yoo Chang Ri(劉 張 李)'s triple doctrine from the La Tae Moo(羅太無), the second disciple of Yoo Wan So(劉完素). So there are much of content of Confucianism(性理學) in his medical thedry, and his theory has succeeded the achievements of the triple study. 6. About the theory of the "positivity is usually excedeed while the negativity deficient"(陽常有餘陰常不足論) of Tan-Kye, it was asserted that the positivity is never sufficient for the vital mainspring, by Chang, Kye-Pin(張介賓) and Lee, Kyoo-Zoon(李奎晙) etc. And for the Heat theory(相火論), eventhough the scholars of postorior generations criicized all of that, there are defect of the content and unification between them. 7. The father of the "Cha Eum Pa(滋陰派), Tan-Kye(丹溪) contributed considerably to the development of the oriental medicine and to the general therapy for the various diseases(一般雜病施治). 8. there are handed down and remained twenty or more of volumes of list of his writings. Among them, except "Kyeok Chi Yeo Ron"(格致餘論), "Kuk Pang Pal Hyeu"(局方發揮), they are reorganized by posteriority. There are Cho, Do-Chin(趙道震). Cho, Ee-Teok(趙以德), Tae, Sa-Gong(戴思恭), Wang Ri(王履) and Yoo, Suk-Yeon(劉淑淵) etc as disciples of his. And Wang Ryoon(王論) and Woo Pak(虞搏) as the admirer of him.

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The Effect of the Degree of Competition of the Hospital Market Regions on Clinic's Rate of Antibiotics Prescription (병원시장지역 내 경쟁 정도가 의원급 의료기관의 항생제 처방률에 미치는 영향)

  • Jo, Changik;Lim, Jae-Young;Lee, Soo Yeon
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.129-155
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    • 2008
  • The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

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