• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2020

Purpose: HPV vaccination is important for the prevention of cervical cancer and genital warts and it is recommended that females be vaccinated against HPV before having sexual contact. Although the national HPV immunization has recently started in Korea, the vaccination rate is still not high. This is a relevant study attempting to investigate the factors affecting the vaccination status of female adolescents in the target age groups focusing on mothers' knowledge and health beliefs of HPV vaccines. Methods: Participants were 206 mothers who had daughters at the target age for the national HPV vaccination program living in a metropolitan city. Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire about HPV knowledge and health beliefs of HPV vaccines, consisting of perceived susceptibility seriousness, benefits, barriers, and cues to action. Results: The participants' knowledge of HPV was significantly correlated with the overall health beliefs. The factors influencing mothers regarding the HPV vaccination status of their adolescent daughters were found to be perceived barriers, advice on vaccination from medical staff, and perceived benefits. Conclusion: There is a need to organize subject-specific education programs focusing on correcting misinformation about the side effects and benefits of HPV vaccines. When operating education programs, it is recommended that participants include both students and their parents, that various approaches be implemented such as formal health classes, home correspondence and online education, and that medical personnel be also involved as education providers.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.8
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• pp.254-260
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• 2017

Purpose: Seasonal influenza can be prevented by vaccination. Disease prevention in children aged <60 months is of particular importance because of the associated familial and societal burden. Considering that caretakers make the decision to vaccinate their children, the identification of drivers and barriers to vaccination is essential to increase influenza vaccination coverage. Methods: A total of 639 parents participated in the pre- and posteducational survey and 450 parents participated in the study via telephone interviews. The participating parents were asked to rank their agreement with each statement of the survey questionnaire on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), and the scores between pre- and postintervention were compared. Results: Before the educational intervention, 105 out of 639 participants reported not to agree to vaccinate their children against influenza. After the intervention, 46 out of the 105 parents changed their opinions about childhood vaccination. The physicians' recommendation received the highest agreement score and was the most important driver to vaccination, whereas the cost of vaccination was the strongest factor for not vaccinating children. In general, the participants significantly changed the agreement scores between pre- and postintervention. However, the unfavorable opinions about vaccination and the convenience of receiving the influenza vaccine did not change significantly. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that a specific educational intervention involving caregivers is very effective in increasing the influenza vaccination coverage of children aged less than 60 months.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.123-131
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• 2016

Purpose: Human Papillomavirus(HPV) vaccination is the best prevention for cervical cancer. Therefore, this study was to examine the best predictors of HPV vaccination status in female nursing university students. Methods: Five hundred and forty junior and senior female nursing students from Seoul and provinces of Kyunggi, Chungcheong and Gyungsang completed paper and pencil questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, $x^2$ test, t-test, and multiple logistic regression with dummy variables were conducted using SAS 9.2. Results: Of the total students, 56.8% were vaccinated. As a result of the analysis of the bivariate relationships, family economic status, school type, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit and perceived barriers (cost, time, distance from hospital and side effects) were significantly related to vaccination status. After controlling for the general characteristics and the HPV related knowledge score, higher family economic status (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 3.78, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.21~11.76), private university (AOR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.14~2.53), higher perceived benefit (AOR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.47~2.20), lower perceived barrier (cost) (AOR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.74~0.99), lower perceived barrier (time) (AOR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.61~0.84), and lower perceived barrier (side effects) (AOR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.72~0.94) were significantly related to HPV vaccination. Perceived benefit, perceived barrier (time) and perceived barrier (side effects) were the top 3 predictors of HPV vaccination status. Conclusion: This study suggests that vaccinated female nursing students were more likely to be from higher family economic status and private universities and have a higher perception of benefit and a lower perception of barriers (cost, time, and side effects). Thus, efforts to increase HPV vaccination rates of female nursing students should focus on improving their perception of benefit while lowering their perception of barriers, particularly cost, time and side effects.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-93
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• 2005

This study was aimed to determine influenza vaccination coverage in 2004 in Koreans and investigate the factors associated with vaccination. Documentation of vaccination status and baseline data was conducted by a survey using questionnaire sheets. Baseline data and vaccination status were documented on 1465 people out of whom 60.1% received the influenza vaccine. Forty-seven percent of the responders were male; 4% were aged 1-12, 32% were aged 13-39, 32% were aged 40-64 and 32% were aged 65 or older. Twenty-three percent reported a chronic illness, increasing their risk for complications from influenza. Predictors of influenza vaccination were: older age (OR=11.7, 95% CI 5.1-26.8), the presence of chronic illness (OR=2.3, 95% CI 1.1-4.7), previous vaccination (OR=1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8), belief that influenza vaccine is effective in preventing influenza (OR=2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.7) and education level (OR=1.7, 95% CI 1.0-2.7). Immunization rates were much higher in those who will take immunization again (OR=10.4, 95% CI 5.5-19.6). Factors affecting the decision on immunization were self-determination (43.6%), public relations (24.1%), recommendation from family members or friends (22.4%) and consulting with health professionals (5.8%). The main reason not to take influenza vaccine was the thought that they are healthy (50.1%). Overall, influenza vaccine coverage was high in those aged 65 or older. Immunization against influenza was influenced more by existing medical problem and belief about the vaccine's effectiveness, rather than sex or residence.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6187-6193
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• 2014

Objectives: To evaluate medical students' knowledge of HPV and HPV related diseases and assess their attitudes towards HPV vaccination. Methods: A total of 605 medical undergraduates from Chongqing Medical University in China were surveyed using a structured and pretested questionnaire on HPV related knowledge. Results: Some 68.9% of the medical students were females, and mean age was 21.6 (${\pm}1.00$) years. Only 10.6% correctly answered more than 11 out of 14 questions on HPV related knowledge, 71.8% being willing to receive/advise on HPV vaccination. Female students (OR: 2.69; 95% CI: 1.53-4.72) and students desiring more HPV education (OR: 4.24; 95% CI: 1.67-10.8) were more willing to accept HPV vaccination. HPV vaccination acceptability was observed to show a positive association with HPV related knowledge. Conclusions: Our survey found low levels of HPV related knowledge and HPV vaccination acceptability among participating medical students. HPV education should be systematically incorporated into medical education to increase awareness of HPV vaccination.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.300-311
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing on influenza vaccination among socio-demographic characteristics and health behaviors. Data of 18,299 adults of age between 19 and 65 years who answered to the survey on National Health and Nutrition and influenza vaccination from 2007 to 2010 was used and analyzed. Overall influenza vaccination rate was 21.7%. Logistic regression analysis revealed that factors influencing on influenza vaccination were an increasing age, a residence in rural area, a high personal income, a low educational level, jobless women, experience of hospital visits, and morbidity of chronic illnesses. In conclusion, influenza vaccination rate in Korea is low and influenced by multiple socio-demographic factors and health behaviors. It is needed to seek a strategy to develop a vaccination program in consideration of factors associated with influenza vaccination.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.141-148
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• 2011

Annual epidemics of seasonal influenza occur during autumn and winter in temperate regions and have imposed substantial public health and economic burdens. At the global level, these epidemics cause about 3-5 million severe cases of illness and about 0.25-0.5 million deaths each year. Although annual vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the disease and its severe outcomes, influenza vaccination coverage rates have been at suboptimal levels in many countries. For instance, the coverage rates among the elderly in 20 developed nations in 2008 ranged from 21% to 78% (median 65%). In the U.S., influenza vaccination levels among elderly population appeared to reach a "plateau" of about 70% after the late 1990s, and levels among child populations have remained at less than 50%. In addition, disparities in the coverage rates across subpopulations within a country present another important public health issue. New approaches are needed for countries striving both to improve their overall coverage rates and to eliminate disparities. This review article aims to describe a broad conceptual framework of vaccination, and to illustrate four potential determinants of influenza vaccination based on empirical analyses of U.S. nationally representative populations. These determinants include the ongoing influenza epidemic level, mass media reporting on influenza-related topics, reimbursement rate for providers to administer influenza vaccination, and vaccine supply. It additionally proposes specific policy implications, derived from these empirical analyses, to improve the influenza vaccination coverage rate and associated disparities in the U.S., which could be generalizable to other countries.

• Kidney Research and Clinical Practice
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.366-372
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• 2018

Background: An inactivated Hantaan virus vaccine (iHV) has been broadly used as a preventive strategy for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) by the South Korean Army. After the vaccination program was initiated, the overall incidence of HFRS cases was reduced in the military population. While there are about 400 HFRS cases annually, few studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the iHV in field settings. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the iHV efficacy on HFRS severity. Methods: From 2009 to 2017, HFRS cases were collected in South Korean Army hospitals along with patients' vaccination history. HFRS patients were classified retrospectively into two groups according to vaccination records: no history of iHV vaccination and valid vaccination. Vaccine efficacy on the severity of acute kidney injury (AKI) stage and dialysis events were investigated. Results: The effects of the iHV on renal injury severity in between 18 valid vaccinated and 110 non-vaccinated patients were respectively evaluated. In the valid vaccination group, six of the 18 HFRS patients (33.3%) had stage 3 AKI, compared to 60 of the 110 (54.5%) patients in the non-vaccination group. The iHV efficacy against disease progression ($VE_p$) was 58.1% (95% confidence interval, 31.3% to 88.0%). Conclusion: The iHV efficacy against the progression of HFRS failed to demonstrate statistically significant protection. However, different severity profiles were observed between the iHV and non-vaccination groups. Additional studies with larger populations are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the iHV in patients with HFRS.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.100-109
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• 2021

As the COVID-19 vaccination begins, it is necessary to safely store and manage the vaccination history for vaccinated people, as well as provide only the minimal information for the requested purpose, not in the form of all or nothing, to the institution requesting vaccination personal information. This paper proposes a scheme to safely store and manage the people's vaccination records in a non-forgeable blockchain, and to ensure that users provide only the minimal information necessary to the verifier from their vaccination personal information. A user authorizes the verifier to access the information he has consented with by entering the fingerprint on his smartphone, and in this process, no personal information or secrets can be exposed to an attacker. In addition, it is guaranteed that it is neither possible to impersonate the user nor to steal user personal information even in the case of theft or loss of the smartphone, or leakage of information from the vaccination history management institution. Using the scheme, users have no fear on external exposure of personal information and follow-up damage due to excessive information provision by giving out only the minimal information suited to the verifier.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

Purpose: This study was conducted to provide basic data for college students living in the Seoul metropolitan area to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and explore countermeasures by identifying the degree of difference with anxiety, stress, and preventive health behavior before and after the COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: Data were collected from the subjects of the study, 192 college students aged 19 to 29 who completed the COVID-19 vaccination in the Seoul metropolitan area. The data were analyzed with the correlation, paired t-test, and independent t-test using the SPSS 27.0. Results: Preventive health behavior, health anxiety, and stress showed the positive correlation before and after the COVID-19 vaccination among the college students. After the COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 related stress including fear of infection (d=-0.11±0.09), and difficulty in social distancing (d=-0.21±0.08), and health behavior (d=-0.06±0.44) decreased compared to before the vaccination. Conclusion: Health education and health policies are required to continue preventive health behavior even after the vaccination.