• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.431-451
• /
• 2000

In this paper, I will examine the variables influencing the Quality of Life of arthritis patients and present basic materials which help arthritis patients have positive thinking in life and ultimately lead a satisfactory life. The subjects for this study are 231 inpatients and outpatients with arthritis living in J and K city in Chonbug Province. For the analysis of collected data I employed the SAS program. The variables for characteristics and the quality of life were analysed by descriptive statistics, T-test and ANOVA, and the relations among variables were analysed through Pearson Correlation; the Regression method was employed to predict the factors affecting quality of life. For the validity of reliance on measuring equipment Cronbach Alpha was used. The results of the study are as follows : (1) The mean score of quality of life of arthritis patients is 3.09(5 in the maximum). The general characteristics which affect the quality of life are age(F=5.13, p=0.0006), standard of education(F=6.49, p=0.0003), marriage status(F=7.77, p=0.0005), monthly pay(F=4.37, p=0.0020), medical benefits (F=4.85, p=0.0087), and supports(F=4.39, p=0.0050). For the disease-related characteristics, there is a significant difference in the 6 items: pain control method(F=5.92, p= 0.0002), physical therapy(F=3.25, p=0.013), whethere or not patients exercise(F=4.62, p=0.0000), regularity of exercise(F=4.79, p=0.0000), frequency of exercise(F=6.29, p=0.0001), and amount of exercise(F=4.62, p=0.0043). Depending on the type of arthritis, there is also a significant difference in the degree of pain felt. The patients with infectious arthritis suffer from pain the most, followed by those with gout, rheumatism and degenerative arthritis, in that order. Although statistics don't show any convincing evidence, those with gout perceive that they are in best health condition, followed by those with rheumatism, degenerative arthritis, and infectious arthritis, in that order(F=2.23, p=0.0669). (2) The quality of life of arthritis patients is correlated positively with perceived health status(r=0.56, p=0.0001), health promoting behavior(r=0.53, p=0.0001), family support (r=0.46, p=0.0001), amount of exercise (r=0.36, p=0.0001), ADL(r=0.36, p=0.0001), HLOC(r=0.32, p=0.0001), frequency of exercise(r=0.32, p=0.0001)in that order, while correlated negatively with the degree of pain felt(r=-0.32, p=0.0001), the number of pain regions(r=-0.19, p= 0.0041), and the duration of pain(r=-0.14, p=0.0279). (3) Regression analysis reveals that the most powerful predictor of the quality of life is perceived health status, which account for 31.11%. The other predictors of the quality of life, which account for 60.22%, are health promoting behavior(16.51%), family support(3.81%), ADL(2.52%), gender(1.86%), the number of family members(1.36%), level of pain(1.24%), duration of pain (1.08%), and level of education(0.67%). The results of the study show that perceived health status and health promoting behavior are the two most important variables. However, considering that the perceived health condition is difficult to control by nursing intervention, it is suggested that the level of expectation for patients, must be decided first, and the health promoting behavior and the family support influencing the quality of life must be taken into account as targets for nursing intervention. As a way of controlling the quality of life, I think that a more comprehensive approach comprising the above important variables along with demographic and general characteristics is needed. I also suggest that we must continue to explore the variables affecting the quality of life and include those variables in nursing intervention.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.1-23
• /
• 2008

As managing customer relationship gets more important, companies are strengthening information service using multi-channels to their customers as a part of their customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. It means companies are now accepting such information services not as simple information -delivering tools, but as strategic initiatives for acquiring and maintaining customer loyalty. In this paper, we attempt to validate whether or not such various information services would impact on organizational performance in terms of CRM strategy. More specifically, our research objective is to answer the next three questions: first, how to construct the instruments to measure not information quality but information service quality?; second, which attributes of information service quality can influence corporate image and customer loyalty?; finally, does each information service type have unique characteristics compared with others in terms of influencing corporate image and customer loyalty? With respect to providing answers to those questions, the previous studies had been limited in that those studies failed to consider the variety of types of information service or restricted the quality of information service to information quality. An appropriate research model answering the above questions should consider the fact that most companies are utilizing multi channels for their information services, and include the recent strategic information service such as customer online community. Moreover, since corporate information service could be regarded as a type of products or services delivered to customer, it is necessary to adopt the criteria for assessing customer's perceived value when to measure the quality of information service. Therefore, considering both multi-channels and multi-traits may enable us to tell the detailed causal routes showing which quality attributes of which information service would affect corporate image and customer loyalty. As information service channels, we include not only homepage and DM (direct mail), which are the most frequently applied information service channels, but also online community, which is getting more strategic importance in recent years. With respect to information service quality, we abstract information quality, convenience of information service, and timeliness of information service through a wide range of relevant literature reviews. As our dependant variables, we consider corporate image and customer loyalty that both of them are the critical determinants of organizational performance, and also attempt to grasp the relationship between the two constructs. We conducted a huge online survey at the homepage of one of representative dairy companies in Korea, and gathered 367 valid samples from 407 customers. The reliability and validity of our measurements were tested by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and principal factor analysis respectively, and seven hypotheses were tested through performing correlation test and multiple regression analysis. The results from data analysis demonstrated that timeliness and convenience of homepage have positive effects on both corporate image and customer loyalty. In terms of DM, its' information quality was represented to influence both corporate image and customer loyalty, but we found its' convenience have a positive effect only on corporate image. With respect to online community, we found its timeliness contribute significantly both to corporate image and customer loyalty. Finally, as we expected, corporate image was revealed to provide a great influence to customer loyalty. This paper provides several academic and practical implications. Firstly, we think our research reinforces CRM literatures by developing the instruments for measuring information service quality. The previous relevant studies have mainly depended on the measurements of information quality or service quality which were developed independently. Secondly, the fact that we conducted our research in a real situation may enable academics and practitioners to understand the effects of information services more clearly. Finally, since our study involved three different types of information service which are most frequently applied in recent years, the results from our study might provide operational guidelines to the companies that are delivering their customers information by multi-channel. In other words, since we found that, in terms of customer loyalty, the key areas would be different from each other according to the types of information services, our analysis would help to make decisions such as selecting strengthening points or allocating resources by information service channels.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 2011

Internet-based commerce has undergone an explosive growth over the past decade as consumers today find it more economical as well as more convenient to shop online. Nevertheless, the shift in the common mode of shopping from offline to online commerce has caused consumers to have worries over such issues as private information leakage, online fraud, discrepancy in product quality and grade, unsuccessful delivery, and so forth, Numerous studies have been undertaken to examine the role of perceived risk as a chief barrier to online purchases and to understand the theoretical relationships among perceived risk, trust and purchase intentions, However, most studies focus on empirically investigating the effects of trust on perceived risk, with little attention devoted to the effects of perceived risk on trust, While the influence trust has on perceived risk is worth studying, the influence in the opposite direction is equally important, enabling insights into the potential of perceived risk as a prohibitor of trust, According to Pavlou (2003), the primary source of the perceived risk is either the technological uncertainty of the Internet environment or the behavioral uncertainty of the transaction partner. Due to such types of uncertainty, an increase in the worries over the perceived risk may negatively affect trust, For example, if a consumer who sends sensitive transaction data over Internet is concerned that his or her private information may leak out because of the lack of security, trust may decrease (Olivero and Lunt, 2004), By the same token, if the consumer feels that the online merchant has the potential to profit by behaving in an opportunistic manner taking advantage of the remote, impersonal nature of online commerce, then it is unlikely that the merchant will be trusted, That is, the more the probable danger is likely to occur, the less trust and the greater need to control the transaction (Olivero and Lunt, 2004), In summary, a review of the related studies indicates that while some researchers looked at the influence of overall perceived risk on trust level, not much attention has been given to the effects of different types of perceived risk, In this context the present research aims at addressing the need to study how trust is affected by different types of perceived risk, We classified perceived risk into six different types based on the literature, and empirically analyzed the impact of each type of perceived risk upon consumer trust in an online merchant and further its impact upon purchase intentions. To meet our research objectives, we developed a conceptual model depicting the nomological structure of the relationships among our research variables, and also formulated a total of seven hypotheses. The model and hypotheses were tested using an empirical analysis based on a questionnaire survey of 206 college students. The reliability was evaluated via Cronbach's alphas, the minimum of which was found to be 0.73, and therefore the questionnaire items are all deemed reliable. In addition, the results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) designed to check the validity of the measurement model indicate that the convergent, discriminate, and nomological validities of the model are all acceptable. The structural equation modeling analysis to test the hypotheses yielded the following results. Of the first six hypotheses (H1-1 through H1-6) designed to examine the relationships between each risk type and trust, three hypotheses including H1-1 (performance risk ${\rightarrow}$ trust), H1-2 (psychological risk ${\rightarrow}$ trust) and H1-5 (online payment risk ${\rightarrow}$ trust) were supported with path coefficients of -0.30, -0.27 and -0.16 respectively. Finally, H2 (trust ${\rightarrow}$ purchase intentions) was supported with relatively high path coefficients of 0.73. Results of the empirical study offer the following findings and implications. First. it was found that it was performance risk, psychological risk and online payment risk that have a statistically significant influence upon consumer trust in an online merchant. It implies that a consumer may find an online merchant untrustworthy if either the product quality or the product grade does not match his or her expectations. For that reason, online merchants including digital storefronts and e-marketplaces are suggested to pursue a strategy focusing on identifying the target customers and offering products that they feel best meet performance and psychological needs of those customers. Thus, they should do their best to make it widely known that their products are of as good quality and grade as those purchased from offline department stores. In addition, it may be inferred that today's online consumers remain concerned about the security of the online commerce environment due to the repeated occurrences of hacking or private information leakage. Online merchants should take steps to remove potential vulnerabilities and provide online notices to emphasize that their website is secure. Second, consumer's overall trust was found to have a statistically significant influence on purchase intentions. This finding, which is consistent with the results of numerous prior studies, suggests that increased sales will become a reality only with enhanced consumer trust.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.3-9
• /
• 2011

Purpose: Generally dual energy X-ray absorptiometry has been used for the purpose of evaluation of osteoporosis and treatment. Recently the interest of obesity came to be high and body percent fat test is increasing. Existing measure of body fat have to scan the whole body can be evaluated, but only lumbar spine and hip measurements was assumed to be whole body fat as well as improving the software. It tries to check whether the part measured value not being whole body measurement has the validity or not compared with the value calculated with the method that it is different, it forgives through a correlation with a (BIA) and (BMI). Materials and Methods: In 2010, the body percent fat was measured among the examinee coming to the Asan Medical Center public health care center from March till August against 90 females more than 40 years old through (DXA) and BIA. BMI utilized the value which wrote an hight and weight measured through the body measuring instrument in the examinee information and is automatically calculated. In addition, it classified as the low weight ($13-18.5kg/m^2$), normal ($18.5-25kg/m^2$), and corpulence ($25-30kg/m^2$) based on BMI and so that it could check whether there was the difference according to the weight or not BMI and BIA and correlation between DXA were analyzed in each group. The statistical program for the analysis used SPSS 12.0. Results: The comparison of DXA at 3 which it divides into the low weight and normal and corpulence groups and BIA did not show the difference noted statistically in all groups and the between group comparison was exposed to do not have a meaning. The body percent fat measured by the correlation analysis result DXA at the state that it doesn't divide into the group showed the high correlation (r=0.908, p0.01) noted statistically compared with BMI and showed the high correlation noted statistically in a comparison with BIA (r=0.927, p0.01). Conclusion: It confirmed that the whole body percent fat presumed from the part bone density measurement showed the excel correlation compared with BIA and BMI and information is high. There is still no clear standard about the presumed whole body percent fat and it is difficult to evaluate the fat evaluation by the bone mineral density measurement. However, it is determined that the information offering which is more objective through the comparative study with the body percent fat which is very efficient and in that it can obtain till the information about a fat as well as diagnosis of the osteoporosis through the bone density checkup is measured by the afterward telegraph bone density checkup and is clinically useful is possible.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.403-410
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problems of a signal to noise ratio measurement using a two region measurement method that is conventionally used when using a multi-channel coil and a parallel imaging technique. As a research method, after calculating the standard SNR using a single channel head coil of which coil satisfies three preconditions when using a two region measurement method, we made comparisons and evaluations after calculating an SNR by using a two region measurement method of which method is problematic because it is used without considering the methods recommended by reputable organizations and the preconditions at the time of using a multi-channel coil and a parallel imaging technique. We found that a two region measurement method using a multi-channel coil and a parallel imaging technique shows the highest relative standard deviation, and thus shows a low degree of precision. In addition, we found out that the difference of SNR according to ROI location was very high, and thus a spatial noise distribution was not uniform. Also, 95% confidence interval through Blend-Altman plot is the widest, and thus the conformity degree with a two region measurement method using the standard single channel head coil is low. By directly comparing an AAPM method, which serves as a standard of a performance evaluation test of a magnetic resonance imaging device under the same image acquisition conditions, an NEMA method which can accurately determine the noise level in a signal region and the methods recommended by manufacturers of a magnetic resonance imaging device, there is a significance in that we quantitatively verified the inaccurate problems of a signal to noise ratio using a two region measurement method when using a multi-channel coil and a parallel imaging technique of which method does not satisfy the preconditions that researchers could overlook.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.141-149
• /
• 2004

The aim of this study was to test the validity of the hypothesis that the karyotypes of four species of Lepilemuridae were formed spontaneously from their ancestral hybrid karyotype. Hypothetical ancestral haploid Karyotype of Lepilemuridae is composed of 18 autosomes and X chromosomes. Lepilemur mustelinus karyotype has four tandem fused chromosomes and one Robertsonian translocated chromosome pairs. Lepilemur septentrionalis septentrionalis karyotype has only two pairs of translocated chromosomes. We reconstruct and suggest ancestral karyotype of LMU(ancLMU) and LSS(ancLSS), from which all four studied species were derived. Hybrids of ancLMU and ancLSS were formed and produce differently fused equilibrated gametes via circular form arrangement during gametogenesis. Five unit of trivalent homologous chromosome pairs were engaged in a circular form to give new gamete corresponding to the karyotype of L. dorsalis, orientation of one unit of trivalent was inversed in the circle to gave new gamete corresponding to the karyotype of L. leucopus. Seven homologous chromosome pairs were engaged in circular form to give haploid karyotype of Lepilemur ruficaudatus. Only one homologous chromosome pair is dissociated and the other chromosome pairs rearranged in the circle to form haploid karyotype of Lepilemur edwardsi. The new gametes could be produced from these circular forms. When the new gamete fertilized with the same type of gamete, The new homozygote is produced as existing L. dorsalis, L. leucopus, L. edwardsi and L. ruficaudatus. These results support the theory that new species could be formed in hybrid population through activated chromosome fusion, chromosome rearrangement in circular from at zygotene stage and production of equilibrated gametes to form homozygote new species.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.221-231
• /
• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the need for child hospice care programs in families of children with cancer. Methods: The survey of 104 families who were taking care of children with cancer was conducted. This survey was conducted from February 2004 to July 2004 at two general hospitals in Seoul. The data were collected through a self-reporting questionnaire of 22 items. The items were classified into five areas by factor analysis to identify the construct validity. The reliability of the tool was established by Cronbach's alpha as .94 and the data collected were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA. Results: 1) The degree of need for hospice care of the subjects showed a high average of 3.40 (${\pm}3.8$). The need for 'emotional care of children' showed the highest mean (M=3.55), 'management of terminal physical symptoms'(M=3.49), 'control of secondary physical problems' (M=3.41), 'acceptance of the family's difficulty' (M=3.20), 'spiritual care for preparing for death'(M=3.17), respectively. 2) With respect to the demographic characteristics of the subjects, there were statistically significant differences in hospice care needs, according to the child's mother's age (F==4.980, P=.009), whether or not there were cancer patients among their siblings or relatives (t=2.423, P=.017). Conclusion: The family of children with cancer have a heavy burden of ambivalence, especially in relieving the anxiety and fear of their children, communicating about death, and managing physical symptoms. Child hospice care must be provided considering the needs of families of children with cancer. Thus popular needs as well as hospice nurses' higher concern and support for hospice care of children require further education and program development to meet the current demands.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.63-77
• /
• 2004

The purpose of this study was to construct an issue-centered discussion instructional model for Home Economics and to determine its effect on middle school students' critical thinking. The research questions were posed as below. 1) The object and content of home economics in the 7th national middle school curricula are analyzed to sort out possible issues. 2) An issue-centered discussion instructional model is constructed to be applicable to middle school home economics class. and a lesson plan is prepared. 3) The effect of the issue-centered discussion instructional model developed in this study on student critical thinking faculty is examined. The findings of this study were as follows : First. seven criteria were selected to determine what types of issues were applicable to home economics lesson. Based on the selected criteria. 41 themes of issues were extracted from the 7th middle school textbooks. and their content validity was verified. Second, an issue-centered discussion instructional model was designed to deal with four themes in eight sessions in the procedure of problem raising, confirming, term defining. tentative alternative selecting, data gathering. discussing/critical approaching. and selecting/concluding. Third, two different third-year classes of K middle school in the city of Busan that consisted of 75 students were respectively selected as an experimental group and a control group, and the experiment was conducted in eight sessions for five weeks to see whether the teaching plan brought any changes to the critical mind of the students. The experimental group exposed to the issue-centered discussion lesson made a significant progress in critical thinking faculty(P＜.05). In particular. that instruction gave a favorable impact on demonstration evaluating(P＜.05). one of the critical thinking subfactors. When the students were asked to assess the issue-centered discussion lesson. most of them viewed it favorably. In the future, more research efforts should be dedicated to enhancing the practical applicability of issue-centered discussion instruction in home economics education. developing good evaluation tools about critical thinking faculty and finding out how discussion instruction could be conducted more efficiently.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.35-46
• /
• 2003

Problem solving ability, having been thought as one of the most important goals of science education is also a primary task for the current education. Indeed, the students' problem solving ability has shown almost no actual progress, despite our long accumulated science education. Under this circumstances, cooperative learning, a way to grow students' positive inter-dependence and problem solving ability in the basis of their active participation and discussion, was proposed as an effective teaching method. But, results have not consistently shown the advantage of cooperative learning over traditional learning for promoting academic achievement in science. Studies have consistently shown greater effectiveness on affective aspects. But, relatively few have focused on biology in Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cooperative learning on the achievement and attitude of high school biology students. The pretest-posttest control group design was applied. The sample consisted of 50 11th-grade female students in experimental group(cooperative learning Student Team Achievement Division model) and 50 students in control group(traditional learning). Students in both groups recieved identical content instruction on the unit 'II. Methabolism'. These groups were treated for 13 hours during 5 weeks. Achievement data were collected using a 24-item multiple-choice test(content validity= .85). Science attitude was measured by an instrument which adapted by Kim In Hee(1994). The instrument(Cronbach $\alpha$=.89) included 40 items in four subscales: attitude toward science, social meaning of science, attitude toward science class, and scientific attitude. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used as the data analysis procedure. For the achievement data, no significant difference exists between the cooperative and traditional groups (p> .05). But, cooperative learning was effective in low-ability students(p < .05). For the science learning attitude data, cooperative learning was more effective than the traditional one(p< .05). Students in the cooperative group acheived better than those in traditional one especially in the subscale of attitude toward science class. There was no meaningful difference of the two methods in both high and average ability students, while cooperative learning was more effective than the traditional one in low ability students(p<.05).

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.113-125
• /
• 2003

This study is a descriptive investigation into the image of nurses, and attempted to help to advance the profession of nursing and to provide basic data for developing strategies to improve the image of nurses. The Subject of this study was a group of 380 persons from a K Medical Centre in Seoul, including the hospital patients and their guardians, as well as the doctors, assistants and hospital administrative staff. The data have been collected from the 10th to the 30th of May, 2003. We have developed a research tool of 40 questions divided into three categories using a tool developed by Kim, H.J and KIm, H.O.(2001) verifying its construct validity. The reliability of the tool was Cronbache's ${\alpha}=.97$, and by categories, Cronbach's ${\alpha}=.86$ for service image, Cronbach's ${\alpha}=.96$ for professional image and Cronbache's ${\alpha}=.90$ for social image. The collected data have been analysed according to the purpose of this study using SPSS WIN 11.0 for real number, percentage, factors analysis, multiple regression analysis, ANOVA and $x^2$-test, and the results are as follows: 1) There was a significant difference in the image of nurses by job series of the subjects; from patients and guardians for 4.01 to doctors 3.62, assistants 3.54 and staff members 3.41 (F=36.14, p=.000). As well, there was a significant difference in service, professional and social image categories according to the position of the subjects ($F=20.36{\sim}42.35$, p=.000). 2) The main factors that affect on formation the nurse's imaging came by direct experiences with nurses at hospitals for 81.3%, by looking at the every life of the nurses that the subjects personally know for 15.5%, by mass media for 1.6% and by the accounts from the others for 1.6%. 3) 78.4% of the subjects considered that the image of nurses on mass media is described better than for real, 8.2% believed that the image is described worse than for real, and only 13.2% of the subjects perceived that the image of nurses on mass media corresponds the image of nurses in actual life. 4) 74.5% of the subjects said that they got a better image of nurses after their hospitalization while 2% got a worse one and 23.5% said to have had no changes, and the period of hospitalization had no relevance to the image of nurses (X2=5.04, P=.489). However, while 16.8% of the subjects who spent less than one week in hospital said that they got a better image of nurses, 27.5% of those who spent longer than four weeks got a better image of nurses. 5) There was a significant difference in the total image points of nurses by the patients and their guardians according to the period of hospitalization; 4.14 for 1 to 2 weeks, 4.07 for 2 to 4 weeks, 4.02 for 4 weeks and longer and 3.80 for less than a week (F=3.40, P=.019). Upon the results stated above, I should like to propose as below: 1) An investigative enquiry is needed to improve the image of nurses as though being a nurse is very hard and difficult. 2) A continuous monitoring in mass media is needed to create a positive image of nurses.