• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2021

Purpose: This study attempted to confirm whether the suicide prevention effect could be achieved by managing the frailty of the elderly in rural areas. Methods: This study is a single-group pre-post study design. The frailty management program was applied twice a week for 12 weeks for the vulnerable elderly in the rural area from 16th April to 31st May in 2020. The program consisted of physical exercise, health education on nutrition management and disease control, cognitive training, and protein drink provision. Results: The average age of the participants was 77.1 years, and they lived alone (88.6%). As a result of providing the program, there were positive results such as increase in body strength (pre 12.27: post 13.27) and weight (pre 58.51: post 59.13), and decrease in depression (pre 4.66: post 1.20), and there was no statistically significant change in quality of life, Time Up & Go, and BMI. Conclusion: Frailty should be managed to prevent suicide in the elderly. It is necessary to expand and apply various programs that combine physical functions and emotional interventions such as health education, and exercise to maintain muscle strength.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.287-298
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• 2003

The purpose of the study was to develop an integrated prevention program to strengthen elders self-care capability and to examine its effectiveness on their psychological condition. This study used one group pre- and post-test design. Subjects were 85 elderly residents (over 65 years of age) who lived alone, and received free basic medical care and social welfare services in a rural community in Korea. Subject eligibility criteria for this study were to an elders who 1) is not currently taking any anti-depressant medication 2) is able to communicate, and 3) agrees to participate in this study. The integrated program was composed of horticulture, reminiscence, and friendship activities. Twelve sessions were provided for 12 weeks in community-based partnerships to achieve better outcomes. The intervention was case-managed by a public health nurse and aided by six volunteers. The main outcome variable was depression, which was assessed by using 15 items selected from the Geriatric Depression Scale-short form Korean version. Socio-demographic characteristics, functional status, and satisfaction with social support were used as covariates. Results showed that there was a significant intervention effect at post-intervention time point compared to pre-intervention time point(E.S. 0.94). Multiple linear regression analysis showed significant interaction effects between intervention and satisfaction with social support. These findings must be interpreted within the context that an effects of an integrated program could be more synergistically increased when social support factor is considered in the program. A community-based integrated prevention program of depression is effective for vulnerable rural elderly. It is suggested that randomized controlled trials within community setting for better methodological strength as well as multi-level outcomes on community need to be conducted in future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2882-2892
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to develop a program to prevent depression and suicidality in vulnerable community-dwelling elderly women, then to furthermore demonstrate the effectiveness of the program in a community setting. The researchers designed the depression and suicide prevention program by combining a cognitive behavioral theory model with prospective research data. The effects of the program were measured by time-series design based on survey results from 12 vulnerable community-dwelling elderly women. The depression and suicide prevention program was implemented and feelings of depression, suicidal ideation, and hopelessness were measured 4 weeks before implementation, prior to implementation, immediately following implementation, and 4 weeks after implementation. Although there was no statistically significant difference in feelings of depression, suicidal ideation, and hopelessness immediately after implementation of the program, there was a statistically significant difference in all parameters 4 weeks following the implementation of the program. Therefore, we recommend the implementation of our program in community mental health care centers or welfare facilities.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.162-172
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• 2009

Improvement of roadway environments to accommodate elderly drivers' declining driving capabilities are required. Currently, even the types of roadway designs vulnerable to elderly drivers have not been revealed in Korea. Thus, this study aims to analyze the types and vulnerabilities of the roadway designs that elderly drivers experience more accidents based on crash data of the Korean National Police Agency. This study has also reviewed foreign guidelines enhancing their safety on different roadway designs. Compared with normal drivers, elderly drivers tend to be more frequently involved in traffic accidents on intersections and vehicle-to-vehicle accidents on curved roadway segments. Assuming freeway interchanges are also risky sections, this study has also examined several methods to reduce elderly driver-related accidents on freeway ramp areas.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.332-345
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• 2020

This study sought to explore the demand in the social service sector and present policy implications, focusing on the vulnerable in rural villages exposed to worse conditions amid the Covid-19 crisis. To this end, the social service needs of vulnerable groups by household type were analyzed by utilizing the raw data of the 2018 Survey on Rural Well-Being. Analysis showed that the greatest demand social services for all rural villages, the elderly, the disabled, one-person, one elderly and low-income households were income support services, while in household that included children the demand was for childcare and education-related services. The second-highest social services in terms of demand were cultural leisure vacation support services for all rural villages, healthcare-related services for the elderly, the disabled, one elderly and low-income households, cultural leisure vacation support services for households including children and daily life support services for single-person households. Based on these results, a measure was proposed to support social services, tailored to vulnerable groups in rural villages. In addition, the government's lack of a consultation system between urban and rural welfare policies, such as a basic plan for health and welfare in rural villages, led this paper to discuss the need for a feedback function and dedicated formulation of mid- to long-term policies in rural villages. It also proposed the establishment of conditions for providing customized social services for rural villages.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.343-354
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• 2013

Elderly people living in poverty are one of the most vulnerable population groups who are at risk of experiencing social exclusion. Social participation is an important contributing factor to active aging and social integration of the older adults living in poverty. This study aims to identify factors affecting social participation of the poor elderly. Data from the second wave of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing was used for the analyses and 1,346 poor elderly aged over 65 were analyzed. The findings showed that age, education, health status, a level of depression, financial stress, and economic activity were associated with the social participation of the elderly living in poverty. These results indicated that psychological empowerment and specific needs of the older adults living in poverty should be considered in developing services and programs to promote social participation of the poor elderly.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.477-482
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• 2024

Since the Act on Punishment of Serious Accident has been implemented, the role of construction companies in safety and health and the responsibility of CEO are strengthened. However, serious accidents still occur. Due to population decline and young people's reluctance into the construction industry, the ratio of elderly workers and foreign workers is increasing at construction sites. In this study, a survey was conducted to identify differences in the perception of importance of smart safety technology among vulnerable groups such as foreign workers, elderly workers, and workers with health conditions. Vulnerable workers recognize the importance of smart technology in the fields of foreign language support, risk warning, and body wear monitoring, and the conclusion was drawn that smart technology should be expanded for vulnerable groups in the future.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Human motion recognition is essential for user-centric services such as surveillance-based security, elderly condition monitoring, exercise tracking, daily calories expend analysis, etc. It is typically based on the movement data analysis such as the acceleration and angular velocity of a target user. The existing motion recognition studies are only intended to measure the basic information (e.g., user's stride, number of steps, speed) or to recognize single motion (e.g., sitting, running, walking). Thus, a new mechanism is required to identify the transition of single motions for assessing a user's consecutive motion more accurately as well as recognizing the user's body and surrounding situations arising from the motion. Thus, in this paper, we collect the human movement data through Android smartphones in real time for five targeting single motions and propose a mechanism to recognize a consecutive motion including transitions among various motions and an occurred situation, with the state transition model to check if a vulnerable (life-threatening) condition, especially for the elderly, has occurred or not. Through implementation and experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed mechanism recognizes a consecutive motion and a user's situation accurately and quickly. As a result of the recognition experiment about mix sequence likened to daily motion, the proposed adoptive weighting method showed 4% (Holding time=15 sec), 88% (30 sec), 6.5% (60 sec) improvements compared to static method.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.182-187
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• 2022

This study aims to study non-rechargeable wrist-type smart bands for those vulnerable to the digital environment. The transition to the digital age means improving the efficiency of human life and the convenience of management. In the digital age, it can be a very convenient infrastructure for the digital generation, but otherwise, it can cause inconvenience. COVID-19 is spreading non-face-to-face culture. The reality is that the vulnerable are complaining of discomfort in non-face-to-face culture. The core of the digital environment is smartphones. Digital life is spreading around smartphones. Technology that drives the digital environment is the core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The technologies are lot, big data, Blockchain, Smart Mobility, and AI. Related technologies based on these technologies include digital ID cards, digital keys, and nfc technologies. Non-rechargeable wrist-type smart bands based on related technologies can be conceptualized. Through these technologies, blind people can easily access books and manage their ID cards conveniently and efficiently. In particular, access authentication is required wherever you go due to COVID-19, which can be used as a useful tool for the elderly who feel uncomfortable using smartphones. It can also eliminate the inconvenience of the elderly finding or losing their keys.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.69-90
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• 2024

Purpose In this paper, among the four information vulnerable groups(disabled, elderly, low-income, farmers and fishermen), the mediating effect of digital device usage attitudes in the effect of digital information utilization level of farmers and fishermen with a large digital information gap with the general public on life satisfaction was verified. Design/methodology/approach This study summarizes existing research related to the digital information gap between farmers and fishermen, and the empirical analysis is based on hierarchical regression analysis based on the 2022 Digital Information Gap Report (survey data on 2,200 farmers and fishermen) published by the Korea Intelligence Information Society Promotion Agency. Among the four major information vulnerable groups (the disabled, the elderly, low-income groups, and farmers and fishermen), attitudes toward using digital devices were examined in terms of the impact of the level of digital information use on life satisfaction among farmers and fishermen, who have a relatively large digital information gap with the general public. It was verified as a mediating effect. Findings As a result of the empirical analysis, attitudes toward the use of digital devices were found to play a mediating role in the impact of the level of digital information use on life satisfaction.