• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.763-781
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• 2017

This study explores the relationship between indirect contacts of older adults and ageism related behaviors by investigating adults' exposure to portrayals of older people and their images in media. This study also investigates how indirect contacts of older adults influence ageism related behaviors such as avoidance and discrimination against older adults through attitudes and social norms about older adults. Using an online survey collected from 252 adults aged 18-64 years, the authors found that indirect contacts of older adults through media predicted attitude toward older adults as well as social norms. The results also revealed that social norm predicted both avoidance and discrimination behavior against older adults while attitude toward older adults only predicted avoidance behavior. Finally, the findings indicated that attitude toward older adults mediated the relationship between indirect contacts through media and avoidance behavior. However, social norm mediated the relationships between indirect contacts through media and discrimination as well as avoidance behaviors. Implication and limitation of the findings are discussed.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.105-117
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• 2024

This is a longitudinal study of drinking older adults aged 65 and older to determine how their social activities and alcohol consumption change over time, and how social activities affect alcohol consumption among drinking older adults. The main findings are as follows First, we found a decrease in social activity and alcohol consumption among the elderly over time, but this was not statistically significant. However, individual differences in the rate of change in social activity and alcohol consumption were found, and the specific factors of these individual differences were examined in the conditional model. The results of the conditional model showed that, for social activity, the higher the initial level of social activity, the older the age, and the lower the initial amount of alcohol consumed by men than women. Next, for the amount of alcohol consumed, the better the health status, the more the amount of alcohol consumed decreased significantly for male elderly than female elderly, smokers than non-smokers, and elderly with and without disabilities. Based on the results of the above analysis, suggestions were made to promote social activities and reduce drinking among the drinking elderly in Korea.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a dementia education program for Korean older adults who resided in community. Methods: The research adopted the non-equivalent control group pretestposttest design. A total of 66 older adults completed the study (31 older adults in the experimental group and 35 in the control group). The Experimental group participated in a six-session dementia education program for three weeks. The effects of the dementia education program were evaluated using the measures of knowledge of dementia and attitude toward dementia. Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test with SPSS/WIN 18.0. Results: There was a significant change in the knowledge of dementia in the experimental group (t=2.75, p=.008). Although there was an increase in attitude toward dementia in the experimental group, the change was not statistically significant (t=1.26, p=.212). Conclusion: The results indicated that the dementia education program is effective in improving the knowledge of dementia among community-dwelling older adults. There is a need to develop more effective dementia education programs designed to improve older adults' attitude toward dementia. Further research is needed using a highly rigorous research methodology.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2022

Objective: Flexed posture commonly increases with age in older adults and is characterized by kyphosis and forward head posture. Changes in the posture with age affect both balance and mobility. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a cervical stabilization exercise for community-dwelling older adults to improve balance. Design: Two groups pretest-posttest design. Methods: Fifty older adults were randomly assigned into the cervical stabilization exercise group (n=24) and control group (n=25). The cervical stabilization exercise group (n=24) participated in group exercise for 60 minutes twice a week over 4 weeks. Timed up and go test (TUG), four square step test (FSST), functional reach test (FRT), postural sway, cervical range of motion (CROM), proprioception, craniovertebral angle (CVA) were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results: TUG, FSST, FRT, CROM, Proprioception, CVA showed significantly greater improvement, compared with a control group (p<0.05). Conclusions: Findings of this study demonstrate that cervical stabilization exercise can help improve not only neck functional capacities but also balance. Therefore, it may be used as an effective balance exercise program for community-dwelling older adults.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.327-348
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to understand the diverse lifestyles of Korean older adults by analyzing the consumption pattern of older households and its determinants. The 9th wave of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS) data was used for analysis. The twenty consumption items provided by the dataset was reduced to thirteen according to the consumption purpose inherent in the item. K-means cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression was employed to categorize the consumption pattern of older households and to analyze the determinants. The results are as follows. The consumption pattern of Korean older adults was clustered into six distinctive groups named Breadwinner, Leisure-time pursuer, Friendly outgoes, Daily-life survivor, Illness sufferer and Shelter seeker. Breadwinner, Leisure-time pursuer and Friendly outgoes were lifestyles that earn and spend more compared to the other three. Nevertheless, they differed according to the family size, indicating that the parenting burden might have direct influence on the lifestyle of Korean older adults. Older adults without parenting burden and with high level of education and economic capacity were likely to show Friendly outgoes lifestyle. On the other hand, Daily-life survivor, Illness sufferer and Shelter seeker showed lower level of spending, indicating that for those lacking in economic capacity, urgent needs such as medical need or housing need dominates the lifestyle. The results call for adequate custom policies that best fit the needs of older adults.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.149-162
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• 2024

This study is a longitudinal study of female older adults living alone, one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, to determine how their depression changes over time and what factors affect their depression. At the same time, considering that there is a large difference in age among the same older adults, this study divided the female older adults into the young-old and the old-old to see how the predictors of depression in each group differ from each other. The main findings are as follows First, depression among female older adults living alone appears to have a declining pattern over time. In the conditional model, factors affecting the initial level of the depression trajectory among women living alone were found to be associated with lower initial depression values among those living in metropolitan areas rather than non-metropolitan areas, better subjective health, and those who did not exercise. Next, we examined the factors affecting rate of change (slope) in depression among female living alone older adults and found that the higher the age, the larger the metropolitan area, the better the subjective health, the less socializing, and the more socializing, the greater the decrease in depression level. Finally, there were some differences in the pathways affecting the initial value and slope of depression among female older adults living alone between the early and late older adults. Specifically, the higher the initial level of participation in social activities, the greater the change in depression among the late older adults, while there was no significant relationship among the early older adults. In the early older adults, better initial subjective health was associated with a larger change in depression than in the late older adults. Only in the late older adults did those who regularly exercised in the early years have higher initial depression values than those who did not. Based on the results of the above analyses, suggestions were made to reduce depression among female older adults living alone.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.993-1011
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors associated with the incidence and the transition of disability among Korean older adults. Samples consist of 1,454(42.7%) men and 2,032(58.3%) women aged 65 and over who participated in the 1st and 2nd wave of the Korea Longitudinal Study of Aging: KLOSA. To estimate the level of disability, ADL and IADL disability indexes are used. As the results, major risk factors for ADL/IADL disability incidence include injury, vision problem, cognitive function, depression, health behavior, socioeconomic characteristics and age. Among the normal older adults, the odds ratio of having dementia symptoms at 2nd wave(2008) are 2.0 times greater for the older adults who have less cognitive function than those who don't have at 1st wave(2006). Among the older adults with chronic diseases, the odds ratio of having disability at 2nd wave are 1.8 times greater for the older persons who have depression than those who don't have at 1st wave. Secondly, concerning the predictors affecting the disability transition among the disabled older adults at 1st wave, the likelihood of remaining at the same level or deteriorating the level of IADL disability, as compared with improving the level, is associated with having less instrumental support or being older. These results indicate that it is necessary to prefer multilevel intervention in order not only to prevent the incidence of disability, but also to prolong the deterioration of disability in the older adults.

• 한국노년학
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.25-48
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• 2021

This study intended to examine the willingness to use as well as necessary functions for ICT-based care assistance devices in older adults living alone. A total of 241 older adults living alone from a city participated in the study. Study results show that many older adults living alone are willing to use ICT-based care assistance devices at their home and the functions of care assistance devices that they perceived as necessary were diverse. In addition, there were differences in perception of functional necessity by socio-demographics and medical and functional characteristics of older adults living alone. In particular, there were significant differences in the functions perceived as necessary according to the presence of osteoporosis, depression, insomnia, and limitations in daily activities. Our study findings suggest that the functions of ICT-based care devices should be developed in various ways in order to help healthy aging in place. Findings also imply that it is necessary to provide individualized services and customized care assistance devices according to individual's medical and functional characteristics and needs.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.401-414
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of Korean older adults' use of Social Network Service (SNS) and text messages with frequency of contact with 1) non-coresident adult children, 2) siblings and relatives, or 3) friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. Data were drawn from the 2017 Survey of Living Conditions and Welfare Needs of Korean Older Persons 65+ (N=8,392), and older adults were categorized into 4 groups depending on their familiarity with use of SNS and text messages. Ordinary Least Squares regression models were estimated for analyses. Results revealed that older users of both types of communication media reported frequent exchanges of calls, text messages, etc. with both family and friends. However, using SNS and text messages was consistently related to more face-to-face contact with non-family members. To conclude, older adults' familiarity with communication media could be key to exchanges of emotional and instrumental support with informal social network members and quality of life in the community. Overall, our results highlight the importance of information communication education targeting older adults for continued involvement with their informal social network members.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.577-598
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• 2020

As the socialization of care is progressing rapidly, the necessity of community-level mental health intervention for older adults with severe social isolation and depression is also increasing. In line with the reorganization of the Individualized Support Services for Older Adults in 2020, the social relations revitalization project for the elderly living alone, which had been conducted as a pilot project in 2014~19, was expanded and reorganized into a separate specialized project within the Individualized Support Services for Older Adults. The purpose of this study is to enhance understanding of the specialized service and to clarify its conceptual framework. The characteristics and conceptual framework of the specialized service were examined through a review of the process of institutionalization of the specialized service, which included analysis of related literature and the pilot projects. Finally, it discussed what to consider in order for the specialized service to proceed as intended in the future, focusing on a couple of situations that occur at the fields.