• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand and describe the experiences of young Korean women with attempted suicide. Methods: The data were collected by individual interviews from four women who attempted suicide during 2008-2009. A total of 25 hours interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using feminist phenomenology to reflect and respect the participants' view and experience as much as possible. Results: Five theme clusters and ten themes emerged from the analysis. Five theme clusters include "anger resulting from others-oriented life," "guilt resulting from selfish life," "confusion resulting from unbalanced life between self and others," "attempted suicide resulting from the chaos of life as a whole," and "peace resulting from balanced life between self and others." While these theme clusters represent the phases of life experience, ten themes indicate specific problems or strategies raised during these phases in the context of male-oriented Korean patriarchal society. Conclusion: The results of the study provide insights by deeply understanding of life of young women who attempted suicide in the Korean sociocultural context with the ideology of the subjection of women.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the protective factors that influence suicide probability in religious male high school students. Methods: The data was collected from Nov. 5 to Dec. 10, 2009. Data were collected by self-report questionnaire from 255 students selected from 2 religious male high schools in B city. The instruments for this study were the Suicide Probability Scale for Adolescence (SPS-A), Inventory Parents Peer Attachment-Revision (IPPA-R), Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWBS), and Ego-identity Scale. The data were analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS 14.0 program. Results: The protective factors of suicide probability in religious male high school students were identified as existential spiritual well-being (${\beta}$= -.46, p<.001), self-identity (${\beta}$= -.30, p<.001), and mother attachment (${\beta}$= -.21, p<.001). These three factors explained 61.5% of the variance in suicide probability. Conclusions: The results suggest that improvement in spirituality, ego-identity, and mother attachment for religious male high school students is important to reduce the probability of suicide.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.57-64
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• 2019

This study attempts to analyse the effects of high-rise living on suicide rates. All the apartments in the City A and every suicide were examined in detail. Research methods are as follows. First, a database including tenure type and number of residents in all apartment complexes was created. Second, apartments were categorized into two income groups of private apartments and social housing, and spatial configuration characteristics of a typical apartment were analysed. Third, differences in suicide rates were analysed for lower and upper levels in both apartment categories. Finally, the relationship between high and lower levels of apartments with their spatial configuration characteristics and suicide rates was compared. The analysis shows significant differences between lower and upper floors living residents' suicide rates. It can be stated that the low-income residents are more sensitive to living in high-rise environment. Also, it suggests the need to improve the high-rise living environment of vulnerable social groups. In addition, spatial integration decrease in upper floors of high-rise buildings, and it can be interpreted that spatial configuration may affect residents' pathological disorders or even suicidal behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2015

Suicide, the fourth leading cause of death in Korea, is a serious national problem. The Korea National Suicide Survey (KNSS) is the result of the first legislation to address this issue, "Article 11 of THE ACT FOR THE PREVENTION OF SUICIDE AND THE CREATION OF A CULTURE OF RESPECT FOR LIFE" (the "Act for the Prevention of Suicide"). To overcome the limitations of previous studies, the KNSS was designed by collaborators from a variety of fields : psychology, epidemiology, social welfare, and psychiatry. The KNSS was composed of four substudies that addressed the multifaceted process involved in suicide-related behavior over time, exploring general attitudes toward suicide and suicidal ideation, suicide planning, suicide attempts, and completed suicides. Study 1 examined the risk factors for suicide based on data regarding completed suicides ; Study 2 adopted the approach of a psychological autopsy ; Study 3 focused on suicide attempters ; and Study 4 explored attitudes toward suicide in the general population. The KNSS was designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of suicide from a longitudinal, multifaceted perspective to serve as a basis for policies aimed at suicide prevention.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.327-335
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• 2014

Objectives: Several epidemiological studies on medical care utilization prior to suicide have considered the motivation of suicide, but focused on the influence of physical illnesses. Medical care expenditure in suicide completers with non-illness-related causes has not been investigated. Methods: Suicides motivated by non-illness-related factors were identified using the investigator's note from the National Police Agency, which was then linked to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment data. We investigated the medical care expenditures of cases one year prior to committing suicide and conducted a case-control study using conditional logistic regression analysis after adjusting for age, gender, area of residence, and socioeconomic status. Results: Among the 4515 suicides motivated by non-illness-related causes, medical care expenditures increased in only the last 3 months prior to suicide in the adolescent group. In the younger group, the proportion of total medical expenditure for external injuries was higher than that in the older groups. Conditional logistic regression analysis showed significant associations with being a suicide completer and having a rural residence, low socioeconomic status, and high medical care expenditure. After stratification into the four age groups, a significant positive association with medical care expenditures and being a suicide completer was found in the adolescent and young adult groups, but no significant results were found in the elderly groups for both men and women. Conclusions: Younger adults who committed suicide motivated by non-illness-related causes had a higher proportion of external injuries and more medical care expenditures than their controls did. This reinforces the notion that suicide prevention strategies for young people with suicidal risk factors are needed.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.5-9
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• 2013

One of hypothesis is that sleep loss related to a decrease in serotonergic activity plays a significant role in attempted suicide. A growing evidence suggests that central serotonergic activity plays a key role in the etiology of suicide. It has been reported that the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), the main metabolite of serotonin, were reduced in suicide attempters. In addition, there is evidence that tryptophan hydroxylase is associated with suicide. The association between sleep and suicide was also suggested by some researchers. Several recent studies have showed the association between sleep disturbance and suicide rates in patients with mental disorders and in a general population. In addition, it has been suggested that serotonin plays a role in maintaining arousal and regulating muscle tone and in regulating some of the phasic events of REM sleep. Especially, it is well-known that 5-HT2 receptors are related to slow wave sleep. In conclusion, it is clear that sleep, serotonin activity, and suicide are linked, although the direction of causation needs clarification. In future, large population-based cohort studies are needed to demonstrate the direction of causation in the relationships between sleep, serotonin activity, and suicide.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning and essence of suicide for elderly people who had previously attempted suicide as an older person. Methods: Giorgi's descriptive phenomenology was used for analysis. The researchers carried out in-depth interviews, recordings and memos individually with four elders. The elders were individuals who had attempted suicide sometime in the past 5 yr. They were interviewed from 5 to 10 times using open-ended questions and a semi-structural format. Demographic data were also collected. Results: The meaning of suicide before a suicide attempt in older people had four core components: conflict with family, powerlessness and despair in their life with a drop in self-esteem, using internal and external resources to resolve their troubles and awareness of imminent crisis. Conclusion: These results of this study will increase understanding of suicide in older people by defining their subjective experience of suicide attempts and applying grounded data in the development of programs that provide concrete intervention strategies to prevent suicide in elderly people.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.351-364
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• 2010

This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between abuse and suicide risk focused on the Korean elderly over 65 years old living with their families. The data for the study was collected from 1,193 people in Incheon metropolitan city, Kyunggi and Chungnam province. Among them, 711 elderly adults who experienced abuse within their families, were analysed for the study. The results were as follows: First, the group who had experienced abuse was revealed at 29.8%, and the group who had experienced suicide was revealed at 23.1%. Second, the victims of abuse at older ages affects the risk of suicide. Moreover, considering the elderly population under the control of influencing variables such as socioeconomic traits, ADL and depression, the risk of suicide for the group of being abused was higher than the group that was never abused. Third, four groups of elderly(groups without both abuse and suicide risks, the group with only abuse victims, the group with only suicide risks, and the group with both abuse and suicide risk) were divided based on the victims of abuse and the risk of suicide. The group without abuse and suicide risk was positive in subjective economic status, ADL, number of diseases and depression. On the contrary, the group with both abuse and suicide risk was negative in the above indices. The study indicated that there were some similar traits between abuse risk groups and suicide risk groups, but the group with suicide risk was lower than the group with abuse risk in ADL and depression.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.183-189
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• 2009

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate community mental health professionals and hospital workers attitude and awareness towards suicide. Methods : This study investigated 264 community mental health professionals and 228 hospital workers. SOQs (Suicidal Opinion Questionnaires) were used from July 2007 to September 2007. After a factor analysis for the attitude towards suicide, the items on ethics, mental illness, religion, risk, and motivation were included in the subsequent analysis. Results : There were significant differences in the attitude towards suicide according to religion, age, educational background, the marriage status, the economic position, and different professional licenses. Hospital workers' view was different from the community workers'. The hospital workers judged that suicide was due to mental illness, and suicide was high for the people in a special environment and who lacked motivation, which caused them to fall in a dangerous situation. For the lower educational group, they thought that suicide was attributable to mental illness. The awareness for suicide was significantly higher in the group with a postgraduate education, unmarried people, mental health professionals and the persons who had concern and experience with suicide. The factors that had an influence on the awareness of suicide were the items of mental illness, religion, risk and motivational factors. Conclusions : This study suggested that the factors to increase the awareness and attitude for suicide were the experience of increased education and case management of suicide. Therefore, education dealing with suicide and reinforcement of crisis management programs should be developed.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of parent-adolescent communication and depression on suicide ideation in the adolescent population. Method: The participants for this study were 391 students from two middle schools, one located in Seoul and one in Kyung-gi do Province. A self-report survey was used for data collection, which was carried out from February 8 to 14, 2006. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0 Program. Results: The average score for father-adolescent communication was 61.70, and for mother-adolescent communication, 64.04. The average score for depression was 16.01, and for suicide ideation, 8.69. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between suicide ideation and depression. There was a statistically significant reverse correlation between suicide ideation and mother-adolescent communication, and between suicide ideation and father-adolescent communication. Mother-adolescent communication and depression account for 46.4% of variance in suicide ideation of adolescents. Conclusion: According to the results, programs designed to improve parent-adolescent communication and decrease depression should be developed and put into practice to decrease the rate of suicide ideation in adolescents in Korea.