• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.767-793
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• 2011

This study aims to explore how older adults construct their life-world in their ecological and socio-cultural context of rural communities and to understand what meanings they give to the life experiences they have had within their life-world. Two rural villages in Sunchang County in North Jeolla Province, South Korea were selected for this study and ethnographic fieldwork was conducted for about 2 months to gather the data. Despite the fact that rural communities face restructuring and economic decline, older adults in this study gave positive meanings to their life experiences. Doing agricultural labor particularly in later life let them maintain independence and continuity in life, and provided them with plenty of opportunity to interact with nature. Also, they had a sense of control over their physical and social environments where they had been familiar with for a long period of time. Furthermore, older adults had various memories of contributions to families and communities have been created. This research shows older adults in rural communities are active agents of their life-world, dismantling stereotypical notions of older adults as dependent, isolated, and marginalized. Implications of the study are discussed in detail.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.463-478
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• 2011

This study examined the impact of late-life poverty on self-rated health, focusing on the mediating and moderating effects of health behaviors and social support. Despite the significant associations among poverty, health behaviors, and health outcomes, little studies have tested complex structural pathways among them. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify multiple causal pathways between poverty and self-rated health, mediated and moderated by health behaviors and social support. To test the structural pathways, the structural equation modeling was utilized using the 2006 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging data. The results of this study indicated that poverty had the direct negative impact not only on the health behaviors such as smoking and lack of regular exercise but also on the self-rated health. In addition, regular exercise significantly mediated the relationship between poverty and self-rated health. Finally, informal social support from family and friends buffered the negative impact of poverty on the self-rated health. Findings suggested that providing informal social support to the low income elderly is important in addition to the economic support. It is also necessary to develop programs for promoting healthy behaviors, especially regular exercise.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

This study aims to examine how individual variables (motivation to participate, leadership life skills, aging awareness), interpersonal variables (relations with subjects, colleagues, and employees), and institutional variables (recognition compensation, institutional education) affect the continuity of volunteer activities. To this end, a survey was conducted on women aged 40 to 64 working at volunteer centers and local volunteer institutions in Seoul for 20 days from August 2, 2019, and a total of 300 questionnaires were distributed and 298 copies were collected, of which 180 were used for the final analysis. For data analysis, frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted. As a result of the analysis, it was found that leadership life skills and motivation for participation, relationships with colleagues as interpersonal variables, and recognition compensation as institutional variables had a positive effect on the continuity of volunteer activities. This study aims to provide practical and policy suggestions to revitalize and maintain the continuity of volunteer activities of middle-aged women, and basic data for the development of programs to be used in the field of practice.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.139-161
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• 2018

As Korea became one of the oldest countries in the world, successful aging emerged as an important issue to individuals as well as to society. This study aims to determine not only the Korean seniors' happiness and unhappiness factors but also the means to enhance their happiness and deal with unhappiness. We collected news articles related to the happiness and unhappiness of seniors with nine keywords based on Alderfer's ERG Theory. We then applied a topic modeling technique, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, to examine the main issues underlying the seniors' happiness and unhappiness. According to the analysis, we investigated the conditions of happiness and unhappiness by inspecting the topics based on each keyword. We also conducted a detailed analysis based on the main factors from topic modeling. We proposed specific ways to increase and overcome the happiness and unhappiness of seniors, respectively, in terms of government, corporate, family, and other social welfare organizations. This study indicates the major factors that affect the happiness and unhappiness of seniors. Specific methods to boost happiness and relief unhappiness are suggested from the additional analysis.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.59-81
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• 2023

Elderly suicide problem has become worse in South Korea. With a rapid aging of the population, the trend of suicide among the elderly is expected to accelerate, preventing elderly suicide has been considered an important societal problem. Thus, we aim to investigate various factors that explain suicidal ideation and to develop a predictive model for suicidal ideation in the context of elderly people in South Korea. To this end, this study contributes to addressing the elderly suicide problem. By using seven-year panel data from the Korea Welfare Panel Survey, we extract various potential causal factors for elderly suicidal ideation based on interpersonal theory of suicide and social disorganization theory. Then a panel logit model was employed to assess the impacts of potential factors on suicidal ideation and deep learning and machine learning algorithms were used to develop a predictive model for suicidal ideation of elderly people. The results of our study provide practical implications for preventing elderly suicide by identifying causal factors of suicidal ideation and a high suicidal risk group of the elderly. This study sheds light on synergy of mixed methodology and provides various academic implications.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.69-83
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• 2024

Objective : This study investigated the prevalence of dysphagia in older adults in Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province and its impact on Quality of Life (QoL) and educational needs. Methods : A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 1 to 15, 2023, with 207 cognitively normal older adults from three senior welfare centers. Data included general characteristics, Korean-version of the Eating Assessment Tool (K-EAT-10), Swallowing-QoL, and educational needs related to swallowing disorders. Dysphagia was defined by a K-EAT-10 score of 3 or higher. Participants were divided into normal and risk groups for analysis using chi-square and Independent t-test. Results : The prevalence of dysphagia risk (K-EAT-10 score of 3 or higher) was 41.5% (86 individuals). Among the 92 individuals reporting dysphagia symptoms, 64 (69.6%) were at risk. QoL was significantly lower in the risk group, especially among those living alone or with denture discomfort. The most preferred educational need was training in eating solid foods (Mean = 4.27), with higher needs in the dysphagia risk group. Conclusion : This study underscores the prevalence of dysphagia, its impact on QoL, and the need for educational programs. Emphasizing prevention, public awareness, and early detection, along with the role of dysphagia rehabilitation experts and community collaboration, is essential for supporting healthy aging.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.237-255
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• 2010

The Korean Pharmacist Law has limited the sales of medicine to pharmacies. This has caused difficulty in purchasing medicine late at night or on holidays, which has limited the range of customers' selections and accelerated customers' discomfort, accordingly. Also, the rapid progress of aging has quickly boosted medical expenses for seniors, and has served as a factor that aggravates the budget of national medical insurance. Meanwhile, advanced countries, including the USA and Japan, have allowed the sales of general medicine, of which the safety and efficacy have been tested, in general retail stores such as convenience stores or super markets from the perspective of supporting self-medication. In particular, Japan, which has a strong tendency of pursuing safety in the world, diversified sales channels for general medicine in order to control quickly rising medical expenses. As a result, Japan has achieved the effect of easing various regulations as follows in the economic and social fields. First, the increasing distribution channels of general medicine from pharmacies to general retail stores provoked a potential demand, which also expanded related markets. Second, the competition between sales channels resulted in the reduction of the price of medicine. Third, the growing sales channels of medicine have extended the options of consumers and, subsequently, the convenience in the use of consumers has increased. Fourth, the creation of a competitive environment owing to the diversification of sales channels has accelerated an effort to enhance corporate competitiveness. Fifth, the foundation of enhancing the financial soundness of medical expenses has been prepared through the formation of a self-medication environment. In 2000, the Korean population aged 65 or over exceeded 7%, and it is anticipated to be over 14% by 2018; thus, the increase of national medical expenses will be sped up. As a way of being prepared for the era of aging, we, just as other advanced countries, need to create a self-treatment environment by diversifying the sellers of general medicine, and, thus, reduce spending on personal medical expenses, enhance the financial soundness of national medical insurance, and, further, promote the welfare of consumers.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.51-60
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• 2017

Purpose - This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the social activity of the elderly and recognition of family cohesion of the elderly who are exposed to the current aging society. In addition, the study has delved into the method of family cohesion improvement through the differences between groups based on the mediator effect of how the results have effects on the elderly's self-control capabilities. Research design, data, and methodology - This study has targeted the elderly who are attending the elderly university among users in seven community centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do area. The study has also conducted a survey by the format of a half-structured questionnaire. It is aiming to investigate the elderly's family cohesion with children and their self-control capability, and understand their satisfaction of social activity to help successful elderly life. The study has suggested the following as mentioned. First, the study analyzed that the perceptual factor of family cohesion with children would be deducted based on advanced researches. Second, the influencing relationship would be analyzed through the relational analysis between the elderly's family cohesion and social activity. Results - The family cohesion with children has a significant effect on psychological happiness and it showed the influencing relationship with improvement of the elderly's self-control capability. Therefore, creating fellowship through meaningful conversation with children would be needed. In addition, various programs and consultant service would be offered to build healthy relationship between aged parents and their children. Through this, the elderly will be able to have not only better relationships with their family, but also increased psychological health and well-being as well. Conclusions - It is needed that not only supporting policies for children who take care of aged parents but also that the elderly who need long-term care could meet their children whenever they want through increased numbers of sanatoriums operated by cities and countries. In addition, the nation would offer financial and administrative support continuously so that people receive the benefits from sanatoriums located in the locality of children's residence beyond the elderly's residence. Moreover, social infra would be established as well.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.149-163
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• 2016

Seafarers are an essential resource in maritime industries, which provide navigation skills, vessel maneuvering skills and fishing skills in the fishery industry. They also work as a driving force in pilotage, port operation, vessel traffic service, and marine safety. Other areas in maritime services, which rely on seafarer include safety management of ships, supervisory activities, and maritime accident assessment. In these ways, Korean seafarers have contributed to the growth of Korean economy. However, there have been issues of high separation rate, shortage of supply, multi-nationality, multiplicity of culture caused by employment of foreign seafarers, and aging. The present paper finds that maritime officers and fishery officers demonstrate differences in the statistics of on-board job taking and separation: the separation rate of fishery officers is higher than that of maritime officers. The existing data and statistics by the Korea Seafarer's Welfare & Employment Center could be improved by changing its structure from time series to panel data. The Korea Seafarer's Welfare & Employment Center is the ideal institution for collecting the panel data, as it has already accumulated and published relevant statistics regarding seafarer. The basic design method of the panel data is to adopt and improve it by including the information on ratings of maritime and fishery industries, ranks in a ship, personal information, family life, and career goal. Panel data are useful in short- and long-term forecasts of supply of Korean seafarers; demand evaluation of education, training, and reeducation of the seafarers; demographical dynamic analysis on Korean seafarers; inducement policy of long-term on board job taking in harmony with man-power demands in marine industries such as pilotage service; implementation of job attractiveness policy on Korean seafarers; and employment stabilization of Korean seafarers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.135-168
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• 2006

This study reviewed pension reform's overall characteristic and(anticipated) positive negative effect in OECD countries's and then analysed middle-old age's retirement transition and determinants of full/gradual retirement through the $3{\sim}7th$ Korea Labor and Income Panel considering that Korea has been aging society quickly and it is necessary to suggest not only solution of early retirement and working age reduction but also pension reform. As a result of this study, about 1/4 of 50 years and older have been continuing to work through various pathways after retirement and 98% among fully retired older who passed by re-employment step of occupational status including retirement are still searching for jobs. This showed that it is also inappropriate to typical retirement concept itself on the lines of labour market participation in Korea and part-time/temporary work or self-employment have been used by means of alternatives of maintaining works for middle-old ages. However, the duration of changed occupational status of gradual retirees is mostly only $1{\sim}2$ years. Therefore it is necessary to support the gradual retirement to minimize a term of income insecurity and promote the work of the old ages who have will and capacity of work. Most of all, partial pension system which is main program of gradual retirement, should make the rules that beneficiaries are those who age less than pensionable age and benefit levels should be actuarial fairness together with pension system and provide substantial help. But, the introduction of partial pension system is not the only way to solve and needs overall social economic approach. Especially guarantee the increase of quantitative qualitative employment for middle-old ages linking labor market policy and supporting gradual retirement not ought to be abused to force the part time works and early retirement route against their own will.