• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.147-155
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• 2008

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the educational needs for nurses who care for terminal cancer patients and their families. To identify top needs along with key issues in consideration to develope hospice training program and provide specific recommendations. Methods: A cross-sectional design with nurses from nine universities' hospice specialist courses and seven cancer centers was used. Data were collected via e-mail or mail service from March to April in 2008. One hundred seventy three questionnaires were returned (return rate: 73.6%), and 156 questionnaires were eventually analyzed. The questionnaire consisted of Mason and Ellershaw's The Self-efficacy in Palliative Care (SEPC) and self-reporting confidence and educational needs in hospice care. Results: The mean age of the participants was 37.94 years, 82.1% were staff nurses, and 44.9% completed over six months hospice education. Mean$\pm$standard deviation score for total SEPC was $2.67{\pm}.62$, which was lower than average (score 3), with communication score being the lowest ($2.49{\pm}.69$). The lowest self-reporting confidence score was $2.03{\pm}.77$ in hospice administration and management, followed by providing complement therapy ($2.34{\pm}.77$), bereavement care ($2.34{\pm}.71$), lymph edema management ($2.35{\pm}.79$), and care planning ($2.36{\pm}.81$). The participants reported that additional education is needed in all topics, with pain management score being the highest ($3.71{\pm}.50$), followed by pain and symptom evaluation ($3.67{\pm}.52$), care for dying ($3.67{\pm}.52$), and communication and counseling ($3.63{\pm}.53$). There were significant subgroup differences in SEPC and self-reporting confidence between groups who completed 6 months hospice education or not, however, no significant difference in educational need between the groups. Conclusion: This study showed the need for developing hospice training program to improve compentency of nurses in hospice palliative care.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2020

In modern society, the number of one-person households is increasing significantly. In particular, one-person households have rapidly increased around local small and medium-sized cities. This study examines the characteristics of local small and medium-sized cities by factor and cluster analysis. Analysis of variance are applied to the characteristics of one-person household in different local cities to find the relationship between different types of cities and the characteristics of one-person households. As a result of the study, local small and medium-sized cities are classified into growth stagnation cities, industrial leading cities, regional base cities, and population outflow cities. It is also found that there are several different types of local cities based on the characteristics of one-person households. The growth stagnation city is a city where the regional economy is revitalized due to the development of regional industries in the past. One-person households have a small age group in their 30s and 40s, which are the basis of industrial activities. They have a high proportion of older generation living in more than three rooms in their homes. It is necessary to supply long-term public rental housing and share houses for older generation. The leading city of the industry is a city where the local economy is revitalized as workers are concentrated. One-person households are evenly distributed among all age groups, and the apartment occupancy rate is the highest compared to other types. It is necessary to provide happy housing for youth generation and reconstruction or renovation housing of manhood generation. The regional base city leads the regional base function and the regional economy, but it has reduced workers. Many of one-person households are younger than 30 years old and college educated. They are also high rate of unmarried and live at one room as rental houses. It is needed to expand the supply of small houses such as apartments, officetels and rented houses for youth generation. The population outflow city has a slow local economy and a rural residential environment. It is found that the households of one-person households have high rate of bereavement and the age. They live more than four rooms in single-family homes. It is necessary not only to provide welfare housing but also to create a sound residential environment where cultural exchange is possible.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.413-431
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• 1994

The purpose of this study was to build a substantive theory about the experience of the family whose child has died of cancer The qualitative re-search method used was grounded theory. The interviewees were 17 mothers who had cared for a child who had died of cancer Traditionally in Korea, mothers are the care givers in the family and are considered sensitive to the family's thoughts, feelings. The data were collected through in-depth interviews by the investigator over a period of nine months. The data were analyzed simultaniously by a constant comparative method in which new data are continuously coded into categories and properties according to Strauss and Corbin's methodology. The 16 concepts which were found as a result of analyzing the grounded data were, -left over time, the empty place, meaninglessness, inner sadness, situational sadness, heartache, physical pain, guilt, resentment, regret, support / stigmatization, finding meaning in the death, changing attitudes about life and living, changing attitudes about health, changing religious practice and changing family relations. Five categories emerged from the analysis. They were emptiness, consisting of left over time, the empty place and meaninglessness ; sadness, consisting of inner sadness and situational sadness ; pain, consisting of heartache and physical pain ; bitterness, consisting of guilt, resentment, regret, sup-port / stigmatization and finding meaning in the death : and transition, consisiting of changing attitudes about life and living, changing attitudes about health, changing religious practice and changing family relations. These categories were synthesized into the core concept, -the process of filling the empty space. The core phenomenon was emptiness. Emptiness varied with the passing of time, was perceived differently according to support / stigmatization and finding meaning in the death, was followed by sad-ness, pain, and bitterness, and finally resulted in changes in attitudes about life and living and about health, and in changes in religious practice and family relations. The process of filling the empty space proceeded by ① accepting realty, ② searching for the reason for the child's death, ③ controlling the bitter feelings, ④ reconstructing the relationships ameng death, illness and health and ⑤ filling the emptiness by resolving causes of child's death, adopting, having another child or with work. Six hypotheses were derived from the analysis. ① The longer the bereavement, the mere the empty space becomes filled. ② The longer the hospitalization, the more sup-port the family needs. ③ The more the sadness, pain and bitterness are expressed, the mere positive changes emerge. ④ Family support faciliates the process of filling the empty space. ⑤ Higher family cohesiveness faciliates the process of filling the empty space. ⑥ The greater the variety of reasons attributed to the child's death, the greater the variety of patterns of change. Four propositions related to emptiness and bitter-ness were developed. ① When the sense of emptiness is great and bitterness is manifested by severe feelings of guilt and resentment, the longer the process of fill-ing the empty space. ② When the sense of emptiness is great and the family is highly motivated to get rid of the bitterness, the shorter the process of filling the empty space. ③ When the sense of emptiness is less and bitter-ness is manifested by severe feelings of guilt and resentment, the process of filling the empty space is delayed. ④ When the sense of emptiness is less and the family is highly motivated to get rid of the bitterness, the process of filling the empty space goes on to completion. Through this substantive theory, nurses under-stand the importance of emptiness and bitterness in helping the family that has lost a child through cancer fill the empty space. Further research to build substantive theories to explain other losses may con-tribute to a formal theory of how family health is restored after human tragedies are experienced.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.28-48
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• 2002

The advances of medical technologies have not only prolonged human life span, but also extended suffering period for the patients with incurable medical diseases. Hospice movement was developed to help these patients keep dignity and lives peaceful at the end of their life. Since many patients prefer to spend the last moment of life at home with their family, hospice home care has become very popular worldwide. The purpose of this study for a promotion and development of hospice home care in Korea, and features basic research on medical profession's knowledge and attitudes to hospice home care. This study which was used for the research questionnaires developed by the researcher that were answered by 100 physicians and 127 nurses in a general hospital. Data were collected from April 22, 2002 to May 10, 2002. The SPSS was used to make a comparative analysis of the frequency, percentile, ANOVA, and x2-test. The results of the study were as follows; 1.The medical profession showed high level of knowledge of the definition and philosophy of hospice. However, the physician group of the examinees showed insufficient knowledge of the fact that hospice care includes bereavement care, while the nurse group's response to the same question showed a significant difference(x2=10.752, p=.001). 2.For whom the hospice home care is provided, 95.6% of the respondents showed very high level of knowledge as answering that the incurable terminal illness patients and their families are the beneficiaries of hospice care. The respondents counted nurses, volunteers, pastors, physicians and social workers, consecutively, as hospice care providers. More nurse were positive toward pastors than physicians in regarding as a hospice care provider by a significant difference(x2=11.634, p=.001). 3.For when to referral hospice home care to the patients, only 34.2% answered that patients with less than 6 months of survival time are advised to receive hospice care, reflecting very low level of knowledge. 23.0% of the physicians and 48.0% of the nurses answered that hospice care should be provided when death is imminent, making a significant difference between the two groups(x2=6.413, p=.000). 4.To promote hospice activities, 87.2% pointed out that it is crucial to make general people, including those engaging in the medical field, more aware of hospice. 79.7% answered that a national hospice management should be developed, marking a significant difference between the physician group and nurse group(x2=10.485, p=.001). 5.Advantages of hospice home care are 87.2% responded that patients can have better rest at home receiving hospice home care. Economical merit was brought forward as one of the advantages also, where there was a significant difference between the physicians group and nurse group(x2=7.009, p=.008). 6.The medical professions' attitude to hospice home care are 92.8% of the physicians answered that they would advise incurable terminally ill patients to be discharged from hospital, with 44.3% of them advising the patients to receive hospice home care after leaving the hospital. From the nurses' point of view, 20.9% of the terminally ill patients are being referred to hospice home care after discharge, which makes a significant difference from the physicians' response(x2=19.121, p=.001). 7. 30.6% of physicians have referred terminally ill patients to hospice home care, 75.9% of whom were satisfied with their decision. Those physicians who have never referred their patients to hospice home care either did not know how to do it(66.7%) or were afraid of losing trust by giving the patients an impression of giving up(27.3%). 94.9% of the physicians responded that they would refer their last stage patients to a doctor who is involving palliative care. 8.Only 36.2% of nurses have suggested to physicians that refer the terminally ill patients discharged from the hospital to hospice home care. Once suggested, 95.8% of the physicians have accepted the suggestion. Nurses were reluctant to suggest hospice home care to the physicians, as 48.8% of the nurses said they did not want to. From the result of this study the following conclusion can be drawn, the medical profession's awareness of general hospice care has been increased greatly compared to the results of the previously performed studies. However, this study result also shows that their knowledge of hospice home care is not good enough yet. There is a need for high recommended that medical education institute and develop regular courses on various types of hospice care. Medical field training courses for physicians and nurses will be very helpful as well. It is also important to train hospice experts such as palliative physicians and develop a national hospice management urgently in order to improve the hospice care in Korea.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.801-821
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• 2020

There are a number of prior studies on the poverty experience of Korean women, but little is known about the poverty experience of Korean elderly women in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to examine the poverty experiences of Korean elderly women who immigrated to the U. S. Qualitative case study methods were used to achieve these research objectives. Three Korean elderly women living in Oakland of California who received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the U.S. federal government were included in the study. The data were collected by conducting a total of six meetings per participant, and the researcher read the consent form directly to the participants and obtained a hand-written signature. The analysis and interpretation began by repeating the interview transcript several times, and the repeated keywords were to be understood in the context, focusing on time, space, and relationships with other people. The contextual understanding of Korean elderly women's experiences in poverty was interpreted in three dimensions: extending poverty in their mother country, double torture as female immigrants, and limiting labor due to aging and diseases. Before moving to the U.S., they had a difficult livelihood by farming and one of them had to live in poverty due to the bereavement to her husband. But even after moving to the U.S., they have continued to live in poverty. As female immigrants with low education and no special skills, they were incorporated into the periphery of the labor market in the industrialized U.S. and were forced to make a living with low wages. Korean elderly women were unable to return to the labor market in the surrounding areas due to aging and diseases, and were continuing their impoverished lives relying on SSI. From the findings, we discussed the role of the Korean immigrants community as a way to improve the quality of life for Korean elderly women in the U.S.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.831-848
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyse the family caregivers' stress pathways by types of long term care services for the elderly, and then to discuss the findings of analysis. For this research, primary caregivers that provide care the elderly requiring long term care services sanctioned by National Health Insurance Corporation were drawn and surveyed. Among collected data, data for 258 primary caregivers by type of long term care services were used for this study. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, on average, the elders that utilize care service in institutions for the elderly were higher proportion of women, older, higher rate of bereavement, more children than the elders that utilize in-home care service, but some cases were vice-versa. Second, the elders that utilize care service in institutions more ADL dependency, higher proportion of severe dementia or severe stroke, higher care rank by National Health Insurance Corporation than the elders that utilize in-home care service on average. Third, primary caregivers with elders that utilize in-home care service were higher proportion of women, older, lower education level, higher rate of spouse and daughter-in-law in relationship with care recipient, less health, lower income than primary caregivers with elders that utilize care service in institutions. Fourth, subjective indicators representing caregivers' reactions to caregiving for the elderly significantly impact on caregivers' stress(ie, depression), and pathway of caregivers' stress are differentiated by type of long term care services. Fifth, stressors that have direct impacts on depression as caregiving family are differentiated by type of long term care services. Therefore, policies or programs to reduce negative mental health or stress of caregivig families should be designed differently by reflecting pathway of various stressors and stress by use types of long term care services for the elderly.