• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.59-75
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how divorced mothers had decided to take custody of their children and became single mothers. The experiences of their lives after divorce were also explored. Data were collected from 17 Korean divorced mothers who were divorced between 2004 and 2009, and were raising at least one minor child. The data were analyzed based on the phenomenological data analysis method. Three main themes were identified: (a) reasons for deciding to have physical custody of the children, (b) mothers' experiences of adjustment after divorce, and (c) mothers' need for a policy concerning the well-being of their families. According to the divorced mothers, they decided to have physical custody of the children since they believed raising children was their natural duty of mothers or they were the most appropriate ones to raise the children rather than the fathers. While the mothers were satisfied with their lives after divorce in general, they also experienced difficulties including child care and financial strain. In particular, most mothers experienced work-family conflict related to the lack of reliable child care. When their family lives and work lives collided, the mothers put their children first and chose jobs that helped them take care of their children at the same time. The divorced single mothers hoped that the social safety net for single parents would expand to support their independence. Implications for single-parent policy are discussed.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.76-91
• /
• 1998

Background : The purpose of this study was to understand general attitudes of physicians toward hospital quality improvement activities who have been members of QA committee in 32 Korean university hospitals. Methods : A postal survey about opinions of hospital quality improvement activities and desirable policy directions was sent to 328 QA committee member physicians. The questionnaires were composed of 48 items. In total 152 physicians responded to this survey(response rate: 49.3%). This study was carried out from January to February 1996. Results : Most physicians(97.5%) recognized the necessity of hospital QA activities. The most dominant supporting reason for quality activities was to improve clinical outcome. Two thirds of physicians regarded their own hospital activities for quality improvement as inactive. They considered that the obstacles were too little concern(33.6%), unclear objectives(28.9%), lack of human resources(14.3%), and insufficient education and training for quality improvement(10.1%). The most favoring policy among respondents was to give health care providers economic incentives. Provision of education and training for implementing quality improvement was the next to it. Physicians revealed their preferences for professional society, government, health insurance societies, consumer groups, hospital labor unions, and mass media in sequence as sponsoring agencies for hospital accreditation program. Conclusion : These study suggested that the concrete means for motivating physicians and promoting constructive partnership among related parties should be developed in order to activate current hospital quality activities in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.248-261
• /
• 2019

Establishing a healthcare delivery system is key to building a cost-effective healthcare system that can prevent the waste of healthcare resources and increase efficiency. Recently, the rapid increase in the national medical expenditures due to the aging of the population and the increase in chronic diseases has raised the question about the sustainability of the healthcare system including the health insurance system. This is why we need to reform the medical delivery system, including the function setting of medical institutions. Accordingly, gradual and practical efforts based on the recognition of reality are needed for solving the problems and improving the medical delivery system. The first effort is to secure policy measures to establish functions and roles of medical institutions which are the basis of the healthcare delivery system, and a systematic medical use system for appropriate medical use. This approach can be achieved through a reasonable health insurance schemes. Without reasonable reform efforts, it will be difficult for Korea's health care system to develop into a system that can provide cost-effective and high-quality medical services that the people want.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.99-104
• /
• 2019

On May 1, 2019, the Minister of Health and Welfare announced publicly the first Comprehensive Plan of National Health Insurance (NHI). The Comprehensive Plan which is the 5-year plan including expenditure and revenue aspect of NHI, is desirable in 42 years of introduction of NHI and 30 years of universal coverage of NHI, though the Plan was late and had some conflict process. The Comprehensive Plan was established without evaluation of Moon's Care Plan, did not included to relationship with NHI and other health security systems, and did not have the blue print of NHI. The Plan was not sufficient in content of adequate health care utilization and relationship with service benefit and cash benefit. The Comprehensive Plan should be modified in considering the blue print of NHI and national healthcare system with participating stakeholder in turbulent environment-low fertility, rapid ageing, low economic growth rate, era of non-communicable diseases, unification of the Korean Peninsula, and 4th industrial revolution. Therefore, I suggest to establish the President's Committee of Improving Healthcare System for the blue print of health care and NHI.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.203-213
• /
• 2023

This study examined the trend of healthcare status and compared the status of South Korea and other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) using the OECD health statistics 2022. We used the OECD health statistics from 2022 and a position value for relative comparison (PARC) index to compare the five elements of the healthcare system. The study also used a Mann-Kendall test to analyze the trend of the PARC values from 2000 to the present year. The findings of the study indicate that many South Korea's PARC values were higher than the OECD median. But practicing physician in supply part and medical cost were lower than OECD median but the trend significantly increased. Medical accessibility part and quality of care part except primary care, and mental health had a high relative position but the trend did not increased significantly. After outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019, there were changes in medical accessibility. Health screening and vaccinations showed an overall decline in 2020 compared to 2019. These results suggest that policymakers need to take necessary steps for a sustainable healthcare system in the country.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.311-325
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study examined the definition of care coordination, and the activities and roles of nurse care coordinators. The study also proposed suggestions for establishing and expanding the role of nurse care coordinators in community health practice. Methods: This study derived its conclusions by conducting a literature review. Results: The definition of care coordination is a comprehensive concept that includes case management and transitional care, and can be summarized as organizer and integrator of care. According to the literature review, 12 activities and 6 roles of nurse care coordinator were identified such as a collaborator, an individualized care planer, an educator/counselor, a direct nursing care providers, a population care coordinator, and a program evaluator. Training for nurse care coordinators is currently addressed in the Primary Medical Chronic Disease Management Program. Visiting nurses working at the Eupyeong-dong visiting health and welfare service are expected to act as nurse care coordinators, and the role of nurse care coordinators will, in the future, gradually increase in various nursing facilities. Conclusion: In addition to developing competencies to act as a nurse care coordinator, there is need for approaches to health policy that develop both independent role and population focused role as care coordinators.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 2009

The purposes of this study are to provide background information to develop a family-friendly work policy and to increase the effectiveness and feasibility of this policy. We surveyed the performance of family-friendly work policies, and workers‘ needs and utilizations of 17 family-friendly work policies. We also examined the factors that influence the utilization of family-friendly work policies. The study sample consists of 197 working mothers who have at least one child under age 10. The major findings are as follows: 1) The most-needed family-friendly work policy among working mothers is child care leave 2) Of those family-friendly work policies that are not currently provided, the most-needed policy is family care leave 3) The size of firms, the provision of substitutes, and 40-hour work schedules are statistically significant variables that influence the provision of necessary family-friendly work policies and 4) In addition, the work place culture is a very important factor related to the utilization of work- and family-friendly policies.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.157-168
• /
• 2001

Currently the oriental medical care services in the health centers is getting popularity because of their unique aspects which western medicine can not cover. This study was conducted to speculate the current status of oriental medical care services in health centers and possibility of how to effectively provide the oriental medical care services(or traditional medical care services) in health centers. For the study, the survey questionnaires were distributed to all 269 health centers and 138(51.3%) of them were collected. Eight of the collected were inadequate for the analysis and 130 of 269 questionnaires were finally chosen for the study. The SPSS/PC WIN 8.0 was used for the statistical analysis. The results are as follows. First, 91 out of 130 sample health centers(70%) are providing oriental medical care services. The results show that the willingness of the directors and the public awareness in community are the most important factors to provide oriental medical care services in health centers. In contrast, the lack of cooperative efforts between western and oriental medical doctors and the lack of government supports are considered as factors that intervene the oriental medical care services in health centers. About 80% of the sample health centers respond that the government supports is needed for oriental medical care services in health centers. Second, it was asked to the directors of 39 health centers which do not provide oriental medical care services regarding their future plan to include the services. About 70% of health centers respond that no plan is available now. They acknowledge that the demand on the services is the most important factor to consider the oriental services as their future medical services. Third, 69.2% of the oriental medical doctors in health centers are public health doctor. 95.6% of the sample health centers have space for the oriental medical care services in their facilities and some health centers provide the services through the private clinics nearby facilities. Finally, the surveyors consider both budgetary constraints and difficulty in recruiting doctors as barriers for the effective oriental medical care services in health centers. Finally, t-test and LSD were employed to find out the difference among several groups. The analysis shows statistically significant difference among groups about their recognition on health care policy, health care system, and effectiveness of oriental medical care services. To be conclude, the study shows the necessity of oriental medical care services in health centers. To do so, the government supports, cooperative efforts between oriental and western medical doctors, and providing job security for doctors should proceed to provide effective oriental medical care services in health centers.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.67-80
• /
• 2014

Purpose : Long-term Care Insurance sets up facility standard and installation standard of aged care facilities and decides the presence of minimum number of rooms and its size in care facilities by using systematic instruments. Therefore, most aged care facilities had renovation in expansion and reconstruction following the revised regulations and even facility space structure and space composition are continuously improving. The study is to determine the purpose and trend by comparing before and after space composition of facilities which followed the implementation of Long-term Care Insurance and also to suggest hierarchical space composition suitable for aged care facilities through derived problems and to provide basic materials to plan the most appropriate facility for the aged. Methods : J-graph based on Space Syntax Theory will be schematized through in-site facility survey and before and after facility floor plan. Space composition trend will be analyzed by comparing indexes through S3 program. Results : As a result of 5 cases analysis, the following results were found; the average of whole space depth is increasing due to the Extension, the number of volunteers is decreasing and rooms for geriatric care helpers are being created due to the geriatric care helper introduction duty. Also, there are solariums being created to improve the health of the aged and dispensaries are being placed on every floor with the increase of documentary work for geriatric care helpers. With the policy implementation, care facility space composition and structure are changing with facility standard and it was analyzed that facilities were mostly put under the control of limited number of people in care room and total ground area per person. It was also found that there is increase in care space integration through before and after comparison of whole integration value. This is considered as the important result not only in facility standard satisfaction, but also in care support of geriatric care helpers and the aged, its main users. Implication : In order for elderly care facilities to have quality improvement and to develop as suitable facilities for characteristics of the aged, independent environmental facility standard preparation of elderly care facilities is needed through mutual cooperation of construction fields with regulation and policy related researches.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.3-11
• /
• 2018

Purpose: This study utilized a strong quasi-experimental design to test the hypothesis that the implementation of a policy to expand dental care services resulted in an increase in the usage of dental outpatient services. Methods: A total of 45,650,000 subjects with diagnoses of gingivitis or advanced periodontitis who received dental scaling were selected and examined, utilizing National Health Insurance claims data from July 2010 through November 2015. We performed a segmented regression analysis of the interrupted time-series to analyze the time-series trend in dental costs before and after the policy implementation, and assessed immediate changes in dental costs. Results: After the policy change was implemented, a statistically significant 18% increase occurred in the observed total dental cost per patient, after adjustment for age, sex, and residence area. In addition, the dental costs of outpatient gingivitis treatment increased immediately by almost 47%, compared with a 15% increase in treatment costs for advanced periodontitis outpatients. This policy effect appears to be sustainable. Conclusions: The introduction of the new policy positively impacted the immediate and long-term outpatient utilization of dental scaling treatment in South Korea. While the policy was intended to entice patients to prevent periodontal disease, thus benefiting the insurance system, our results showed that the policy also increased treatment accessibility for potential periodontal disease patients and may improve long-term periodontal health in the South Korean population.