• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.33-53
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• 1988

This study aimed at developing a desirable family planning policy and strategy by examining the current status of family planning practice in rural Korea and by indentifying the crucial factors which affect fertility control behavior. For this purpose, an analytical study was conducted, using the survey data collected in July 1985, on an interview basis, on 1, 440 married women living in the Soyi, Wonnam and Maingdong townships of Eumseong County(in North Chungcheong Province). This study population has the typical characteristics of rural areas, and the results of the analysis can be summarized as follows: 1. In regard to the demographic characteristics of the study population : their average age at marriage was 23.7, they had an average of 2.6 children( 1.3 boys, 1.3 girls) :10% experienced the death of their child (ren) :14% had spontaneous abortion(s) :4% weathered stillbirth(s) :35% went through induced abortion (s) : and 5.5% were currently pregnant. The average of their ideal numbers of children was 2.2, while 44% felt that they must have a son. 2. Looking at the contact rate with medical & health institutions, over the past 1 year, the visit rate to health subcenters was 43.7%, while 26.9% visited the (county) health center :59.6% had been to private clinics : and 41.5% went to the Soonchunhyang - Eumsung hospital : thus showing a relatively high rate of accessibility. 3. The utilization rate of family planning services was 76.5%, with tubectomy being the most prominent method at 52.3%, while the informants were health workers in 54.2% of the acceptors. Of the 8.4% who discontinued the use of contraceptive methods, only 26% did so due to want for pregnancy, natural infertility (meno - pause), or other reasons, while the remaining 74% stopped usage on account of side effects, failure in the methods themselves, and inconvenience of use, thus pointing to a situation where the proper choice of family planning methods have not yet been made. It can be noted that there is a strong motivation for early birth stopping as 35.3% practice family planning even with only one child, of which 38.3% have had sterilization operations. According to results of a multiple regression analysis, among the variables affecting contraception usage the most significant variable was the number of sons. 4. 34.8% experienced induced abortions. It was shown as a result of multiple regression analysis that the number of children and attitudes toward induced abortions extensively affected their frequency of abortions conducted. 5. In the regard to the relation between family planning and induced abortions, 33.7% of the women used both, while 52.0% of them used only the former(family planning), with only 1.4 % utilizing solely the latter(abortion), and 12.9% totally abstaining from fertility regulation : again, the discriminant analysis indicated that the choice of family planning and/or induced abortion was determined by the number of children and attitudes toward induced abortion. In view of the above mentioned results, the following are some comments and suggestions concerning problems related to the current family planning policies, in Korea : 1. It is difficult to expect a further quantitative expansion in family planning program operations, as there has been an excessive supply of target-oriented sterilization operations on women. From a maternal and child health care point of view, it will be desirable to have a diversification of service points in the future where family planning methods may be properly chosen, so that choices of methods which suit the mothers' characteristics and tastes may be made by the individuals themselves by strengthening their quality of family planning information services. 2. Along with the strengthening of the qualitative improvement of family planning services policies must be implemented to effectively promote the moral (ethical) deterrents to induced abortions and to preference for sons. From a maternal care standpoint, the social permissive norm toward induced abortion must be modified, and the bias towards son must be analyzed as the women with more daughters have a lower rate of family planning acceptance. Such changes in attitudes, however, can not be hoped to be accomplished with ad hoc policies, but will only be possible when an enhancement of the women's status(within the society) is brought about in a long - term perspective.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2000

Classification and research trends were studied to analyze a total of 240 original articles that have been published in 34 volumes of The Korean Journal of Rural Medicine from 1976 to 1999. The results were as follows: 1. A total of 337 articles were published. Among them, 240(71.2%) articles were classified as original articles. This number has been increasing significantly over the years as the number of the articles was 13 in the 1970s, 73 in the 1980s, and 154 in the 1990s. 2. There were 10 authors in the original articles and 55(22.9%) of them were written by 3 of them. There were five research institutions involved in the articles, and 106(44.2%) of the articles were done by one research group. 3. In the original articles. 24(10.0%) were noted to be done using research funds, and only 6(2.5%) were written in English. 4. In the view of the research styles of the original articles, 115(47.9%) used analytical study, 92(38.3%) used technical study, 21(9.2%) used experimental study, and 6(2.5%) used case reports. In the 1970s, 13(100.0%) articles used technical study, and in the 1980s, 47(64.4%) used technical studies and 19(26.0%) used analytical studies. However, in the 1990s, 96(62.8%) articles used analytical studies and 32(20.9%) used technical studies. The statistical methods most commonly used in the articles were technical statistics, the ${\chi}^2$-test, and the t-test respectively. 5. On the classification into three different research fields, 105(43.8%) articles were classified as health management, 96(40.0%) as disease epidemiology, and 39(16.3%) as rural environment and rural occupational disorders. In the 1970s, 12 (92.3 %) of the articles were on disease epidemiology and 1(7.7%) on health management were published. In the 1980s, 33(45.2%) articles on disease epidemiology, 29(39.7%) on health control, and 11(15.1%) on rural environment and rural occupational disorders were recorded. In the 1990s, however, 75(48.7%) articles were on health control, 51(33.1%) on disease control, and 28(18.2%) on the rural environment and rural occupational disorders. 6. According to the research subjects in each research field, the 39 articles in rural environment and rural occupational disorders were composed of 8(20.5%) articles on pesticide intoxication, 7(17,9%) on farmer's diseases, 7(17.9%) on vinyl-house diseases, and 6(15.4%) on accidents. From a total of 96 articles in disease epidemiology 56(58.3%) articles were on parasites, 16(16.7%) on non-infectious diseases, 12(12.5) on infectious diseases. From 105 articles in health control 25(23.8%) articles were on medical care utilization patterns, 18(17.1%) on the health care delivery system, and 13(12.4%) on maternal and child health. In the analysis of the 10 most prevalent subjects dealt in the above articles, 6(46.2%) articles were on parasites and 4(30.8%) on non-infectious diseases were recorded in the 1970s. In the 1980s, 28(38.4%) were on parasites. 9(12.3%) on the health care system, 7(9.6%) on medical care utilization patterns, 5(6.8%) on maternal and child health, and 4(5.5%) were on pesticide intoxication. In the 1990s, 22(14.3%) articles were on parasites. 18(11.7%) on medical care utilization patterns, 16(10.4%) on senile health, 14(9.1%) on the health care system, 10(6.5%) on infectious diseases, arid 10(6.5%) were on non-infectious diseases. In conclusion, the research activity on rural health has been strengthened in this country because the original articles in The Korean Journal of Rural Medicine have significantly increased in the past 24 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, research on disease epidemiology was most prevalent, but in the 1990s papers on health care were most popular. In addition, the articles on parasites were most frequently published in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, showing that parasitic problem was the main theme in those eras. However, in the 1990s, it was evident that the articles on parasites were decreasing and articles on the subject of medical care utilization patterns and senile health increased. Hereafter it was expected that research on health care would be more common in rural health in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.5-23
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of young children's verbal expression on their prosocial behaviors. The subjects were 44 four-year-olds and 42 five-year- olds in nine kindergartens and daycare centers located in Gyeonggi-do. The instruments used were Verbal Expressiveness Inventory(Jang, 1981) and PBSYC for teachers(Kim, 2003). The major findings of the study were as follows: Concerning the correlations between their verbal expression and prosocial behavior, those who had better verbal expression showed more prosocial behavior. The relationships between the subfactors of verbal expression and those of prosocial behavior were inconsistent to some extent, but there was a positive correlation between the two overall. So it could be said that a better verbal expresson leads to better prosocial behavior. From the findings of the study on the effect of the verbal expression on prosocial behavior, it can be concluded that young children who have better verbal expression are more excellent at building a good peer relationship, helping their peers, being considerate, making themselves accessible, sharing their own belongings with peers and regulating their own emotions. This study is expected to assist early childhood education institutions to provide young children with a variety of educational activities geared toward improving verbal expression to improve their prosocial behaviors. Also, this study is expected to help teachers to improve the prosocial behavior of young children in diverse ways.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.253-261
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• 2016

This study discusses the effective management of mixed-ages classes in kindergarten. For the study, 300 kindergarten teachers in charge of mixed classes for regular courses completed a self-reported questionnaire through a web survey. The data were analyzed by chi-square test and presented by frequency and percentage. Mixed-ages classes had relatively fewer children than one-age classes and they were prevalent in public kindergartens and rural areas. The results were as follows. First, mixed-ages classes were induced by the small number of young children. Second, teachers managed their classes with difficulty due to the lack of supporting staff and few chances for additional teaching training. Third, teachers needed supporting human resources for their teaching and administration assistances. About 23.0% of kindergartens received assistance such as additional training, financial assistance, and consulting supervision from related institutions. The study results suggested the challenges in regulations of age ratio in mixed-ages class, additional teaching training for teachers in mixed-ages classes and replacement of mixed-ages class to same age class as the long-term plan.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.331-355
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness of parents with preschoolers about multiple-intelligence education programs, the state of their multiple-intelligence education and their needs. This was done in an effort to provide information on the successful utilization of early childhood multiple-intelligence programs, as parents exercise a great influence on the development of early childhood multiple intelligences. The subjects in this study were 350 parents of preschoolers in six different kindergartens located in the city of Busan, on whom a survey was conducted. The findings of the study were as follows: first, as for the awareness of the parents of the preschoolers on multiple-intelligence education, they placed an importance on that education in general. Second, concerning the state of their multiple-intelligence education, there was a strong tendency for them to rely on early childhood education institutions and study aids produced by relevant companies to foster the strength of their children. Third, regarding a time for early childhood multiple- intelligence education, they considered it advisable for preschoolers to start to receive that education at the Western age of 2 to 7, and they preferred teachers who had a good understanding of the psychology and needs of preschoolers. The parents wanted their children to receive that education, and hoped to receive parent education about it.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.390-399
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of happiness of early childhood teachers on ego resilience and job engagement. The study subjects were 243 teachers who were working in early childhood education institutes located in K and D area. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis using SPSS 18.0 Program. The study results are as follows. First, it was identified that the level of happiness, ego resilience, and job engagement of early childhood teachers were high. Secondly, happiness, ego resilience, and job engagement of early childhood teachers had a statistically significant correlation. Thirdly, the explanation power of happiness for ego resilience was 18% and self-acceptance, a subfactor of ego resilience, had an effect. Also, the explanation power of happiness for job engagement of early childhood teacher was vitality of 23%, and it was found to affect the subfactors of vitality of job engagement in the order of self-acceptance, positive personal relationship, and control over the environment. Also, the explanation power of happiness factors for undivided attention of early childhood teacher was 17%, and self-acceptance and positive personal relationship had a significantly positive effect on the undivided attention of teachers. Lastly, the explanation power of happiness factors for absorption of early childhood teacher was 14%, and self-acceptance among happiness factors of teachers had a significantly positive effect on the undivided attention of teachers. These study results suggest that the quality of early childhood education and happiness should be improved for the early childhood teachers and this may be a positive factor for the improvement of ego resilience and job engagement.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.52
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• pp.63-87
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• 2003

Our society has had a growing interest in a family volunteering activity which has been proposed to be helpful to strengthen the health of the families. Thus this could be a new alternative strategy for motivating a family life as well as activating a volunteering activity which takes a major portion in the source for social welfare, as a precautionary measure against various social problems. This research therefore studied the effects of the family volunteering activity on the status of family health on the purpose for providing social work implications to activate family volunteering and to enhance the degree of family health. The study subjects were whole family members in Korea (n=494) who had participated in a family volunteering program more than 6 months (experimental group). The control subjects (n=534) were from family members without having an experience in a family volunteering program (control group). The results demonstrated that experimental group experiencing family volunteering activities represents significantly higher status of family health regarding all the study fields, e.g., family values in common, autonomy or flexibility for family, family commitment, communication within a family, family oriented problem-solving ability, compared with control group. Even the cases of control group which were regularly engaged in the social activities together, showed the lower status of family health, as compared with families having experiences in the family volunteering activity. Accordingly, family volunteering experiences has taken more favorable influences upon the status of family health than any other family activities. Therefore, the present study suggests as follows for activating family volunteering activities: 1) the development and management of programs suitable for the voluntary activities of a family unit; 2) the flexible application of the concept of family volunteering; 3) the necessity of connection between various institutions which perform family volunteering services; 4) flexible work system based on individuality getting ready for the time for the family volunteering activity; and 5) the development of the circumstances for family members who need to be taken care of.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.5-23
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the teachers' multi-media application ability, their perception on the use of multi-media for story-telling, and actual use in class. The survey, using a questionnaire, was conducted targeting 225 teachers in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon. The results of the study are as follows: Firstly, teachers who were younger, had a higher level of education, were experienced in taking multi-media courses, and took charge of larger classes showed better ability of multi-media application. And teachers who were trained on multi media as well as kindergarten teachers indicated a more positive perception about applying multi-media for story-telling. In addition, teachers who had higher levels of education, were experienced in taking multi-media courses, and teaching larger classes at national/public institutions applied multi-media more frequently. Secondly, the teachers' ability of applying multi-media, their perception on the use of multi-media for story-telling, and their multi-media use in class indicated strong positive correlations. Thirdly, a teacher's perception on the significance of the multi-media application for story-telling, their skills for multi-media use, the size of classes, and the training experiences on multi-media affected their actual application of multi-media for story-telling.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.201-221
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness of kindergarten teachers and daycare teachers on a character strengths-based happiness promotion program geared toward early childhood teachers and their needs for that in an effort to provide some information on the development of this program and how to boost the quality of life of early childhood teachers. The findings of the study were as follows: First, as a result of analyzing their character strengths, happiness and awareness of the two variables, both of the kindergarten and daycare teachers weren't well aware of their own character strengths, and the kindergarten teachers replied they put more efforts into the promotion of their happiness than the daycare teachers did. Second, as a result of looking for any possible differences between the two groups in needs for the development of a happiness promotion program, there were significant differences in opinions on the purpose of the program, operator, execution cycle, what college should be responsible for the development of the program, what early childhood education institutions should conduct it, what efforts teachers should make, what problems might take place during the development of the program, how to raise awareness of the program, and what support would be necessary for the implementation of the program.