• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2008

This cross-sectional study assessed household food insecurity among low-income rural communities and examined its association with demographic and socioeconomic factors as well as coping strategies to minimize food insecurity. Demographic, socioeconomic, expenditure and coping strategy data were collected from 200 women of poor households in a rural community in Malaysia. Households were categorized as either food secure (n=84) or food insecure (n=116) using the Radimer/Cornell Hunger and Food Insecurity instrument. T-test, Chi-square and logistic regression were utilized for comparison of factors between food secure and food insecure households and determination of factors associated with household food insecurity, respectively. More of the food insecure households were living below the poverty line, had a larger household size, more children and school-going children and mothers as housewives. As food insecure households had more school-going children, reducing expenditures on the children's education is an important strategy to reduce household expenditures. Borrowing money to buy foods, receiving foods from family members, relatives and neighbors and reducing the number of meals seemed to cushion the food insecure households from experiencing food insufficiency. Most of the food insecure households adopted the strategy on cooking whatever is available at home for their meals. The logistic regression model indicates that food insecure households were likely to have more children (OR=1.71; p<0.05) and non-working mothers (OR=6.15; p<0.05), did not own any land (OR=3.18; p<0.05) and adopted the strategy of food preparation based on whatever is available at their homes (OR=4.33; p<0.05). However, mothers who reported to borrow money to purchase food (OR=O.84; p<0.05) and households with higher incomes of fathers (OR=O.99; p<0.05) were more likely to be food secure. Understanding the factors that contribute to household food insecurity is imperative so that effective strategies could be developed and implemented.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.242-252
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• 2021

Objectives: This study examined the current status of depression and related factors among children using community child center. Methods: A cross-sectional study selected children in grades 4-6 who used the Gwangju and Jeollanamdo community child center (n=224) using a convenience sampling method. General characteristics, family characteristics, children's emotional characteristics, children's school life environment and depression status were assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. Results: The average score of depression among children using community child center was 15.31±7.70 out of a total of 27. Fifty-eight (25.9%) children had depression above 22 points. Variables related to children's depression were shown as grade, subjective economic level awareness, after-school activities excluding local children's centers, presence of family members after school, and family structure. Conclusions: The depression prevalence of children using community child center was higher. Policy support such as children's psychological support programs would be needed to reduce children's depression, and community child centers are expected to be effective in reducing children's depression if continuous child psychological support services are developed for children's mental health.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.171-179
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• 2009

Onto the world-fastest ageing of society, the world-lowest fertility rate prompted a development of various policies and programs for a betterment of the population in Korea. Since the vulnerability of young children of low socio-economic class to malnutrition was clearly shown at the in-depth analysis of the 2001 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, an effort to devise supplemental nutrition care program for pregnant/breastfeeding women, infants and preschool children was initiated. The program was designed to offer nutrition education tailored to fit the needs of the participants and special supplementary foods, using USDA WIC program as a benchmark. Based on the dietary intake of those age groups, target nutrients were selected and their major food sources were searched through nutrient content of foods and dietary pattern analysis. As a result, we developed 6 kinds of food packages using combinations of 11 different food items. The amount of each item in a food package was determined to supplement the intake deficit in target nutrients. Nutrition education in $NutriPlus^+$ aims to improve the nutrition knowledge, attitude, and dietary behaviors of the participants, and is provided through group lessons, individual counseling sessions and home visits. Breastfeeding is promoted with top priority in education for the health of both mother and baby. The eligibility guidelines were set for residency, household income, age, pregnancy/breastfeeding and nutritional risk such as anemia, stunting, underweight, and/or inadequate nutrient intake. Income eligibility was defined as household income less than 200 percent of the Korean poverty guidelines. A pilot study to examine the feasibility of program implementation was run in 3 public health centers in 2005 and expanded to 15 and 20 in the following 2 years. The result of 3-year pilot study will be reported separately along with the ultimate nationwide implementation of the $NutriPlus^+$ in 2008.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.92-106
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review health-related interventions in nursing studies for low-income school-age children and adolescents. Methods: Searches among CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, DBpia, and RISS identified 27 intervention studies published from January 2000 to April 2018. Results: Twenty-seven intervention studies were identified: 12 included psychosocial adaptations and 15 included the healthy lifestyle promotion and disease prevention. The settings were mainly schools and community welfare centers. Many studies were based on social cognitive theory and interventions were provided in a group format. Depression, self-esteem, resilience, self-efficacy for vegetable and fruit consumption, physical activity, and health-related knowledge improved significantly after the health-related interventions. However, the findings were inconsistent with regard to anxiety, peer relationships, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose. Conclusion: There is potential for enhancing outcomes for psychosocial, physical health, and health-related knowledge among low-income school-age children and adolescents. Integrated interventions addressing the physical as well as psychological health of low-income children and adolescents should be conducted. It would be prudent to consider the ethnicity and family background of the child or adolescent. However, rigorous study designs and scientific validation are needed for further evidence.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.207-213
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• 2017

The study aimed to evaluate the effects of the magic program on the depression and self-esteem in rural low-income children. A quasi-experimental study employing a nonequivalent control group and pre-post design was conducted. The participants were children aged 9 to 12 years old from community child center in K province (Experimental group=24, Control group=21). The experimental group participated in the program for 8 sessions for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed using ${\chi}^2$-test, independent t-test, repeated measures ANCOVA with SPSS 21.0 program. There were significant differences in depression (F=6.68, p=.013) and self-esteem (F=7.61, p=.009) of participants between experimental group and control group after completion of 8-session magic program. The results indicate that the magic program can be used to improve depression and self-esteem of low-income children.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.97-115
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• 2017

Unlike the past several decades when over 90% of unwed mothers chose to adopt their children, the number of never-married mothers who determine to raise their children for themselves has recently been increasing. However, many unwed mothers are still suffering from a diversity of problems including poverty, discrimination and biased stereotypes. To this end, this study aims to observe the development process of social policy for unwed mothers in Korea, with a special focus on the policy paradigm shift, and examine current social services for never-married mothers and their children. The results of the study shows the paradigm shift of social policy for unwed mothers occurred around the mid-2000's towards helping never-married mothers rear their children. However, social services for them have not kept pace with the paradigm change, which makes still very much hard for unwed mothers to raise their kids on their own. The study concludes with policy implications for improving social services for families headed by never-married mothers.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.127-141
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• 2007

The purpose of this research was to analyze the trajectory of child's academic attainment and the effect of family socioeconomic background on the trajectory. Data were part of the Korea Youth Panel Survey 2003-2005(Middle School 2) and were analyzed by Latent Growth Curve Modeling(LGM). The degree of child's academic attainment decreased over 3 years. Socioeconomic status variables that influenced academic trajectory were family poverty, parent's attainments in scholarship, and family structure. Findings from this study suggest that societal support for low socioeconomic status families is needed for improvement of academic attainment of their children.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.5-29
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• 2010

This study examines the welfare dynamics in Korea under the scheme of National Basic Livelihood Protection Program(NBLP). Data are drawn from Korean Welfare Panel study 2005~2007. Main findings are summarized as follows. First, the exit probabilities show a declining tendency with time on welfare increases. If the exit probabilities indeed decline over time, the earlier years on welfare deserve more interest in the policy perspective. Moreover, the vast majority of recipients are long-termers. Further efforts are needed to increase self-sufficiency through providing genuine opportunity and necessary support for recipients. Second, out-of-poverty exit and out-of-system exit are quite different in their properties. The results from the multivariate analysis confirm that the dropouts through out-of-system exit are virtually the same with those who remain on welfare. These results imply that the government should not resort to the negative policy proposals such as time limit and strengthening sanctions. Third, several explanatory variables have anticipated effect on welfare exit probabilities. Age, education, health, marital status, the presence of children, employment status have a certain level of impact on exit, with the only exception of gender. Since the identification of the determinants can facilitate sensible targeting on the potential leavers, these results have some implications on policy proposals.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.67-77
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• 2000

This study reviews and analyses the policy changes happened in Britain regarding the family and children. Traditionally Britain has employed non-interventionist policies for the family and child care assuming the family as a private domain. This policy had been reinforced during the Thatcher regime. However the traditional families that Beveridge had idealized have been rapidly disappearing and child poverty has become critical concern for Blair's New Labour government with the rising number of lone parent families. The New labour's child and family-friendly policies to enhance the family life have been examined on the basis of government reports on Child Benefit, WFTC, Child Support Agency and the plans to support parents and to implement the child and family-friendly practices.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.51-81
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• 2012

This paper empirically investigates the dynamics of the poverty-higher education gap in Korea. Poverty may lead to a gap in access to higher education through two channels: the short-term inability to pay college tuition and fees and long-term disadvantages arising from one's environment that impede the development of academic ability. A regression analysis based on data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel suggests that it is long-term disadvantages that plays a dominant role in the dynamics of this gap. We also replicate a study carried out by Carneiro and Heckman, who have addressed a similar question in the US. Again, the results confirm that the crucial constraint is the long-term accumulation of disadvantages arising mainly from family background, not the short-term constraint. These findings suggest that policies designed to alleviate short-term financial constraints, such as tuition reduction, will be less effective in reducing the gap in accessing four-year college in Korea than policies involving early intervention in children's development.