• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2004

Considering international trends and foreign cases, it can be easily expected that web accessibility issue is becoming more and more important. While information technology has changed Korean society rapidly and widely, there are many People who have difficulties in using information services such as the elderly and persons with disabilities. One of the big barriers they face is the lack of accessibility of web services. These social problems have been rarely studied in Korea but surface as very import subjects to be addressed concerning IT and welfare policy. The objective of this study is to ensure web accessibility right for visually handicapped and reduce digital divide through development of a recommendation guideline of mobile internet user interface. In this study the trends of politics and laws related to web accessibility in developed countries are surveyed and some advisable recommendation guidelines of mobile internet user interface for visually handicapped to improve web accessibility are proposed.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.165-171
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• 2017

We suggested the novel actuator mechanism to apply to wearable assistive system for the improvement of quality of life of the elderly or the people with disability using it. Characteristics of metal-hydride (MH) actuator is investigated in the novel actuating concept. The hydrogen equilibrium pressure increases when hydrogen is desorbed by heating a SMH alloys, whereas by cooling that alloys, the hydrogen equilibrium pressure decreases and hydrogen is absorbed. However, there are too long times in heat transfer mechanism to apply the assistive and rehabilitative device. In this study, 3 different SMH module were designed and characteristics of heat transfer in each SMH module were investigated based on the heat simulation.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.35-46
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• 2014

Background: This paper describes the relationship and effect of health examination on personal medical cost by identifying the difference of the cost for medical care in physician visit between the population without and with health examination. Methods: After classifying into three cohorts in which, independent variables were designed according to the Andersen's behavioral model, the association of personal medical cost for medical care and prescription drugs which is dependent variable was analyzed by t-test and Mann-Whitney test for description and gamma regression model for inference. Results: In personal average medical cost, the population with health examination paid significantly more than without health examination, 11.6% more in cohort 2008, 26.6% more in cohort 2009, and 48.0% more in combined cohort. The odds ratio on medical expenditure of outpatients with health examination was 1.067, 1.126, 1.398 significantly in cohort 2008, 2009, and combined cohort respectively, comparing to the group without health examination. In independent variables, that is female, the elderly, never married, non-working, non-metropolitan, the higher family income, the smaller family size, people with disability, the people with chronic disease, and people with health examination have significantly being paid more tendency showing positive association with medical cost. Conclusion: This result showed that medical expenditure in physician visit has been increased after taking a health examination. Therefore reasonable limitation of getting preventive medical service is suggested to avoid medical shopping around and reduce being repeated health examination by unifying control to find out easily the clinical results from various medical facilities.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.693-706
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• 2018

It is very important to support the elderly with disability ageing in place. Assisting devices can help them to live independently in their community; however, they have to be used appropriately to meet care needs. This study develops an assisting device recommendation system for the beneficiaries of long-term care insurance that include algorithms to decide the most appropriate type of assisting device for beneficiaries. We used long-term care (LTC) insurance data for grade assessment including 8,084 beneficiaries from July 2015 to June 2016. In addition, we collected standard care plans for assisting devices, that power-assessors made, considering their performance and ability that could subsequently be matched with grade assessment data. We used a decision-tree model in data-mining to develop the model. Finally, we developed 15 algorithms for recommending assisting devices. The findings might be useful in evidence-based care planning for assisting devices and can contribute to enhancing independence and safety in LTC.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1293-1309
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• 2010

This study is aimed to evaluate the effects of community-based prehabilitation program developed to prevent functional decline in the frail elderly and to provide a basis to practically operate this program in the public health care service. From March to August 2009, 110 frail elderly people were recruited among the registered participants of the home visit program in Korea to perform a prospective randomized community trial. We randomly assigned these people into two groups. One group (n=50) participated in the visiting prehabilitation program for 3 months focusing on improving their muscle strength of upper and lower limbs, walking ability, and balancing. The other group (n=60) underwent our visiting fall prevention program for control. To assess the effectiveness of prehabilitation program, physical functioning (PF) and short physical performance battery (SPPB) were measured for the primary outcomes and also some other indicators: exercise performance, nutritional status, emotional functioning, experience of admission, and events of fall. As a result, significant improvements of geriatric functional status were noticed among the participants. After 3 months, PF increased by 1.3 ± 3.8 points in prehabilitation group and decreased by 1.1 ± 5.4 points in controls (p=.020). SPPB improved by 2.4 ± 2.0 points in prehabilitation group and increased only 0.3 ± 1.5 points in controls (p<.001). Significant effects were also shown in their exercise performance tests and emotional status, the number of multiple falls, and the experience of functional decline after the fall (p .002-.038). Visiting prehabilitation program is safe and effective program for frail older adults. Thus, it is strongly recommended to universally adopt this program to prevent functional decline in the frail elderly.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.416-430
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess the effects of a personalized nutritional intervention program on food security and health and nutritional status of elderly people in the city of Seoul. Methods: A total of 372 elderly adults aged 65 years or above who resided in Seoul were enrolled in this study. Personalized supplementary food supply and nutritional education based on chronic disease status, disability and cooking ability were implemented for 4 months. To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, nutrient intake, food security status, anemia status, chronic disease management, and frailty status, and prevalence of malnutrition (Mini Nutritional Assessment) were examined. Results: After the program, all subjects displayed significantly increased nutrient intake. Before the intervention, all subjects were in a state of food insecurity; however, after the intervention, 37.1% of the subjects were food secure. Moreover, the rates of being at risk of malnutrition and malnutrition in subjects were decreased and instead rate of those who improved to normal increased to 29.8% from 0% of normal rate before the prevention. The rate of subjects without anemia increased from 18.7% to 28.5% after the intervention. In addition, the rate of subjects with intensive or periodic management of chronic diseases decreased, while those with occasional management of chronic diseases increased from 0% to 4.6%. Furthermore, the rates of being at risk of frailty and frailty were decreased and the normal rate increased from 0% to 9.7% instead. Age group-based analysis showed that elderly people over 80 years showed less improvement in the management of the chronic disease status and the frailty status. Conclusion: Personalized supplementary food supplies and nutritional education improved not only the nutritional status but also disease status in vulnerable older adults, and the effects were more significant in adults aged less than 80 years.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 2005

Objectives: The present study aimed to provide the fundamental data for guiding establishment of measures among the rural elderly population with physical disabilities. The specific goals of this report are to reveal the prevalence of their disabilities, its tendency according to their increasing age, and to assess the background explanations. Methods: The self-administered questionnaires have been performed 432 persons of rural residents age 40 and greater in Kumsan-Gun and Chongyang-Gun, Chungchongnamdo Province. The questionnaire items included presence or not. of disabilities. specific causes for disabilities, anthropometric measures, and amount of physical activities. Results: The proportion of disabilities was higher in women than men, and the functional degree of their limbs decreased with the increasing age. The proportion of disabling extremities was higher in the lower extremities than in the upper ones. Joint diseases were the most prevalent causes for disabilities of extremities. Concerning the degree of depression, 41.2% of study subjects were normal, 47.5% had mild depression, 6.3% moderate, and 5.1% severe depression, with no statistical difference based on age and sex. The worse are the functional degree of both extremities, the greater the degree of depression the subjects had. The odds ratio for presence of disabilities of extremities was 2.6 times higher in women than in men for sex and for age, 50's were 3.5 times, 60's 4.3 times, 70's 4.9 times than 40's, respectively, with increasing tendency with increasing age. The odds ratio for depression was 1.2 times greater in subjects with disabilities than in normal population with no statistical difference. Conclusions: More efforts are needed to establish elderly specific measures for providing proper public health services centering on maintenance of physical functioning among elderly population.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2009

As Pain is a comprehensive, biopsy chosocial phenomenon, improved understanding and successful management of pain need assessment of health-related quality of life and psychological states. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pain severity and pain-related interference to daily lives for patients with non-dental, orofacial pain(OFP) and a possible relation of OFP with psychological morbidity. Relation with such factors as gender, age, pain duration and diagnosis was also assessed. Inclusion criteria was all new patients with non-dental OFP attending the oral medicine.orofacial pain clinic of Dankook University Dental Hospital over 3 months' period, who completed the questionnaires of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Prior to the first consultation, the patients were asked to fill out the questionnaire in the waiting room and were diagnosed through consultation and clinical examination. Total subjects were 163 with M:F ratio of 1:1.5 and mean age of 34.6${\pm}$17.7 years. Mean duration of pain was 13.3${\pm}$26.2 months and all patients were divided into; Trigeminal Neuralgia group (TN, N=8), Neuropathic Pain group (NeP, N=9), Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain group (PIFP, N=8), and Temporomandibular Disorders group (TMD, N=138), subdivided into muscle problem (TMD-m, N=73), joint problem (TMD-j, N=24) and muscle-joint combined problem (TMD-c, N=41). OFP patients showed moderate pain severity and moderate pain-related interference. There was no gender difference in overall pain severity and interference and levels of anxiety and depression. Elderly patients aged ${\geq}$ 60 years showed higher pain severity (p<0.05). Patients with chronic pain ${\geq}$ 3 months reported more increased level of anxiety and depression than those with acute pain (p<0.05). Compared to TMD patients, patients with TN, NeP and PIFP suffered from higher level of pain and pain-related interference and reported higher level of anxiety and depression (p<0.05). Pain interference was closely correlated with their pain severity and with psychometric properties such as anxiety and depression. Pain severity was weakly correlated with levels of anxiety and depression. The results suggest a need for psychosocial assessment and support for successful management of OFP in addition to control of pain itself.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.204-220
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• 2008

Objectives: This study was performed to determine the levels of depression symptoms among the community elderlies and to reveal its related factors, specifically aimed at revealing psycho-social factors such as social support net-work, sense of self-esteem, state anxiety, interpersonal behavior trait and locus of control. Methods: The interviews were performed during the period from April 1st to June 30th, 2007 to the 790 elderlies in urban and rural areas. Results: The mean scores of depression (CES-D) among all subjects were 16.65±10.97(urban: 18.81±10.31, rural: 14.49±11.20) and they were higher in urban than rural. The level of depression symptoms was influenced by the variables of educational level, with or without spouse, bear for living expenses, sense of satisfaction in daily life. As for health related behaviors, they were influenced by the variables of with or without regular exercise. As for health status, they were influenced by the subjective health status, with or without disability of body, visual acuity, hearing ability, ability of food mastication, urinary incontinence, with or without help in activity of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activity of daily living (IADL). As for social support net-work and social activities, they were influenced by number of offspring, frequency of offspring contents, frequency of going out and activity of hobbies. As for psycho-social factors, they were influenced by sense of self-esteem, state anxiety and social support, especially, the level of depression symptoms was higher influenced by the variables of psycho-social factors than other variables. Conclusions: Lower of the level of depression symptoms among the community elderlies would require development and application of programs to keep under management psycho-social factors as well as looking for ways to promoting the present health status.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.79-85
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• 2015

Objectives: A vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is characterized by back pain and fracture of a vertebral body on spinal radiography. VCFs of the thoraco lumbar spine are common in the elderly. In general, appropriate analgesics should be prescribed to reduce pain and, thus, promote early mobilization. The ideal treatment approach for VCFs has not been determined. In Korea, acupuncture and herbal medication have been used to treat VCFs for many years. There is empirical evidence that acupuncture might benefit patients with a VCF. However, no randomized, controlled, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and the safety of acupuncture for treating a VCF have been published. Therefore, we designed a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial to obtain information for the design of a further full scale trial. Methods: A five week protocol for a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial is presented. Fourteen patients will be recruited and randomly allocated to two groups: a control group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections once a week for three weeks, and an experimental group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections plus acupuncture treatment (three acupuncture sessions per week for three weeks, nine sessions in total). The primary outcomes will be the pain intensity (visual analogue scale and PainVision$^{TM}$ system). The secondary outcome measurements will be the answers on the short form McGill pain questionnaire and the oswestry disability index. Assessments will be made at baseline and at one, three, and five weeks. The last assessment (week five) will take place two weeks after treatment cessation. This study will provide both an indication of feasibility and a clinical foundation for a future large scale trial. The outcomes will provide additional resources for incorporating acupuncture into existing treatments, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, narcotics and vertebral augmentation. This article describes the protocol.