• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.235-244
• /
• 2003

Purpose: To examine the difference of physical discomfort and childbirth satisfaction between postpartum women with and without having taken Epidural Analgesia. Method: The subjects were divided into one group of 128 primipara taken Epidural Analgesia and the other of the same 70 women who were not taken it. Data were collected by questionnaires of their own physical discomfort and birth satisfaction at postpartum 1 to 2 days in OBGY hospitals, and data were analyzed using SPSS Program. Result: Women having taken epidural analgesia appealed higher physical discomfort than those without it in the lower limbs exercise discomfort, difficult urination, urinary retention, nausea & vomiting, whereas appeared vice versa in breast pain. Among indicators for childbirth satisfaction, women having taken epidural analgesia preferred the same delivery method later again more than those without it. Conclusion: It is confirmed that the method of epidural analgesia is not an absolute way to control labor pain, rather stir physical discomfort after childbirth and does not fully increase the women's childbirth satisfaction. Therefore, it is proposed that nurses should provide the pregnant women the right knowledge and information, thereby enabling them to select the useful method of childbirth to their own course of childbirth and health-recovering after the delivery.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.860-867
• /
• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that predict discomfort after coronary angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among hospitalized patients. Methods: A total of 203 patients who underwent coronary angiography or PCI were recruited from C hospital located in S city, J province, from June through August 2008. The level of discomfort was measured and standardized by two instruments, discomfort questionnaire and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Results: Stepwise multiple regression showed that the factors predicting the level of discomfort were type of angiography, gender, previous angiography, dysuria, pre-information, and sleep satisfaction, which together explained 30.6% of the total variance of the level of discomfort. Conclusion: Patients who had previous experience with these procedures, received a pre-information about the upcoming procedure, had no dysuria, and had slept well after the procedure were less likely to complain discomfort. Pre-informed education should be given by nurses to patients who will have an angiography or PCI to reduce their physical and emotional discomforts.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.630-636
• /
• 2006

Purpose. To determine the effects of music therapy on pain, discomfort, and depression for patients with leg fractures. Methods. Data were collected from 40 patients admitted in an orthopedic surgery care unit. The subjects included 20 intervention group members and 20 control group members. Music therapy was offered to intervention group members once a day for 3 days for 30-60 minutes per day. Pain was measured with a numeric rating scale and by measuring vital signs. Discomfort and depression were measured with self-administered questionnaires. Results. Patients who received music therapy had a lower degree of pain than patients who did not receive music therapy as measured by the numeric pain score (p < 0.001), systolic blood pressure (p < 0.01), diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.001), pulse rate (p < 0.001) and respiration (p < 0.001). Patients who were provided with music therapy also had a lower degree of discomfort than patients who were not provided with this therapy (p < 0.01). Effects of Music Therapy on Pain, Discomfort, and Depression for Patients with Leg Fractures Conclusions. These results demonstrate that music therapy is an effective method for decreasing pain and discomfort for patients with leg fractures.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.452-460
• /
• 2008

Purpose: This study assessed the effectiveness of hand massage on reducing discomfort of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI). Methods: The sample consisted of 62 patients admitted to an university affiliated hospital. The 30 patients in experimental group received hand massage developed by Snyder(1995) for 5 minutes on both hands and 32 patients in control group received the usual nursing intervention only. The outcome variable of discomfort was measured 10 minutes before and after the hand massage using Questionnaire and VAS. The data were collected from Feb. 5th to May 17th in 2007, and analysed through Chi-square, and t-test with SPSS WIN 12.0. Results: The level of discomfort measured with the questionnaire was decreased in experimental group, but increased in control group. This discomfort changes in two groups were significantly different(t=4.43, p<.001). The level of discomfort measured with VAS was also decreased in experimental group, but increased in control group. The changes were significant, too(t=5.62, p<.001). Conclusion: It was clear that hand massage could be a useful nursing intervention in reducing the discomfort of patients undergoing PCI.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.293-303
• /
• 2017

Objective: This study aims to evaluate visual discomfort and visual fatigue caused by watching HMD and smartphones by conducting both subjective and objective measure. Background: With the rapid development of mobile Head-Mounted Display (HMD), the problem of visual discomfort and visual fatigue caused by watching Virtual Reality (VR) contents became a crucial concern for consumers and manufacturers, especially given that the casing of mobile HMD keeps the phone at a specified distance from the lenses that is close to the eyes. Method: Two smartphones were chosen for a preliminary study: LG G5 and Galaxy S7. As for a main study, iPhone 6S and Galaxy S7 were used. After being exposed to the selected clips, participants were asked to answer Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and went through optometric tests that measure tear break-up time, spherical equivalent, and contrast sensitivity. Results: The subjective assessments indicate that HMD causes more visual discomfort compared to watching a smartphone. Furthermore, the experimental result confirms that watching a HMD causes more eye dryness compared to smartphones. Conclusion: The result of the study compared visual discomfort and visual fatigue of two different displays, HMD and smartphone, and confirmed that watching HMD causes more visual discomfort and visual fatigue. Application: Ultimately, this study could help manufacturers understand the strengths and weaknesses of different display forms, providing guidance for an effective application of HMD.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.100-110
• /
• 1999

The objectives of this study are twofold: (1) to evaluate the cockpit of three Korean air force fighters such as F-4, F-5, and F-16 in an ergonomic perspective and (2) to measure the musculoskeletal discomfort of the fighter pilots. For the study, 369 air force pilots from 7 squadrons were surveyed. The study shows that the cockpit design of F-16 is superior to the others. However, F-4 is the worst among them. Statistical analyses reveal that the seat in the cockpit raised the most complaints, regardless of types of fighter planes. The main problems with the seat included inappropriate designs of the backrest angle, seat cushioning, and parachute harness. Also frequently cited are various control switches, control stick, rudder pedal, and the throttle. That these items lack human integration is found in remote positions and improper dimensions. The implications of these findings are discussed. The self-reported musculoskeletal complaints show that the main discomfort is on the back and neck. Also, the buttocks, shoulders, and the legs/knees are common sites of discomfort. A stepwise regression analysis shows that the back discomfort, is mainly caused by the use of the seat, rudder pedal, control stick, and switches. A Spearman rank correlation coefficient test also reveals that job dissatisfaction of the pilots is related to the complaints with the cockpit and musculoskeletal discomfort. These findings suggest that more comprehensive studies for cockpit design in the aspects of functional anthropometry of Korean pilots are needed to reduce the musculoskeletal discomfort.

• IE interfaces
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.218-225
• /
• 2004

This study aims to investigate effect of external load and motion repetitiveness on perceived discomfort. An experiment was performed for measuring discomfort scores at varying conditions, in which external load, motion repetitiveness and arm posture were employed as experimental variables. The arm posture was controlled by shoulder flexion and abduction, and by elbow flexion. Fifteen healthy college-age students without history of musculoskeletal disorders voluntarily participated in the experiment. The results showed that the effect of external load, motion repetitiveness and shoulder posture on discomfort were statistically significant, but that elbow posture did not significantly affect discomfort ratings. The effect of external load was much larger than that of any other variables, and that of repetitiveness was second only to external load. Discomfort scores significantly increased linearly as the levels of external load and motion repetitiveness increased. This implies that although they were not fully reflected in the existing posture classification scheme such as OWAS, RULA, etc., the effect of external load and motion repetitiveness should be taken into consideration for precisely quantifying work load in industry. Based on regression analysis, equivalent values of external load and motion repetitiveness in terms of discomfort scores were provided, which would be useful for better understanding the degree of their effect on work load.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.76-83
• /
• 2004

This study aimed to empirically investigate perceived discomfort depending upon external load, upper limb postures and their holding time. Discomfort was obtained through an experiment, in which external load, wrist flexion/extension, elbow flexion, shoulder flexion and adduction/abduction were used as experimental variables. The subjects were instructed to hold given postures for 60s and to rate their subjective discomfort scores at 5s, 20s, 40s and 60s by using the free modulus method of magnitude estimation. The results showed that while only external load and elbow flexion were statistically significant at the holding time of 5s at ${\alpha}=0.05$ or 0.10, external load and upper limb postures excluding shoulder adduction/abduction significantly affected discomfort ratings at 20s, 40s and 60s at ${\alpha}=0.01$ or 0.05. Discomfort scores were also significantly different between four posture holding times at ${\alpha}=0.01$. The effects of external load and holding time were much larger than those of upper limb postures. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that external load and holding time as well as working postures betaken into consideration to precisely quantify postural load in industry.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.68-75
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study is to find the relationship between women's shoes wearing trait and their foot shape. 203 women in their twenties were participated in the experiment. The subjects' feet were measured with a 3D foot scanner and their foot shapes were classified into five types by factor analysis and cluster analysis in the previous study. In addition to the five foot types, three foot types classified by foot index were also utilized for this study. This study analyzed the trait of their shoe wearing and the areas of discomfort on the foot when they wore shoes. The results of the experiment show that the size of shoe size-foot size mismatching and the foot areas of discomfort wearing shoes were differentiate by foot types. It shows that the subjects with long foot, wide fore foot shape, or fore foot angle deformity wore larger size shoes than their foot size. The foot areas of discomfort with wearing shoes were different according to the foot types. Subjects with wide fore foot shape or fore foot angle deformity had discomfort at the front shoe area. The subjects with straight toes had the least discomfort. The foot discomfort areas differentiated according to foot index type. The foot types with wide ball width experienced discomfort at the front of the ball and the top of the foot.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.215-220
• /
• 2005

Thermal neutrality is not enough to achieve thermal comfort. The temperature level can be the optimal, and still people may complain. This situation is often explained by the problem of local discomfort. Local discomfort can be caused by radiant asymmetry, local air velocities, too warm and too cold floor temperature and vertical temperature difference. This temperature difference may generate thermal discomfort due to different thermal sensation in different body parts. Therefore, thermal comfort can not be correctly evaluated without considering these differences. This study investigates thermal discomfort sensations of different body parts and its effect on overall thermal sensation and comfort in air-heating room. Experimental results of evaluating thermal discomfort at different body parts in an air-heating room showed that thermal sensation on the shoulder was significantly related to the overall thermal sensation and discomfort. Although it is known that cool-head, warm-foot condition is good for comfort living, cool temperature around the head generated discomfort.