• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.552-562
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• 2016

Although a number of studies have been conducted in Korea since 2000 on the impact of early English education, their interpretation is still not conclusive, due to their lack of control groups and failure to control for third factors and use valid measurements. The present study was designed to examine the effect of an English education program on young children's English proficiency after 8 months using the most well-known official English proficiency measure, the WIDA for kindergarteners. In addition, the children's Korean language proficiency, cognitive abilities, personality, parents' SES, and parents' attitudinal variables before the education were measured and controlled. The results indicated that the intervention group performed better than the control group in both listening and speaking skills, even when all relevant factors were considered. This effect, however, was only found in the item-level analyses.

• Survey Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.37-58
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• 2009

The purpose of this study were to identify the subgroups (i.e., latent classes) depending on early adolescents' change patterns in aggression and to test the effects of individual-background variables on determining the latent classes. For these goals, we applied Nagin's(1999) semi-parametric group-based approach to the Korean Youth Panel Study. Results showed that four latent classes were identified, which could be defined based on the patterns as low-level group, increasing group, intermediate-level group, and high-level group. By adding gender, self-control, parent attachment, teacher attachment, and the number of delinquent friends to the unconditional latent class model, we tested the effects of the variables on the latent classes. Multinomial logit analysis showed that gender, self-control, teacher attachment, and the number of delinquent friends were significant determinants of the latent classes. Findings from this study suggest the need to consider heterogeneity in the study of early adolescents' aggression to facilitate more refined targeting of intervention program.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.511-519
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• 2006

Objectives : As the disabled have higher prevalence rates and earlier onsets of chronic diseases than the non-disabled, their participation in mass screening is important for the early detection and intervention of chronic diseases. Nevertheless, in Korea, the disabled have lower participation rates in mass screening services than the non-disabled. The purpose of the study was to find determinants for the participation in the National Health Insurance (NHI) mass screening program among the disabled. Methods : In this study, the NHI mass screening data of 423,076 disabled people, which were identified using the National Disability Registry (2003), were analyzed. Of the factors affecting the participation rates in mass screenings, the following variables were included for the analysis: socioeconomic stati, such as sex, age, category of health insurance program, region and income, disability characteristics, such as disability type, and severity. A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between the participation rates, disability characteristics variables and demographic variables. Results : The participation rate in mass screening of the disabled was 41.3%, but was lower in females, an age of more than 70 years, self-employed and for those with an average monthly insurance premium over 133,500 Won and in metropolitan legions. The participation rate was 1.31 times lower in females than males (95% CI=1.29-1.33); 3.50 times lower in the elderly (more than 70 years) than the younger (95% CI=3.33-3.67); 1.43 times lower in those who live in metropolitan areas (95% CI=1.40-1.46); 2.59 times lower for those in a health Insurance program for the self-employed than for employees (95% CI=2.56-2.63), 1.19 times lower for the higher income (more than 133,500) than the lower income group (4,400-22,000) for the average monthly insurance premium (95% CI=1.15-1.23): 2.04 times lower for those with brain palsy and stroke disabilities than with auditory impairments (95% CI: 1.97-2.11) and 3.27 times for those with severe compared to mild disabilities (95% CI=3.15-3.40). Conclusions : The disabled with high severity, and locomotive and communication disabilities have lower participation rates in mass screening services in Korea.

• 한국사회복지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.3-19
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• 2002

The problems and needs of families in Hong Kong are becoming more complex. Traditional family structures and functions are rapidly eroding. Moreover, family problems are further exacerbated by a growing number of socio-economic issues including rising divorce rates and extra-marital affairs. continuous family reunion migration from Mainland China, emotional and financial cost of caring for the older people and the changing economy which has pushed more families into hardship. In effect, more and more families are becoming vulnerable to risk. Traditional family services in Hong Kong are varied in mode, operation and provision, often overlapping in service boundaries with other family-oriented programs. In many instances, family service centers are stretched far beyond their capacity. As a consequence, they become too reactive, remedial and casework dominated. The University of Hong Kong Consultant Team recommended that family service programs have to protect vulnerable families and strengthen family capacities to promote maximum independence. The direction of family services is summarized as: strengthening families; child-centered, family-focused and community-based. New integrative family service centers aim at attaining the principles of promoting accessibility to users with minimum physical, psychological and administrative barriers; early identification of needs and intervention before the further deterioration of problems; integration of services cutting across program boundaries, and partnership between service providers to achieve efficient and effective use of scarce resources. Under the new model, multi-skilled teams can respond more proactively to a wide range of social needs, rather than addressing needs in isolation. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new model, the consultant team has been commissioned by the government to evaluate the performance of these two-year pilot projects. More importantly, a coherent and family-friendly social policy should be formulated to strengthen family capacity against family-related problems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2018

Purpose: The leading cause of death among teenagers in Korea is suicide. Also, it is known that mental health of Korean adolescents identified based on the levels of perceived stress or depression is very poor. The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of student mental health programs in Korea and the associated problems and to explore ways to make the programs more effective. Methods: The subjects of the study were a total of 115 school nurses and school counselors in elementary, middle and high schools. The study examined the current status and the associated problems of school mental health programs as well as the needs for teacher training programs related to student mental health. Results: Few mental health programs other than counseling for at-risk students were being carried out. The problems associated with student mental health management were, in terms of management, 'accountability in case of incidents such as student suicide' and 'parents uncooperative in their kid's mental health management (visit to hospital, etc.)' and, in terms of manpower, 'unclear R&R between school nurses and school counselors' and, more fundamentally, 'the lack of human resources.' The needs for teacher training programs related to student mental health were very high and the content required most was 'ways to manage stress of students and teachers themselves,' followed by 'interpersonal conflicts management & conservational skills,' and 'ways to manage student mental illness.' Conclusion: In conclusion, to increase the effectiveness of student mental health programs, we should move on from the current system which focuses only on early discovery and intervention to a more comprehensive system that includes preventive approaches, while having clearer R&R and more workforce dedicated to student mental health programs and attracting more parental cooperation and support.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1061-1068
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• 2012

This study was a descriptive survey to examine the impact of spouse's conflict-coping behavior on self-esteem and depression among couples married within 5 years, in order to provide data for education and intervention program of improving their relationships for early marriage couples. Participants were 176 persons who were family members or neighborhood of S college students in Seoul and they were asked to complete questionnaires. Findings showed that there were differences in conflict-coping behavior of withdrawal type according to sex while differences in conflict-coping behavior of physical type and withdrawal type and depression according to age. Differences were found in conflict-coping behavior of language type and depression according to occupation. There were significant differences in self-esteem and depression according to couples' conversation time. Perceived their spouses cope with the conflict in the relationship between behavior and depression, self-esteem appeared to represent an indirect effect.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.41-48
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• 2000

The sleep is the most important problem for new parents. However, there were very rare the study about sleep of normal neonates and early infants in Korea. So we attempted pilot survey study of neonates' sleep pattern. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sleep pattern of normal neonates in Seoul and Kyungki area and to provide for basis for nursing intervention for parents of them. The subjects of this study were 37 normal full-term neonates of 2~3weeks of age who were visited by researcher or assistant at postpartum care unit, health care clinic, outpatient clinic located in Seoul and Kyungki area from April 20, 1999 to March 15, 2000. This study was descriptive survey study under the convenient sampling method. The instrument of this study was the NCASA translated by Korean Parent Child Health Academic Association. The collected data were coded as 1/4hour unit, and analyzed by MS Office Excel program. The result of this study were as followed: 1. The mean amount of total sleep was 15.1hours. The mean amount of daytime sleep was 9.5hours. The mean amount of nighttime sleep was 5.7 hours. The mean amount of longest sleep was 2.9hours. The mean amount of shortest sleep was 0.6hour. 2. The mean amount of total activity was 8.9hours. The mean amount of daytime activity was 6.5 hours. The mean amount of nighttime activity was 2.3hours. The frequency of feeding was 10.4 times a day. The frequency of daytime feeding was 7.3 times. The frequency of nighttime feeding was 3.1 times. It is suggested that various subjects and more data according to age, and comparative study among different cultures are needed for further study in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6513-6519
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• 2015

Background: Recent attention on chemotherapeutic intervention against cancer has been focused on discovering and developing phytochemicals as anticancer agents with improved efficacy, low drug resistance and toxicity, low cost and limited adverse side effects. In this study, we investigated the effects of Curcuma C20-dialdehyde on growth, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in colon and cervical cancer cell lines. Materials and Methods: Antiproliferative, apoptosis induction, and cell cycle arrest activities of Curcuma C20-dialdehyde were determined by WST cell proliferation assay, flow cytometric Alexa fluor 488-annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining and PI staining, respectively. Results: Curcuma C20 dialdehyde suppressed the proliferation of HCT116, HT29 and HeLa cells, with IC50 values of $65.4{\pm}1.74{\mu}g/ml$, $58.4{\pm}5.20{\mu}g/ml$ and $72.0{\pm}0.03{\mu}g/ml$, respectively, with 72 h exposure. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that percentages of early apoptotic cells increased in a dose-dependent manner upon exposure to Curcuma C20-dialdehyde. Furthermore, exposure to lower concentrations of this compound significantly induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase for both HCT116 and HT29 cells, while higher concentrations increased sub-G1 populations. However, the concentrations used in this study could not induce cell cycle arrest but rather induced apoptotic cell death in HeLa cells. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the phytochemical Curcuma C20-dialdehyde may be a potential antineoplastic agent for colon and cervical cancer chemotherapy and/or chemoprevention. Further studies are needed to characterize the drug target or mode of action of the Curcuma C20-dialdehyde as an anticancer agent.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.75-97
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• 2014

Entrepreneurial financing, such as publicly initiated venture capital or grant schemes, serves as an important policy instrument that aims to bridge the financing gap facing young, innovative businesses, a gap that is mainly due to higher risk and growing uncertainty, and to strategically promote the creation of new ventures through the revitalization of their venture capital industries. This study examines public venture capital initiatives in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, and discovered that all three countries actively foster their venture capital industry through the formation of funds or the provision of tax incentives. It is notable that the majority of financing initiatives heavily depend on supply-side measures rather than demand-driven policies that focus on stimulating private investment in technological innovations and discoveries. This paper discusses in-depth the policy impact of public financing initiatives and their subsequent side-effects raised in the process such as overlapping in funding structure across the country, lack of monitoring and evaluation for feedback, fragmentation across the government ministries and agencies, and competition with the private sector, which may cause inefficiency as a result of public intervention. Financial constraints may arise for many reasons, partly resulting from the lack of investment readiness of young entrepreneurs. This signals a policy shift towards the creation of market-driven demand away from the traditional supply-push approach, and is a grand challenge to policymakers in entrepreneurial financing. Attention is leaning towards the efficiency and effectiveness of these public-financing initiatives in terms of their policy roles. It is worth noting that policy should focus on generating synergy so available resources can be channeled into the early, risky stage of new ventures, working as facilitator to the achievement of an intended policy goal.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.76-81
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• 2009

Ovjectives: As the attention devoted to children's mental health increases, medical costs and burdens mount as well. In the present study, we evaluated the association between socioeconomic status(SES) and major child psychiatric symptoms. Methods: The subjects of this study were children of recruited from a mental health screening program in the Seoul Sungbuk mental health center over the course of 3 months. To establish the SES of each child, we collected data about each child's medical insurance, years of parental education, household income, family structure and housing. 149 children & parents completed questionnaires including the Childhood Depression Inventory(CDI) and the Korean Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale(K-ARS). Results: The mean K-ARS-P score was $12.1{\pm}11.1$ and the suspected prevalence of ADHD was 20.8%(n=31). The mean cm score was $12.9{\pm}7.9$, and the prevalence of suspected depression was 16.8%(25). Depressive symptoms and ADHD symptoms were both more severe than those observed in a previous epidemiologic study in Korea. Depressive symptoms were more closely associated with family SES status. Conclusion: SES status is one of the most important risk factors in the development of major child psychiatric symptoms. In our study we found that depressive symptoms in particular were most tightly associated with psychosocial factors. Evaluation of the risk factors, early screening and intervention for low SES children would be valuable mental health management tactics to implement in a community mental health system.