• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.197-222
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• 2006

This study distinguishes the aging population as young-old and old-old women. It examines the difference of each variable between young-old and old-old women. Also, it examines the effect of physical, psychological, social, economic and environmental factors on the quality of life for older adults in both groups and compares the effects on the quality of life between both groups. The sample of this study is collected from Daegu and Kyungbuk province and the sample size of this study is 310. As statistical method, t-test, $X^2$ and hierarchical multiple regressions are used. As demographic factors, age, marital status, income and education are controlled. The research results show that marriage, perceived health, self-esteem and social support are important factors of affecting on the quality of life for both groups. However, for young-old group, the perceived economic hardship and the receipt of social welfare affect negatively and social participation affects positively on the quality of life. On the other hand, for old-old group, informative social role affects positively and social participation affects on the quality of life negatively.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.261-268
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• 2020

Objective: This study was conducted to provide basic data on physical function improvement activities of elderly care facilities by identifying the degree of physical improvement activities of elderly caregivers. Design: Descriptive correlational study. Methods: The instrument of this study consisted of 12 questions on the general characteristics of the subject. For the assessment of improvement in physical function activities, the measuring tool used for the elderly consisted of a total of 20 questions. For data analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient & Spearman's rho and multiple regression were used. Results: The higher the age of the subjects, the lower their educational background (r=-0.273, p<0.05), and the higher the probability of having a religion (r=-0.258, p<0.05), the more stable the employment type (r=-0.333, p<0.05). The higher the level of education, the higher the monthly income (r=0.187, p<0.01), and the shorter the career (r=-0.204, p<0.05). The more stable employment, the more unstable duty (r=-0.245, p<0.05), and the more unstable work, the higher the monthly income (r=-0.206, p<0.05) and the longer the career, the higher the monthly income (r=0.247, p<0.05). The more stable the employment, the more activities to improve physical function were found (r=0.341, p<0.05), and the more unstable the duty, the more activities to improve physical function were found (r=0.321, p<0.05), and the higher monthly income, the less physical function improvement activities (r=-0.196, p<0.05). Conclusions: It is necessary to provide regular services by a dedicated physical therapist for physical function improvement activities in order to improve the quality of life of the elderly in the future.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.55-74
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• 2024

Objectives: This study reviewed the status of adverse event (AE) reporting in VigiAccess using anti-obesity agents as examples and explored the possibility of its use and future challenges. Methods: AE reports related to some representative drugs among herbal medicines (HMs), complex HM prescriptions, ingredients of supplements, and over-the-counter and prescription medicines were investigated using VigiAccess on February 1, 2024. Results: AE reports on prescription drugs were overwhelmingly higher than those on HMs or supplements. Although most reports were submitted from North America, reports on Ephedra sinica and green tea extract (GTE) were more from Asia and Europe, respectively. The female population reported more, and the difference in the sex ratio was the smallest for Ephedra spp. The age group was concentrated on young adults, but many older patients reported GLP-1 receptor agonist-related AEs. Symptoms related to the gastrointestinal and nervous systems were most commonly reported, but mental and cardiac disorders were common in Ephedra-type HMs. Hepatobiliary disorders are also commonly found in GTE-related reports. Conclusions: VigiAccess was useful for easily checking the global status of AE reporting for prescription drugs. However, several limitations were observed in using VigiAccess for HMs because of the few reports. Thus, it is necessary to increase the number of reports by education and to promote AE reporting among HM prescribers and users. The full range of HMs should be included in the pharmacovigilance system, and the coding and classification of HMs should be revised.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.113-124
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• 2023

Purpose: The number of households vulnerable to isolation increases rapidly as social ties decrease, raising concerns about the associated increase in lonely deaths. This study aimed to identify issues related to lonely deaths by analyzing South Korean news articles; and to provide evidence for their use in preventing and managing lonely deaths via community nursing. Methods: This exploratory study analyzed the structure and trends of meaning of lonely deaths by identifying the association between keywords in news articles and lonely deaths. In this study, we searched for all news articles on lonely deaths, covering the period from January 1, 2010, to May 31, 2023. Data preprocessing and purification were conducted, followed by top-keyword extraction, keyword network analysis and topic modeling. The retrieved articles were analyzed using R and Python software. Results: Four main topics were identified: "discovering and responding to lonely death cases", "lonely deaths ending in lonely funerals", "supportive policies to prevent lonely deaths among of older adults", and "local government activities to prevent lonely deaths and support vulnerable populations." Conclusion: Based on these findings, it can be concluded that lonely death is a complex social phenomenon that can be prevented if society shows concern and care. Education related to lonely deaths should be included in nursing curricula for concrete action plans and professional development.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.475-486
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• 2009

Regular activity program is needed for managing chronic disease and obesity and preventing falls as a nursing intervention. It seems that serious game will be very important for older people to keep them active with fun to improve their health. This study was conducted to explore the correlations between health problems and computer game needs in the elderly. This was a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was developed and administered to a convenience sample of adults who are older than 55 years, recruited from several places through trained research assistants and research center that has online pools in Korea. 778 subjects (mean age: $61.4\;{\pm}\;5.6$) were participated in this study. The majority of subjects was male (68.6%). We found that there was higher needs for exercise or serious game in the group of ma1e(55.4%), below undergraduate(66.2%), under two family members(32.5%), over 350,000 won of pocket money/month (40.1%), mild depressive symptom (51.7%), and online responser(68%). Especially, they wanted to overcome physical limitations through games. Higher education, more experiences and skills of using computer/internet was statistically and positively significant to the needs for exercise or serious game. In conclusion, there exists a potential market within this demographic group for the use of serious games. Thus, we need to develop senior games in Korean to improve quality of life and health promotion.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.1077-1093
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• 2010

This study aims to examine the effects of health status on life satisfaction and depression and to examine the effect of spirituality and religious involvement on this relationship among Korean older persons. On the basis of the previous literature, we hypothesize that health status will have a direct effect on life satisfaction and depression, but that spirituality and religious involvement will moderate this effect in addition to having direct effects on life satisfaction and depression. In light of the different gender effects on all five variables (health status, spirituality, religious involvement, life satisfaction, and depression), we also examine the effects of gender on these variables. The data for this study came from the Hallym Aging Study conducted by the Hallym University Institute of Aging from February to March in 2005. Through stratified multi-stage random sampling, 1409 individuals aged 65 and over, who lived in Seoul and Chuncheon in Korea. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate whether health status, gender, spirituality and religious involvement could predict life satisfaction and depression, and whether the direct relationships were moderated by interactions among these variables. We took three ordered regression steps to examine the hypothesis; the first step contained the covariates of age, education, living with spouse, monthly expense, living with adult children, and household income. We also entered gender into this step, so it would be adjusted for in relation to the other covariates. The second step then looked for any direct effects that gender, health status, spirituality, and religious involvement might have on life satisfaction and depression above and beyond the effects of the covariates. The third step contained interaction terms to look for further variance accounted for by indirect, moderating effects on life satisfaction and depression. The results showed that health status had a significant effect on both life satisfaction and depression, and religious involvement had a significant effect on depression. Spirituality and religious involvement were found overall to be a moderator, reducing the negative effect of health status on life satisfaction and depression. The direct effect of religious involvement and the moderating effects of spirituality and religious involvement on life satisfaction and depression are consistent with the view that spirituality and religion are resources and benefit the well-being of older adults.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.1063-1085
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to investigate the transition of elderly's welfare service utilization and to examine the factors affecting their utilization as time passed. To solve these research questions, the behavioral model presented by Andersen and Newman(1973) was applied. Using Hallym Aging Panel data consisted of 3 waves from 2003 to 2007, autoregressive modeling and regression analysis were applied for research purposes. The results of this study were as follows; (1) The experiences of welfare service utilization were increasing gradually. The complimentary service for the aged was utilized generally, but leisure service and community service were not used in common. (2) Past experience of service affected service utilization in the following times. (3) The factors affecting older adult's service utilization were different among the types of services. Nonetheless, the factors affecting continuously during the periods were found: age as predisposing factor and area as enabling factor in the complimentary service; area and existence of spouse as enabling factor in leisure service; education as predisposing factor and service cognition as enabling factor in community service. Enabling factor has affected more consistently than other factors. The results showed that special attention should be paid to balanced regional arrangement for welfare resources and the public relation considering the elderly's intellectual level.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2019

Purposes: The purpose of this study, was to identify similar factors between reasons for unscreening and unmet health care needs through prior research, and based on this, we wanted to figure out the relevance between the medical screening and unmet health care needs. Methodology: The analysis was conducted using data from 9,640 adults aged 19 or older who don't have a missing value from 16,277 participants in the 7th, 1st&2nd Year (2016&2017) of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Unmet health care needs were investigated as a self-reported questionnaire of whether medical service was required but not received. And the analysis was performed through the Chi-Square Test and Multi-logistic Regression analysis. Findings: As a result of the analysis, unmet healthcare needs were higher who received only one type of screening comparative to who screened both. and were highest who screened neither. Practical Implications: Unmet health care needs are the center of a vicious cycle, such as morbidity and mortality, which is detrimental to the quality of life, and continues to increase. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways of realizing health care that guarantees the health rights of all citizens by policy guarantee and support for the subjects to recognize the importance of thorough education of screenings rather than only health screening or cancer screening.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7713-7720
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• 2015

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers. This study aimed to compare the uptake of CRC testing in the general public and in ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey covered 2,327 South Asian and Chinese adults aged over 50, recruited from two separate studies. A structured questionnaires were administered by research staff over the telephone or in faceto-face interviews. Results: The uptake rate of CRC testing among South Asians was significantly lower than that of the general population in Hong Kong. Factors associated with the uptake rate were health professional's recommendation, perception of regular visits to doctor, use of complementary therapy, ethnicity, perceived susceptibility to cancer, presence of chronic illness, and education level. In addition, a significant interaction (p<0.05) between ethnicity and health professionals' recommendations was found, after adjustment for the main independent factors identified. Conclusions: Older people with lower educational attainment, without chronic illness and those have lower perceived susceptibility to cancer may be targeted for CRC testing promotion in the society. In addition, health professionals can play a highly influential role in promoting such testing, particularly among ethnic minorities.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.7034-7042
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of metabolic syndrome(MS) on quality of life(QoL) using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2013. We analyzed data for 4,890 adults, aged 19 year or older and provided the correct data about MS and QoL. MS was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III with Korea-specific waist circumference cutoffs and QoL was measured by the EuroQol 5-dimension(EQ-5D). The prevalence of MS was 22.1% and high density lipoprotein(HDL)-cholesterol was the highest prevalence in MS components. The mean of EQ-5D index was significantly lower in subject with MS compared to subjects without MS. Among MS components, only higher waist circumference led to EQ-5D index decreasing and the regression coefficient was -0.018. In conclusion, we suggest the attention to QoL and intervention program for improving the QoL in subjects with MS.