• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.4 s.28
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• pp.518-527
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• 1989

The relationship between copper content in scalp hair and mental retardation was investigated. Samples of scalp hair were collected from 297 mentally retarded children who were students in one of two schools providing special educational services, one, consisted of children living in an orphan home, the other, children living with parents. For comparison, 117 scalp hair samples were collected from the children who had got average or above average academic achivement in a regular elementary school. Hair samples were taken from the nape of the neck and the copper content was determined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (IL 551). There was no statistically significant difference in scalp copper levels across different age groups except female orphan group, but no trend or correlation between copper conents and age was found. The hair copper contents of the mentally retarded children groups were significantly lower than that of control groups. But there was no dose-response relationship between degree of mental retardation and hair copper level. The hair copper contents of the group accompanied by Down's syndrome and unknown group were significantly lower than that of control group in both sex, and in the case of accompanied by epilepsy or autism, lower than control group in male. Although the results of this study show no evidence that mental retardation has owed to copper deficiency, the possibility of copper deficiciency in their fetal or infant age could not be ruled out. Thus further study is needed to determine whether mental retardation could be attributed to copper deficiency, through the examinations about their living environments, dietary pattern, eating habit and the impact of copper deficiency on brain development.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.365-370
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• 2006

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in smoking rates according to the major occupational categories in South Korea. Methods: The study subjects were a weighted sample of 24,495 men and 26,121 women aged 25-64 from the 2003 Social Statistics Survey, which was conducted by the Korea National Statistical Office. Occupation was classified according to the Korean Standard Occupation Classification. We computed the age-standardized smoking rates according to gender and occupations after adjusting for the education level, marital status, and self-rated health. Results: For men, the smoking rate in elementary occupations was two times higher than that of clerks (OR=1.98, 95% CI=1.74-2.26). In general, a more prestigious job(professionals) correlated with lower smoking rates, and less prestigious jobs correlated with higher smoking rates, except for legislators, senior officials and managers. For women, smoking among service workers was 4.1 times higher than among clerical workers (OR=4.11, 95% CI=2.87-5.88). For women, their occupations, except elementary workers, and the unemployed, the retired and the armed forces, failed to show significant differences in smoking compared with the clerical workers. After adjusting for education, occupational differences in the smoking rate for men were attenuated in most occupations, except for legislators, professionals, and technicians. Further adjustment for marital status and self-rated health had a minimal effect on the occupational differences in the smoking rate for men. For women workers with service or elementary occupations, the ORs of smoking were attenuated with adjustment of the educational levels. However, the ORs of smoking were increased in workers with service, sales or elementary occupations, as well as for legislators, and the unemployed, the retired and the armed forces, after additionally adjusting for marital status. Conclusions: More prestigious jobs generally correlated with lower smoking rates in both sexes. The anti-tobacco policy should consider smoking rate differentials by occupations.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.139-148
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• 2001

This paper is intended to find out how much the university students in the Kyung-book area recognize Korean traditional foods and what their attitudes toward the seasonal manners and customs are, and to analyze the differences according to their life styles. The average recognition of 27 kinds of Korean traditional foods is found to be 2.17 in general, 2.00 with male students and 2.34 with female students, which figures are thought to be low. The recognition of female students is significantly higher than that of male students. 94.4% of the subjects for this study wish traditional foods to be handed down. The reasons for handing them don are Korean unique culture, which is the highest (78.4%), good nutrition(7.2%) and good taste(14.5%). No student points to low price as a reason, which shows that university students think traditional foods more expensive than western foods. There is a positive correlation(p＜0.05) between the evaluations and uses of traditional foods, so those with high evaluations of them use them more. The recognition of traditional foods is positively correlated to the attitudes toward the seasonal manners and customs, monthly family income(p＜0.01) and mothers' educational levels(p＜0.05). Based on life styles, the individuality-centered type shows the highest recognition of traditional foods(2.39), while the leisure-valuing type shows the lowest(2.03). There is a significant difference between the two.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.237-250
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• 2019

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the satisfaction of newly graduated nurses with educational programs and their experiences in role transition. Methods: Data were collected from November 1 to December 15, 2018 and 483 new graduate nurses working at 15 tertiary hospitals and 10 general hospitals participated. For data collection, self-report questionnaires including the Casey-Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey tool and satisfaction with education were used. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. Results: Satisfaction with education ranged from 3.09 to 3.27, and satisfaction with preceptors was 3.45(maximum 4). The skill that new nurses ranked as most difficult during the first 3 months was charting/documentation, and throughout a whole year, the top 4 difficult skills were cardiopulmonary resuscitation/emergency response, ventilator care, end-of-life care, and prioritization/time management. In comfort/confidence, new graduates felt most comfortable with support and least comfortable with patient safety. More than 50 percent of new graduates experienced stress during role transition, and the most frequently experienced stressors were related to job performance and personal life. Levels of satisfaction with education and comfort/confidence differed according to the hospital type and number of preceptors for new nurses. Conclusion: In order to facilitate the transition of new graduate nurses to professional nurse, an extended period of education, systematic and standardized transition programs, and continuous support during the first year of practice are required.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.257-268
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to develop and evaluate the Integrated Stress Management Program (ISMP) for elders in rural communities. Method: ISMP consists of 6 educational programs to improve self-management behavior and therapeutic recreational activities and was developed by analyzing the published reports and through multidisciplinary cooperation. Effectiveness of the ISMP was evaluated by implementing the program with 53 rural elders living at home, one session a week of, 2 hours per session over, 6 weeks from March 14 to April. 22, 2005. Results: After participating in the program, participants' perceived levels of stress decreased(t=2.940, p<.05), and mood state (t=4.229, p<.001), life satisfaction(t=-4.911, p<.001), and perceived social support (t=-2.891, p<.05) increased significantly. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that the ISMP is an effective program for relieving stress level, and increasing positive mood, life satisfaction, and social support for elders in a rural community.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.423-433
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• 2019

Purpose: The study aimed to examine the effects of sleep pattern, stress, and attitude towards menstruation, and behavior that causes a reduction in exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the course of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in female adolescents. Method: In total, 200 girls attending middle school in K city were recruited via convenience sampling between December 11 and 31, 2018, and 192 subjects were selected for the analysis. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: Overall, 9 (4.7%), 152 (79.2%), and 31 (16.1%) students had morning-, intermediate-, and evening-type sleep pattern, respectively. The mean scores for school-related stress were highest. Scores for stress regarding relationships with friends were the lowest. The mean score for attitudes toward menstruation was 72.33 out of 147. The mean score for behavior that led to a reduction in EDCs exposure was 56.57 out of 85. The mean scores for PMS severity were 25.30 and 38.39 out of 60. Analysis of factors affecting PMS revealed that severity of menstrual pain (β=.28), use of analgesics during menstruation (β=.17), family history of PMS (β=-.16), stress (β=.19), and behavior that reduces EDCs exposure (β=-.17) exerted significant effects on PMS. The explanatory power of these variables was 37%. Conclusion: The findings propose the necessity of a health intervention program including educational information, which can reduce PMS in adolescents, induce the behaviors which can decrease exposure to EDCs, and activities for managing the stress levels.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2016

In preparing for the unification of North and South Korea, rather than unilaterally over-writing the North's human resource training system with the South's health care human resource development system, it is important to understand the North's system and its ecology and to achieve a balance by seeking out aspects of each of the systems that could be consolidated with each other. The training period in both the North and South's health care human resource development systems is specified to be 6 years, but there is no system for internships or residencies in the North. South Korea introduced a 6-year system for pharmacist education in 2009, but North Korea has been using such a system since the 1970s (currently 5.5 years). In North Korea, training of health care personnel is conducted at various levels: at universities, at vocational schools, and at institutes for training health officials. Various types of training (daytime training, online, and ad hoc programs) are carried out. Also of interest is the North's licensure examination system. Rather than a state examination system as in South Korea, the North favors a graduation exam given by a national graduation examination committee composed of university professors, which awards both graduation certificates and 'permits,' that is, licenses for doctors and pharmacists. In working out a plan for the integration of the two Koreas' systems based on the study and analysis of the North's educational and testing system for doctors and pharmacists, this paper does not place exclusive focus on the distinctions between the systems or cling to negative views. Rather than claim that unification/integration is a practical impossibility, the paper focuses on the similarities between the two systems and maximizes them to uncover an approach for arriving at solutions. It is hoped that the practical data offered in this paper can contribute to the design of a forward-minded unification/integration model.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.113-139
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• 2017

Since the enactment of the "Framework Act on the Korean Language (herein after "Act ), researchers have focused their studies on measuring whether the Act played a huge role in providing Korean education. This can be confirmed by many, that the Act has indeed played a huge part in providing Korean language education. However, little attention was given to the validity of the education curriculum for prospective Korean language teachers as provided by the Act. Therefore, this survey has been conducted to provide an insight to teachers' perception of the Korean language curriculum for prospective teachers and will test whether such perception meets the standards in which the Act has been enacted. In this survey, we have received response on the importance of each domain and subject in the areas of Korean language education as viewed by the Korean language teachers. The results revealed the importance in the following order: Teaching Practice, Korean Linguistics, Korean Educational Linguistics, General Linguistics, and Korean Culture. These results strongly suggest that there is a need for the current curriculum, laid out by the Act, to be reconsidered to stress different levels of importance and time assignment for each category. The survey analysis shows the disparity in importance within the curriculum between the Act and the views in which the Korean language teachers perceive Korean language education. While further research is needed to confirm the analysis of this survey, this area of research will be instrumental in determining the suggestive shapes of the curriculum governed by the Act in the years to come.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.101-125
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to analyze comparatively adult literacy surveys of UK, France and Germany who have developed their own adult literacy survey tools independently. The results of the study show that these three countries are similar in that all of them utilize literacy survey tools linked to their own adult literacy policies. The survey tools of the countries are based on the definition of adult literacy as functional literacy and everyday life skill. The criteria of adult literacy levels are differentiated in the context of the countries. And SQC model is adopted as the main model of developing the survey tools. Through this analysis, the following implications could be obtained to improve Korean adult literacy survey. It needs 1) to unify execution subjects of adult literacy survey and adult literacy policy. 2) to develop survey tools reflecting everyday life, 3) to make tools into module form, 4) to pursue the efficiency of cost and utilization of tools.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.133-160
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• 2016

The purposes of this study were to examine the college tuition and student aid policies in the USA and to provide implications to Korean higher education. To accomplish these purposes, college tuition policies and student financial aid policies by federal and state governments in the United States were analyzed. Regarding tuition policies, the federal government has tried to minimize the impact of recent tuition increases by using methods like establishing various college affordability acts and government regulations. As a result, the federal government established a new law and was able to publicize a list of higher education institutions charging higher tuition levels and increasing tuition and fees at a higher rate. State governments also have introduced and implemented tuition policies such as tuition caps and linking tuition increase to student financial aid. Regarding student financial aid policies, Obama administration has emphasized grant programs which, unlike loan programs, have no further burden placed upon students. These efforts certainly produced desired results. Related policy implications from this study were provided for tackling tuition issues in Korean higher education.