• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.297-306
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• 2004

Purpose: This study was done to identify the relationship between social support and morale in the elderly. Method: A structured questionnaire was carried out from April, 2003 to June, 2003 on 203 elderly. The data was analyzed with a SPSS program for descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, t-test, ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression was done Result: The level of social support was moderate, and family support was the highest score. In types of support, appraisal support was the highest score. The level of morale was slightly lower than moderate, and the score of social support showed significantly positive correlation with morale. In general characteristics, several variables were significantly related to social support and morale. The most powerful predictor of morale was material support by family and the variance was 19.6%. A combination of material support by family, emotional support by relatives, level of satisfaction with pocket money, perceived health, level of intimacy with one's children, and material support by friends account for 43.3% of the variance in morale of the elderly. Conclusion: To increase the morale of the elderly, it is necessary to consolidate material support by family and relatives.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.13-20
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to describe the overall physical environment's features of nursing homes for Korean American elders in the United States. This investigation was conducted in Korean American nursing homes on the East Coast and in the Midwest with multiple qualitative data collection methods, such as interviews, observations, document review, and field notes. The findings of this study are as follows: 1) Although almost all respondents were unable to speak and understand English at all, most written materials in nursing homes were in only English; 2) The nursing homes were placed near or within the Korean communities; thus, it contributed to close ties with religious Korean American groups and other groups in the ethnic communities; 3) Whether the facility's physical features looked like those of a hospital or a home, many residents did not consider a nursing homes as a real home; 4) A fenced garden in the nursing home in the Midwest was the residents' favorite public space; 5) Due to being forced to room with residents who had dementia and were bedridden, they were more likely to have conflicts with their roommates and feel uncomfortable living in their room; and 6) The facilities seemed to be designed without consideration to protect residents' privacy.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.317-327
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to contribute data toward prevention from advancing dementia and also prevention of deterioration in cognitive impairment by constructing an optimal prediction model and verifying factors influencing cognitive impairment in elders with dementia who reside at home. Methods: The participants in this study were 351 elders who were registered at dementia day care centers in 11 regions of Metropolitan Incheon. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 17.0 and SAS 9.1. Bootstrap method using the Clementine program 12.0 was applied to build an optimum prediction model. Results: Gender and education (general characteristics), alcohol, urinary/fecal incontinence, exercise, weight, and ADL (state of health), and depression (psychological state) were found to have an affect on cognitive impairment in these elders. Conclusion: Study results indicate nine key factors that affect cognitive impairment of elders with dementia who reside at home and that could be useful in prevention and management nursing plans. These factors could also be used to expand the role of nurses who are working in community day care centers, and can be applied in the development and provision of various programs to aid retention and improve cognitive function as well as preventing deterioration of cognition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the client relationship experience of the physical therapists working at elderly care facilities and to lay the foundation for finding the identity of physical therapists. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted on eight incumbent physical therapists who had experienced working in elderly care facilities for at least one year. Data collection was conducted between June and September 2017, and the interview took an hour to an hour and a half to complete. After an in-depth interview, it was arranged as a file and analyzed according to the four steps of the phenomenological research method of the Giorgi. Results: Data were collected and analyzed; 19 categories, 6 themes and 5 domains were derived. Six themes were presented according to the 5 domains; the subject of relationships included 'diversity elderly'; context of relationships included 'the world of elderly nursing homes I did not know'; influence of relationships included 'the physical therapist is heartbroken because of the tormenting elderly'; condition of relationships included 'a reality that is tied to work'; aspects of relationships included 'how to reestablishing relationships with the elderly' and 'recognized and identified as a physical therapist'. Conclusion: This study shows that physical therapists working in elderly care facilities generally tend to fulfill their responsibilities and interact with clients; we found that identity of physical therapists was primarily defined by relationship experiences with patients.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.749-758
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• 2001

The purpose of the study was to analyze the functional status of low income elderly living at home according to their socio-economic factors, sensory function, health status, medical service utilization, commodity and types of chronic disease. Method: Functional status was defined by the level of mobility, ADL and IADL categorized as independently functional, mildly impaired, moderately disabled, and severely disabled. The data was collected by home-visit interviews with 567 community dwelling adults who were 65 years of age or more with low a income status subsidized by government in ChonAn. Results: 9.9% of community dwelling older adults were severely disabled, and 44.4% were moderately disabled in their functional status. There were significant differences in the functional status by age, education, religion, and types of family structure. The older adults with hearing impairment or dental problems had a significantly higher rate of severe disability. Self-rated health status and medical service utilization were also significant factors to the differences in functional status. The functional status of older adults was also significantly related to the presence of chronic health problems such as chronic back pain, stroke, and Alzheimer-dementia. Conclusion: The results confirmed that community dwelling older adults with low income status were more functionally disabled in comparison to general older adults at national level, while the relating factors to their functional status seemed similar to other studies on older adults. Further studies were suggested to look into functional status longitudinally and focus on the changes of functional status by managing modifiable influencing factors.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.506-525
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• 1992

Older people, because of the psychological and physiological changes related to the aging process are more vulnerable to experiencing powerlessness than any other age group. This self destructive cycle of depression in older people related to the experience of continued and long term powerlessness can lead even to death. The purpose of this study was to measure powerlessness and resources to increase power in older people, and to measure the effectiveness of a psychological rehabilitation program for reducing powerlessness. The research methodology used was a two step process. In the first step, a survey was done of perceived powerlessness and power resources comparing four groups of elderly people ; those living at home, those in hospital, those living in nursing homes and those attending educational programs for the elderly. The total sample size was 236. In the second step, a psychological rehabilitation program was carried out, pre and post measurements were taken related to this program. The sample consisted of 29 residents in a nursing home. The results of the study are as follows : 1. Powerlessness was classified as cognitive, emotional, activity and learning. The lowest score for powerlessness was in the area of activity, that is the people in the sample felt more power concerning their activities. The highest score was in the area of cognition where they felt they had less power. 2. When the different groups of elderly were compared, it was found that the residents of the nursing home had the highest score on perceived powerlessness and the group who were living at home had the lowest score. 3. Among the general characteristics, the factors influencing the powerlessness score were age, sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the interaction effects among these factors, it was found that level of education and health status were factors influencing perceived powerlessness. The elderly with lower education and poorer health status had the higher scores for perceived powerlessness. 4. The power resources could be classified into the following areas : physical strength, emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge, motivation and belief system. Belief system was given the highest score among the power resources and energy, knowledge and motivation were given low scores. 5. The group participating in an educational program for the elderly had the highest score for power resources while the group made up of residents of a nursing home had the lowest score as well as the highest score for perceived powerlessness. 6. The factors influencing the power resource scores were sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the analysis of the interaction effect among the factors, it was found that sex, level of education and financial resources were the factors that influenced the power resource score, that is, women, those with a low level of education and those with poor financial resources reported a lower level of power resources. 7. There was a negative correlation between perceived powerlessness and power resources in the elderly in this study. Since power resources explainded 49% of the variance for powerlessness, it can be concluded that the power resources can be used to reduce powerlessness. 8. The psychological rehabilitation program was carried out with the nursing home residents over a period of five weeks. No statistically significant difference was found in the scores on powerlessness between the pre and post tests, but there was a slight decrease in the raw scores on the post test for emotional, activity and learning powerlessness. There was a statistically significant increase in the power resource scores for emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge and motivation in the post test as compared to the pre test. In conclusion, the study indicates that a psychological rehabilitation program for the elderly could be effective in increasing power resources and this in turn could lead to a decrease in perceived powerlessness.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.472-481
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• 2006

Purpose: Hypertension tends to increase after the age of 65. Proper hypertension management requires physical activities such as habitual activities and exercise. However. it is reported that many elders do not have regular physical activities. This study was to identify physical activity patterns and blood pressure according to physical activity in the elderly with hypertension. Methods: This study assessed physical activity frequency, amount, type during the latest one week, and blood pressure and BMI. The subjects were 53 elders aged over 65 years. Collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, $x^2-test$, and logistic regression analysis using SPSS 12.0. Results: It was found that most of the subjects had not been participating in regular physical activities. The most frequent physical activity patterns were walking and home activity at a low or moderate intensity. The elderly who met the normal hypertension and pre-hypertension criteria involved significantly more regular physical activities. Conclusion: This study suggested that regular participation in physical activities should be recommended for elders in order to optimize the state of their blood pressure.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.453-469
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• 2000

This study has a purpose to provide information to help develop nursing intervention for demented elderly staying at home. For this purpose I analysed the relationship of patients' disturbing behaviors with their demographic and social characteristics, premorbid personality, and present environmental characteristics through questionnaire survey on their family members. The survey was performed through direct interview, telephone contact. and mail in the regions of Pusan and Gyeongnam. Among family members contacted. 112 ones made an appropriate response to the survey. The statistical package SAS was utilized for descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, stepwise multiple regression, and cluster analysis. The results of the study were as follows: 1) Demographic and social characteristics of the patients surveyed are female 81.3%, average age 81.4 years, lack of schooling 83.0%, spouse dead 73.2%, having no other disease 58.9%, average duration of dementia 3.8 years, no medical treatment for dementia 84.8%, good married life 40.2%, and primary care given by daughter-in-law 49.1%. 2) Aggressive Psychomotor Behavior(APB) was observed in a way statistically meaningful in case that primary care was given by daughter-in-law, while Nonaggressive Psychomotor Behavior(NPB) was in case of good married life and primary care given by other than daughter-in-law and spouse. Verbally aggressive behavior (VAB) was observed in groups of female, spouse dead, bad married life, and daughter-in-law's primary care. As for Passive Behavior(PB), it was observed in case that patients had educational background of not less high than middle school and that they were having medical treatment. Functionally Impaired Behavior(FIB) was observed in age group of 60-69 and more than 90, in patients' group having no other disease, and in case that the duration of dementia was not less than 5 years. 3) Premobid Neuroticism(N) showed positive correlation with APB and VAB, while Openness (O) did negative correlation with PB. Agreeableness (A) was proved to have positive correlation with PA and FIB, but to have negative correlation with APB and VAB. In addition, Conscientiousness(C) showed negative correlation with APB and VAB. 4) The worse the psychosocial environment was, the more NPB and VAB were observed. 5) APB was explained 24% by C and primary care-giver, while NPB was explained 28% by psychosocial environment, having other disease or not, and married life. VAB was explained 40% by A. sex, and married life. On the other hand PB was explained 33% by O, A. N, and having medical treatment or not. But any significant factor was not found to explain FIB. 6) A cluster analysis was performed on disturbing behaviors of demented elderly staying at home. It enabled to regroup the demented elderly in 5 patterns: high scored in NPB, high scored in FIB. high scored in NPB and VAB, moderately scored in most disturbing behaviors, and low scored in all areas. In conclusion, disturbing behaviors of demented elderly not only reflect their premorbid personality in the past, but also are affected by their present psychosocial environment. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage and respond them with understanding their disturbing behaviors in relation to their past premorbid personality. In addition, it is important to provide them better psychosocial environment in order to reduce their disturbing behaviors.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.24 no.6 s.84
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• pp.117-129
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to provide basic information about hierarchical spatial compositions of lounges and corridors in elderly skilled nursing facilities through the analysis of elderly residents' behaviors. For the study, five researchers observed the behavior of the elderly in the lounges and corridors of five facilities from 10 AM. to 4 PM. at 30-minute intervals for the investigation of hierarchical spatial compositions. And then, the design characteristics of public and semi-public area were analyzed by evaluating their openness, centrality, accessibility, and stimulations. The results of this study were as follows. First, the public area was focused on the lounge, and the semi-public area was formed on the comers of corridors and the parts of lounge walls. The private and semi-private area were distributed to the whole lounges and corridors. Second, in morning time, the semi-public area was concentrated on the wall of lounge instead of on the comers of corridors, and in afternoon, the residents' behaviors relevant to the private and semi-public areas were increased. Especially, the comers of corridors were utilized as the main semi-public areas. Third, the public area could encourage the participation of the elderly residents when it was opened to other areas more than 40% and close to the nursing station. But, the central garden made the accessibility from the elderly private room to the public area not good. The ideal openness of semi-public area was indicated as 25-30%, and its centrality was $10{\sim}15m$ which was a little far from the nursing station. Forth, furniture arrangements gave large influence to the behavior characteristics in the semi-public areas. Especially, sofa arrangements in the comers of corridors increased informal interactions among the elderly. In conclusion, the public area needs high rate of openness and should satisfy both of the centrality and accessibility so that it lead the elderly participations from the private and semi-private areas. The semi-public area should be in a little distance from nursing station and provide with furniture sets for the elderly informal interactions.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.401-412
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between assessed pain, functional status, and emotional status in elderly women with dementia. Methods: The method was a descriptive correlational design. Subjects were sampled from 75 elderly women with dementia who were resident in nursing home. and their pain, functional status(physical function, cognitive function), emotional status(depression, agitation) were measured. The collected data were analyzed for correlations between pain and functional status and for emotional status using the SPSS 11.0 statistical program. Results: The pain degree of the aged women in dementia were as follows; between 0 and 27 points, average 4.04 points, which was a possible point extent. Looking at the grades in detail items, the wry face expression was shown highest, an average of 0.84 points. The relation with cognitive function was(r=-.259, p<.025) a minus relation. And the relation with physical function was (r=.406, p<.001) a plus one. The relation with depression was (r=.462, p<.001), plus one. And (r=.592, p<.001) a plus relation was found with agitation. Conclusion: Pain is associated with impaired functional and emotional status. Major efforts are needed to improve nursing assessment and management of pain in this cognitive impaired population.