• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.51
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• pp.332.1-332.8
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• 2018

Background: The trend of aging society is occurring globally, and with it, one of the health problems that is emerging is frailty. Efforts are being made to account for the increasing prevalence of frailty, and various modifiable factors are being considered in regards to frailty. Because social contact has shown beneficial effects in terms of health in previous studies, it is increasingly being considered in relation to frailty. The purpose of this study was to assess the association of different types of social contact with frailty status. Methods: A total of 1,200 Korean elders aged 70-84 years old were included in the study. Using Fried's Cardiovascular Health Study index to categorize the frailty status, the relationship between frailty status and frequency of contact (i.e., with family members, friends, or neighbors) was analyzed using multinomial logistic regression accounting for confounders. Results: Adjusting for all covariates, frequency of contact with friends was the most statistically significant. Less frequent contact was associated with a significantly higher odds of pre-frailty: monthly (odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27-3.20), and rarely (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.17-2.99), with daily contact group as reference. Also, those contacting friends monthly (OR, 5.04; 95% CI, 2.29-11.08) or rarely (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.58-6.61) were more likely to be frail compared to the daily group. Conclusion: Frequency of social contact, especially with friends, is strongly associated with frailty.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.63-82
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• 2019

Libraries are recently emerging as the core institutions designed to resolve the information equality that is forecasted to further deepen with the arrival of the fourth industry revolution era. This study thus analyzed the trends of studies on the library services offered to people suffering information inequality in Korea, and proposed measures for the activation of the research and future studies so as to strengthen the domestic library services targeting the people suffering information equality and to promote the research. As a result, proposed as measures for the activation of research were (1) Policy support and project expansion at the national level, (2) Various approaches and research environment creation at the academic level, (3) Strengthening of services for the various levels of people suffering information inequality and deployment of professional librarians at the level of libraries, and (4) Encouraging librarians to enroll with graduate schools and to conduct research. Further, proposed were the future studies that can be approached according to the various levels of people suffering information inequality, such as disabled people, multicultural family members, elderly people, children, youth, agricultural and fishing areas, low-income people, and refugees(North Korea defectors).

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2019

There is a growing demand for public rental housing since housing price increased rapidly and socially vulnerable people need more stable housing. The purpose of this study is to investigate housing evaluation (satisfaction), moving plan, and residential service according to the type of the public rental housing and the characteristics of the resident, and to suggest the development direction for comprehensive housing services including the community level. Data used for analysis in this study are from 2016 Seoul panel survey of public rental housing residents. A total of 3009 questionnaire from public rental households were collected in 2016 Seoul panel survey. In order to investigate housing requirements, we analyzed household characteristics, housing satisfaction, moving plans, welfare services, residential activities and community facilities, social environment. In this study, the difference of residential satisfaction, moving plan, and residential service according to the type of the public rental housing and the characteristics of the resident is analyzed to identify their housing demands. As a result, there were differences in residential satisfaction, moving plan, and residential service depending on type of public rental housing and characteristics of residents. Residents in public rental housing modified from the multi-family housing after purchase showed lower residential satisfaction, and higher intention for moving plan compared to residents living in other type of public rental housing. In the residential service, residents in permanent lease type have higher experience of housing service as well as demand on housing service. Especially single household, elderly household, female household, or household with handicapped person indicated higher demand for housing services.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.357-363
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• 2022

South Korea faces elderly care crisis with both low fertility rate and rapid ageing rate. Long-term care insurance in 2008 has taken care burden from family to nation. However, few options, lack of tailored services, and unstable community care plan caused blankness of care in some areas. Especially, increasing dementia rate has become an emergent social issue. Welfare technology could be a useful alternative to fill out the gap between demand and supply. Using FGI method on two groups(high-risk dementia group and MCI group), intimacy, accessibility and preventive way of dementia with welfare technology are analysed in this paper. Despites of a few differences of dementia progress, interests towards technology are expressed. More suggestions using TV and normal telephone to improve daily independence are presented as well. Amongst MCI group, help-service for technology-use at ADS and linkage ways of in-home services are also suggested.

• Design Convergence Study
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.199-211
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• 2016

The study examined how age-friendly their living environments the aged perceived and it's significant difference depending on their characteristics. The subject were 96 old persons who aged more than 60 years and lived in Nagasaki city, Japan. They asked how far each neighborhood facility related to the aged was located from their houses, and the age-friendliness of walk way, traffic, multi-family houses for the aged, and interior space of their living houses. Data were collected by using one to one interview. Results were as follows: 1) Most neighborhood facilities related to the aged were located within a walking distance or 10 min. distance by bus from their houses. 2) Among 5 areas of living environments, while traffic, house interior, and pedestrians road were relatively age-friendly, the amount of multi-unit dwellings for the elderly and the usability of wheelchair users in house interior were not age-friendly. 3) Age and education level of the aged influenced on the age-friendliness of their living environments.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2024

Objectives: Protecting people against financial hardship caused by illness stands as a fundamental obligation within healthcare systems and constitutes a pivotal component in achieving universal health coverage. The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence and determinants of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) in Iran, over the period of 2013 to 2019. Methods: Data were obtained from 7 annual national surveys conducted between 2013 and 2019 on the income and expenditures of Iranian households. The prevalence of CHE was determined using a threshold of 40% of household capacity to pay for healthcare. A binary logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants influencing CHE. Results: The prevalence of CHE increased from 3.60% in 2013 to 3.95% in 2019. In all the years analyzed, the extent of CHE occurrence among rural populations exceeded that of urban populations. Living in an urban area, having a higher wealth index, possessing health insurance coverage, and having employed family members, an employed household head, and a literate household head are all associated with a reduced likelihood of CHE (p<0.05). Conversely, the use of dental, outpatient, and inpatient care, and the presence of elderly members in the household, are associated with an increased probability of facing CHE (p<0.05). Conclusions: Throughout the study period, CHE consistently exceeded the 1% threshold designated in the national development plan. Continuous monitoring of CHE and its determinants at both household and health system levels is essential for the implementation of effective strategies aimed at enhancing financial protection.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.53-69
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• 1999

A descriptive correlation study was done to provide a basic data for comprehensive nursing care by analyzing the relationship between spiritual wellbeing, hope and perceived health status of the elderly. 195 respondents who lived at their homes and 148 respondents who lived at the facilities for elders such as nursing homes and elder's rehabilitation centers were selected and their age was over 60 years old. Paloutzian and Ellison(1982)'s spiritual wellbeing scale, Nowotny(1989)'s hope scale and Northern Illinois University's health self rating scale was used. From August 10th to August 25th, 1998, ready made questionnaires were handed out by researcher to those who can fill it out and for those who cannot fill out the questionnaires alone, the researcher read it and finished by interview. This study used Pearson's correlation coefficient for the hypothetic test and the average point and standard deviation of spiritual wellbeing, hope, and perceived health status were checked. To find out the difference between spiritual wellbeing, hope, and perceived health status by general characteristics ANOVA and Tukey test were used. The results are as follows : 1. The mean score for spiritual wellbeing of the elders was 42.27($SD{\pm}9.67$) in a possible range of 20-80. The average point of spiritual wellbeing was 2.11($SD{\pm}0.97$) point to 4 point full marks. The mean score of religious wellbeing was 21.37($SD{\pm}7.02$) and that of existential wellbeing was 20.90($SD{\pm}4.63$) in a possible range of 10 - 40. The average point of religious wellbeing was 2.14($SD{\pm}0.70$)points and existential wellbeing was 2.09($SD{\pm}0.46$) points to 4 point full marks. 2. The mean score for hope was 67.16($SD{\pm}12.28$) in a possible range of 29-116. The average point of hope was 2.31($SD{\pm}0.42$) points to 4 point full marks. 3. The mean score for perceived health status was 8.72($SD{\pm}2.49$) in a possible range of 4-14. 4. In testing the hypothesis concerning the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and hope, there was a statistically positive correlation(r=0.5209, p=0.0001). 5. In testing the hypothesis concerning the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and perceived health status, there was a statistically positive correlation(r=0.1427, p=0.0081). 6. In testing the hypothesis concerning the relationship between hope and perceived health status, there was a statistically positive correlation(r=0.2797, p=0.0001). 7. There were significant differences in spiritual wellbeing according to sex, religion, and present occupation. 8. There were significant differences in hope according to residential places, age, religion, educational level, family status, average monthly pocket money. 9. There were significant differences in perceived health status according to residential places, sex, age, educational level, present occupation and family status. From the above results it can be concluded that: There was a positive correlation between spiritual wellbeing and hope, spiritual wellbeing and perceived health status, hope and perceived health status. When the nurse implicate the nursing intervention which can be promote the spiritual wellbeing and hope, elder's perceived health status also can be improved.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2009

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of social support with health status and health behavior. Methods:　This study was conducted with 79 elderly people in Gunja-ri, Dongsan-myun, Chuncheon. We performed face to face interview which was composed of socio-demographic characteristics, social support, health status and health behavior. The association between social support and result variables was analysed by Chi-square test and logistic regression. We used SAS ver9.1 for statistic analysis. Results: Mean age of the study population was 72.0$\pm$7.0, social support score was 14.3$\pm$4.7 with full marks of 20 and 36.25% of the total population were shown to have depression. When the social support score was changed, depression (p=0.0007) and physical exercise (p=0.0312) showed significant difference. The self-rated health status was significantly related to the relationship with family members (OR=0.25, 95% CI=0.07-0.95) and the quality of sleep was also significantly associated to the relationship with family members (OR=0.21, 95% CI=0.06-0.73). The physical exercise was done significantly less in the group without close friends than in the group with many close friends (OR=0.21, 95% CI=0.05-0.94) and the depression was significantly more in the group without community participation than in the group with community participation (OR=4.79, 95% CI=1.62-14.15). Conclusions: Through this study, we could conclude that the social support factors are associated with health status and health behavior. Therefore, to improve the health status of rural elderly, we need to approach to develop social support.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.67-77
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• 1990

This study was intended to analyse the relation between the psychic traumatic experience and the psychological health of the aged. The authors carried out this study by means of the combined anxiety-depression scale(CADS) and the preadolescence traumatic experience scale(PTES) with 278 aged men and women residing in Taegu from September to October 1988. The results were as follows : 1. Based on the scores avaluated by CADS, the scores of the both groups showed that comparative group was accounted for $40.15{\pm}6.19$, while the experimental group for $57.75{\pm}6.37$, which showed significantly higher score in the experimental group(p<0.001). 2. The experimental group showed significantly higher early experience score than the comparative group in the dietary difficulty, alcoholism among family members, disunion between husband and wife, trouble between mother and children, early mother loss, parent's indifference and unwanted birth(p<0.001). 3. The experimental group showed higher early experience score than the comparative group by sex, age, marital status and grown location(p<0.001). 4. When the subjects were included in the unemployed and in the middle or low classes and their parents were engaged in agriculture and commercial business and believing in buddhism or non-religion, showed higher experience score (p<0.001).

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.37-48
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• 2004

Purpose: Population using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the cost or it are increasing all over the world. In this study, we investigated the utilization state of CAM in the elderly people during the last 6 months of life. Methods: We found 4,210 persons in Seoul, older than 65 years who received a funeral subsidy from health insurance after death during the latter half of the year, 2001. We stratified them by age and gender and selected 301 persons and surveyed them by questionnaire. Results: 247 persons (83.1%) used at least one of CAM during their last 6 months of life. Diet and Nutrition remedy showed the highest utilatization rate (65.5%), and drug therapies also were much used (29.9%). Utilization rate was higher in female (60%) and according to the cause of death, the highest in a geriatric disease groups, and the lowest in the cancer group. Whole satisfaction to CAM was high with average 4.25 points out of total 6, and adverse effects were almost free with average 5.55 points out of total 6. Satisfaction was the highest in Diet and Nutrition remedy but the lowest in Manipulative and Body-Based methods. Adverse-effect score was best in Manipulative and Body-Based methods. According to age and the causative disease of death, there were significant differences in satisfaction and adverse effect levels. Conclusion: Majority of old people used at least one of CAM during their last 6months of life. Whole satisfaction and adverse-effect level were very excellent.