• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.7-20
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• 2019

Objectives The purpose of this study was to improve the comfort of daily life such as reduction of headache and increase of movement of neck by using muscle relaxation approach and joint movement approach for office worker with tension type headache of foward head posture sitting over 5 hours. Methods For this, 9 male and 15 female participated in the foward head posture with tension type headache. Each group consisted of 3 male and 5 female. Groups are divided into groups, such as muscle relaxation therapy, joint movement therapy, muscle relaxation and joint movement therapy. After intervention for each group for a month, we measured neck movement and head disability index and neck disability index 2 week. SPSS 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for data analysis. The one-way repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA), one-way ANOVA, compared t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results Three intervention groups have brought improvements in neck movement and daily life comfort. There is significant difference in the improvement of neck extension and change in neck disability index between 2 and 4 weeks in the joint movement approach compared to muscle relaxation approach, muscle relaxation and joint movement approach. Conclusions Office workers are exposed to tension type headache. However, muscle relaxation approach and joint movement approach can improve neck movement and daily life comfort.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.1.1-1.13
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• 2022

Background: Recently, there has been a call to improve the holistic welfare of dependent contractors (DCs). Thus, our study examined the relationship between DCs and mental health symptoms and how this relationship was modified by age, sex, and income status of workers. Methods: A total of 27,980 workers from the Fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey are included in our study. The participants who reported having depression or anxiety over the last 12 months are defined those who had mental health symptoms. We performed exact matching for age group and sex, followed by conditional logistic regression with survey weights. Finally, stratified analyses by age, sex and income level were conducted. Results: DCs were found to be at increased risk of depression/anxiety compared to other workers. The odds ratio (OR) is 1.52 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.06-2.17). In the stratified analyses, vulnerable groups were middle-aged (OR [95% CI]: 1.68 [1.10-2.54]), female (OR [95% CI]: 1.85 [1.20-2.84]), and low-income (OR [95% CI]: 3.18 [1.77-5.73]) workers. Conclusions: Our study's results reinforce those of other studies that show that DCs are at greater risk of experiencing mental health issues than other workers and that and this risk is greater for middle-aged, female, and low-income workers. These results suggest that appropriate policy efforts should be made to improve the psychological well-being of DCs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.3 s.35
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• pp.279-286
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• 1991

Much of the working population in developing countries are engaged in shift work now and the number of shift workers is not expected to decrease in the future mostly because the need for continuity of production is increasing. Therefore, the possible effects of shift work on health are of particular interest, and in fact, there have been many epidemiological studies on shift work since the first world war. However, no studies on health effects of shift work have been reported in Korea, and the existing studies in western world have arrived at quite different conclusions mainly because the conditions of work other than shift work, such as age and selection of workers, work environment, and labor conditions also influence the health of workers. This study was firstly carried out in Korea to investigate the health risks related to shift work with 2,093 female workers randomly selected from three major manufacturing industries in proportion to total number of female workers in those industries. Differences of work conditions other than shift work in this study were adjusted by multivariate analysis. Ma findings obtained from this study are as follows : 1. There were significant differences between shift and day workers in the distribution of age, type of industry, condition of noise and dust, regularity of mealtime, working position, and working duration. Shift workers tended to be younger, to have shorter working duration, to have more irregular mealtime, to work in standing position, and to work under more noisy and dusty environment than day workers. 2. Univariate analysis showed that shift work increased the Todai Health Index (THI) scores of digestive tract, respiratory tract, and mental instability symptom categories. Shift work also increased days of sickness absence and number of industrial accident per 100 workers per month. 3. Multivariate analysis that adjusted the differences of demographic, occupational and non-occupational health-related working conditions showed that digestive tract symptom and mental instability symptom scores were significantly higher in shift workers than those in day workers. Based on these study results, it is concluded that the shift work has significant effects on some psychophysiological conditions of the workers and the effects are also influenced by several other personal and working conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.1029-1044
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• 2021

This research was conducted to investigate the prevalence of depression and convergent factors related to depression in male and female wage workers. Using data from the 2014 and 2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 3,763 adults (1,888 males, 1,875 females) between the ages of 19 and under 65 were analyzed. Depression was measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the depression (PHQ-9≥10) of all workers was 4.1% (3.2% for men, 5.0% for women). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the depressive factors of male and female wage workers. In male workers, work-related characteristics such as employment type and working hours per week were found to be significantly related to depression even after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, health-related characteristics, and life style characteristics. However, in female workers, work-related characteristics did not expose a significant relationship, showing a difference from male workers. Therefore it is necessary to develop and implement workplace counselling or mental health promotion programs that take into account the gender characteristics of depression risk factors. Also, as health-related characteristics (diagnosis of depression, suicide plan, perceived stress level, unmet medical services, self-rated health status) were found to be related to depression for both male and female workers, continuous management of these factors is required.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.127-140
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• 2012

This study involved an investigation of perception of dental hygienists based on a self-reported survey of a sample of 230health care personnel working at long-term care hospitals located in Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The primary objective was to provide basic data for establishing various policies related to building up a positive image of dental hygienists as a profession. The results were as follows. 79.1% of the respondents recognized dental hygienists as a profession. Among the titles for a dental hygienist, "teacher" was the most common with 47.4% of all. Female respondents and respondents who were able to discern between dental hygienists and nursing assistants were more likely to perceive dental hygienists positively than male respondents and ones who were not, respectively. Among social perceptions of dental hygienists was there a negative finding, that is, there was no appropriate title to address dental hygienists. This negative finding indicates that there is a vital need to enhance the perception of who are dental hygienists as a professionals level at the individual as well as institutional level.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to estimate the energy expenditure of working in a clean room for manufacturing embedded needles by ergonomic programs. Embedding needle is one of medical devices and it should be manufactured in a clean room. 3D static strength prediction program was used to analyze the slow movements during embedding needle manufacturing in a clean room. Also the energy expenditure prediction program was used to estimate energy expenditure rates for materials handling tasks to help assure worker safety and health in clean room. The energy expenditures of the tasks were calculated using prediction equations derived from empirical data. The energy expenditure rate of 3.09 kcal/min in a clean room didn't exceed the 3.5 kcal/min action limit guideline for an average 8-hour day set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Energy consumption was calculated on the same working conditions as EEPP program, using an average body weight of female 20 years old to 59 years who would be the candidates of the real workers.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.108-111
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• 2018

Purpose: This study examined the effects of the forward head posture and tension type headache on neck movement among office workers. Methods: The subjects were 6 male and 21 female patients composed of a forward head posture group, forward head posture group with a tension type headache and a normal group. Each group consisted of 2 males and 7 females. The cranio-vertebral angle of the head and the angle of motion of the neck were measured. SPSS 23.0 was used for data analysis and one-way ANOVA was performed for the mean comparison of the neck movements in the three groups. Results: The participants had a limitation in the movement of all necks between the forward head posture group and forward head posture with tension type headache group compared to the normal subjects. The forward head posture with tension headache group had limited neck extension and lateral bending compared to the forward head posture group. Conclusion: Office workers have limitations in the movement of the neck when they are accompanied by forward head posture and tension headache. In particular, when accompanied with a tension headache, there is a restriction on the neck extension and side bending. This study is expected to provide basic data for the relief of tension headache and the treatment of forward head posture in office workers.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.445-450
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• 2001

This study was carried out In Investigate the correlation between toluene In air and hippuric acid In human urine, which 1.: based on the results of the health check-in and the measure of working environment, was investigated for two years. The concentration of toluene in air for the five working places in Yang-San area were ranged from 39.05±10.31 ppm to 4.04±3.38ppm and the mean value of those was 16.89±14.76ppm. The mean value was 16.89±14.76ppm which is below the permissible limit of toluene. The concentration of hippuric acid(HA) In the worker's urine were between 0.47g/ℓ and 0.76g/ℓ. There was mutual correlation (Υ=0.94) between the concentration of toluene in air and that of hippuric acid in urine. In case of male workers, the mean value of hippurlc acid In urine was 0.56g/ f and the female workers was 0.57g/ℓ that showed higher than the male's. However, there was no relationship between the workshop and the distinction of sex. From the mean value of toluene in air(T) and that of hippuric acid(H), we obtained the formula, Η=0.3logΤ+0.235.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2015

Purpose: This study is performed to help manage the metabolic syndrome in work place by identifying the effect on metabolic syndrome with subjects of Korean adult workers. Methods: Using part of data of "The Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination survey 2nd year (2008)" which center for disease control is investigating. The general characteristics include age, educational level, occupation and marital status as factors affecting the metabolic syndrome of workers in this study. Results: Work-related factors are the working environment in which they are working while they are pressed for time due to work status and overload. If the work status of worker is unpaid family member, the risk is increased by more than twice compared to paid workers. The risk for metabolic syndrome in work environment to work while fighting the clock is decreased compared to the work environment without time pressure. Conclusion: In order to manage the metabolic syndrome of workers, health promotion program to change management of both working condition and working environment can contribute to prevent the metabolic syndrome and ultimately prevent the cerebrocardiovascular diseases.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.101-115
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• 2004

Stress at work as well as at home is one of the most important issues in the health sector. However, very little research has been to find the relationship between the levels of stress and exercise. In this study, we used a structured questionaires received from 15th June to 29th October 2002 in order to prove the relation between the degree of exercise and stress. A total number of 1,092( 569 male, 523 female) who have worked more than one year were investigated. The results of the study were as follows： (1) The mean levels of stress were lower in the regualr exercise group than in the non-exercise group； (2) The more time spent in exercise, the lower level of stress was shown； (3) It was shown that the association between the frequency of stress was inversely realted to the frequency of exercise in males whereas the levels of stress was lowest in those who exercised less than 2 times per week in females； (4) The levels of stress was lowest in those who exercised more than 1 hour at a time. In summarizing the result of this study, the degree of exercise is realted with stress regardless of gender. Consequently, it is expected that regular and consistent exercise would be an important tools in lowering and protecting the worker's stress.