• Title/Summary/Keyword: financial wellbeing

Search Result 19, Processing Time 0.03 seconds

Return to Work in Multi-ethnic Breast Cancer Survivors - A Qualitative Inquiry

  • Tan, Foo Lan;Loh, Siew Yim;Su, TinTin;Veloo, V.W.;Ng, Lee Luan
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
    • /
    • v.13 no.11
    • /
    • pp.5791-5797
    • /
    • 2012
  • Introduction: Return-to-work (RTW) can be a problematic occupational issue with detrimental impact on the quality of life of previously-employed breast cancer survivors. This study explored barriers and facilitators encountered during the RTW process in the area of cancer survivorship. Materials and Methods: Six focus groups were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide on 40 informants (employed multiethnic survivors). Survivors were stratified into three groups for successfully RTW, and another three groups of survivors who were unable to return to work. Each of the three groups was ethnically homogeneous. Thematic analysis using a constant comparative approach was aided by in vivo software. Results: Participants shared numerous barriers and facilitators which directly or interactively affect RTW. Key barriers were physical-psychological after-effects of treatment, fear of potential environment hazards, high physical job demand, intrusive negative thoughts and overprotective family. Key facilitators were social support, employer support, and regard for financial independence. Across ethnic groups, the main facilitators were financial-independence (for Chinese), and socialisation opportunity (for Malay). A key barrier was after-effects of treatment, expressed across all ethnic groups. Conclusions: Numerous barriers were identified in the non-RTW survivors. Health professionals and especially occupational therapists should be consulted to assist the increasing survivors by providing occupational rehabilitation to enhance RTW amongst employed survivors. Future research to identify prognostic factors can guide clinical efforts to restore cancer survivors to their desired level/type of occupational functioning for productivity and wellbeing.

Factors Associated with Happiness among Senior Citizens of Rural Korea: Evidence from the 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans

  • Sharma, Bimala;Song, Geurum;Nam, Eun Woo
    • Health Policy and Management
    • /
    • v.30 no.2
    • /
    • pp.245-252
    • /
    • 2020
  • Background: Happiness is one of the most important indicators of health, wellbeing, and quality of life among older adults. The objective of the study was to investigate factors associated with happiness among senior citizens residing in rural areas using the 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among 3,149 senior citizens living in rural areas using secondary data from the 2017 National Survey of Older Koreans. Happiness was measured by a single question and responses were recorded dichotomously. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed at a 5% level of significance. Results: In all, 64.5% of the participants considered themselves as happy most of the time in the last 1 week. In the study, socio-demographic factors did not predict happiness except age. Satisfaction with a health status, financial situation, relationship with children, cultural satisfaction, and satisfaction with friends and society were positively associated with happiness among senior citizens residing in rural areas of Korea. Odds of reporting happiness were higher among those who traveled in the last 1 year, visited elderly welfare centers, and were involved in voluntary work than among those who did not. Conclusion: Happiness among senior citizen was significantly associated with life satisfaction with regard to health, finance, relationship with family, friends and society, and social activity participation.

Diversification Strategy through Market Creation: The Case of CJ Group

  • Jeong, Jaeseok;Kim, Nam Jung;Lim, Hyunjoo;Kang, Hyoung Goo;Moon, Junghoon
    • Asia Marketing Journal
    • /
    • v.15 no.4
    • /
    • pp.1-32
    • /
    • 2014
  • The purpose of this paper is to investigate upon a diversification strategy through market creation of CJ Group, which has contributed in positioning of the firm as one of the leading conglomerates in South Korea. With such objective, the background of CJ Group, followed by its business diversification strategies were explored, with reference to several case studies. The history of CJ Group began with establishment of CheilJedang Industrial Corporation in 1953, as the first domestic sugar producer and exporter of South Korea. The corporation gradually expanded its business ever since at both national and global level, to include the fields of food production, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life chemicals. Later, CheilJedang (CJ) Group was established as an affiliate of CheilJedang Industrial Corporation. With such independence, extension of business has been witnessed across the industries of media, entertainment, finance, information technology and distribution. Thus, the current CJ Group pursues to define itself as a progressive global living culture company with four major business categories from food and food service, biotechnology, entertainment and media, and logistics. Despite its success in today's market, CJ Group underwent hardships in its business diversification in 1990s due to indiscreet management, along with the Asian financial crisis. Here, many firms overcame the financial difficulties by taking advantage of the exchange rate for overseas expansion. Though, CJ Group tried to differentiate itself by focusing on the domestic market by creating something out of nothing. Hence, CJ Group takes a unique position among many cases of business diversification and their categorization. In an effort to identify and classify the types of growth experienced by the top 30 companies in South Korea, the firms were categorized into four groups according to their diversification strategies adapted after the Asian financial crisis. Based on the mode and time of entry, corporations were identified either as the 'Explorer', 'Invader', 'Venture Capitalist', or 'Assimilator'. Here, the majority of the firms showed the qualities of Invader, entering mature markets through large-scaled mergers and acquisitions. However, CJ Group was the only firm that was categorized as an Explorer, for its focus on the newly emerging service sector in culture-contents industry. This diversification strategy through market creation is worth examining, due to its contribution in generating simultaneous growth between the market and the company itself. Diverse brands of CJ Group have been referred to as case studies in this regard, from 'Hatban', 'Cine de Chef', 'VIPS' to 'CJ GLS'. These four businesses, each to represent processed food, film, restaurant service, and logistics industries respectively, show CJ Group's effectiveness in creating a whole new category of goods and services that are innovative. In fact, such businesses not only contributed in advancement of consumers' wellbeing, but toward generating additional value and employment. It is true that the diversification strategy of CJ Group requires long-term capital investment with high risk, compared to the other strategies mentioned in the paper. However, this model does create high employment and additional values that are positive to both the society and the firm itself. Therefore, the paper comes to a conclusion that the diversification strategy through market creation conveys the most positive impact relative to the others.

  • PDF

The Associations among Poor Single Mothers' Economic Hardship, Depressive Symptoms, Parenting Stress, Child Abuse and Neglect, and their Children's Development (빈곤 미혼모의 경제적 어려움과 우울증상, 양육스트레스, 아동학대와 방임이 아동의 사회행동발달에 미치는 영향)

  • Pyun, Ho-Soon;Choi, Jeong-Kyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
    • /
    • no.53
    • /
    • pp.1-23
    • /
    • 2016
  • With using a subsample of 1,373 poor single mothers and their children from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, the present study examined the associations among mothers' economic hardship, depressive symptoms, and parenting stress, child abuse and neglect, and their children's behavior problems, delinquency, and social skill. These families were tracked through follow-up interviews at the time of birth, and when the children were three, five, and nine years old. The results indicated that mothers' economic hardship, depressive symptoms, and parenting stress were significant predictors to determine their children's abuse and neglect. Findings also suggest that higher levels of child abuse and neglect are positively associated with more behavior problems and delinquency, and negatively associated with social skills. Further discussions include policy and services to prevent child abuse and neglect and to alleviate mothers' financial difficulties, depression, and parenting stress.

VSimulators: A New UK-based Immersive Experimental Facility for Studying Occupant Response to Wind-induced Motion of Tall Buildings

  • Antony Darby;James Brownjohn;Erfan Shahabpoor;Kaveh Heshmati
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
    • /
    • v.11 no.4
    • /
    • pp.347-362
    • /
    • 2022
  • Current vibration serviceability assessment criteria for wind-induced vibrations in tall buildings are based largely on human 'perception' thresholds which are shown not to be directly translatable to human 'acceptability' of vibrations. There is also a considerable debate about both the metrics and criteria for vibration acceptability, such as frequency of occurrence or peak vs mean vibration, and how these might vary with the nature of the vibration. Furthermore, the design criteria are necessarily simplified for ease of application so cannot account for a range of environmental, situational and human factors that may enhance or diminish the impact of vibrations on serviceability. The dual-site VSimulators facility was created specifically to provide an experimental platform to address gaps in understanding of human response to building vibration. This paper considers how VSimulators can be used to inform general design guidance and support design of specific buildings for habitability, in terms of vibration, which allow engineers and clients to make informed decisions with regard to sustainable design, in terms of energy and financial cost. This paper first provides a brief overview of current vibration serviceability assessment guidelines, and the current understanding and limitations of occupants' acceptability of wind-induced motion in tall buildings. It then describes how the dual-site VSimulators facility at the Universities of Bath and Exeter can be used to assess the effects of motion and environment on human comfort, wellbeing and productivity with examples of how the facility capabilities have been used to provide new, human experience based experimental research approaches.

Development of a Happiness Scale for Korean Old People (한국 노인의 행복 요인 탐색과 척도개발)

  • Im, Eunki;Jung, Taeyun
    • 한국노년학
    • /
    • v.29 no.3
    • /
    • pp.1141-1158
    • /
    • 2009
  • This study was conducted to explore the determinants of happiness for Korean Old People. A total of 105 Korean old people responded to open-ended questions about their happiness. From the content analysis of those reponses were happiness-related 70 items derived. Then 200 old people rated themselves on the list of those items. Factor analysis of those data ended up with 33 items of 8 factors, which were ①Family relationship, ②Religion, ③Financial ability, ④Health, ⑤Work/Job, ⑥ Psychological stability, ⑦Leisure, ⑧Public welfare. This Happiness Scale for the Korean old people, Subjective wellbeing Scale, Emotion experience Scale, and Self-esteem Scale were also administered to the identical 200 Korean old people. Results indicated that the construct validity of this new Happiness Scale for Korean old people was obtained. Finally, the implications and limitations of the present study and suggestions for further studies were discussed.

Quality of Life and Psychological Well-Being of Breast Cancer Survivors in Jordan

  • Abu-Helalah, Munir;Al-Hanaqta, Motasem;Alshraideh, Hussam;Abdulbaqi, Nada;Hijazeen, Jameel
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
    • /
    • v.15 no.14
    • /
    • pp.5927-5936
    • /
    • 2014
  • Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Jordanians. Breast cancer patients suffer from several negative consequences after treatment and these include pain, fatigue, sexual problems, appearance and body image concerns, with psychological dysfunction. This could affect the patient quality of life and psychological well-being. To the best of our knowledge, there is no published quantitative data on the quality of life and psychological well-being of breast cancer patients in Jordan. The objective of this study was to obtain such data and assess predictors with calculated scores. Methods: In this cross-sectional study conducted among breast cancer patients in Jordan diagnosed in 2009 and 2010, assessment was performed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), the Breast Module (QLQ-BR23) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Clinical, demographic and psychosocial indicators that could predict patient quality of life scores were collected. Results: The number of patients interviewed was 236 (mean age=$50.7{\pm}10.7$ years). The mean Global Health score for the QLQ-C30 was $63.7{\pm}20.2$ SD. Among functional scales, "social functioning" scored the highest ($mean=78.1{\pm}28.6$ SD), whereas "emotional functioning" scored the lowest ($mean=59.0{\pm}SD\;33.5$). For the QLQ-BR23, the worst scores within the functional scales were for "body image" ($mean=52.1{\pm}36.8$ SD) and "future perspective" ($mean=52.9{\pm}38.5$ SD). The worst symptom was "upset by hair loss" ($mean=69.8{\pm}43.0$). The mean HADS scores was $18.{\pm}9.0$ SD. Out of study participants, 53% scored abnormal on the anxiety scale and 45% on the depression scale. Severe depression and severe anxiety were detected among 8% and 14% of study participants, respectively. Statistically significant predictors for individual scores were similar to those reported in published studies, such as the presence of recurrence since baseline, family history of cancer, low educational status, current social problems, extent of the disease, presence of financial difficulties, and employment status. Conclusions and Recommendations: Breast cancer survivors in Jordan have overall good quality of life scores when compared with patients from Western countries. However, their psychological wellbeing is more impaired. There is an urgent need for psychosocial support programs and psychological screening and consultation for breast cancer patients at hospitals of the Ministry of Health in Jordan.

Social Support and Quality of Life for the Elderly in Rural Areas (일 농촌지역 노인의 사회적 지지와 삶의 질)

  • Kang, Kyung-Sook
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
    • /
    • v.14 no.3
    • /
    • pp.375-384
    • /
    • 2003
  • The purpose of this study is to identify the amount of social support and quality of life perceived by elderly people in rural areas and to examine the relationship between social support and quality of life in an effort to provide the basic data for effective nursing intervention to enhance quality of life among elderly people. Data were collected from a sample of 220 elderly people aged over 60 from a stratified probability method from one rural area in South Jeolla province from Aug. 15 to Sep. 15, 2002. For data collection, pre-educated researchers visited the participants' homes and surveyed them face-to-face. The statistical analysis was performed using the SAS program along with t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation. The findings were as follows: 1. The most socially supportive people they answered were Spouses (57.28%), followed by children, friends/neighbors, in descending order. In terms of satisfaction about social support, the subjects felt the most satisfaction from spouses, followed by friends/neighbors, children, in descending order. 2. The participants' perceived social support was 26.0 and the highest score was 108.0 out of 125. Also, the average score and average grade point was 81.7 and 3.35, respectively. A comparison of the average grade points per items within sub-areas of social support revealed financial aid(3.56), informative support(3.34), emotional support (3.27), and evaluation support(3.22). 3. Their perceived social support had statistically significant differences in terms of how much they earned (F=18.56, p= .00001) and whether they had family members living together (F=2.68, p= .0512), quality of life had statistically significant differences in terms of how much they earned (F=35.34, p= 0.00001). 4. The quality of life they perceived was the lowest score 47.0, the highest score 196.0, average score 145.7, and average grade points 3.28. A comparison of the average grade points per items within sub-areas of quality of life revealed neighbor relationships(3.97), self-esteem(3.49), family relationships(3.35), economic conditions 3.12), physical health (2.98), and psychological health(2.74). 5. The relationship between the amount of the subjects' social support and quality of life was significantly correlated (r=.696, p< .001). The findings revealed that social support for elderly people in rural areas was a greatly effective factor on their quality, of life. Also, it was shown that the larger the social support for the elderly, the greater the quality of life for them. Therefore, it is necessary to foster geriatric nurse specialists and develop nursing intervention programs connected with health care and social wellbeing in order to enhance the quality of life of elderly people in rural areas. Also, it is necessary to develop effective models for community and its applications, which will playa leading role for elderly people.

  • PDF

Consideration on National Rituals and Folk Beliefs Found in 『Hajaeilgi』 (『하재일기』에 나타난 국가의례와 민간신앙 일고찰)

  • Song, Jae Yong
    • (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
    • /
    • no.69
    • /
    • pp.349-371
    • /
    • 2017
  • "Hajaeilgi(荷齋日記)" was written by Ji Gyu-sik, a gongin of Saongwon(司饔院)'s branch, almost everyday for 20 years and 7 months from January 1st, 1891 until the leap month of June 29th, 1911. It deals with many different areas including domestic and foreign circumstances, custom, rituals, all the affairs related to the branch, and also everyday life events he did see or hear about. Particularly, Ji Gyu-sik did not belong to the yangban class, and we can hardly find diaries written by such class' people. Here, what this author pays attention to among the things written in "Hajaeilgi" is the contents about folklore. Ji Gyu-sik wrote in his "Hajaeilgi" about things related to folklore, for example, seasonal customs, folk plays, rituals, or folk beliefs that were actually practiced then as a person not belonging to the yangban class. Such diaries are rare, and its value is highly appreciated as a material, and it is meaningful in the aspects of folklore as well. Therefore, as part of the work to look into folklore found in "Hajaeilgi", this author focuses on national rituals and folk beliefs in it. The things that have been discussed earlier can be summed up as follows: About national rituals, it is sorry that it only deals with the emperor's enthronement and emperor and crown prince's birthday in garye(嘉禮); however, it is meaningful to know that the people faithfully carried out national ceremonies and celebrations then. Particularly, it is noteworthy that during the national ceremonies or celebrations, students were asked to sing the national anthem. About hyungrye(凶禮), only it deals with the court funeral rite. Aside from Minbi's funeral rite, the court funeral rite was performed properly at the right time according to the procedure like before, and also, it seems that the people fulfilled it faithfully by order of the government. Also, it can be learned from it that Japanese killed Minbi, burned the body with oil, and left the ashes behind. About folk beliefs, the branch held a memorial service at the shrine of the town regularly. The town, too, performed Gocheongsinsa each year. The money needed for the memorial service was collected from the town people differently according to their financial situations, and they prepared for jesu for the ancestral rite altogether. The memorial service was carried out in Sansindang or Bugeundang, too, and it was common that they summoned a shaman to perform a gut. The diary is valuable as material. After being a Christian, Ji Gyu-sik once tried to abolish sinsa jesa held in hoesa and get rid of saesin(賽神), that is, a gut or pudakgeori, but he had no choice but to follow the precedent. Meanwhile, it is also noteworthy that when the town suffered from floor and infectious disease, Ji Gyu-sik installed an altar in front of his house for the town's wellbeing and health, prepared for jesu including offerings and drinks, and held a memorial service to Hwangcheonhuto(皇天后土; the gods of heaven and earth) accompanied with the town people. Also, when he had any hardships in his family, Ji Gyu-sik summoned a shaman for a gut or offered a devout prayer to the mountainous god. Such shamanism or the things like worshiping Gwanseongjegun(關聖帝君) mostly in the beginning of January and telling fortunes about the year were all folk beliefs. This was very popular among the people, and it seems that it was deeply rooted in his life as well. Also, Ji Gyu-sik supported Fengshui beliefs, and it seems that it is not different from the people's general tendencies, either. As described above, "Hajaeilgi" dealing with national rituals and folk beliefs in it is valuable as material and is meaningful for research on forklore, and moreover, it is also significant in the aspects of forklore as well.