• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.425-434
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate psychological and physiological changes of elderly affected by agro-healing activities. To meet the purpose, we conducted an agro-healing program with 20 elderly participants (average age 77.6±5.84 men and women) and once a week in total seven sessions. The Korean version of the Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument (BEPSI-K), Korean version of the Short Form of Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS-K), participants' satisfaction with the program, Salivettes system method, and blood pressure were measured to find out the effects of agro-healing activities. BEPSI-K decreased by 5% in the high stress group although it was not statistically significant. The result of program satisfaction showed that 75% of the participants are satisfied with these activities. We investigated how many and what kind of chronic diseases the participants have had before they joined the program. As a result, hypertension was most common(35.6%), followed by hyperlipidemia, diabetes, arthritis, lumbago, osteoporosis, and heart disease. Systolic blood pressure after the activities decreased significantly from 144.75mmHg (stage 1 hypertension), to 132.90mmHg(prehypertension stage). As a result of analyzing the correlations between general matters such as age, education level, average income of the participants, psychological scale and number of diseases, it was found that participants' satisfaction had a negative correlation with depression. In conclusion, agro-healing is very useful in relieving stress or lowering blood pressure for the elderly whose most common disease is hypertension. Agro-healing activities are proved to have positive uses in reducing the problems of the modern society with severe issues of the aging population.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.699-709
• /
• 2019

Various health and social issues related to the elderly are emerging in line with the rapid aging of the population. In particular, dementia currently has a prevalence of about 10 percent of the elderly population in South Korea, which increases financial and social burdens to not only individual patients but also their caring family. To assess the effects of participating in the forest therapy programs for dementia prevention, this study recruited participants aged 50 and above and tested their depression (Korean form of Geriatric Depression Scale; KGDS) and stress response (Modified form of Stress Response Inventory; SRI-MF), which are emotional aspects of dementia. As a result, KGDS showed a significant decrease of 3.2 points from 8.4 to 5.2 points, and SRI-MF showed a significant decrease of 7.2 points from 40 to 32.8 points, indicating a statistically significant improvement in both. In addition, participants with minor depression and high level of stress in the pretest showed statistically significant improvements in the SRI-MF for men, and the KGDS and SRI-MF for women. Furthermore, there were statistically significant improvements in KGDS for participants in their 60s and in SRI-MF for those in their 70s in terms of age, and in both KGDS and SRI-MF for participants with chronic diseases and in KGDS for participants without chronic diseases. This study confirmed the effects of forest therapy on the prevention of the emotional aspects of dementia and laid the groundwork for increasing the applicability of forest therapy by obtaining a place for dementia prevention as a field of forest therapy.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.676-686
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study has aimed to examine the relationship among self-esteem, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and depression reported by hospitalized elderly patients with chronic diseases. Methods: A descriptive correlation study by means of a self-report questionnaire or face-to-face interview was used to collect data from 119 elderly patients who were hospitalized in a General Hospital from January 5 to February 25, 2010. Their levels of depression was measured using Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale, self esteem using Jeon's, and activities of daily living using K-ADL. Results: 80.7% of the subjects experienced depression. Depression correlates with self-esteem (r=-.67) and ADL (r=.45). The influencing factors on depression were self-esteem, ADL, subjective health status, and family support satisfaction ($R^2=.57$), while self esteem in itself explained 45% of variance in depression. Conclusion: These findings indicate the importance of early detection of depression, which starts from the admission of patients and the continuing evaluation/management in daily life after discharge to ensure their well-being and quality of life. The development of program empowering self esteem, ADL and subjective health status with adequate family support during hospitalization and in daily life is indispensible.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.38-43
• /
• 2005

The following conclusions are drawn from the review on the frequent urination of old people in perspective of Hyungsang medicine: Frequent urination is a difficulty in urination that is often common to old people. Frequent urination is one of the symptoms occurred when the nine body orifices do not operate normally because Jung(精) and Blood(血) are exhausted with ages. Frequent urination is brought by the deficiency of kidney, bladder and lung's Ki. In six meridian type persons, Yangmyung meridian type persons are most often afflicted with frequent urination because earth checks water(土克水). Persons with big cheek bones are easy to be caught by frequent urination due to the consumption of Jung(精) and Blood(血). Frequent urination is the source of geriatric diseases so that it should be treated preferentially. Frequent urination of old people should be treated with tonic prescription(補劑).

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.151-160
• /
• 2013

Purpose: This study was to investigate depression in Korean-Chinese elder living in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based survey was conducted using face to face private interviews for elders aged over 59, who have been dwelling in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. The samples consisted of 183 Korean-Chinese and 182 Han-Chinese with the latter as a reference group. Data were collected from August 25 to September 20, 2011 and analyzed with the SPSS 18.0 program. The GDS (Geriatric Depression Scale) was used to measure elderly depression in the subjects. Results: In Korean-Chinese, the rate of depression was higher in those who had lower educational levels, and were economically supported by the government. And those who had depression showed lower scores in Chinese language proficiency, health status, and social supports, and had more chronic diseases. Factors having effects on Korean-Chinese elderly depression included perceived health status and subjective support. Conclusion: According to the results, for preventing the depression of Korean-Chinese, it is necessary to develop health management programs and social support networks, which were easy to approach.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.107-111
• /
• 2008

Objectives : Cynanchum wilfordii(Asclepiadaceae) has been traditionally used as a tonic, the prevention and treatment of various geriatric diseases in Korea. Acetophenone derivatives from C. wilfordii showed neuroprotective activity. In this study, two acetophenones were isolated and quantitative determination of acetophenones from C. wilfordii has been developed for quality stand. Methods : Three acetophenone derivatives were isolated from methanol extract of C. willfordii by the chromatographic separation. Their structures were identified as cynandione A, 2,5-dihydroxy acetophenone and cynanchone A on the basis of spectral data(MS, $^1H-NMR$, $^{13}C-NMR$) and chemical analysis. HPLC analysis was performed to determine the contents of cynandione A and 2,5-dihydroxyacetophenone in C. wilfordii. Results : According to the results, the contents of cynandione A and 2,5- dihydroxyacetophenone were 0.274%, 0.035% by HPLC, respectively. Conclusions : In these results, we have determined the contents of cynandione A and 2,5-dihydroxyacetophenone in Cynanchum wilfordii, respectively. We hope that this study will contribute to the standardization and quality control of herbal medicine.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.24-32
• /
• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of discharge planning on patient satisfaction, the readmission rate and preparedness for discharge in the elderly admitted to the emergency room (ER) for pulmonary disease. Methods: A quasi-experimental intervention study design was used. Older adults with pulmonary health problems in the ER in one general hospital were randomly allocated to either an experimental (n=21, 74.2 years) or control group (n=19, 70.7 years). The experimental group participated in a discharge planning program by a geriatric nurse practitioner. Data were collected from medical records, physical measurements and structured questionnaires including information on demographics, patient satisfaction, readmission, and preparedness for discharge. Results: Participants in the experimental group had significantly better outcomes with regard to patient satisfaction with nursing services (p=.003) and preparedness for discharge (p=.034). However, there was no significant effect on the readmission rate (p=.392) Conclusion: The results suggested that a discharge planning program could bolster nursing service satisfaction and preparedness for discharge in older patients admitted to the ER for pulmonary health problems. To clarify the effects of discharge planning on older patients admitted to the ER, a larger sample population, better instruments for various measures, a new manual on discharge planning and frequent follow-up will be necessary.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.51-67
• /
• 2011

The average human life span has increased due to the development of modern medicine and science, resulting in prolonged life expectancy and increase in the population counts of the geriatric age group. In particular, a dramatic increase of elderly patients suffering from senile disorders including neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease(AD), and vascular dementia has become a serious social problem in public health. Thus, this study is aimed to summarize available clinical trial data on several commonly used medicines include donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine, memantine and oriental medicine, and examine the effect of oriental medicine combined with western medicine in the treatment of patients with senile disorders using the data from literature reviews and survey studies.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.209-217
• /
• 2004

Evaluation of dementia in patients with early symptoms of cognitive decline is clinically challenging, but the need for early, accurate diagnosis has become more crucial, since several medication for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer' disease are available. Many neurodegenerative diseases produce significant brain function alteration even when structural imaging (CT or MRI) reveal no specific abnormalities. The role of PET and SPECT brain imaging in the initial assessment and differential diagnosis of dementia is beginning to evolve vapidly and growing evidence indicates that appropriate incorporation of PET into the clinical work up can improve diagnostic and prognostic accuracy with respect to Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia in the geriatric population. in the fast few years, studios comparing neuropathologic examination with PET have established reliable and consistent accuracy for diagnostic evaluations using PET - accuracies substantially exceeding those of comparable studies of diagnostic value of SPECT or of both modalities assessed side by side, or of clinical evaluations done without nuclear imaging. This review deals the role of functional brain imaging techniques in the evaluation of dementias and the role of nuclear neuroimaging in the early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.40-70
• /
• 1996

In the literatual study on the cerebral vascular dementia, the results were as follows : 1. Cerebral vascular dementia is so called apoplectic dementia, because it almost occurs after apoplexy, the attack rate has gradually increased by increase of life, so it exert a harmful influence to geriatric diseases. 2. The etiological factors are summarized on deficiency in the heart, kidney, liver(心, 腎, 肝虛), pathogenic wind(豊) pathogenic fire(火) phlegm(痰) and stagnated blood(瘀血) in the oriental medicine, and multiple cerebral infarction, cerebral anemia, decrease of cerebral vascular flow are etiological factors in the occidental medicine. 3. The region of infarction and attack of cerebral vascular dementia have a close connection, and generally the cerebral vascular dementia easily occur in injury of white matter of brain. 4. Symptoms of cerebral vascular dementia are dysphasia, walking disorder, hemiplegia, sensory paralysis, disturbance of memory, judgement, calculation, emotion incontinence, speech impediment, silence or talkative, lower thinking ability and depersonalization, and symptoms are aggravated by stage. 5. Therapeutic herb medicines are Palpungsan(八風散), Baepungsan(排風散), Jinsaanshinhwan(辰砂安神丸), Sabacksan(四白散), Kanghwalyupungsan(姜活愈風散), Woohwangchungshimhwan(牛黃淸心丸), and they are used to dispelling pathogenic wind(祛風), soothe the nerves(安神), dispel pathogenic heat from lung, nourish the blood(淸肺養血).