• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.182-190
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• 2004

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the health status and health behaviors of preschoolers to provide baseline data for developing health promotion programs. Method: Parents of children attending day-care centers were recruited for the study. Participating day-care centers were selected using a stratified sampling method. Data was collected from June to August 2002 using a questionnaire. Result: Among 754 preschoolers, 17.3% were overweight, while 18.2% were underweight. The most frequent infectious diseases that children have had previously were hand-foot-mouth disease (20.2%) and chicken pox (18.7%). Current health conditions that children have frequently are respiratory disease (28%) and atopic dermatitis (23.8%). Only 61% brush their teeth everyday at bedtime, 54.3% wash their hands every time after returning home, 8.8% wear bicycle helmets, 9.3% use a child car seat, and 8.1% eat fruits and vegetables five times a day. Children residing in the metropolitan area were more likely to have positive health behaviors, and children of parents with an advanced college level education were more likely to have positive health behaviors than those with only a high school level education. Conclusion: Based on the study results, health professionals could plan and develop health promotion programs to change unhealthy behaviors of preschoolers targeting high-risk groups.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.551-560
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this present study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a needs scale for patients with cancer undergoing follow-up care (NS-C). Methods: A preliminary NS-C of 48 was derived from literature reviews and in-depth interviews with patients with cancer. Content validation of the items was established by oncology physicians and nurses. Each item was scored on a five-point Likert scale. The preliminary NS-C and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status questionnaires were administered to 873 patients with cancer recruited from three university hospitals. The data were analyzed using factor analysis, multidimensional scaling analysis, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and Cronbach's alpha. Results: From the factor analysis, 25 significant items in six subscales were derived. The subscales were named physical symptoms, diet and exercise, support, relationship with health professionals, treatment/prognosis, and keeping mind under control. The NS-C also established item convergent and discriminant validity, and known-groups validity. Cronbach's alpha of the subscales ranged from .90 to .92. Conclusion: This study suggests that the NS-C is an easy, reliable and valid instrument to measure the needs of patients with cancer. Health professionals may use the NS-C for patients with cancer both in practice and research.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5477-5482
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• 2013

Background: Communication plays an important role for the well being of patients, families and also health care professionals in cancer care. Conversely, ineffective communication may cause depression, increased anxiety, hopelessness and decreased of quality life for patients, families and also nurses. Objective: This study aimed to explore communication difficulties of pediatric hematology/oncology nurses with patients and their families, as well as their suggestions about communication difficulties. Materials and Methods: It was conducted in a pediatric hematology/oncology hospital in Ankara, Turkey. Qualitative data were collected by focus groups, with 21 pediatric hematology/oncology nursing staff from three groups. Content analysis was used for data analysis. Results: Findings were grouped in three main categories. The first category concerned communication difficulties, assessing problems in responding to questions, ineffective communication and conflicts with the patient's families. The second was about the effects of communication difficulties on nurses and the last main category involved suggestions for empowering nurses with communication difficulties, the theme being related to institutional issues. Conclusions: Nurses experience communication difficulties with children and their families during long hospital stays. Communication difficulties particularly increase during crisis periods, like at the time of first diagnosis, relapse, the terminal stage or on days with special meaning such as holidays. The results obtained indicate that pediatric nurses and the child/family need to be supported, especially during crisis periods. Feeling of empowerment in communication will improve the quality of care by reducing the feelings of exhaustion and incompetence in nurses.

• Gut and Liver
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.615-622
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• 2018

Despite the well-proven, safe and effective therapies for hepatitis B infection, delivery of treatment remains a significant challenge in resource-poor settings. Geopolitical and economic restrictions present additional difficulties in providing care in North Korea. However, treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B remains a top priority for both the North Korean Ministry of Public Health and international agencies working in North Korean hepatitis healthcare facilities. Working in partnership, a path was created to institute this much-needed program. A consortium of United States and Australian humanitarian non-governmental organizations along with generous individual and corporate donors working in concert with local and national health authorities have succeeded in establishing the first hepatitis B treatment program in North Korea. The essential elements of this program include renovation of existing hepatitis hospitals, access to antiviral medications, establishment of laboratory facilities, creation of medical documentation and record-keeping, training of local health care professionals, and quarterly visits by international volunteer physicians and laboratory experts. Management and treatment decisions are made bilaterally. To date, nearly 1,500 patients have been evaluated, and over 800 have been started on long-term antiviral therapy. It is envisioned that this program will eventually be managed and funded by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Ministry of Public Health. This program's success demonstrates a potential model for delivery of antiviral therapy for patients suffering from hepatitis B in other developing countries.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.127-134
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate health issues of children with disabilities attending daycare centers, and to identify the way of teachers' management on child health. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was performed with a convenience sampling of 127 teachers from 19 daycare centers for children with disabilities and 175 teachers from 17 general daycare centers. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data, and the data were analyzed using the SPSS 17.0 program. Results: For the last one month, about 90% of the teachers working in daycare centers for children with disabilities had to care for sick children. When a child is sick, 50% of the teachers tended to contact with the parents of the child. The majority of the teachers caring for sick children experienced difficulties with no one available to give expert health care advice. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that there are many health issues in daycare centers for children with disabilities and therefore health professionals need to be available to the centers. Specifically, health management services and programs need to be developed and provided for children with disabilities.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.238-247
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• 1992

Immigration of Koreans to the United States has increased since the 1960's. Adjusting to life in the United States produces a great deal of stress for immigrants. Despite better economic opportunites, many see the U.S. culture as threatening to their family and cultural values. Differences in culture, language, expectations and social behavior can lead to misunderstandings between health care providers and clients. These misunderstanding can leaf to frustration on the part of each. The ultimate result of this is that often Korean-immigrants do not get their health care needs met and stress response symptoms can lead to disease if there is no appropriate care. To determine the health care needs and concerns of Korean-Americans, a health needs assessment is needed. Appropriate and adequate information about the health care needs of these individuals is important as it relates to American policy changes allowing greater numbers of immigrants to enter the U.S. The purpose of this prospective study was to describe Korean-American stress response. This study focused on the primary presenting problems for which subjects reported having sought care. These included a variety of stress-related symptoms, including peripheral manifestations, cardiopulmonary symptoms, central-neurological symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, muscle tension, habitual patterns, depression, anxiety, emotional irritability and cognitive disorganization. Of the 300 subjects who entered the study, 80% (N＝223) completed the questionnaire in full. Demographically, the percentage of females and males was 50% each and they ranged in age from 20 to 69 years. Ninety percent of the subjects were highly educated, 25% owners of business, 25% white collar professionals, 15% employed in sales or as skilled /unskilled labor, 30% had no occupation : and 5% were housewives or students. The SOS inventory is designed to quantify self-perception of behavioral, cognitive, and physiological components of the stress response. It consisted of 94 items divided into 10 subscales. The result of this study are as follows : The total mean 505 of all subjects (N＝223 was .8129 ; the mean 505 for male(N＝114) was .7665 and for females, (N＝108) .8594. The level of symptoms for central-neurologic and muscle tension was higher for than for males. The highest stress response of all subjects was emotional irritability symptoms(1.0644) : the lowest stress response of all subjects was peripheral manifestation symptoms.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.194-222
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• 1996

Various accidents and injuries are currently occurring in Korea at increasingly high rates. Good quality emergency care service is urgently needed to cope with these various forms of accidents and injuries. In order to develop a sound emergency care system, there need to be a plan to educate and train professionals specifically in emergency care. One solution for the on going problem would be to educate and train emergency clinical nurse specialists. This study on a strategy for curriculum development for emergency clinical nurse specialist was based on the following five content areas, developed from literature related to the curriculum of emergency nursing and emergency care situation : 1. Nurses working in the emergency rooms of three university hospitals were analyzed for six days to identify categories of nursing activities. 2. Two hundreds and eleven nurses working in the emergency rooms of 12 university hospitals were surveyed to identify needs for educational content that should be included in a curriculum for the clinical nurse specialist. 3. Examination of the environment in which emergency management was provided. 4. Identification of characteristics of patients in the emergency room. 5. The role of emergency clinical nurse specialist was identified through literature, recent data, and research materials. The following curriculum was formulated using the above mentioned process. 1. The philosophy of education for emergency clinical nurse specialist was established through a realistic philosophical framework. In this frame, client, environment, health, nursing, and learning have been defined. 2. The purpose of education is framed on individual development, social structure, nursing process and responsibility along with the role and function of the emergency clinical nurse specialist. 3. The central theme was based on human, environment, health and nursing. 4. The elements of structure in the curriculum content were divided to include two major threads, I, e., vertical and horizontal : The vertical thread to consist of the client, life cycle, education, research, leadership and consultation, and the horizontal thread to consist of level of nursing (prevention to rehabilitation), and health to illness based on the health care system developed by Betty Neuman system model. 5. Behavioral objectives for education were structured according to the emergency clinical nurse specialist role and function as a master degree prepared in various emergency settings. 6. The content of the curriculum consisted of three core courses(9 credits), five major courses(15 credits), six elective courses(12 credits) and six prerequisite courses (12 credits). Thus 48 credits are required. Recommendations : 1. To promote tile quality of the emergency care system, the number of emergency professionals, has to be expanded. Further the role and function of the emergency clinical nurse specialist needs to be specified in both the medical law and the Nursing Practice Act. 2. In order to upgrade the qualification of emergency clinical nurse specialists, the course should be given as part of the graduate Program. 3. Certification should be issued through the Korean Nurses Association.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.13-20
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• 2019

This study aimed to investigate the actual smoking status, knowledge of oral health related to smoking, and attitude toward smoking cessation in 161 health students of the University in Jeonnam. This was done to examine the role of smoking cessation guidance as health care professionals after graduation. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 18.0. The significance level was α=0.05. Of those surveyed, 33.3% had previously smoked, and 30.4% were current smokers. The high school period had the highest smoking rate, at 59.2%. A daily smoking rate of 20 or more cigarettes was the highest at 30.4%. Of the respondents, 68.3% had received smoking cessation, while 10.6% said that they were encouraged by others to quit, such as friends. As a result of a correlation analysis between major satisfaction, smoking-related oral health knowledge, and attitudes toward smoking cessation, major satisfaction showed a negative correlation(r=-.394, -.337^*) with smoking-related oral health knowledge and attitude towards smoking cessation. Smoking-related oral health knowledge showed a positive correlation(r=.546^**) with attitude towards smoking cessation. As a result of a regression analysis, the knowledge of oral health related to smoking was the primary variable that affected the attitude towards smoking cessation(t=6.799, p<0.001). Based on these results, it is suggested that education on smoking cessation and the risk of smoking is delivered so that health care workers can be better prepared and educated for their future roles.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.270-281
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand low-income elders' experiences of community-based u-Health services. Methods: Qualitative data were collected from 11 participants. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes and eight sub-themes emerged as a result of analysis. The three main themes were 'recovered confidence and health condition,' 'trial and error in change,' and 'hope.'The eight sub-themes were 'the burden and efforts to overcome it in using bio-signal device,' 'ambivalence due to changing lifestyle,' 'increase of care time, decrease of pressure', 'conflict under environmental constraints,' 'difficulty in prioritizing health management,' 'discouragement in handling new devices,' 'desire not to be a burden to their children-gradual fulfillment of learning needs,' and 'long for broadening coverage range of services.' Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrate that low-income elders among the participants have different needs in using u-Health services. Therefore, health professionals need to give personalized education to deal with their conflicts and requirements, especially emotional and environmental support in order for them to successfully accept the u-Health services for self-care.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.192-199
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• 2010

Purpose: Multi-cultural families are increasing highly in Korea. Health care professionals and students majoring in health and welfare need to develop their cultural competence for quality of life from multi-cultural families. This study was to be conducted by examining the level of culture knowledge, empathy, and cultural sensitivity of university students majoring in health and welfare. Methods: Convenience sampling method was used and 408 students from 3 universities were evaluated for final analysis. Data collection was conducted through the use of questionnaires. Results: The score of cultural knowledge of students was very low. Empathy and cultural sensitivity showed middle range. There was a significant correlation between cultural knowledge and empathy, empathy and cultural sensitivity. However, there was no significant correlations between cultural knowledge and cultural sensitivity. Conclusion: An understanding of multi-cultural enables health and welfare providers to specialize service in cross- cultural situations of multi-cultural families in Korea. Ways to improve cultural competence for students majoring in health care and welfare is needed.