• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate physical health status. depression. activities of daily living (ADL & IADL) of the low-income elderly who live alone in urban areas. Method: The subjects were the 400 low-income elders who live alone in Daegu city and the following instruments were used: 1. The number of self-reported physical health problems and present diseases: 2. CES-D scale for depression by Jo Nam-Oak et al. (1998): and 3. ADL scale by Katz (1989) and IADL scale by Lawton and Brody (1969). Results: 1. Visual difficulty was the most prevailing problem (55.3%) among physical problems. the second bowel elimination and the third hearing disturbance. As for present diseases. arthritis (26.5%), hypertension(24.3%) and DM (11.8%) were the most common diseases. 2. There were significant differences in physical health status according to age (t=3.115. p=.045). kind of medical security (t=-1.973. p=.049). perceived life satisfaction (F=4.966. p=.007) and the number of present diseases (F=2.937. p=.033). 3. There were significant differences in depression according to sex (t=-3.758. p=.000) . kind of medical security (t=-4.368. p=.000). perceived life satisfaction (F=35.743. p=.000) and the number of present diseases (F=4.246. p=.006). 4. There were significant differences in ADL according to sex (t=-2.136. p=.033) and age (F=4.863. p=.008). and in IADL according to sex (t=4.552, p=.000), age (F=3.090. p=.047) and kind of medical security (t=-3.306. p=.001). 5. Physical health state was correlated positively with both the number of present diseases (r=.140. p=.005) and depression (r=.352. p=.000), and negatively with ADL (r=-.176. p= .000) and IADL (r= -.230. p=.000). Depression was correlated positively with the number of present diseases (r=.169. p=.001) and negatively with both ADL (r=-.139. p=.005) and IADL (r=-.203. p= .000). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that general characteristics are important factors for physical health status, depression. ADL and IADL of the low-income elderly who live alone and there are close relations among physical health status, the number of diseases, depression, ADL and IADL. Therefore, these results must be reflected in community health programs for the low-income elderly who live alone. In addition, this kind of study must be extended to the low-income elderly who live alone in rural areas.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to understand the factors related to depression according to gender in vulnerable elderly. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 1,709 elderly beneficiaries of the visiting health care program in Seoul. Depression was measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form Korea Version(GDSSF-K) questionnaire. Depression score was mild level in vulnerable elderly. There was no gender difference in depression level. Factors related to depression differ by gender. In the elderly men, higher depression showed significant correlation with a lower level of health-related quality of life(HRQOL) and self-rated health(SRH). In addition, higher depression was observed for elderly men living alone than for those living with family. These factors explained depression by 23.1%. In the elderly women, higher depression showed significant correlation with a lower level of HRQOL, SRH and a higher dependence of instrumental activities of daily living. In addition, higher depression was observed for elderly women who has fall experience. These factors explained depression by 22.8%. Gender-specific nursing strategies may be required for prevention of depression in vulnerable elderly.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.141-150
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• 2022

Purpose : Community care occupational therapy is an integrated mediation method such as evaluating and mediating daily life activities, evaluating and modifying the environment, and providing information by visiting the home where the client resides. In this study, we examine the effect of implementing a community-care occupational therapy program on the levels of depression, quality of sleep, and quality of life of elderly individuals living alone. Methods : Among the users of organizations C and D located in City B, province A, South Korea, a total of 32 elderly citizens aged above 65 were chosen as the study subjects and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. For the experimental group, a total of 24 sessions, each lasting 60 minutes, comprising a community-care occupational therapy program and each organization's own program, were conducted, with each session conducted twice a week for a total of 12 weeks. On the other hand, those in the control group participated in the existing programs of their organizations. Changes in the levels of depression, quality of sleep, and quality of life before and after the intervention were compared using the GDSSF-K, GQOL, and GQOL. Results : Overall, the levels of depression, quality of sleep, and quality of life were found to improve among the experimental group after the intervention. In a between-group comparison of the changes before and after the intervention, the experimental group was found to exhibit a more statistically significant difference than that of the control group. Conclusion : The results obtained in this study confirm that community-care occupational therapy programs have a positive effect on the levels of depression, quality of sleep, and quality of life of elderly individuals living alone. This implies that such programs may represent an effective solution for the problems of these individuals.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-60
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate what life safety services the elderly living alone in rural areas need and to propose the life safety services that they actually need. The research subjects were 1,000 people aged 65 years and over living in the rural areas of Korea. Among the total 1,000 respondents, 283 elderly people who did not live together with their married children were included in this study. Data were analyzed through frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this study were as follows. First, the needs of health care services and vehicle support services (when the elderly went to the hospital or walked out) were high. These were services related to health, which means that the health of the elderly is not good and that they are interested in health. Of course, it is important to treat the disease. However, it is more important to prevent disease and maintain health. An expansion of these services is urgently needed. Second, the need for life safety services was affected by the frequency of contact with neighbors, uncomfortable housing, exercise, the frequency of contact with children, gas accidents, and nutrition variables. Through this analysis, we propose to include the housing improvement service, nutrition improvement services, and expanding social relations services in the life safety services.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.85-97
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• 2000

The goal of this study is mainly to improve the quality of life for the elderly by understanding the actual condition of the home management which includes their family relationship, family finance, and household work carried out in their domestic lives and diagnosing problems possibly restated from the condition. The result includes the following. The characteristics of rural elderly living alone: They have lived in rural area since their marriage which is over 40 years long in average, The tend to be satisfied with living apart themselves. The majority of the families are the first son in their family. In home management regard: First, in family relationship, the way the elderly in their nuclear family state communicate with their spouse is limited, and they hardly speaks together. So it is encouraged for couples to forge their own specific relationship and to plan for their odd age in their younger age. Also, they tend to be satisfied with living separated from their children, but at the same time, the closer they live in distance from their children, the more often they meet their children as well as they talk on the phone. They especially depend on their first son for offerings for ancestors and matters to occur after their death, while they get emotional support from daughters. Second, in family finance, their income varies in range from 200,000 to 3,000,000 won. In the majority f the famines, the wives are in charge of finance. The cost of living is mainly spent on flood, clothing, and housing, or the cost of offerings for ancestors if they are the head family. Third, Meanwhile, the housewives under 70 years old are positive about household work and tend to consider it pleasant for their children and their husband. Generally, the older they are, the more they dislike household labor. For example, food preparation is especially considered a major problem. Community dinning rooms, food delivery service, volunteers, and home helper and neighborhood could be help.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.207-218
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• 2017

This is the Study of descriptive research to look into influence factors about how pain, nutritional risk, loneliness and perceived health status have an effect on the health-related quality of life. The subjects were 110 elderly women living alone over the age of 65 living in D gu, Y gu, D metropolitan city and collected data by giving questionnaire, and used the SPSS/WIN 18.0 version to analyze. The correlated factors of health-related quality of life included pain(r=-.565, P<.001), nutritional risk(r=-.485, P<.001), loneliness(r=-.546, P<.001) and perceived health status(r=.706, P<.001). Factors influencing health-related quality of life are perceived health status, loneliness, pain, type of residence, number of diseases. Therefore, in order to improve health-related quality of life for elderly women living alone, it is necessary to induce the practice of education and health behavior for improvement of health status, to establish social network to increase emotional support and to apply various protection systems.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.544-552
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• 2003

Purpose: This study examined the health status among elderly in community. Method: This is a survey using cross-sectional design. The subjects were 531 elders who were 65 and over in Pusan, Korea. Data were collected by 17 trained interviewers from April 10 to August 26, 2000. Functional status for physical health status, depression, loneliness, self-esteem for psychological health status, and social support for social health status were measured. Result: About forty three percent of the subjects were found as the elderly who need support in physical status. About fifty six percent of the subjects were depressed. The mean score on the Loneliness scale was 40.4, which means relatively higher. For self-esteem, its score was lower than that of elderly who were examined in other studies. The subjects were living in the state of lower social support. The risk factors for vulnerable health status were being female, becoming older, lower income and education, and living alone. Conclusion: This finding indicates that the elderly subjects in Korean community were in poor health status in physical, psychological and social aspects.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.123-139
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to search how to promote health and improve nutrition and health care of the elderly people in rural area. Behaviors for health promotion and habits against health risk were surveyed. Dietary management was analyzed for surveyed nutrient intake by 24 hr -recall method. 242 subjects were collected in 12 cities or counties in Gyeonggi Province and 20 elderly people (10 male and 10 female) were selected out of 1 village in each district. Questionnaire for health behavior and dietary management was carried out by trained interviewers. Statistical analyses were made by SAS (version 8.1) and Chi-square tests and General Linear Models were used. Characteristics of the elderly people were 61-74 year-olds (68.2%), elementary school educated (78.4%), with spouse (51.7%), monthly living cost of 500-1,000 thousand won(43.4%), and monthly pocket money of 50-100 or 100-200 thousand won(33.5%, 26.5%). 41.4% of the subjects checked up medical examination regularly. The alcohol drinking status was significantly different according to gender: high no-drink rate of female (52.5%) and low no-drink rate of male (25.6%). Kinds of disease were different according to gender: higher proportion of cardiovascular disease(46.3%) and diabetes mellitus(8.1 %) in male and joint lumbago neuralgia(44.4%) and osteoporosis(8.6%) in female. Gastrointestinal complaints were nausea (69.0%) and chronic indigestion (17.8%). Constipation (12.0%) and vomiting (4.3%) were more frequent in female. Dietary management was good (3 meals per day: 93.4%., dining with family: 72.4%, regular mealtime: 72.4%, and 3-4 times of snacks per week: 44.9%) except side dish taking of 3-4 kinds only. However, almost one-third of the female elderly ate alone (30.6%) which was well compared with one-fifth of the male (19.7%). And food and nutrients intake were not significantly different according to gender except that male elderly's intake of energy and protein was lower than that of female's. The surveyed subjects had no difficulties in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), but some female elderly had some difficulties with Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) like working at home, using transport, and going shopping. These results suggest that low quality of life linked with low economic status of the rural elderly and that congregate meal at village hall would be required for the female elderly eating alone. For the undernourished male elderly, it would be needed to provide snacks and to establish nutrition and health surveillance system.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.534-545
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• 2020

In the super-aged societies, an increased elderly population living in solitude has been causing many problems. Since the elderly may incur a sense of loss and interest in suicide when living alone, this study investigated the effects of smartphones as well as types of living arrangements on elderly peoples' sense of loss and suicidal thoughts. This study found social roles and relationships were lower for older individuals using smartphones than those using 2G phones. Not surprisingly, those living with family members or a partner had significantly fewer suicidal thoughts than those living in solitude. However, our results indicate subjects' loss of role and relationships was affected more significantly by their smartphone usage (2G phone vs. smartphone) rather than their living arrangements (i.e., living with family or a partner vs. living in solitude). Moreover, smartphone users showed a lower sense of loss in terms of social roles and relationships. Among the elderly, loss of health, social role, and relationships were identified as precedents for increased suicidal thoughts; yet, economic capacity was surprisingly not an indicator of suicidal thoughts.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.226-233
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• 2008

Objectives: The purpose was to test the effect of an empowerment health management program on self-esteem and the quality of life for the elderly who live in cities. Methods: Forty-three elders were randomly assigned to either the experimental group that received the intervention to participate in one year's empowerment practice (one home visiting per week and phone counselling) (n=21) or to the control group that got home visiting only (n=22). The data was analyzed using ANCOVA. Results: There was no significant difference in the self-esteem score between the two groups after the intervention. But the quality of life score of the experimental group was significantly different from that of the control group after the intervention. Conclusions: The health management intervention using empowerment for the elderly living alone with chronic diseases in urban areas had positive effects on the quality of life. Therefore this intervention can be broadly applied to other elders living alone with chronic diseases in urban areas.