• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.14-25
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• 2005

This study was conducted to examine the present state, types of services, difficulties, education programs, motivation, satisfaction and attitude of hospice volunteers and also to suggest supporting programs for the volunteer. For these purposes, a questionnaire was distributed among the 200 hospice volunteers in ten hospice organizations in Daejeon and Chungcheong province. In this research, 85.5% of the respondents were women and most of them were housewives in their forties and fifties. The majority of hospice volunteers had an education background of more than high school. Christianity (94%) was the dominant religion of volunteers. Among the service area of the hospice, emotional caring, such as listening closely and establishing empathy were the most frequently done by the respondents and the next one was spiritual care. Hospice volunteers who had started with altruistic motivation show more dynamic activities in emotional, spiritual, physical caring and so on, than those with non-altruistic motivation. Most of the respondents expressed that they felt a hospice volunteer was valuable. However they had a hard time to overcome the sorrow coming from sharing empathy with the dying patients. Those who had started with altruistic motivation usually took part in two times per a week and had more positive attitude. Volunteers who had been working more than five years showed better attitude than those who had been working less than three years. The longer the voluntary services, the more positive attitude experienced by volunteers. Hospice volunteers encountered the most considerable difficulty with lack of background knowledge and their actual capability. Insufficiency of time was the next reason for the considerable difficulty of the hospice volunteer. On the other hand, those who served more than twice per week replied that lack of background knowledge and their capability were the least considerable difficulty. Insufficiency of time was the reason of difficulty for male volunteers, as well as for females under thirty and those in their forties and fifties respectively. Generally most of the hospice volunteers (70%) were satisfied with their services and they usually satisfied with physical caring, spiritual caring, hospice's family caring. The less difficulty in voluntary services, more satisfaction for the volunteers in the end. There is a positive correlation between a attitude of the hospice volunteer and frequency of voluntary services while the volunteers' difficulty affect negatively their attitude as well as the frequency of voluntary services. Most of the hospice volunteers want to have more education about basic skills, volunteer's attitude and role, spirituality, the way of attending on the hospice and so on. Most of them considered discussion and sharing different cases as the most effective method. They also wish to had more supporting programs for the hospice volunteers(in the order of their needs) such as regular events, newsletters, personal concern, social meetings among the volunteers, insurance and minimum expenses. Based on the study results, more programs should be run in order to activate the voluntary services regardless of their gender and education background. A continuous practical supporting policy and education programs are required in order to provide special education and training courses considering every field of voluntary services. Expanding the role of the volunteers allows them more opportunities to take part in voluntary services and th activate participation. It is necessary to establish a new hospice system as a part public medical system, which can not only facilitate the voluntary services for a hospice but also enhance professional hospice volunteers. Finally, experts are needed to operate the voluntary services effectively.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.41-53
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• 2019

As the paradigm of healthcare shifts from the center of treatment to the center of prevention, products and services related to disease prevention are emerging at domestic and abroad. The government considers the smart healthcare industry as a solution to healthcare problems such as an increase in the number of chronic illnesses and an increase in the burden of medical expenses. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors affecting the use of smart healthcare products and services focusing on Health Literacy and health related personal characteristics and to provide policy implications. The subjects of the questionnaire are 1,027 adults over 20 in the nation, and conducted an online survey. In addition, the factors were analyzed by decision tree method. As a result, most of the respondents(76.9%) did not have experience using Smart Healthcare products and services. However, in the Health Literacy question, there was a difference in use experience depending on the degree of difficulty in using the mass media information. Other factors were the degree of intention to use new technology, the understanding of counseling about family members and friends, and health checkups. In order to enable self-healthcare through smart healthcare products and services, the ability of consumers to explore and utilize health information from the mass media should be improved. In addition, government and enterprise efforts are needed to achieve this.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.154-165
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• 2022

Humans have been breeding the mulberry silkworm for the long period of time to obtain silk fabric and nutrient-rich pupae. Currently, silkworm larvae, pupae, and silk-Fibroin hydrolysates are registered as food raw materials, while silkworm feces and Bombyx batryticatus are registered as Korean traditional medicines. Among sericulture products, individually recognized health functional food ingredients include silk-protein acid-hydrolysates for immunity enhancement, Fibroin-hydrolysates for memory improvement, and freeze-dried 5^th instar and 3^rd-day-silkworm powder for lowering-blood sugar. Recently, HongJam produced by steaming and freeze-drying mature silkworms were reported to have various health-promoting effects such as preventing the onset of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, enhancing gastro-intestinal functions, improving skin-whitening and hair growth, and extending healthspan. By consuming silkworm products with various health-promoting effects, it is possible to increase the healthspan of human beings, thereby reducing personal and national medical expenses, resulting in increasing the individual's happiness.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.545-550
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• 2022

As a result of the rapid entry into an aging society and westernized eating habits, the number of heart disease patients caused by angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and high blood pressure has increased by more than 100,000 over five years. Heart disease has consistently ranked second in the cause of death in Korea over the past eight years, and medical expenses consumed annually reach 6 trillion won. While various treatments are being proposed for more patients, drug-coated balloon catheters have been developed and gradually commercialized to solve the disadvantages of stent implantation such as restenosis and increased risk of bleeding due to long-term double antiplatelet medication. In Korea, it began to use a drug-coated balloon catheter with the first release of it called "SeQuent Please^Ⓡ (Bibrown Korea)" in 2010. Its demand increased gradually as insurance benefits were applied in 2012. Drug-coated balloon angioplasty is increasing in use not only in Korea but also around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan. Until now, the demand for domestic products is increasing, and if the efficiency in vivo and clinical trials is proven in the future, it is expected to be an effective procedure compared to high-risk stent implantation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.65 no.5
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• pp.741-750
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• 2022

Objective : In March 2020, World Health Organization declared a global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The disease caused by this virus is called COVID-19. Due to its high contagiousness, many changes have occurred in overall areas of our daily life including hospital use by patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on volume of spine surgery in South Korea using the National Health Insurance database and compare it with the volume of a homologous period before the pandemic. Methods : Data of related to spine surgery from January 2019 to April 2021 were obtained from the National Health Insurance and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. Primary outcomes were total number of patients, rate of patients per 100000 population, and total number of procedures. The number of patients by hospital size was also analyzed. Results : COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in South Korea in March, August, and December of 2020. Compared to the previous year, the total number of patients who underwent spinal surgery showed a decrease for 2-3 months after the first and second outbreaks. However, it showed an increasing trend after the third outbreak. The same pattern was observed in terms of the ratio of the number of patients per 100000 population. Between 2019 and 2021, the mean number of spine surgeries per month tended to increase. Mean annual medical expenses increased over the years (p=0.001). When the number of spine surgeries was analyzed by hospital size, proportion of tertiary general hospital in 2021 increased compared to those in 2019 and 2020 (vs. 2019, p=0.012; vs. 2020, p=0.016). The proportion of general hospital was significantly decreased in 2020 compared to that in 2019 (p=0.037). Conclusion : After the COVID-19 outbreak, patients tended to postpone spinal surgery temporarily. The number of spinal surgeries decreased for 2-3 months after the first and second outbreaks. However, as the ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic at the hospital and society-wide level gradually increased, the number of spine surgeries did not decrease after the third outbreak in December 2020. In addition, the annual number of spine surgeries continued to increase. However, it should be noted that patients tend to be increasingly concentrated in tertiary hospitals for spinal surgery.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2024

Background: Depressive disorders can be categorized into daily depression and clinical depression. The experience of depressive disorder can increase health care utilization due to decreased treatment compliance and somatization. On the other hand, the clinical depression group may also experience social prejudice associated with the illness, which can limit their access to health care utilization. In terms of the significance of health care utilization as a factor in individual and social issues, this study aims to compare the health care utilization of the clinical depression group with that of the non-depressed group and the daily depression group. Methods: The analysis utilized the inverse probability of treatment weighting based on the generalized propensity score. Results: As a result of the analysis, clinical depression and daily depression were higher among women, low-income groups, individuals with low education levels, and so forth. The clinical depression group was also higher among individuals who were not economically active, did not have private health insurance, or had multiple chronic diseases. The number of outpatient department visits in the depression group was significantly higher than in the non-depressed group. In addition, the number of outpatient department visits for the clinical depression group was significantly higher than that for the daily depression group. Outpatient medical expenses were higher in the depression group than in the non-depressed group, and there was no significant difference between the clinical depression group and the daily depression group. Conclusion: Health care utilization was higher in the depression group than the non-depressed group, it was also higher in the clinical depression group than the daily depression group.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.104-119
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• 2024

The burden of medical expenses and the loss of social capital due to chronic diseases are becoming problems worldwide, and comprehensive and inclusive measures across various fields are required to prevent and manage their impacts. Social prescriptions have been shown to be effective in resolving the fundamental causes of health problems in patients with chronic diseases and in supporting existing treatments. In particular, green prescriptions that utilize the healing effects of nature and green spaces based on social prescriptions are being introduced in many countries overseas. Green prescription is the practice of a healthcare provider recommending activities in green spaces or experiences in the natural environment to patients for the prevention and management of chronic diseases. This study analyzed cases focusing on the policy system, the cases of the United Kingdom and the United States, which have introduced and operated green prescriptions under a national system. For this purpose, this study compared the background of green prescription introduction, related policies, and operation methods. Based on this, four implications were proposed to establish an effective plan for introducing green prescriptions in Korea. First, prior to establishing a policy for green prescriptions, interest in and research on green prescriptions are essential. Second, an implementation plan that fits the national health care system should be established, and policies should support the plan. Third, the introduction of green prescriptions from a long-term and gradual perspective is required. Fourth, comprehensive cooperation is required for the introduction and implementation of the green prescription system. This study can be used as basic data for discussion before introducing green prescriptions in Korea in the future.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.213-233
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• 1996

This study was made on 274 apoplectics patients who received the rehabilitation therapy and tests on physical, psychological and social adaptations as outpatients in 23 general hospitals in the Seoul and Kyungi area. The basic data on degree of improvement of apoplectic patients studied from rehabilitation therapy. Data was collected over a period of 63 days, from February 21st till April, 23, 1996. The assigned physical therapist conducted direct interviews with patients after he answered the distributed questionnaires for each individual patient. The colleted data was processed by the $SPCC/C^+$ method. The results of the tests conducted to meascne the the degree of ADL dependency, depression and social activity corresponding to the physical, psychological, and social adaptation. The details are ; 1) The test to meascne the degree of ADL dependency, corresponding to the study of physical adaptation of CVA patients, indicated a mean score of 2.57(ideal score is 1.0) with a standard deviation of ${\pm}0.75$. The worst score was 3.95 while the best score was a perfect 1.0, representing a severe range of dependency. The distribution was centered with a median of 2.65 and a mode of 2.68. 2) The test to meascne the degree of depression which corresponds to the level of psychological adaptation yielded a mean of 2.99 which is higher than the normal limit of 2.45. The standard deviation was ${\pm}0.52$ and the worst score and the best score were 4.35 and Respectirdy. The distribution was centered with a median of 3.00 and a mode of 3.00. 3) The test to meascne the degree of social activities for the level of social adaptation indicated a very low mean score of 26.52 (perfect score is 144), with the standard deviation of ${\pm}16.23$. Some patients scored as high as 100, but others scored as low as 3. The distribution of social activities at a very low level was shifted to the left with a median of 24.00 and a mode of 20.00. 4) Factors influencing the level of physical, psychological and social adaptation are as follows : Factors significantly influencing the level of physical adaptation measured by ADL dependency are age, personal guardian, payer of medical expenses, and paralysis of the right arm, right leg and facial paralysis. Factors significantly influencing the level of psychological adaptation measured by the degree of depression, are age, marital status, education, medical history of individual and family, speech impediment, and facial paralysis. Factors significantly influencing the level of social adaptation measured by the degree of social activity are age, marital status, education, employment status, and the burden of medical expense. 5) The Corelationship is significant(9.00), between ADL dependeing as degree of physical adaptation and depreseion as degree of psychologial adaptation. ADL dependency is proportional to depression. But social activity is inversely protional to ADL dependeny and depression. In conclusion, the increased care for physical function of the patients is not the only necessary means to better facilitate the appropriate adaptation of CVA patients. The introduction of a solid rehabilitation program for psychological and social adaptation will also play the integral part of the treatment of CVA patients.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.33-54
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• 1981

The purposes of this study were to determine the relevant nursing needs of patients following discharge; to identify the degree of their nursing needs; to identify types and status of discharge order and information given to patients; and to determine their specific nursing needs according to their diagnosis. In addition, opinions toward home care services provided by hospitals or by public health nurses and appointment plans with their physicians were also asked in order to determine the necessity of follow-up care for the patient after discharge. Nine hundred and eighty eight subjects were collected among patients being discharged from one national university hospital and four city hospitals. Data were collected from June,1979 to December,1979 using questionnaires and interviews. On the bases of these data the following findings were observed; 1) Almost 40 percents of total subjects discharged from the hospital with some or great degree of nursing needs in general. The most problematic nursing needs were needs for comfort which include needs for releaving pain, for sound sleep and rest, because these needs can only be met by professional help. More than 50% of total subjects have this problem. 2) Needs for mental health, general metabolism, general hygiene and activities and safety were observed in more than 20 percent of subjects. 3) Discharge orders on diet and oral medication were recorded in patients' charts in 70% of all cases. However, more than fifty percents of patients have not been told these information from doctors or nurses. Even though some of them might have had appointment plans with their physicians, they would not keep the appointments unless they completely understood the necessity of the follow-up care. If they have not had any appointment or would not visit the out-patient clinic, there is no method of caring them and prerenting funther discomfort or complications. Even in injection, ski care, dressing and bath, only one thirds of the subjects having recorded discharge orders understood what they need after discharge. The rest of cases have not known what to do for their further care. 4) More than 80 percents and 70 percents of total subjects agreed to a system of home care services provided by hospitals or public health nurses respectively. That is, regardless of sources of medical expenses, most of patients wanted to be taken care of at home following discharge. 5) While more than half of the patients having benefit of medical insurance or paying fully by themselves had appointment plans with their physicians, only one thirds of the patients fully or partially paid by government had appointment plans with their physicians. These results ex-plain that the appointment plan is directly associated with their economic power. This indicates that the home care services are more needed to the people with lower economical status. 6) Those who have been in the hospital more than 24 days wanted !o have home care services more than those who had less hospital days. They also had more appointment plans than other groups. 7) More than 70 percents of the subjects who had been in a university hospital and approximately 30 percents of the subjects in the city hospitals had appointment plans with their physicians. 8) Those who had the cerebrovascular disease, cancer or hypertension demanded more nursing needs such as needs for comfort, for general metabolism and for mental health. 9) Factors which were associated with the degree of patients' nursing needs were age, duration of hospitalization, opinion toward home care services given by public health nurses, hospital appointments and types of hospital. That is, the older they were and the longer the periods of hospitalization were, the higher were their nursing needs. The more they had nursing needs, the more they wanted to have nursing services and had appointment plans. It can be concluded that there is a great demand for a positive and systematic home care services to the people who have been discharged from hospitals following critical care. This program is definitely demanded for the low income groups of people with less education with the financial assistance of the government or other funding agencies.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.87-111
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• 1998

For the newly approach of policy with the old aged era at hand, the result which examines the 1,200 students attending professional colleges and upward in three small-to-medium sized cities, for two months, from October 1, 1996 to November 30, in order to know the change of consciousness of the growing modern young intellectual age group is as follows. 1. The objects of survey consist of 72.1% of women, 40.4% of 20 to 21 age, 49.1% of atheists, and people from big cities and fishing and agrarian village occupy equally 40.2%. Concerning the long-termed residents, 49% of them dwell in big cities. In case of the parents' age is more than 55, 31.5% in fathers, and 10.9% in mothers. 2. The types of housing in which they desire to reside in their getting older are : 72.8% of them hope to live in individual houses, 16.6% in apartments or villas, and 3.4% in social welfare facilities. Out of respondents, compared with other groups, man rather than woman, those who are 20 to 21 age group and from fishing and agrarian villages and have over 7 family members and live with their parents have a higher preference for independent houses. 3. The districts in which they hope to live when they are old are : 41.6% of them, with the highest percent, hope to live in farming villages, the older they are, the more they hope to live in agricultural district, and women of 21 years and upward hope to live in big cities. On the other hand, the preferable degree for social welfare facilities is higher each in people who are 24 years and upward, buddhists, self-boarding students, and the more poorly they are off, the higher the percent is. 4. The types of preferable welfare facilities for the elderly are : 58.2% of them think silver towns desirable, 28.4% think the charged (or free) elderly welfare facilities. Compared with other groups, the percentage which prefer silver towns is higher in women, people from big cities, residents of main family, long-termed city residents, people with higher income, people having grandparents alive, and people who had experience of taking lectures on hygienics or social welfare. 5. 50.3% of the respondents insist that provision of living expenses against old age should be insured by social security system, and 42.8% by the elderly themselves. The percentage of the former shows higher in people of 21 years and upward, women, residents of fishing and agrarian villages, christians, people in more needy circumstances and people who have experience of using a medical institution. 6. Compared with other nations, 54.5% of the respondents have an opinion that elderly welfare and welfare work in Korea stays in insufficient level and most of them are women, people from farming village, residents of head family, people having younger parents and people being worse health condition, and they have a more positive attitude about the elderly welfare work. 7. 92.3% of the respondents answered that a national budget for the elderly welfare is scarce, and the percentage is higher in people who are older, residents of big cities, people in lower living condition and people in worse health condition. 8. 35.2% of the respondents answered that the proper cost of their old age must be over 220mi11ion. The more a family's total income is, the higher the percentage is. 9. The factors which have an effect on the preference of silver towns are sex(p<0.01, the type of the present residence(p<0.05), and a family's total income(p<0.05). 10. From the survey result of the above, we comes to the conclusion that, for the sake of welfare of the increasing elderly population, government authorities and parties concerned must exert their utmost for the elderly welfare by increasing a budget of it and establishing a number of facilities of the elderly welfare and silver towns located in fresh and comfortable villages. In addition, they have to set up a course of hygienics in all the colleges and instruct the contexts on hygienic welfare as well.