• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.118-125
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the blood pressure reducing effect of Qi-Ju-Di-Huang-Wan (QJDHW) in adults with essential hypertension by using methods of systemic review and meta-analysis. Major search engines, such as PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, CNKI, CiNii, J-STAGE, KISS, NDSL, RISS, OASIS, DBpia and so on, were used. The search period we used is from the start date of the search engine to October 30, 2016 and no language limits were placed. Randomized controlled trials using QJDHW in adults with essential hypertension were searched and extracted by two independent researchers. Meta-analysis was performed on outcome variables of the total effective rate (TER), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Risk of bias (RoB) of Cochrane was used to assess methodological quality. Thirteen studies were finally selected. We observed that the combined treatment of QJDHW and antihypertensive drug had 3.6 times the odds ratio of TER for blood pressure lowering than a single use of an antihypertensive drug. Additionally, mean differences of SBP and DBP were -8.88 mmHg (95% Confidential Interval (CI) -12.77 mmHg, -5.00 mmHg, P<0.00001), -7.09 mmHg (95% CI -9.93, -4.25, P <0.00001), respectively. Single use of QJDHW did not reduce blood pressure more than an antihypertensive drug. All items of RoB were unclear and the methodological quality was low. Our analysis suggests that the combination of QJDHW and antihypertensive drugs may be more effective in reducing blood pressure than a single antihypertensive drug. But due to low methodological quality, careful interpretation will be needed and systematic long-term clinical trials will be required.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.151-170
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• 2007

Backgraounds : Recent studies provide the evidences that the efficacy of acupuncture may be no better than placebo or inconclusive. These results are very different from those of the actual clinical situations in many acupuncture medical institutions. Objectives : The present study was designed to evaluate the influencing factors which affect the efficacy of acupuncture scale(FEAS) as the methodological assessment tool of acupuncture for examining acupuncture interventions and to demonstrate the importance of it in randomized controlled trials of acupuncture. Data sources : Electronic data were retrieved from NDSL, Pubmed, sciencedirect, LWW, OVID, Black-Well Synergy, Wiley Interscience, EBSCO HOST, springer, PML, and Kluwer. No electronic data were collected from MEDLIS and MEDLAS. Study selection : The inclusion criteria were five systematic reviews included in Alberta study and all randomized controlled trials obtained from their references. Study analysis : The acupuncture rationale, methods of stimulation, treatment regimen, and the practitioner's background were rated by FEAS, and the scores were compared with those by other methodological assessment tools. Results : The number of positive conclusions of high-rank RCTs by FEAS was the same as or higher than that of high-rank RCTs by other methodological assessment tools. Conclusions : We have analysed 5 systematic reviews and their objectives 58 RCTs using FEAS. Practitioner's background has been described slightly in some reviews and studies. It may directly influence the effectiveness of acupuncture negatively in the systematic reviews.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.121-140
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• 2018

Objectives This research was aimed to analyze and assess the articles of qualitative research of Pediatrics by following Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ). Methods Two researchers analyzed and assessed the reports' quality and appropriateness based on COREQ guideline. The articles that failed to achieve consensus from the two researchers, the third researcher made a final decision. Results A total of fifty-six reports which used caregivers as participants, were selected and adopted qualitative research methods were chosen. In most qualitative studies, COREQ was not implemented. Some parts of the studies were poorly described and elaborated when reviewing them based on the COREQ guidelines. In the 'Research team and reflexivity', there was lack of description about the researcher. In the 'Study design', there were no detailed descriptions on the approaches they took in recruiting their study participants. There was not enough detail reflexivity participants who refused, and where the recruitment took place. There were also no records of whether there was a pilot test or a data saturation. In 'Analysis and findings' section, there were few articles mentioning Participant checking, and the main opinion of the participants were well analyzed in all the papers, but excluding opinions of few participants. Conclusions There are still many qualitative studies that have caregivers as participants, in the field of pediatrics. However, methodological skills are insufficient. The use of the COREQ guidelines should be further implemented for more robust and methodological improvement.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 1997

Kim, Bong-won * · Kim, Yoo-ill *1 Dept. of Landscape Architecture, Sungkyunkwan Univ. ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Quality of Life with a sample set collected from 37F residents in Seoul Metropolitan's countryside. Collected data were analyzed by means of regression analysis. Research results indicated that the predictors of Quality of Life had a relationship with'job satisfaction','self satisfaction','residential satisfaction','income satisfaction'and other variables(Ra= .48). The residents who strongly satisfied with those variables were likely to satisfy with their life. Also, the existence of toyon office and the educational level emerged as a significant factors for the life satisfaction. This means that the residents located at toyon office or educated higher level satisfied more on their life. Thus the personal characteristics and environmental attributes played a basic role on the life satisfaction. Implications for future research are discussed, and methodological and analytical weaknesses of this study are identified.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.257-265
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• 2000

The purpose of this research is to bring out some practical issues of housing studies prblished by Home Economics researchers since 1980. There were 299 articles related to housing in three major journals such as Journal of the Korean one Economics Association Journal of Korean Home Management Association and Housing Research Journal. It has been remarkable progress in terms of the quality as well as the number of articles during 20 years. However this study could be brought out some research issues in the methodological and theoretical aspects to improve the applicability of housing studies to dedicate family life and housing policies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2017

The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is a widely used generic measure for assessing quality of hospital care in many countries. However, the validity of HSMR as a quality indicator is still controversial. We critically reviewed characteristics of HSMR and suggested how to use HSMR as a quality indicator in the Korean setting. The association between HSMR and other quality measures of hospital care is inconclusive. In addition current HSMR model has shortcomings in risk adjustment because of the lack of clinical data, accuracy of disease coding, coding variation among hospitals, end-of-life care issues, and so on. Therefore, HSMR should be used as an indicator for improvement, not for judgement such as public reporting and pay-for-performance. More efforts will be needed to tackle practical and methodological weaknesses of HSMR in the Korean setting.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.474-482
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• 2008

Purpose: The purposes of this study were; 1) to test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of Rantz's Observable Indicators of Nursing Home Care Quality Instrument (ONHQ) and 2) to evaluate the quality of Korean nursing homes. Methods: The study employed a three-phase methodological research design. 1) The original instrument of Rantz's. ONHQ was translated into Korean and modified by Korean nursing home experts. 2) A pilot study using the modified instrument was done in 20 nursing homes to examine inter-rater reliability. 3) The validity and reliability were tested.in 98 nursing homes. Results: Seven factors were extracted through factor analysis: 'communication', 'care delivery', 'grooming', 'odor, 'environment-basics', 'environment-access', and 'environment-homelike'. These factors explained 86.07% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the 30 items was .97 indicating a high internal consistency of the instrument. Inter-rater reliability according to Kappa was .82. The average score of nursing home quality was 112.07 indicating an average range of quality level. Conclusion: The Korean version of the ONHQ was identified as a tool with a high degree of validity and reliability. This tool can be effectively used to assess the quality of nursing homes by professions as well as family members.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of patient education interventions on distress, self-care knowledge and self-care behavior in cancer patients. Methods: A total of 1,102 studies were retrieved from 6 electronic databases in Korea. From these studies, 18 studies met the inclusion criteria with a total of 850 participants. Two authors independently assessed the methodological quality by Cochrane's Risk of Bias and Methodological Items for Non Randomized Studies. The data were analyzed by the RevMan 5.1 program of Cochrane library. Results: Overall effect size of education interventions on anxiety was -2.12 (95% CI:-3.90, -0.34) (p<.001). The effects on self-care knowledge and self care behavior were -1.08 (95% CI:-1.73, -0.43) (p=.001), and -1.41 (95% CI:-2.13, -0.68) (p<.001), respectively. Publication bias was detected as evaluated by funnel plot, but the fail-safe number was moderate. Conclusion: This study suggests that patient education interventions can relieve anxiety and self-care. Further randomized controlled trials studies are needed to evaluate the effects of patient education intervention on depression.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.566-570
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• 2010

This review was conducted to investigate clinical trial trend, clinical effect, and study methods of forest healing. Literature search was performed using the search engines of eight electronic databases from inception to march 2010 without language limitation. The search terms were "forest healing", "forest experience", "forest therapy", "forest treatment", "clinical trial", and "clinical study". Inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) among all kinds of study searched about forest healing. Selection literature and data extraction was performed by authors(SH Sun and SG Lee) independently. Total three studies were selected finally. The methodological quality in all study was low because of poor reporting. Study indications were metal health, depression, self-esteem, and stress. The scale of studies was very small, which was the level of pilot study. There were no description for obtaining informed consent and being reviewed by Institutional Review Board (IRB), and could be any problems for statistical method in any studies. It is difficult to accept the fact that each studies had the significant effect for study indications in the results of studies. It is concluded that the evidence that health healing have a significant effect is insufficient. Further systematic and methodological study and well-designed clinical trial will be needed.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.82-93
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to provide a systematic review of the evidence from controlled trials regarding nursing intervention studies on patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, a discussion of the methodological problems that limit current research, and suggestions regarding future directions for research. Methods: Using a predefined protocol, 27 electronic databases were searched, studies selected, relevant data extracted, and the methodological quality of the studies assessed. Results: Twenty-seven studies were found reporting complex, generally heterogeneous interventions. The studies reported positive results, including self-efficacy, knowledge, and self-care. There were 6 randomized controlled trials, 19 quasi-experimental studies, and 2 only research group studies. In addition to support components, the interventions included elements of teaching, counseling, and education. Nursing interventions are still in the developmental and testing phase. Conclusion: The review demonstrated that a great deal is known about nursing intervention, the impact on a range of outcomes, and methodology. Although some useful evidence was reported for all interventions, further research needs to be carried out.