• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.131-141
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• 2001

Purpose: This study were carried out to investigate the difference employment characteristics and job satisfactions by gender and to explore the influences of demographic status and employment characteristics on job satisfaction. Method: Social statistics survey data collected by Ministry of Statistics in 1998 were used for the secondary analysis in the study. Job satisfaction was measured by questionnaire which were consisted in 12 items such as task, promotion, placement, wage, benefits, future in the work, working environment, human relationship, working hours. Result: The results show that more than 50% of women were working as a part-time employees. Their education level were lower than men. Women workers were unmarried at higher percents than men. Men were showed more satisfaction significantly in their job than women. Men also had higher job satisfaction with work task, promotion, placement, and human relation. Women had shown higher job satisfaction with wage, working environment, and employer-employee relationship. Employment status had the most important factor on the job satisfaction. And, living status satisfaction, education, age, occupation, marital status, employment status and sex were significant for the job satisfaction. 33.34% of the variance in the job satisfaction were accounted for by these variables. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there were difference of job satisfaction between gender and employment status was the most predictive factors on the job satisfaction. Women had more unstable employment status such as part-time, employment on probation, or family employer without wage than men. Stability of employment could be considered as a strategy for enhancing job satisfaction for women.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.112-120
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of interpersonal attitude (I+, I-, U+, U-) on communication competence in care workers for frail elderly. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey. The data were collected from 153 care workers for frail elderly using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN 20.0 program. Results: The interpersonal attitude style of subjects was I+U+, and the score of communication competence was 3.53. There were significant differences in interpersonal attitude (I+, I-), and communication competence depending on age, education level, experience of personality type test (yes). Factors influencing on communication competence in care workers were interpersonal attitude (I+, I-, U+) and experience of personality type test with $R^2$ value of 48.5% (F=23.47 p<.001). The most influencing factor was I+ (${\beta}$=.36), followed by I- (${\beta}$=-.22), U+ (${\beta}$=.20), and experience of personality type test (yes) (${\beta}$=.16). Conclusion: It is needed to maintain the interpersonal attitude style (I+U+) of care workers. Continuing education program is needed for increasing communication competence especially for those fifties and over, and experienced care workers. Giving an opportunity for personality test is helpful to increase communication competence in care workers.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.218-226
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• 2017

Purpose: The study aimed to determine the impact of post-traumatic stress and ways of stress coping on problem drinking in firefighters. Methods: Data were collected from May 11 to June 11, 2015, in fire brigades across South Korea. Participants were 183 male firefighters who used self-report questionnaires containing questions from the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Ways of Coping Checklist (WCC), and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Data were analyzed using $x^2$ test, t-test, and logistic regression with the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: The prevalence of PTSD among firefighters was 36.7% and that of problem drinking was 39.3%. Firefighters with single (OR=0.23, 95% CI=0.038~1.321) and married status (OR=0.46, 95% CI=0.069~3.040) were less likely to have problem drinking than those who were divorced or bereavement. Those with invasion symptoms (OR=1.17, 95% CI=1.031~1.327) and hyperarousal symptoms (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.722~0.989) were more likely to have problem drinking than those with avoidance symptoms. Conclusion: Post-traumatic stress symptom was a major risk factor that increased problem drinking, and married status reduced problem drinking. There is a need to develop post-traumatic stress symptom management program and early education content for symptom management.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.69-88
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• 2020

There has been an increasing attention to social diversity within communities. Previous studies suggest that social diversity is positively related to social trust and social capital that are intimately related to quality of life. Because of the controversy on social segregation that is an opposite concept of social diversity and is a factor negatively affecting quality of life, more studies on the association between social diversity and quality of life should be undertaken. This study employs a multilevel model to examine the association between social capital and quality of life. We analyzed the association using both the pooled sample and samples splitted based on social class. The empirical result shows that the occupational diversity positively affects quality of life while the income diversity negatively affects quality of life. These results provide useful policy implications for setting urban policy directions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.84-95
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• 2020

Wearing ease is a critical factor when designing special uniforms such as flight pilot's garment and should reflect occupational properties for better performance. This study measured skin surface on 31 areas in seven postures that refer to the pilot's occupational postures as well as made six prediction models including linear mixed model (LMM) for each body part to find the best fit model. Skin surface measured from 3D body scanned images of 11 male pilot participants. There were significantly positive and negative changes in various areas from standing posture (P1) to dynamic postures (P2-P7). Six models were designed in various compositions using stature and chest circumference as fixed effects and subject and posture as random effects. The best models were linear mixed models with one fixed effect (chest circumference or stature, varies with body parts) and two random effects (subject and posture). The results of this study provide reference data to set wearing ease for pilot's garment and suggests a new methodology in this research area, but verifying the effect of diverse independent variables is left for future studies.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2007

It has been recognized that safety management is activated during the construction phase to prevent accidents and fatalities of workers. However, It is revealed that about 15% of fatal death accidents is caused by the lack of management of planning and design phases. There is a crucial need of assessing safety risk during building design phase. This paper is aimed to develop a safety risk assessment checklist that can be used during building design phase, utilizing the concept of Design for Safety. In doing so, a broad literature survey on safety management of building Process, various safety risk assessment toolboxes being utilized in the HSE and the BAA of UK. The proposed checklist contains the followings: 1) classification structure for safety design on space, element, and trade work 2) hazard risk factor, probability and degree of intensity of accident occurrence, and 3) safety assessment criteria. It is expected that the checklist would be an effective tool of preventing and minimizing fatal accidents of building construction projects.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.287-293
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• 2012

Objectives: Metabolic syndrome has received attention as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, with particular importance attached to visceral fat accumulation, which is associated with lifestyle-related diseases and is strongly correlated with waist circumference. In this study, our aim is to propose waist circumference cut-off values that can be used as a marker for fatty liver based on a sample of workers receiving health checkups in Japan. Methods: This study was conducted in a total of 21,866 workers who underwent periodic health checkups between January 2007 and December 2007. The mean age of the subjects was 47.4 years for men (standard deviation [SD]: 8.0) and 44.7 years for women (SD: 6.9). Evaluation included abdominal ultrasound and measurement of waist circumference, body mass index, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and blood pressure. Results: Based on receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the optimal waist circumference cut-off values were shown as 85.0 cm (sensitivity 0.72, specificity 0.69) for men and 80.0 cm (sensitivity 0.75, specificity 0.78) for women. Conclusion: Abdominal ultrasound is the most efficient means of diagnosing fatty liver, but this examination seldom occurs because the test is not routinely performed at workers' health checkups. In people found to have a high risk of fatty liver, recommendations can be made for abdominal ultrasound based on the waist circumference cut-off values obtained in this study. That is, waist circumference can be used in high risk individuals as an effective marker for early detection of fatty liver.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.192-202
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• 2018

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are accumulative disorders that are most frequently found in agricultural farmers. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect symptoms resulting from work-related musculoskeletal disorders among Cambodian farm workers working in fruit plantations in the eastern region of Thailand. Methods: The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment, and Hazard Zone Jobs Checklist techniques were used to interview 861 farmers who participated in the study. Results: The data showed that men who had been working for >10 years were more at risk of neck pain than those working for <1 year with adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.90, 14.5). Among women those who had been working for >10 years experienced lower back pain with aOR 8.13, 95% CI (1.04, 63.74), compared with those who had been working for <1 year. Men whose tasks required raising the arms above shoulder height had a risk factor contributing to neck pain of aOR 1.68, 95% CI (1.08, 2.61) when compared with those who did not work with this posture, and women had aOR 1.82, 95% CI (1.07, 3.12) when compared with those who did not work with this posture. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that work-related health conditions are monitored in migrant plantation workers to reduce the risks of musculoskeletal disorders.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2014

Background: In Japan, more than 60% of employees are reported to suffer from anxiety and stress. Consequently, Japanese society has begun to address such important issues as psychogenic disability and job-related suicide. Furthermore, given the aging of society and the surge in the number of elderly people requiring care, it is necessary to adequately and proactively support employees who care for their elderly relatives. The purpose of the present study was to investigate caregiver burden in caring for elderly relatives and work-related stress factors associated with mental health among employees. Methods: We studied 722 men and women aged 18-83 years in a cross-sectional study. The K10 questionnaire was used to examine mental health status. Results: The proportion of participants with a high K10 score was 15% (n = 106). Having little conversation with their supervisor and/or coworkers significantly increased the risk of depression [odds ratio (OR) 1.8], as did high job overload (OR 2.7) and job dissatisfaction (OR 3.8), compared with employees who frequently conversed with their supervisor and/or coworkers. Caring for elderly relatives as a prominent characteristic of an employee was a significant risk factor for depression (OR 2.1). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that employees who were caring for elderly relatives were significantly associated with an increased risk of depression. To prevent depressive disorders, it may be important to focus on reducing the work-caregiving role conflict, as well as enhancing employees' job control and better rewarding their efforts in the workplace.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2014

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common work-related peripheral neuropathy. In addition to grip force and repetitive hand exertions, wrist posture (hyperextension and hyperflexion) may be a risk factor for CTS among workers. However, findings of studies evaluating the relationship between wrist posture and CTS are inconsistent. The purpose of this paper was to conduct a meta-analysis of existing studies to evaluate the evidence of the relationship between wrist posture at work and risk of CTS. Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched to identify relevant studies published between 1980 and 2012. The following search terms were used: "work related", "carpal tunnel syndrome", "wrist posture", and "epidemiology". The studies defined wrist posture as the deviation of the wrist in extension or flexion from a neutral wrist posture. Relative risk (RR) of individual studies for postural risk was pooled to evaluate the overall risk of wrist posture on CTS. Results: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. All were cross-sectional or case-control designs and relied on self-report or observer's estimates for wrist posture assessment. The pooled RR of work-related CTS increased with increasing hours of exposure to wrist deviation or extension/flexion [RR = 2.01; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.646-2.43; p < 0.01: Shore-adjusted 95% CI: 1.32-2.97]. Conclusion: We found evidence that prolonged exposure to non-neutral wrist postures is associated with a twofold increased risk for CTS compared with low hours of exposure to non-neutral wrist postures. Workplace interventions to prevent CTS should incorporate training and engineering interventions that reduce sustained non-neutral wrist postures.