• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.71-96
• /
• 2011

Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.241-252
• /
• 2004

Purpose: Population based structural and functional maps of the brain provide effective tools for the analysis and interpretation of complex and individually variable brain data. Brain MRI and PET standard templates and statistical probabilistic maps based on image data of Korean normal volunteers have been developed and probabilistic maps based on cytoarchitectonic data have been introduced. A quantification method using these data was developed for the objective assessment of regional intensity in the brain images. Materials and Methods: Age, gender and ethnic specific anatomical and functional brain templates based on MR and PET images of Korean normal volunteers were developed. Korean structural probabilistic maps for 89 brain regions and cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps for 13 Brodmann areas were transformed onto the standard templates. Brain FDG PET and SPGR MR images of normal volunteers were spatially normalized onto the template of each modality and gender. Regional uptake of radiotracers in PET and gray matter concentration in MR images were then quantified by averaging (or summing) regional intensities weighted using the probabilistic maps of brain regions. Regionally specific effects of aging on glucose metabolism in cingulate cortex were also examined. Results: Quantification program could generate quantification results for single spatially normalized images per 20 seconds. Glucose metabolism change in cingulate gyrus was regionally specific: ratios of glucose metabolism in the rostral anterior cingulate vs. posterior cingulate and the caudal anterior cingulate vs. posterior cingulate were significantly decreased as the age increased. 'Rostral anterior'/'posterior' was decreased by 3.1% per decade of age ($P<10^{-11}$, r=0.81) and 'caudal anterior'/'posterior' was decreased by 1.7% ($P<10^{-8}$, r=0.72). Conclusion: Ethnic specific standard templates and probabilistic maps and quantification program developed in this study will be useful for the analysis of brain image of Korean people since the difference in shape of the hemispheres and the sulcal pattern of brain relative to age, gender, races, and diseases cannot be fully overcome by the nonlinear spatial normalization techniques.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.259-266
• /
• 2018

In today's society, where people look younger than their chronological age due to improvements in the quality of life, there is a gaining interest in anti-aging and how people compare to those in the same age group. We evaluated the wrinkle index, which is the most important attribute amongst skin parameters, to evaluate external age (wrinkle age). The wrinkles of the whole face were scored by divided 8 areas (forehead, glabella, nasal root, upper eyelid, lower eyelid, crow's feet, nasolabial groove and perioral skin) and analyzed the correlation between chronological age and skin parameters. 206 subjects (Korean female, n = 105 and Mongolians female, n = 101) were enrolled. Subjects were divided into four groups by ages: 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Wrinkle scores of 8 areas were evaluated and developed a calculation formula based on the wrinkle scores. Skin characteristic parameters were measured about skin elasticity, pore, wrinkle, sebum secretion. There was no difference between the calculated ages and the chronological ages in Korean women. On the other hand, Mongolian looked older than chronological age by 9 years. The correlation between the facial wrinkle ages and skin physiology parameters was presented in the order of skin elasticity > pore or crow's feet > skin tone > sebum secretion in both countries. Skin elasticity represented the most related parameter with the facial wrinkle ages. This study identified the skin wrinkle patterns of Korean and Mongolian women and the wrinkle age calculation formula developed from this study can be used as a tool for calculating the facial wrinkle ages in cosmetic studies.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.20 no.1 s.21
• /
• pp.147-157
• /
• 1987

Authors obtained the results of the investigation for healthy people through the routine health examination of public officers and school personnels in private schools which were conducted in 1986. The results were as follows; 1) Those who were above 20% incidence of body weight for 3917 study population were revealed 5.2% in males and 15.1% in females of $45{\sim}49$ years of age, 6.8% in males and 24,4% in females of $50{\sim}54$ years old, 5.8% in males and 13.5% in females of $55{\sim}59$ years old, and they showed that the incidences were significantly higher in females than in males at 0.01, 0.01 & 0.05 in P-values respectively. 2) Mean$\pm$SD of total cholesterol level for 3,265 healthy people with both sexes combined showed $181.63{\pm}34.67$ and it was $188.61{\pm}33.96$ in people of $40{\sim}59$ years old with both sexes combined. Mean$\pm$SD of fasting blood sugar level for 3,266 healthy people showed $87.28{\pm}11.67$ and that in $40{\sim}59$ years of age were $89.14{\pm}11.74$. Therefore, mean$\pm$2SD of total cholesterol and fasting blood sugar were $112.26{\sim}250.98mg/dl$ in males and $58.93{\sim}110.61mg/dl$ in females. 3) This investigation showed 3.0% in above 251 mg/dl of total cholesterol and 3.5% in above 111 mg/dl of fasting blood glucose. 4) Those who were above 251 mg/dl of total cholesterol and above 111 mg/dl of blood glucose in above 20% incidence of body weight according to the Broca' index were 12.9% and 7.6% respectively. 5) Those who have hypertension according to the criteria of WHO with obesity of above 20% incidence of body weight showed 8.4% in both sexes (8.2% in males and 8.7% in females). 6) Blood pressures increased according to more aging and gaining body weight.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.354-377
• /
• 2002

Aging population is a global trend and Korea is no exception. Due to the progress of the medical and scientific sectors, increase in the average lifetime incurred increase in the number of elderly people. Meanwhile, the family function of supporting the elderly has become a major issue in a society due to the changes in the society's structure and increased entry of the women into the workforce. As a means to substitute the protection of the elderly who are not protected at their respective homes and to replace the tending needs, weekly protection centers and short-stay centers for the elderly were established and operated in Seoul since 1992. However, structured and satisfactory services are not yet to be provided, thus this research intends to understand the current situation at the short-stay centers for the elderly, to identify users' characteristics and to conduct study on nursing need for the health reasons so that the results of the research can be utilized as basic data for the development of nursing care program. Towards this end, this research targeted 142 elderly people who were undergoing treatment at the 11 short-stay centers for the elderly out of total of 13 located in Seoul that were willing to cooperate. The research was conducted from April to May 2002, with the measurement tool developed by Rhee, Seon-ja (2001) to measure the level of nursing need. Then data was collected and analyzed using SPSS program. The results are as follows. The general characteristics of users of the short-stay centers for the elderly were: 123 females $(86.6\%)$, 19 males $(13.4\%)$ and 72 elderly were over the age of 80 $(50.7\%)$. Among these, 24$(16.9\%)$ were living by themselves. Among the illnesses that the subjects were inflicted with were: dementia $(54.2\%)$, stroke $(54.1\%)$ and high blood pressure $(50.7\%)$, in the respective order. Despite the fact that they were diagnosed with illnesses, $47.2\%$ responded that they do not undergo special treatment due to financial reasons. When the level of needs for nursing care among the elderly who use the short-stay centers is divided into informational. physical. and emotional need levels and scored between zero to two, the level of emotional need is the highest with 1.80, followed by physical (1.45) and informational (1.44) need levels. As for the realities of services at the centers and improvement areas, restriction on term was cited as the greatest inconvenience with $38.7\%$, followed by lack of budget (24 respondents, $16.9\%$). Wishful services were financial assistance $(46.5\%)$, medical and nursing services $(40.1\%)$, meal provision service $(8.5\%)$ and counseling service $(4.9\%)$, in the respective order. Based on the above mentioned results, the research identified the need to develop nursing program for the patients of dementia that can be applied onto the short-stay centers and the need to develop volunteer service, backed by societal support. Also, placement of specialized cadre of professionals is needed so that medical and nursing service functions can be provided in a complementary manner.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.776-790
• /
• 2000

Every year the number of the elderly increases in Korea thanks to the improvemen of social and economical levels and the development of medicine. However, many problems such as insufficent care and the isolation of the elderly have been commonplace. This trend exists not only because of increased lifespan but also the changing social structure of the nuclear family. Accordingly, inspite of the development of medicine, geriatric diseases including circulatory diseases are increasing in proportion of elderly population, as well as the severity. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that health care programs provide the best possible health care and functional capacities in terms of healthy elderly lifestyles. Especially, the phenomena of aging and geriatric diseases taking place with the elderly naturally are affected by lifestyle and the drastic changes in exercise patterns. This study aims to improve geriatric health by introducing a rhythmic movement program for the elderly to estabilish a health-promoting self-care system and by developing quality of life, perceived health status, their physical and physiological functions and emotional state. The theoretical framework used in this dissertation is derived from the Health-Promoting Self-Care System Model (Simmons, 1990), which integrates the Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (Orem, 1985), the interaction model of Client Health Behavior (Cox, 1982) and the Health Promotion Model (Pender, 1987). As a quasi-experimental design, the nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design is utilized for this study. The subjects of this study consist of 64 people, over 65 years old who live in 2 nursing homes for the aged located in S city , Kyong-gi province and volunteered for this study from July, 12, 1999 to September, 17, 1999. They are divided into two groups：33 in the experimental group and 31 in the control group. The experimental group particpated in the Rhythmic Movement Program at the nursing home, which was comprised of 45 minutes a session, 5 sessions a week during 9 weeks. In order to measure the results of the Rhythmic Movement Program, aspects of perceived health status, balance, flexibility, grip strength, leg strength, heart rate, blood pressure, depression, anxiety and the quality of life were measured before and after participating in the Rhythimic Movement Program for the experimental group after 9 weeks, as well as the control group. The collected data were processed by SPSS PC+ and analyzed by the X2 test, t-test, ANCOVA and the Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The perceived health status conditions in the experimental group show statistically significant improvement when compared to the control group (F=17.51, p=.000). 2. The physical and physiological functions, that is, balance (F=17.51, p=.000), flexibility (F=8.01, p=.006), grip strength (F=3.21, p=.018) and leg strength (F=25.78, p=.000) in the experimental group are higher than the control group. The vital signs, that is, the number of heart rate (F=.022, p=.884), systolic pressure (F=1.73 p=.193), and diastolic pressure (F=2.74, p=.103) in the experimental group compared to the control group decreased, but doesn't show statistically significant differences. Immune responses (F=5.13, p=.003) showed statistically significant increases in the experimental group when compared to the control group. 3. The emotional state are improved, that is, degree of depression (F=11.56, p=.001) and degree of anxiety (F=9.14, p=.004) in the experimental group showed statistically significant decreases. 4. The quality of life in the experimental group (F=3.03, p=.037) showed statistically significant differences compared to the control group. 5. The observations of the relationships among the perceived health status, emotional state , the quality of life, the relationships between the perceived health status, the degree of depression (r=-.653, p=.000) and the degree of anxiety (r=-.786, p=.000) were in contrary propotions, while the relationships between the perceived health status and the quality of life (r=.234, p=.008) were in direct propotion. In conclusion, the Rhythmic Movement Program used in this study for geriatric nursing care is simple and safe for application to the elderly and shows significant effects by implementing 5 sessions a week for 9 weeks. The Rhythmic Movement Program improves the quality of life, maintains as well as improves the physical and physiological fuctions and emotional state, therefore this program is strongly recommended for positive applications for independant geriatric nursing health care.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.53-63
• /
• 2011

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, is a result of both mechanical and biological events that destabilize the normal coupling of degradation and synthesis of articular cartilage chondrocytes and extracelluar matrix, and subchondral bone. Although it is likely that the molecular basis of pathogenesis is similar to that of other joints, additional study of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is required due to its unique structure and function. This study was carried out to evaluate the epidemiologic characteristics of TMJ osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of TMJ OA in Patients with temporomandibular disorders (1405 men and 2922 women whose mean age was $30.2\; {\pm}\; 15.4$ and $33.1\;{\pm}\;15.2$ years, respectively) who had visited the TMJ and Orofacial Pain Clinic of Seoul National University Dental Hospital in 2007. Orthopantomograms, TMJ tomograms and transcranial radiographs were used to evaluate degenerative change of the mandibular condyle. The obtained results were as follows: 1. Degenerative change of the mandibular condyle was observed in 883 (20.4%) of 4327 subjects. The prevalence was significantly higher in women (706 patients, 24.1%) than in men (177 patients, 12.6%), and this significant difference between genders was observed in all age groups. 2. The prevalence of degenerative change of the mandibular condyle in TMD patients showed a gentle increase along with age. Such increase was statistically significant in women (P < 0.001), but not in men. 3. Sclerosis was observed the most frequently in all age groups and the mean age of the patients with osteophyte was the highest among four types of degenerative change. 4. Although men showed degenerative change in the left side more often and women showed degenerative change more frequently in both sides, the difference of distribution in sides between genders was not significant. In conclusion, the prevalence of degenerative change of the mandibular condyle in TMD patients is higher in women than in men, and increases steadily with aging, but not as dramatically as in other joints that show a steep increase in prevalence around the age of 45 years. It can be suggested that the epidemiologic characteristic of OA of the TMJ differs from those of other joints, and that a more extensive study based on the general population is necessary.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.651-660
• /
• 2016

Due to recent population aging, the number of check-up for senior citizens has increased steadily. According to this trend, the market size of dental X-ray equipment and the number of approval and review for these devices have simultaneously increased. The technical document of medical device is required for approval and review for medical device, and medical device companies needs to have work comprehension and expertise, as the document needs to include the overall contents such as performances, test criteria, etc.. Yet, since most of domestic manufacturers or importers of medical devices are small businesses, it is difficult for them to recruit professional manpower for approval of medical devices, and submission of inaccurate technical documents has increased. These problems lead to delay of the approval process and to difficulties in quick entering into the market. Especially, the Ministry of Food and Drug safety (MFDS) standards of a dental extra-oral X-ray equipment, a dental intra-oral X-ray equipment, an arm-type computed tomography, and a portable X-ray system have been recently enacted or not. this guideline of dental X-ray equipment adjusting revised standards was developed to help relative companies and reviewers. For this study, first, the methods to write technical document have been reviewed with revised international and domestic regulations and system. Second, the domestic and foreign market status of each item has been surveyed and analyzed. Third, the contents of technical documents already approved by MFDS have been analyzed to select the correct example, test items, criteria, and methods. Finally, the guideline has been developed based on international and domestic regulation, through close review of a consultative body composed of academic, industrial, research institute and government experts.

• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.1 s.57
• /
• pp.1-19
• /
• 2005

The following matters were confirmed through the analysis of casualties due to fires in Korea, Japan, and the U.S. in this paper. 1 Korean statistics are not the most detailed of the three countries about casualties due to fires, so we need to have detailed statistics of them on casualties more. 2. Korean deaths are the lowest by 10-11 people due to fires per one million of population. Those of Japan are 15-17 and about 12 people in the U.S.; decreased about 2/3 only for a quarter of a century. 3. Korean deaths are on the decrease about 1.5 people per 100 cases due to fires,3.5 in Japan and 0.2-0.3 in the U.S. Likewise, Korean injuries are on the decrease per 100 cases due to fires From 14.9 in 1977 to 5.1 in 2001 and 5.3 in 2002. In the U.S., the figure was 1.0-1.6. but after the year 1994, it was 1.2 or so. It tends to some increase to 2.6-2.8 in Japan. Therefore, when fires are happened, the death probability is the highest in Japan and 15 times higher than that of the U.S. The injury probability is the highest in Korea and 5 times higher than that of the U.S. 4. Fire deaths rate is the highest in the U.S. about $80\%$ due to home fires (including apartments) among all deaths. Japan tends to decrease of $55\%$. Recently, in case of Korea. it is similar level to that of Japan. 5. Korean aged people of 65 years old and over exceeded by $7\%$ in 2000 and entered an aging society, so It Is time to Investigate and take effect policies to reduce the death of the aged . Japan has ahead a super-aged society that exceeds $20\%$ of the people over the age 65, and many of them die of fire. Consequently, Japan has taken effect policies to reduce deaths from 10 years or more than before. Therefore, it is a good proposal to analyze the policies of Japan deeply and study introduction of them.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.139-167
• /
• 2009

A new public insurance for long-term care was introduced in July 2008 to provide for the rising demand for long-term care as the population is aging rapidly. The demand for long-term care is expected to rise further because more and more elderly are living alone or in households with only other elderly, such as his/her spouse, without informal care of their adult children. Even when the elderly are living together with their adult children, daughters and daughters in law, once the main informal care-givers, are not available because they choose to become economically active and work more over time. Experiences of countries such as Japan and Germany with similar public long-term care insurance scheme highlight the importance of detailed analysis on the demand for long-term care for the financial stability of the insurance scheme. Countries which had underestimated the demand for long-term care at the time of adopting the scheme went through financial instability of insurance schemes. This study analyzes the determinants of the demand for long-term care using data from the second demonstration project (April 2006~April 2007) of the long-term care insurance scheme for the elderly in Korea. Taking full advantage of detailed data on the long-term care, this paper analyzes the eligibility for the long-term care insurance scheme and its use. According to study results, even when common diseases among the elderly such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, hypertension, etc. are controlled together with other individual and socioeconomic factors, limitations the elderly are faced with in their twelve activities of daily living significantly affect the eligibility for the Korean Long-term Care Insurance Scheme. This means that limitations in daily living activities are more critical than common diseases among the elderly are to the eligibility for the Korean Long-term Care Insurance Scheme. Bathing and toileting problems have been found to be the most important factor affecting the eligibility for the insurance scheme, followed by eating, dressing and moving around inside the house. Moreover, the choices of whether to use long-term care and which to use between home care and institutional care are found to be significantly influenced by health status and various socioeconomic factors of the elderly. In particular, those with more limitations in daily living activities and the female elderly are more likely to use long-term care and institutional care rather than home care. As for home care users, those living alone or with adult children and those with monthly household income of more than 500,000 won are more likely to use home care. Most importantly, even when the monthly household income of the elderly is controlled, the elderly recipients of the National Basic Living Security, who are not charged for long-term care, are more likely to choose home care. This implies that price as well as income is a critical factor for the decision to use long-term care. Further study on the duration of long-term care use will surely enhance the long-term care policy, when panel data is available for simultaneous analysis of the likelihood of long-term care use and its use duration.