• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.sup1
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• pp.79-93
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of knowledge about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intentions to practice COVID-19 preventive behaviors using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 519 restaurant customers' responses was collected in this study through an online self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on socio-demographic factors. One-way analysis of variance and t-test were conducted to determine differences in the constructs from the TPB according to age and sex. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS: SEM revealed the positive effect of knowledge about COVID-19 on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in restaurants. Attitude, subjective norm, behavior intention, and knowledge positively affected COVID-19 preventive behavior intentions in restaurants. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study confirmed that the TPB is helpful in elucidating the determinants of consumers' intention to practice COVID-19 preventive behavior in restaurants. These findings can help policy makers and professionals provide material for further public health interventions and inform them about awareness-raising, guidelines, and health education programs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.444-454
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• 2022

Objectives: We aimed to identify the factors related to depression and quality of life in patients with hypertension by using multilevel regression analysis. Methods: In 2019, 229 043 participants in the Korean Community Health Survey were selected as the study group. Individual factors were identified using data from the 2019 Community Health Survey. Regional factors were identified using data from the National Statistical Office of Korea. Multilevel regression analysis was conducted to find individual and local factors affecting depression and quality of life in patients with hypertension and to determine any associated interactions. Results: As individual factors in patients with hypertension, women, those with lower education-levels, recipients of basic livelihood benefits, and those with poor dietary conditions showed stronger associations with depression and quality of life. As regional factors and individual-level variables in patients with hypertension, lower gross regional personal income, fewer doctors at medical institutions, and lower rates of participation in volunteer activities presented stronger associations with depression and quality of life. In addition, the associations of depression with gross regional personal income, the number of doctors at medical institutions, and dietary conditions were significantly stronger in patients with hypertension than in patients without hypertension. The associations of gender and employment status with quality of life were also significantly greater. Conclusions: Policy interventions are needed to adjust health behaviors, prevent depression, and improve quality of life for patients with hypertension, especially for those with the risk factors identified in this study.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2023

Objective: This study aims to provide empirical data on epidemic management measures and childcare teacher education in centers. It examines the relationship between infectious disease knowledge, health control knowledge, and self-efficacy in relation to the practice of preventive behaviors among infant and toddler teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study involved 300 teachers from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Results: The study found that there is a positive relationship between childcare teachers' knowledge of infectious diseases and their engagement in preventive behavior. Additionally, internal control among the health care factors of childcare teachers also showed a positive relationship. Furthermore, the study revealed that the self-efficacy of childcare teachers is positively associated with their practice of preventive behavior. Overall, infectious disease knowledge, internal control measures, and self-efficacy were all found to have positive relationships with preventive behavior. Conclusion/Implications: This study proposes a new direction for future teacher education by highlighting the effectiveness of psychological factors, specifically health control materials and self-efficacy, in addition to focusing on improving infectious disease knowledge.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.142-150
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between suicidal behavior and patterns of alcohol consumption in Korean adults. Methods: This study was based on data provided by the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey from 2007 to 2011. A total of 42 347 subjects were included in the study, of whom 19 292 were male and 23 055 were female. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between patterns of alcohol consumption and suicidal behavior. Results: Among the study subjects, 1426 males (11.3%) and 3599 females (21.2%) had experienced suicidal ideation, and 106 males (0.8%) and 190 females (1.1%) had attempted suicide during the previous 12 months. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AU-DIT) scores were found to be associated with suicidal ideation in males and associated with both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in females. Alcoholic blackouts were associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in males, and were also associated with suicidal ideation in females. Conclusions: In this study, we found that certain patterns of alcohol consumption were associated with suicidal behaviors. In particular, only alcoholic blackouts and categorized AUDIT scores were found to be associated with suicidal behavior in males. We therefore suggest that further research is needed to examine this relationship prospectively and in other settings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6893-6897
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• 2013

Background: During and after the Fukushima nuclear disaster (FND), many parents were concerned about the effects of radiation on the health of their children. Purpose: To clarify the factors that influenced general workers living with children and the effect of child age groups in implementing preventive behaviorsagainst radiation following the FND. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study of preventive behaviors among general workers was carried out 3-5 months after the nuclear disaster. The subjects were 1,394 regular workers, who took part in radiation seminars run by the Fukushima Occupational Health Promotion Center between July and September, 2011. In total, 1,217 responses were submitted, of which 1,110 were eligible for the present study. This anonymous questionnaire survey inquired about the presence and age of children in the household and about radiation preventive behavior implemented after the FND. The contribution of each variable was assessed by logistic regression analysis. Results: General workers in Fukushima who lived with younger children performed more preventive behavior against radiation during and after the FND. In particular, both location-related and daily routines were practiced significantly more frequently (p<0.01) by workers living with a child in the age ranges of 0-6 (8 of 10 items) and 7-12 (5 of 10 items). Conclusions: This is the first study to assess the positive association between living with children by age group and increased preventive behavior against radiation implemented by general workers after the FND.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.85-101
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• 1995

This study was carried out to evaluate the associations between lifestyles and Body Mass Index in a group of 349 male and 65 female medical students, ages 17 to 31 years. 20.0% of male students and 3.1% of female students showed the over weight in the classification of obesity by Japan Society for Study of Obesity. There was no statistically significance in the comparison of the height, body weight, body mass index, obesity index and body fat(%) according to grade in both sexes. But male students showed increasing tendency of waist-hip ratio with grade. According to obesity category, there was significant difference in the comparison of body weight, body mass index, obesity index, waist-hip ratio and body fat(%), but height. Body mass index was positively related with waist-hip ratio(r=0.6150, p=0.0001) and fat(%)(r=0.5101, p=0.0001) in males and waist-hip ratio (r=0.4734, p=0.001) and fat(%)(r=0.4522, p=0.002) in females. This study provides an opportunity to further examine the relationship of sociddemographic factors and health behaviors to obesity, and suggest the basic concept to match the obesity study to general epidemiological cohort studies for controlling of chronic adult diseases.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.74-83
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• 2015

Objectives: To examine the sex-specific factors associated with being unaware of one's hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity status in a large, HBsAg-positive population of Koreans. Methods: In total, 1197 subjects aged 19 years or older who were HBsAg-positive according to data from the 2007-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were included. Subjects were considered unaware of their HBsAg seropositivity status if they answered that they had no knowledge of being previously infected by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) or diagnosed with HBV hepatitis. Multivariate Poisson regression models with robust variance estimate were used to assess the significance of the variables using weighted frequencies. Results: The majority (77.8%) of HbsAg-positive Korean adults (females, 81.9%; males, 74.6%) were unaware of their HBsAg seropositivity status. We found that sex (female: prevalence ratio [PR] 1.19), household income (low: PR, 1.15), marital status (never married: PR, 1.18), self-rated health (moderate: PR, 1.14; good: PR, 1.12), and alcohol use (at least 2-3 times/wk: PR, 1.21) were associated with being unaware. In females, age (50 to 59 years: PR, 1.29; ${\geq}70$ years: PR, 1.30), household income (low: PR, 1.37; middle-low: PR, 1.24), and marital status (never married: PR, 1.33) were associated with being unaware. In males, self-rated health (moderate: PR, 1.14; good: PR, 1.21) and alcohol use (at least 2-3 times/wk: PR, 1.21) were associated with being unaware. Conclusions: Factors related to the socioeconomic status of females and the health-related behaviors of males were found to be associated with being unaware of one's HBsAg seropositivity status.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.293-298
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• 2016

Background: The aim of this study was to increase knowledge regarding the dangers associated with tobacco use, and decrease secondhand smoke exposure and tobacco use behaviors with an antitobacco messaging campaign among rural, medically underserved, blue-collar workers. Methods: A quasiexperimental study was conducted with employees at two worksites. One worksite received the intervention, which consisted of nine different antitobacco messages. Baseline and follow-up surveys were conducted at each worksite to assess change in knowledge and behavior; the data were compared across the two worksites. Results: Two hundred twenty-two and 243 participants completed baseline and follow-up surveys at the intervention and comparison sites, respectively. A statistically significant difference was seen over time between the worksites on knowledge of the dangers of tobacco (p < 0.0001); the mean knowledge score increased at the intervention site, but remained unchanged at the comparison site. In general, non-smokers at both worksites appeared to try to decrease exposure to secondhand smoke over the follow-up period. Repeated measures analysis indicated that there were no differences in motivation to quit (p = 0.81), interest in quitting (p = 0.40), thinking about quitting (p = 0.53), or several tobacco-use behaviors over time among smokers at the intervention and comparison worksites. There were slight increases over time in the proportion of smokers who do not allow smoking in their homes/vehicles at the intervention worksite, although not statistically significant. Conclusion: Participants at the intervention worksite increased their knowledge regarding the dangers of tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure. Among current tobacco users, the intervention appeared to increase family rules regarding secondhand smoke exposure in their homes and vehicles.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.78
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• pp.116-140
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• 2016

The present study examined the factors influencing individuals' risk information seeking and processing using the case of 2015 MERS outbreak in Korea. Analyses of two-wave online panel data demonstrated that perceived risk, negative affect, subjective norm, and information insufficiency predicted the risk information seeking/avoiding as well as information processing mode, which validates the Risk Information Seeking and Processing(RISP) model. More importantly, this study found new evidence that information seeking and systematic processing promoted MERS preventive behaviors. In addition, active SNS use moderated the link between perceived risk and negative affects about MERS crisis as well as the relationship between social normative pressure and to seek the risk related information.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.185-194
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• 2019

Objective: In Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do, Korea, we wanted to determine if the sluggish local economy could affect citizens' health behaviors, especially mental health. Methods: We divided Gunsan-si into 5 living areas and conducted Small-Area Estimations and confirmed the modified compound estimation value using the 2013-2017 Community Health Survey data and population data from Gunsan-si. Results: The health behaviors and mental health of the residents of the western living area(Soryong-dong, Misung-dong), which is an industrial hub of Gunsan, had deteriorated or decreased compared to those of other regions. Conclusions: Although there are limitations in analyzing the community health survey data using the small-area estimation method, it could be useful data for evaluating regional gaps and health level.