• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2007

The pregnancy and postpartum period appear to be a time of heightened vulnerability for the development of major depression in some women. Postpartum depression affects 10% of women within a few weeks immediately postpartum. Postpartum depression is associated with disturbances in the mother-infant relationship, which in turn have an adverse impact on the course of child cognitive and emotional development. Depression during pregnancy is also common, although it has been relatively neglected. Psychopathological symptoms during pregnancy have physiological consequences for the fetus. Understanding the aetiology of perinatal depression requires integrating of multiple psychosocial and biological risk factors. The treatment of depressed pregnant women requires skilled decision making by psychiatrists. Risk-benefit analysis is appropriate method for intervention fur depression in pregnancy. Effective treatments for depression in pregnancy include psychotherapy, antidepressant medication and electroconvulsive therapy. In treatment of postpartum depression, the biological, psychological, and social interventions are included. Prescribing antidepressants(such as fluoxetine), estrogen in severe and chronic cases, and counselling can be effective for improving maternal mood and aspects of infant outcome. Ongoing research is directed to further elucidating neurohormonal and psychosocial contributions to depression during pregnancy or postpartum. Screening for risk factors and symptoms for depression need to be incorporated into antenatal and pediatric clinics.

• Korean Journal of Health Psychology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.169-187
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• 2011

The present study explored psychosocial characteristics of infants with genital anomalies (GA) and their caregivers against normal controls. Participants were female caregivers and infants between the ages of 6to38months diagnosed with hypospadias(HS;n=103) or cryptorchidism (CR;n=49). Normalcontrols(n=131) were recruited and selected via Internet. Caregivers completed measures on parenting stress, coping style, social support, and infant temperament. Within the GAgroups, HScaregivers reported their greatest parental concerns as infant urination/bodily functioning difficulties whereas CRcaregivers reported worries related to surgical anesthesia issues. Both groups reported concern about their children's potential reproductive problems. Per caregiver report, infants with GA had lower ability to self-soothe. HS infants in particular were perceived as exhibiting greater negative emotion. Compared with controls, HS and CRcaregivers overall employed coping strategies more frequently and had lower interpersonal sensitivity and parental distress. However, HScaregivers emerged as experiencing higher stress when compared to the CRgroup. There were no differences in to tal parenting stress and social support scores between groups. Further, CRcaregivers reported lower levels of family discord than controls. Despite temperament-related differences between infants with GA and normal controls, HS and CRcaregivers reported lower parental distress and greater use of coping skills as compared to controls. Clinical implications are discussed.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.159-168
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• 2024

This study was conducted to identify factors influencing clinical performance among nursing students who experienced clinical practice due to COVID-19 and provide basic data to improve clinical performance. This study collected data from October 10 to October 27, 2023, targeting 144 students at two nursing schools in G Province. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, difference analysis (t-est, on-way ANOVA), correlation, and hierarchical regression analysis. As a result of the study, in Model 1, extrovert and mixed personality types were found to be significant predictive factors explaining clinical performance. The goodness of fit of Model 1 was statistically significant, and the explanatory power was 9.2% (F=8.256, p<.001). In Model 2, interpersonal skills and confidence in nursing skills appeared as significant predictive factors explaining clinical performance ability. Confidence in nursing skills was the best predictor of clinical performance, followed by interpersonal skills. The explanatory power of the model was 50.1%, an increase of 41.3% compared to Model 1. Model fit was also statistically significant. Simulation education that reproduces various situations should be strengthened to increase opportunities to perform direct nursing and improve nursing students' nursing capabilities. If you improve your confidence in nursing skills and interpersonal skills through simulation education, your clinical performance will ultimately improve, and this will be able to be demonstrated as a nursing competency when employed as a nurse.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5627-5632
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• 2012

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of shisha smoking and associated factors among medical students in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Management and Science University from December 2011 until March 2012. The questionnaire consisted of five sections including socio-demographic, social environment, knowledge about shisha, psychosocial factors, and personal shisha smoking behavior. Obtained data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 13). T-test was used to determine the relationships between shisha smoking and socio-demographic characteristic. Results: A total number of 300 medical students participated in this study. Mean age was $22.5{\pm}2.5$ years. The majority were female, Malay, single, from urban areas (67%, 54%, 97%, 73%; respectively). The prevalence of shisha smoking among medical students was found to be 20%. The study revealed that many students believed that shisha does not contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, does not lead to lung cancer, dental problems and does not lead to cardiovascular diseases (25%, 20.7%, 22.3%, 29%, 26.7%; respectively). Age and sex were found to be significantly associated with smoking shisha status among medical students (p=0.029, p<0.001; respectively). Furthermore, having parents, siblings and friends smokers of shisha were found to be significantly associated with shisha smoking status (p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.001; respectively). Furthermore, family problems, problems with friends, financial problems and university life were found to significantly associated with shisha smoking status among medical students (p<0.001, p=0.002, p<0.001, p=0.002; respectively). Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of shisha smoking and a poor knowledge about its impact on health among medical students. More attention is needed to focus on medical education in this regard. The policies that are currently employed in order to reduce the cigarettes smoking should be applied to shisha smoking and shisha products.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.487-500
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of Menopause-Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL). Methods: The MENQOL was translated into Korean according to algorithm of linguistic validation process. A total of 308 menopausal women were recruited and assessed using the Korean version of MENQOL (MENQOL-K), the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-K). In estimating reliability, internal consistency reliability coefficients were calculated. Validity was evaluated through criterion validity and construct validity with confirmatory factor analyses using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 25.0 software. Results: In item analyses, the "increased facial hair" symptom was excluded because of the low contribution of MENQOL-K. The confirmatory factor analysis supported good fit and reliable scores for MENQOL-K model, and the four-factor structure was validated (χ²=553.28, p<.001, NC=1.84, RMSEA=.05, AGIF=.85, AIC=765.28). The MENQOL-K consists of 28 items in 4 domains, including vasomotor (3 items), psychosocial (7 items), physical (15 items), and sexual subscales (3 items). There was an acceptable criterion validity with moderately significant correlation between MENQOL-K and WHOQOL-BREF. The Cronbach's α for the 4 subsacles ranged from .80 to .93. Conclusion: The MENQOL-K is a valid and reliable scale to measure condition-specific quality of life for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. It can be used to assess the impact of menopausal symptoms on the quality of life of Korean women in clinical trials.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.345-354
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• 2008

Objectives : Our objective is to review and summarize the previous studies on the health effects of exposure to oil spills in order to make suggestions for mid- and long-term study plans regarding the health effects of the Hebei Spirit oil spill occured in Korea. Methods : We searched PubMed to systemically retrieve reports on the human health effects related to oil spill accidents. The papers' reference lists and reviews on the topic were searched as well. Results : We found 24 articles that examined seven oil spill accidents worldwide over the period from 1989 to August 2008, including the Exxon Valdes, Braer, Sea Empress, Erika, Nakhodka, Prestige and Tasman Spirit oil spills. Most of the studies applied cross-sectional and short-term follow-up study designs. The exposure level was measured by assessing the place of residence, using a questionnaire and environmental and personal monitoring. Studies on the acute or immediate health effects mainly focused on the subjective physical symptoms related to clean-up work or residential exposure. Late or mid-term follow-up studies were performed to investigate a range of health effects such as pulmonary function and endocrine, immunologic and genetic toxicity. The economic and social impact of the accidents resulted in the socio-psychological exposure and the psychosocial health effects. Conclusions : Studies of the health effects of exposure to oil spills should consider a range of health outcomes, including the physical and psychological effects, and the studies should be extended for a considerable period of time to study the long-term chronic health effects.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.128-134
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• 2015

Objectives To examine the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and body mass index (BMI) of obese children. Methods This cross-sectional study included 387 children. HRQoL was measured with the PedsQLTM 4.0 Generic Core Scale. BMI was classified according to the World Health Organization Asia-Pacific obesity guidelines. Psychosocial factors (body image, self-esteem, and depression/anxiety) were also measured. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation and Path analysis. Results Obese participants reported lower score for physical evaluation, self-esteem, appearance evaluation component of body image, total HRQoL score, and physical/emotional/social function components of HRQoL ; they reported higher score for depression/anxiety. In addition, results indicated that as BMI increased, appearance evaluation, total HRQoL score, and social function component of HRQoL dropped. Path analysis revealed that BMI did not directly affect HRQoL ; however, BMI directly affects body image and self-esteem, indirectly mediates depression/anxiety, and thereby impacts on an individual's HRQoL. Conclusions Body image and self-esteem, rather than BMI itself, have more influence on HRQoL. This reinforces the importance of therapeutic intervention to enhance body image and self-esteem among obese children.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.326-331
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• 2012

Objectives: Stress may have an impact on treatment types that patients receive for temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). This study sought to investigate the relationship between the stress index and type of treatments in patients with TMD. Materials and Methods: The psychosocial well-being index-short form (PWI-SF) was used to evaluate stress levels in ninety-two patients with TMD. Treatment types were classified into two groups: one group received counseling, physical therapy or medication, while the second group received splint therapy or surgical intervention. Results: The high-risk group (PWI-SF${\geq}27$, the higher the points, the more severe the stress level) was more frequently treated by splint therapy than the low-risk group (PWI-SF<27). Female TMD patients reported higher PWI-SF scores than male TMD patients. Conclusion: This study suggests a relationship between stress levels and treatment types for patients with TMD. Thus, the appropriate evaluation and management of stress could be an important factor in treating TMD.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10887-10891
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• 2015

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a well known major cause of gastric cancer and even when asymptomatic infected patients are at elevated risk. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is also one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases, which greatly impacts the quality of life. H. pylori infection and psychosocial stress are frequently associated with FD but limited studies have confirmed the relationships, especially in Southeast Asian countries. Here we aimed to investigate the prevalence and impact of H. pylori infection, anxiety and depression on Thai FD patients. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care center in Thailand, during February 2013-January 2014. All FD patients were diagnosed and categorized by Rome III criteria into epigastric pain syndrome (EPS) and postprandial distress syndrome (PDS) groups. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to evaluate psychological status. The presence of H. pylori was defined as positive with H. pylori culture, positive rapid urease test or positive histology. Results: Three hundred FD patients were included, 174 (58%) female. Overall mean age was 54.8+15.1 years. There were 192 (64%) patients with PDS and 108 (36%) with EPS. H. pylori infection was demonstrated in 70 (23.3%) patients. Anxiety and depression were documented in 69 (23%) and 22 (7.3%), respectively. H. pylori infection, anxiety and depression were significantly higher in PDS than EPS patients (27.1% vs 16.7%; p=0.04; OR=1.86; 95%CI=1.01-3.53 and 29.7% vs 11.1%; p=0.0002; OR=3.4; 95%CI=1.7-7.1 and 10.4% vs 1.9%; p=0.006; OR=6.2; 95%CI=1.4-38.9, respectively). Conclusions: H. pylori infection, anxiety and depression were commonly found in Thai FD patients and more prevalent in PDS than EPS. H. pylori eradication might be the key to success for the treatment of Thai FD patients and prevent the development of gastric cancer.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.35-38
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• 2015

Background: Organizational changes that involve healthcare hospital departments and care services of health districts, and ongoing technological innovations and developments in society increasingly expose healthcare workers (HCWs) to work-related stress (WRS). Minimizing occupational exposure to stress requires effective risk stress assessment and management programs. Methods: The authors conducted an integrated analysis of stress sentinel indicators, an integrated analysis of objective stress factors of occupational context and content areas, and an integrated analysis between nurses and physicians of hospital departments and care services of health districts in accordance with a multidimensional validated tool developed in Italy by the National Network for the Prevention of Work-Related Psychosocial Disorders. The purpose of this retrospective observational study was to detect and analyze in different work settings the level of WRS resulting from organizational changes implemented by hospital healthcare departments and care services of health districts in a sample of their employees. Results: The findings of the study showed that hospital HCWs seemed to incur a medium level risk of WRS that was principally the result of work context factors. The implementation of improvement interventions focused on team development, safety training programs, and adopting an ethics code for HCWs, and it effectively and significantly reduced the level of WRS risk in the workplace. Conclusion: In this study HCW resulted to be exposed to occupational stress factors susceptible to reduction. Stress management programs aimed to improve work context factors associated with occupational stress are required to minimize the impact of WRS on workers.