• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.98-105
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• 2018

This study investigated whether housing accessibility plays a significant role in explaining the relation between mobility disability and residential satisfaction of seniors. Also, it identified people who are at greatest risk of mobility disability and living in homes without housing accessibility. We analyzed the 2011 American Housing Survey data with a sample of 20,089 households aged 55 and over living in single-family homes. Results show that although residential satisfaction decreased as mobility became more disabled, the key housing accessibility features were significant buffers against the negative impact of mobility disability on residential satisfaction. Seniors who were Black, low-income, housing-costs burden and renters in older housing in an urban area were more likely to have mobility limitations but fewer housing accessibility features. The moderating effect of housing accessibility on residential satisfaction was much greater for seniors with greater mobility disability. For vulnerable seniors living in an old single-family home, housing policymakers or local communities should consider home modification programs and services after evaluating housing accessibility.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.387-396
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• 2020

Wearable biosensors have the potential to non-invasively and continuously monitor seniors' stress in their daily interaction with the urban environment, thereby enabling to address the stress and ultimately advance their outdoor mobility. However, current wearable biosensor-based stress detection methods have several drawbacks in field application due to their dependence on batch-learning algorithms. First, these methods train a single classifier, which might not account for multiple subjects' different physiological reactivity to stress. Second, they require a great deal of computational power to store and reuse all previous data for updating the signle classifier. To address this issue, we tested the feasibility of online multi-task learning (OMTL) algorithms to identify multiple seniors' stress from electrodermal activity (EDA) collected by a wristband-type biosensor in a daily trip setting. As a result, OMTL algorithms showed the higher test accuracy (75.7%, 76.2%, and 71.2%) than a batch-learning algorithm (64.8%). This finding demonstrates that the OMTL algorithms can strengthen the field applicability of the wearable biosensor-based stress detection, thereby contributing to better understanding the seniors' stress in the urban environment and ultimately advancing their mobility.

• Architectural research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.11-20
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• 2008

Designing environments for the elderly includes studying changes in the elderly themselves, changes in their environment, and changes in the intercommunication between the elderly and their environment. The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines for a ubiquitous environment in which seniors can "age in place," using an environment-behavioral approach. 305 subjects aged 45 to 78 take part in the survey research. Temporal sequence (age groups) and behavior (daily activities) are considered as the significant variables to design digital services for the elderly in the perspective of an environment-behavioral approach. Several conclusions can be made. (1) The characteristics of subjects in the over-65 age group shows that they manage an independent lifestyle even if they realize some body functions deteriorate as they age. (2) Over-65 age group is more engaged in healthcare and pastime activities. The male subjects of it are most inactive. (3) The IDA (importance of daily activities) and FDA (frequency of daily activities) are classified by five to six factors in each group. The IDA and FDA of the group aged over 65 differ from other age groups. (4) Five affordance dimensions of digital services for the elderly are proposed: Healthcare, Domesticity, Mobility & Security, Network, and Recreation & Pastime. These affordance dimensions will help research groups or companies design ubiquitous environments to enhance the quality of life of seniors.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.79-94
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• 2017

Objectives : The elderly in South Korea are the poorest among OECD countries in 2015. The aim of this study was to explore the health and life of the low-income elderly living in vulnerable areas in a metropolitan city. Methods : Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews with 7 participants from October to November 2015 and analyzed through Colaizzi's phenomenological methodology. The participants were interviewed for over 60 minutes in each person. Results : 7 categories were identified from 17 subcategories: "My life history: sick body," "Living with a sick body," "My poor but precious life," "A sense of distance from the hospital," "Narrowed area of my life," "Thankful for help," and "The village where I have lived my destiny." There is a lack of medical accessibility, mobility, and economic independence for low-income seniors. In addition, full-fledged redevelopment comes to them as violence. Conclusions : The health and life of the low-income elderly in vulnerable areas are products of many social factors, reaffirming the importance of social health.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.21-32
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• 2014

This research intends to discover the housing conditions of the elderly in rural area in South Korea, and identify measures to improve the conditions for an independent and safe life of seniors. This research conducted both survey research and experimental study. The survey interviewed 1,000 elderly people over 65 in farming areas across the country based on random selection from Census 2010 and sampling by regional size and administrative unit (Eup, Myeon, Li) to reflect the regional characteristics more accurately. The data was analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The experimental study identified the housing elements that may threaten the life of seniors based on a complete survey on households of elderly people over 65 in a selected typical rural village. As a result, the most inconvenient and threatening factor in the housing facilities appears to be the floor level difference. It was identified that most houses had the risk of falling due to the differences of the floor level between indoor and outdoor, and slippery floor materials. The squat toilets also bring inconvenience not only to the seniors with limited mobility but also to healthy elderly people. In particular, as most bathroom doors opened inward, it may be difficult to escape from or rescue someone in an emergency of falling, fainting or exhaustion.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2016

Recently the number of the elderly who live alone are increasing more and more as the average life span is prolonged. The elderly are probably in danger at home without being helped due to external aggressions or sudden health problems. Accordingly, more and more interests are taken in medical welfare for the healthy life of the seniors. In this paper, we have developed a mobility and vitality signal monitoring system based on ZigBee-PSTN gateway for the elderly. This combination of ZigBee wireless sensor network and PSTN can be easily established even in the poor internet infrastructure as is usually common for the elderly, with the advantage of providing non-constrained monitoring feature. The research result can be extended to the future tele-medicine system.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.407-422
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of the study is to develop quantitative usability evaluation criteria for senior-friendly autonomous transportation robot. Background: The Republic of Korea has become the most rapidly aging society, and is anticipated to enter the post-aged society in 2026. To raise the quality of life of a senior with limited mobility and to reduce the burden of caregivers, many high-tech assistive products with information technologies are developed nowadays. The senior-friendly autonomous transportation robot is one person robot vehicle to move a senior to the destination for hospitals, nursing homes or silver town complex. With built-in navigation system and environmental monitoring censors, it automatically seeks the path to the destination and avoids collision to obstacles and pedestrians on the way. Due to the early stage of the product, few usability studies in this field have been done, mostly on general service robots to assist seniors, power wheelchairs and delivery robots. ISO and KS standards for the service robots are focused on safety. Method: Based on the reference usability index, the early draft of the usability evaluation questionnaires was developed. After small group tests and interviews, the experts modified the initial draft to the Usability Evaluation Criteria for Senior-Friendly Autonomous Transportation Robot (UEC-SFATR). Result: UEC-SFATR consisted of 4 subscales - Safety, Controllability, Efficiency and Satisfaction. All of the 4 subscales of UEC-SFATR were passed the reliability criteria by 4 groups of seniors, divided by gender and familiarity of smart-devices. Conclusion: UEC-SFATR covers wider area of user experiences of the SFATR and is a good measurement tool to help both the users and developers of the robot. Application: This study provides guide to the future product development and product competitiveness evaluation by quantifying user experiences for the SFATR.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.197-209
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was done to examine good death awareness, attitudes toward advance directives (ADs), and preference for care near the end-of-life (PCEOL) of hospitalized elders in long-term care hospitals. Relevant characteristics were investigated as well as correlation of the variables. Methods: This descriptive research study involved 161 hospitalized elderly patients in long-term care hospitals. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure Good Death Scale, ADs Survey, PCEOL Scale, and general characteristics. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation with SPSS/WIN 23.0. Results: In terms of good death awareness, a significant difference was observed; in according to age (F=3.35, p=.037), payer of treatment costs (F=3.98, p=.021), mobility (F=3.97, p=.021), heard discussion about ADs (t=-3.89, p<.001), and willing to complete ADs (t=2.12, p=.036). As far as attitudes toward ADs, the participants presented significant difference depending on religion (t=2.38, p=.018), average monthly income (F=3.91, p=.022), duration of hospital admission (F=5.33, p=.006), person to discuss ADs (t=-2.76, p=.006). On PCEOL, there was a significant difference, depending on religion (t=-3.59, p<.001) and perceived health status (F=3.93, p=.022). Finally, as for how the variables were related to each other, good death awareness and attitudes toward ADs had a weak positive correlation with PCEOL. Conclusion: To help seniors staying in nursing homes face a good death and enjoy autonomy, there should be educational and support systems that reflect each individual's sociodemographic characteristics so that the seniors can choose what kind of care they want to receive near the end-of-life.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.453-460
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was trying to figure out the effective employment guidance plan through employment preparation of graduating senior in department affiliated with physical education and recent situation. This study was compared to 2013 Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey(GOMS). Data were collected from 164 graduating seniors in the department affiliated with physical education from 5 institutions of a 4-year university located in Gyeonggi-do, Seoul, and ChungChong-do by convenience sampling. For the data analysis, a descriptive statistic, frequency analysis, and one-samples t-test were conducted. Graduating seniors participating in school employment programs had a lower rate but the average rate of participation in career & employment classes and vocational test was more than 50%. They were satisfied with university education and career support but employment program and welfare facilities are in need of improvement. Furthermore, graduating seniors have national and private certificates related to major. Finally, they have very low participation rates in youth employment policies of government. Based on the results, the effective job placement guideline for the department affiliated with physical education is needed.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.16-22
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• 2006

Falling is a serious problem associated with aging. Unintentional injury, which most often results from falling, is one of the leading causes of death in elderly people. The purpose of this study is to investigate the risk factors of falls and to compare characteristics of people who fall with that of non-fallers among the rural community-dwelling elderly of Korea. A sample of 201 people, living in the community, aged 60 years and over was taken from the members of a center for seniors located in Jecheon city. The mean age of the participants was 70.5 years of age. The participants are comprised of 151 women and 50 men. Eighty four of the 201 participants (41.8%) fell during the previous year. Twenty two of the fallers (26.2%) fell down more than two times. It was found that fallers had poorer eyesight, multiple chronic diseases and a more difficult time walking than non-fallers. In the logistic regression analysis of falls, only the difficulty of walking one kilometer (OR=2.4) and chronic diseases (OR=2.5) have shown an increased risk of falls. The risk of recurrent falls is, in addition, influenced by the difficulty of walking one kilometer. The result of our study shows that the impairment of mobility was the strongest risk factor of recurrent falling.