• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.209-215
• /
• 2023

Purpose: The delay in acceptance or refusal to get vaccinated despite the availability of services is called vaccine hesitancy. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative in Pakistan faced consistent barriers preventing the eradication of the disease in the country. Similarly with the advent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic mass vaccination drives were initiated to a vaccine hesitant population. The aim of this study is to explore the prevalence and reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the Pakistani population. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted during July to September 2021 using a snowball sampling technique targeting the adult population of Pakistan. The modified version of the vaccine hesitancy questionnaire related to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization Vaccine Hesitancy matrix was distributed online. Results: Out of 973 participants, 52.4% were immediately willing to take the vaccine and constituted the acceptance group whereas the remaining 47.6% who were still not sure formed the hesitant group. Support from leaders was found to be statistically significant for the difference between the hesitant and acceptance groups (p-value=0.027). Hesitant people were concerned about the effectiveness of the vaccine (60.9%) and potential side effects (57.9%) as it was not sufficiently tested prior to launch (44.7%). Age and education were significant factors affecting the acceptance of vaccination. The most trusted source of information regarding vaccination was health care workers (43.8%). Conclusion: A moderately high prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was reported in Pakistan. To overcome it, policymakers need to address the reasons for it. Leaders, celebrities, and healthcare workers can play an instrumental role in dispelling conspiracy theories regarding vaccines and making the vaccination drive a success.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.467-475
• /
• 2023

Background: To mitigate the spread of Covid-19, nurses infected with the virus were required to isolate themselves from their families and community. Isolated patients were reported to have experienced mental distress, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and suicide. Though studies have reported the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, less is known about the lived experiences of nurses who survived Covid-19 infection in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to study the lived experiences of registered nurses who survived Covid-19 disease. In-depth interviews were conducted among nurses diagnosed with Covid-19 from two hospitals in Kenya between March and May, 2021. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to recruit registered nurses. Data were analyzed using Giorgi's steps of analysis. Results: The study included ten nurses between 29 and 45 years of age. Nurses' experiences encompassed three themes: diagnosis reaction, consequences, and coping. Reactions to the diagnosis included fear, anxiety, and sadness. The consequence of the diagnosis and isolation was stigma, isolation, and loneliness. Nurses coping mechanisms included acceptance, creating routines, support, and spirituality. Conclusion: Our findings aid in understanding how nurses experienced Covid-19 infection as patients and will provide evidence-based content for supporting nurses in future pandemics. Moreover, as we acknowledge the heroic contribution of frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is prudent to recognize the considerable occupational risk as they balance their duty to care, and the risk of infection to themselves and their families.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.10
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2018

This study was intended to identify path structures through pathway analysis with an emphasis on the cognitive elements that influence the acculturative stress of marriage-based immigrant women. The results of the study were designed to establish a foundation for practical measures and policies to support marriage-based immigrant women to adjust their lives in the culture. This study has established research model on the path structure according to the psychological stress theory as to how social support, coping strategy, and acculturative attitude recognized as a cognitive element of marriage-based immigrant women on the acculturative stress and implement practical verification. In addition, control variables for the use of ages, education level, period of marriage, and income level of socio-demographic variables were analyzed. To obtain data for the study, convenience sampling and snowball sampling of marriage-based immigrant women that resided in the area of C and J were conducted simultaneously through surveys and applied to the analysis of 204 cases. Analysis of the path structure of influence of social support, coping strategies, and acculturative attitudes that were perceived as a cognitive element of marriage-based immigrant women influencing acculturative stress revealed that these factors were specifically weighted towards acculturative. Moreover, comprehensive acculturative attitude was identified as a crucial variable reducing the effects of acculturative stress during the acculturative procedures of marriage-based immigrant women. This assumes that establishing and performing policies supporting co-existence of homeland cultures of marriage-based immigrant women and Korean cultures might be an efficient action for dealing with acculturative stress rather than forcing them to adjust to Korean culture.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.733-743
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to explore the perception of K-pop dance and Taekwondo performances in Movement culture using semantic network analysis. The research subjects were selected from 105 students from K University in Daejeon. The method of selecting the research subject was a snowball sampling method among non-probability sampling methods, and a mobile Google questionnaire was used as the research tool. The results are as follows. First, it was found that the concepts of 'globalization', 'culture', and 'celebrity' in K-pop dance are the main cognitive concepts calculated more than 20 times. Second, as a result of analyzing the meaning network of K-pop dance recognition, it was found that the concepts of 'culture', 'popularity', and 'famous' are the main concepts of k-pop dance recognition. Third, the Taekwondo performance can be confirmed that the concepts of 'good', 'Korea', and 'temperance' are the main concepts calculated more than 20 times. Fourth, as a result of analyzing the meaning network of Taekwondo performance recognition, it was found that the concepts of 'movement', 'Korea', and 'good' are the main concepts of Taekwondo performance recognition.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.319-345
• /
• 2018

Effective higher educational management in undergraduate nursing programs is an important issue from the viewpoint of stakeholders. This qualitative research aimed to examine the characteristics of nursing students and curriculum development of undergraduate nursing education from the opinions of Boromarajonani College of Nursing Saraburi, Thailand stakeholders. The population included 4 groups: 1) the alumni who have graduated within the past 5 years and currently work in primary, secondary, and tertiary care units, 2) the supervisors and colleagues of the alumni, 3) nursing lecturers, and 4) the current nursing students. The respondents who are the alumni, nursing lecturers, and current nursing student were selected using a purposive sampling, for the supervisors and colleagues were selected using snowball techniques. Semi-structured interview questions were used for data collection. Group discussions were conducted until saturation on 55 key informants. The qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Results showed the viewpoints of stakeholders on the characteristics of future nurse graduates were comprised of four elements: knowledge that meets standards; essential skills for self-development and lifelong learning process; good morals and professional ethics in providing nursing care; and nurse competencies in teamwork, communication, language, research, management, IT, life skills, and global literacy. The viewpoints on the development of the nursing curriculum focus on four elements: the learner, teaching and learning, course content, and instructor tasks. For learners, the admission criteria should include a minimum not only of knowledge, but also positive attitude, science, and art skills, since the nursing profession is both a science and the art of caring. Teaching and learning elements should be authentic, including exposure to real situations, an integrated network, and activities that improve nursing care. Course content was comprised of an updated curriculum, humanized nursing care, student center, theory and practice with moral integration, case-based study, critical thinking, multidisciplinary work, and love for the nursing profession. Instructor tasks are to elicit student ideas, provide opportunities to learn, support infrastructure, support technology use, and extra-curricular activities to develop the competencies of nursing students. Recommendations were that the curriculum administration should review the selection process of student candidates and instructional management to achieve expected outcomes of nursing characteristics in the future. The nurse lecturer should provide authentic and integrated instruction, decrease lecturing, cultivate a lifelong learning process, and sustain the nursing characteristics.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.11
• /
• pp.385-397
• /
• 2020

This study examined the reproductive health-related experiences of North Korean women defectors and their sexual knowledge, sexual attitudes, and reproductive health promotion behavior. Convergent parallel mixed methods were used. From April to July 2020, 8 North Korean women defectors in Seoul metropolitan area were recruited by snowball sampling. In addition, 175 participants in the Seoul metropolitan area, Chungcheong, and Gyeongsang Province were recruited. Content analysis was conducted to analyze qualitative data, and the SPSS 23.0 program was used. Three themes were derived: scared of sex due to ignorance', 'the embarrassing and annoying sex only for duty', and had to manage myself for sex under the limited situation.'. The subject's sexual knowledge was higher in the older and married groups, and the sexual attitude was more liberal in the younger group. Reproductive health promotion behavior was more active in the high economic level, and sexual knowledge and sexual attitude showed a positive correlation. Therefore, it is necessary to provide support systems and resources from the community to encourage reproductive health promotion activities. In addition, in terms of humanitarian aid, prioritization of the reproductive health of North Korean women is required.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.421-433
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of mothers of children with muscular dystrophy. The participants were 11 mothers recruited by snowball sampling, who agreed with the objectives of the research and could verbally communicate with the researcher and who lived with their sons who had muscular dystrophy. Data collection was done through in-depth interviews with participants in their own homes. Each interview took 50 to 120 minutes. All of the interviews were audiotaped and then transcribed. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's (1978) method of phenomenology. From the transcripts 109 significant sentences and phrases were selected and 13 clusters of themes were categorized from 67 significant statements. These results were integrated into the essential structure of the lived experience of mothers of children with muscular dystrophy. 1. Anxious and relying on chance due to indefinite diagnosis. 2. Only able to cry with shock because of son's fatal disease. 3. Seeing the future as dismal and feeling resentment that this disease in transmitted through the mother. 4. Feeling caught between a husband who is distancing himself from his family and the family which is disintegrating. 5. Feeling like a sinner for transmission of genetic disease(Feeling guilt for conceiving a son with a genetically transmitted fatal disease). 6. Empathizing with other suffers of muscular dystropy and their parents in their grief and helping to dissipate their heavy feelings. 7. Deciding to sacrifice self as a way of taking responsibility for giving birth to a handi-capped son. 8. Losing hope (feeling despair) as son's condition deteriorates in spite of all attempts to help him. 9. Wishing to die with son who becomes progressively immobile. 10. Accumulating Han*(한, 恨), because of rising Hwa(화, anger), and becoming sick both mentally and physically. 11. Seeing events as destiny and finding self-control through faith. 12. Finally, giving up sacrificing self for son and becoming concerned(involved) with other children in the family. 13. Feeling fear at son's impending death. This is the first research on the experience of Korean mothers of children with muscular dystrophy. In applying the phenomenology research method, this study not only helps health professionals understand the experience of these mothers in the Korean patriarchal social system, but the researcher, as a nurse, can share their agony and grief through identification of their inner world through in-depth personal interviews. The results obtained in this study will not only help in the development of family nursing practice for families with genetically transmitted diseases but also prepare basic data for family nursing practice in the Korean sociocultural context.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.19 no.11
• /
• pp.603-618
• /
• 2019

This study aims to explore the meaning and nature of the nursing experience of visiting nurses of home-based long-term care service centers by using van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach. A total of 10 home-visiting nurses working in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province were recruited through purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling and participated in the study. Data were collected from January 7, 2017 to October 12, 2018 through in-depth individual interviews with the participants. The analysis resulted in 6 essential themes regarding the lived experience of visiting nurses: 'establising a good rapport with the patient and his or her family caregiver', 'building the foundation of visiting nursing by performing autonomously nursing procedures for the patient', 'facing the reality not to be able to work as much as I want due to the limitations of the support system in performing work as a visiting nurse', 'upset when sincerity could not be delivered', 'following the calling of medical personnel by taking responsibility for 'my patient', and 'pledging oneself to career-long work, feeling reward as a visiting nurse.' The findings of the study help understand the role and importance of visiting nurses and contribute to the preparation of practical measures to improve the quality of home-visiting nursing.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.33 no.7
• /
• pp.1403-1417
• /
• 2013

In this study, we investigated scientists' perception of imagination and explored characteristics of scientific imagination. For this, we found out conceptions and characteristics based on literatures which related to imagination. We recruited eight distinguished Korean scientists who have rich research experiences by using Snowball sampling for in-depth interviews (60-90 minutes). All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. From the analysis of interview data, we identified their perceptions of imagination and the nature of scientific imagination which scientists reflect on during their research work. Semi-structured interview protocol was focused on: 1) how scientists perceive 'imagination' and 2) how scientists perceive the role of imagination in their scientific research. As results, we found out that scientists agreed that imagination plays an important role in scientific research process and they perceived imagination as an intrinsic part of human life. The study also indicated that participants have modern viewpoint about imagination. Moreover, we uncovered three characteristics of imagination in the research process. 1) Curiosity and interest have been a driving force for scientists' imagination. 2) When scientists use the imagination, they can be more creative during their research. 3) Imagination contemplated realistic possibilities based on the scientific knowledge, and produced the new ones. Educational implications for utilization of scientific imagination were also suggested.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.49-57
• /
• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of human rights sensitivity of occupational therapist and to compare the difference of the human rights sensitivity according to their characteristics and to provide basic data for the development of human rights education programs for occupational therapists in the future and to emphasize their role as human rights advocates. Methods : The subjects for this study were occupational therapists who chosen by snowball sampling method. The questionnaire consisted of 5 episodes and 30 questions to measure the level of occupational therapist's human rights sensitivity and 7 questions for identifying general characteristics of subjects. We distributed the questionnaire by on-line. 165 copies were collected and used to final data analysis. Results : The average of occupational therapists' human rights sensitivity was $33.52{\pm}14.96$. According to the subcategories, the average of perception of situation was $20.44{\pm}2.32$, perception of result was $19.85{\pm}2.32$, and the perception of responsibility was $19.14{\pm}2.21$. Among 5 episodes, The highest score was the right to pursue one's happiness of the elderly($12.72{\pm}1.56$), and the lowest score was the right to personal freedom in disabled ($11.04{\pm}2.23$). There were significantly differences of the subjects' age, educational level, organization type, and the level of clinical experiences. Conclusion : Occupational therapists' human rights sensitivity increased with age and the level of clinical experiences. And the human rights sensitivity increased as they were exposed to various human rights related circumstances. The reason of the highest score for situational awareness was that empathy for the client-centered intervention is important. This study confirmed that it is necessary to have human rights education and various educational programs.