• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.56-64
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• 2021

Background: Despite the high life expectancy, the subjective health status of the elderly people in Korea is reported to be the lowest as compared to other age groups. The purpose of the conducted study was to identify the factors related to the subjective health status of elderly people aged over 65 in Korea. Methods: This study used data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016-2017) of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The subjects of the study were selected to be 2,904 elderly people aged over 65. The factors that were selected related to subjective health status were socio-demographics, perceived diseases, health behaviors, and mental health. Results: As a result of the examination of the subjective health status according to the characteristics of the subjects of study, the subjective health status was high in males (β=0.144, p=0.011), urban dwellers (β=0.107, p=0.015), employed persons (β=0.139, p=0.001), college graduates (β=0.322, p<0.001), persons with high household income (β=0.226, p<0.001), persons without chronic disease, nonsmokers (β=0.146, p=0.009), drinkers (β=0.111, p=0.003), persons who practiced aerobic physical activity (β=0.150, p<0.001), persons without depression (β=0.286, p<0.001), and persons who rarely had stress (β=0.837, p<0.001). Conclusion: More attention should be paid to those with low subjective health to improve health for elderly people. Expanding policy supports are required for elderly people with low socioeconomic status, chronic disease or depression, or unhealthy behaviors (smoking or lack of physical activity).

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2022

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and its association with psychological factors in patients with hypertension. Methods : The Participants included 124 patients with hypertension. Anxiety symptoms were evaluated by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Socio-demographics, perceived stress, state-trait anger, life satisfaction, and ego resiliency were assessed. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were carried out to examine the impact of perceived stress, state-trait anger, and life satisfaction on anxiety symptoms. In addition, moderated regression analysis was performed to explore the moderating effect of ego resiliency between perceived stress and anxiety symptoms. Results : A total of 17 subjects (13.7%) were identified as having anxiety symptoms. Higher perceived stress and state-trait anger, and lower life satisfaction were found to be significant correlates of anxiety symptoms. In the final model, higher levels of perceived stress (β=0.378, p<0.001) and trait anger (β=0.320, p<0.001) were related to higher levels of anxiety symptoms, while a higher level of life satisfaction (β=-0.166, p=0.025) was associated with a lower level of anxiety symptoms. Further, ego resiliency buffered the negative effect of perceived stress on anxiety symptoms. Conclusion : This study demonstrated the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and associated psychological factors among patients with hypertension. Our findings suggest that improving life satisfaction and ego-resiliency as well as controlling stress and anger may be important in the management of anxiety symptoms in patients with hypertension.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2016

Purpose - The primary purpose of this study is to employ effective marketing methods using market segmentation of coffee shops by determining how motivations to visit coffee shops have different impacts on demographic profile of visitors and characteristics of coffee shop visits, so as to draw out a better understanding of customers of coffee market. Research design, data, and methodology - Data were collected using surveys of self-administered questionnaires toward coffee shop users in Daejeon, Korea. A number of samples used in data analysis were 253 excluding unusable responses. The data were analyzed through frequency, reliability, and factor analysis using SPSS 20.0. Factor analysis was conducted through the principal component analysis and varimax rotation method to derive factors of one or more eigen values. In addition, the cluster analysis, multivariate ANOVA, and cross-tab analysis were used for the market segmentation based on the types of motivation for coffee shop visits. The process of the cluster analysis is as follows. Four clusters were derived through hierarchical clustering, and k-means cluster analysis was then carried out using mean value of the four clusters as the initial seed value. Result - The factor analysis delineated four dimensions of motivation to visit coffee shops: ostentation motivation, hedonic motivation, esthetic motivation, utility motivation. The cluster analysis yielded four clusters: utility and esthetic seekers, hedonic seekers, utility seekers, ostentation seekers. In order to further specify the profile of four clusters, each cluster was cross tabulated with socio-demographics and characteristics of coffee shop visits. Four clusters are significantly different from each other by four types of motivations for coffee shop visits. Conclusions - This study has empirically examined the difference in demographic profile of visitors and characteristics of coffee shop visits by motivation to visit coffee shops. There are significant differences according to age, education background, marital status, occupation and monthly income. In addition, coffee shops use pattern characterization in frequency of visits to coffee shops, relationships with companion, purpose of visit, information sources, brand type, average expense per visit, important elements of selection attribute were significantly different depending on motivations for coffee shop visits.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.4917-4926
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• 2012

This study was designed to assess the factor of influence to occupational stress who work in the field of firefighters and questionnaire was uesd to analyse the stress scores and find the primary factors influence to occupational stress. The number of respondents were 408 who received the refresher training and period of investigation was august 2011 through october 2011. A structured questionnaire was employed to evaluate the participants' socio-demographics, job-related factors, health-related behaviors, occupational stress, reaction factor (fatigue, job satisfaction) and buffer factor (social support). Occupational stress and fatigue were assessed using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form (KOSS-SF) and the Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS), respectively. The analysis showed that we found a strong correlation between fatigue, job satisfaction and occupational stress. Occupational stress was associated with an increased risk of fatigue and decreased the job satisfaction. In the multiple regression analysis(stepwise), main factor that influence to occupational stress were job satisfaction, gender, age, processing number for a day, exercise. In logistic regression analyses, a higher occupational stress was associated with higher odds of fatigue(High) and the odds was down by 15.0% after adjustment for job satisfaction, gender, age, processing number for a day, exercise. Thus, a job satisfaction promote program for the reduction of occupational stress and the promotion of firefighters's health is strongly recommended.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.670-676
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• 2002

Four different brands of commercial and a home-made jujube tea were analyzed for physicochemical properties (sugar content, acidity, color, viscosity, transparency, texture) and sensory characteristics by using 7-point scoring test from 18 experienced panel members. Also, the opinion of food and nutrition specialists on the commercial jujube teas were assessed using a questionnaire, which were hand-delivered to 530 subjects consisting of university students and faculties of Department of Food and Nutrition at 8 cities(Seoul, Incheon, Youngin. Taejon, Chungju, Taegu, Kwangiu, Pusan) in Korea and the complete data of 328 subjects were statistically analyzed using SPSS Program for Window. The questionnaire consisted of socio-demographics, frequency and occasion of purchasing, opinion of quality and improvement points, and sensory characteristics. Commercial jujube teas (3 different brand) were lower in sugar content, pH, transparency, color (Hunter L, a and b value), and viscosity than the home-made one, whereas only one brand was higher in viscosity and lower in transparency than home-made one. Also, overall preference for commercial jujube teas was significantly love. than that for home-made one (p＜0.05). Especially, the scores of overall preference for 3 commercial jujube teas (2.1-3.3) were much lower than that of home-made one (6.1). Points to be improved for commercial jujube teas were indicated as the amount of jujube (30.0%), taste (23.8%), sweetness (22.0%), and flavor (14.4%) in order. Sensory attributes showing positive correlations with overall preference of jujube tea were the taste(0.566), amount of jujube(0.449), and flavor(0.335).

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.49-61
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• 2016

This study examined the effectiveness of and satisfaction of visitors with the Environmental Improvement Project on national parks' trail entry areas. A survey was conducted to improve the proposal framework based on the data. Data for the study were obtained from 6400 respondents who used 28 national park offices at 32 national park trail entry areas. The field research was collected in 3200 surveys, divided between pre- and post-implementation of the Environmental Improvement Project. The study variables consisted of socio-demographics, visitors' perceptions on the environmental improvement of trail entries, effects of the environmental improvement, and visitor satisfaction. Several important results were found. First, the environment of trail entries has a significant impact on the formation of images and user satisfaction of national parks. Second, the influence of the trail entry improvement showed that 71.8% of visitors rated the trail entry as environmentally friendly after the Environmental Improvement Project, compared to 48.5% of visitors rated the trail entry as environmentally friendly before the Environmental Improvement Project. The findings indicated that a top priority of environmental improvement of the trail entries needs to be the installation of convenience facilities such as rest areas, restrooms, and direction boards (pre: 34.5%, post: 32.6%). Third, functionality and the other nine variables were shown to enhance the effect of the environmental improvement of the trail entries at the 1% statistical significance level. Finally, results indicated that the overall satisfaction of the visitors with the park was significantly higher after the environmental improvement (t-value=25.741, p=.000), showing the satisfaction score was higher after the environmental improvement (pre: 3.51, post: 4.12), with a statistically significant difference at the 1 % level. This study helps to understand trail entries, which have influenced the image of the national park and satisfaction. These findings can be utilized to manage and design a national park as a public space.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7547-7554
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• 2015

Background: The use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) among women is increasing in India, especially among those with limited education and resources. Preventing the initiation of SLT among women is critical since it has known negative consequences for oral and reproductive health. Most research on tobacco initiation in India focuses on adolescents. This paper addresses the unrecognized issues of post marital initiation among women of reproductive age, highlighting the importance of reproductive stages in women's tobacco initiation. The objective is to examine the correlates of SLT initiation among low income women in Mumbai from pre-marriage through early marriage, first pregnancy and beyond, using case examples to illustrate initiation during each of these stages. Materials and Methods: In 2011-2012, cross-sectional community level survey data were collected from a representative sample of 409 daily SLT-using married women aged 18-40 years in a low income community in Mumbai. Information on socio-demographics, initiation by reproductive stage, types of tobacco use, childhood exposure to tobacco, learning to use, and initiation influences and reasons were collected through a researcher-administered survey. Univariate and bivariate analysis assessed factors influencing initiation of SLT use by reproductive stage. In addition 42 narratives of tobacco use were collected from a purposive sample of pregnant and non-pregnant married women addressing the same questions in detail. Narratives were transcribed, translated, and coded for key concepts including initiation of tobacco use. Results: Thirty-two percent of women initiated SLT use before marriage, 44% initiated after marriage but before pregnancy, 18.1% initiated during their first pregnancy and the remainder started after their first pregnancy. Mean age of marriage among women in this study was 16 years. Younger women (i.e. age at time of the interview of less than 30 years) were 0.47 [95% CI (0.32, 0.87)] percent less likely to initiate after marriage than women aged more than 30 years. Women who got married before 18 years of age were 2.34 [95% CI (1.40, 3.93)] times more likely to initiate after marriage than their counterparts. Childhood exposure was a predictor for initiating SLT use prior to marriage but not after. Women reporting tooth and gum pain were 1.85 times more likely to initiate after marriage than their counterparts. Husband and neighbours were the most significant influences on post-marital initiation. Narratives highlighted differences in processes of initiation pre and post marriage and during pregnancy. Conclusions: Most tobacco prevention interventions are directed to adolescents in school. This study suggests that especially for low literate or illiterate women, school based interventions are ineffective. To be effective strategies to prevent SLT initiation must reach women in urban areas at or immediately after marriage and during their first pregnancy. Messages must negate culturally rooted beliefs about the health benefits of SLT in order to prevent initiation and onset of daily use.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3731-3740
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• 2012

Background: There have been few studies of Asian ovarian cancer and benign tumors. The primary aim of this paper was to report the protocol of the Ko-EVE study to examine epidemiological and molecular factors for ovarian cancer and benign neoplasms and to ascertain the major risk factors for ovarian cancer control in Korea. Methods: This case-control study covers incident epithelial ovarian cancers and benign neoplasms, four major centers participating in enrolling incident cases and 3 hospitals enrolling healthy controls among health examinees. Standardized questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers, including sections on socio-demographics characteristics, past medical history, medication usage, family history, lifetime consumption of alcohol and tobacco, diet, physical activity, and reproductive factors for women. Various biological specimens were collected in the biorepository according to the standardized protocol. Annual follow-up for cancer cases and follow-up at the 1st year for benign tumor cases are performing to evaluate treatment effect and progression. Passive follow to see long-term survival will be conducting using record linkage with national data. Results: The total number recruited in 2010-2011 was 246 epithelial ovarian cancer cases, 362 benign epithelial tumors and 345 controls. We are planning to collect subjects for at least 1,500 sets of ovarian cancer, 2,000 benign tumors and 1,500 controls till 2018. Conclusions: The Ko-EVE will provide unique and important data to probe the etiology and natural history of Korean epithelial ovarian cancer. It will be continued by genomic and proteomic epidemiological analyses and future intervention studies for the prevention of ovarian cancer among Koreans.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 2016

Background: Glycemic control is an effective way to reduce the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, but more than half of the adults with diabetes in Korea are improperly controlling their glycemic levels. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors associated with poor glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: This study analyzed 1,261 subjects ${\geq}30years$ old diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who participated in the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012). Poor glycemic control rates were defined as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level ${\geq}7%$. To shed light on the causes of poor glycemic control, socio-demographics, diabetes severity, health status, and health behavior factors were adjusted and logistic regression was done. Results: Of the total 1,261 patients, 53.0% of patients with type 2 diabetes had HbA1c ${\geq}7%$. After running a logistic regression model, the odds ratio of poor glycemic control was higher in high school graduates than elementary school graduates; in people living in Chungcheong and Jeolla/Jeju than those living in Seoul; in the group with diabetes for over 5 years had diabetes less than 5 years; in a group with insulin and oral hypoglycemic agent treatment than non-treatment; in a group with hypertriglyceridemia than without hypertriglyceridemia; and in the group with slept less than 6 hours slept 7-8 hours. Conclusion: We need a comprehensive public health policy to reduce the poor glycemic control rates in type 2 diabetes patients. We should recognize the education levels, duration of diabetes, diabetes treatment, hypertriglyceridemia, and sleep duration were associated with poor glycemic control.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.431-444
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• 2019

Background: This study aimed to properly manage diseases such as blood sugar control so that patients with diabetes can benefit from both medication and health activities. Also, these health practices are greatly influenced by self-rated health, a subjective assessment of health status. Because self-rated health does not necessarily match the objective health status, it is important to identify which factors affect self-rated health. Methods: For the study, the data was gathered from the 4th-6th National Health Nutrition Survey (2007-2015). Out of the total 73,353 participants in the survey, 2,303 patients with uncontrolled blood sugar with an HbA1c level of more than 7% were selected for the final study. Dependent variables fell into two categories depending on how the participant reported whether he or she was in good health or not. Independent variables included socio-demographics, health behavioral, and health status factors. This study performed logistic regression analysis. Results: Out of 2,303 participants, 18.1% reported that their heath was 'good,' despite the fact that their blood sugar level was not controlled. After running a logistic regression model, the odds ratio of groups that perceive subjective health awareness as good was higher in the groups of people as below: in the people over 60 years old; in the people who graduated from a junior college or higher than those who had a level of education of primary school completion or less; in the people living in Chungnam than those living in Seoul; and in the group with hypertriglyceridemia. Conclusion: The study identified factors associated with those failed to perceive the blood sugar level as a severe health problem despite of the fact that blood sugar was not controlled. To improve public health, diabetes management policies need to be addressed to population groups with these problems above.