• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.51-67
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to find the role and issues of housing management under the community care system which cover the middle class older people. Research method was qualitative research by the interview of 21 subjects with open-ended questionnaire. Most of the older people want to live in the community alone with poor supporting system, because present community care system does not established well, so it cannot cover the staying put service for independent living, such as community alarm, care and repair, handyman, floating support, and meal service within the community. The result showed that community care might be partially avaliable from the welfare center but not well established or transfer to Dong-Office as an agency of community welfare center. However, the subjects had higher needs about housing management for older people than previous study on the hypothetical level. Successful pilot project might be required to develop the community care system focused on housing management for older people.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.81-91
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• 2019

Recently, the nation has been suffering from a variety of problems, such as the rapid aging of the population and the weakening of the family's role due to rapid industrialization, such as the problem of supporting the elderly or the decline in the quality of supporting them. Among them, the issue of supporting the sentiment of the elderly is a major issue in terms of the quality of the stimulus. The best solution would be to resolve this issue of emotional support through various physical and human support. However, due to various limitations, access to efficient utilization of resources is being sought, among which support efforts through the convergence of digital technologies need to be noted. In this study, we took note of the problems of aging population shortage due to aging phenomenon and the problems of the emotional side of the problem of declining quality of the service, and analyzed the types of digital technology applied to support the emotional side through the convergence of digital technology. Among them, the Commission proposed emotional support through smart speakers, confirming the possibility of supporting the elderly through smart speakers. In addition, the Commission proposed guidelines for smart speaker communication systems to support the sentiment of older adults by conducting an in-depth interview with the In-Depth interview with the evaluation of the usability of smart speakers for older people. Based on the results of this study, it is expected that it will be the basic data for designing a communication system when developing smart speakers to support the emotions of the elderly.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.11-27
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• 2019

Dementia is major epidemic disease of the 21st century in the world. Dementia is one of the major issues in public health globally. Also in Korea, the estimated prevalence of dementia was 8.7%(0.47 million) in 2010, the number will reach the 1 million mark in 2024, it will become a 15.1%(2.71 million) by 2050. Among Koreans aged 65 or older, 725,000 are estimated to be suffering from dementia in 2017. Against dementia, Korea developed three National Dementia Plans in 2008, 2012, and 2016. The 1st plan was came into effect in 2008 and focused on prevention, early diagnostic, development and coordination of infrastructures and management, and improving awareness. The 2nd plan was launched in 2012, addressed the same priorities but had a stronger focus on supporting family members. In 2012 the Dementia Management Act established a statutory basis for organization of the National Dementia Plans. Under the Dementia Management Act, the government is required to produce a comprehensive plan for dementia every 5 years. The Act also orders that the government should register the dementia patients and collect statistics on epidemiology and the management of the dementia conditions. The Dementia Management Act of Korea required the operation of the National Institute of Dementia and Metropolitan/Provincial Dementia Centers to make and carry out dementia management plans throughout the nation. The Act also mandate to establish Dementia Counselling Centers in every public health center and the National Dementia Helpline. The 3rd National Dementia Plan of 2016 aims to build a dementia friendly community to ensure people with dementia and their carer live well. This plan focus on community-based prevention and management of dementia, convenient and safe diagnosis, treatment, and care for people with dementia, the reduction of the care burden for family care-givers of people with dementia, and support for dementia research through research, statistics and technology. In 2017, Moon's government will introduce the "National Dementia Responsibility System," which guarantees most of the burden caused by dementia. This plan include that the introduction of a ceiling on self-pay for dementia diseases, expansion of the application of dementia care standards through alleviating the support criteria for long-term care insurance for mild dementia, expansion of dementia support centers, expansion of national and public dementia care facilities. In the meantime, Korea has accomplished many accomplishments by establishing many measures related to dementia and promoting related projects in a short time, but there are still many challenges.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.71-130
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• 2008

Using data from the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study (KLIPS), this study investigates private income transfers in Korea, where adult children have undertaken the most responsibility of supporting their elderly parents without well-established social safety net for the elderly. According to the KLIPS data, three out of five households provided some type of support for their aged parents and two out of five households of the elderly received financial support from their adult children on a regular base. However, the private income transfers in Korea are not enough to alleviate the impact of the fall in the earned income of those who retired and are approaching an age of needing financial assistance from external source. The monthly income of those at least the age of 75, even with the earning of their spouses, is below the staggering amount of 450,000 won, which indicates that the elderly in Korea are at high risk of poverty. In order to analyze microeconomic factors affecting the private income transfers to the elderly parents, the following three samples extracted from the KLIPS data are used: a sample of respondents of age 50 or older with detailed information on their financial status; a five-year household panel sample in which their unobserved family-specific and time-invariant characteristics can be controlled by the fixed-effects model; and a sample of the younger split-off household in which characteristics of both the elderly household and their adult children household can be controlled simultaneously. The results of estimating private income transfer models using these samples can be summarized as follows. First, the dominant motive lies on the children-to-parent altruistic relationship. Additionally, another is based on exchange motive, which is paid to the elderly parents who take care of their grandchildren. Second, the amount of private income transfers has negative correlation with the income of the elderly parents, while being positively correlated with the income of the adult children. However, its income elasticity is not that high. Third, the amount of private income transfers shows a pattern of reaching the highest level when the elderly parents are in the age of 75 years old, following a decreasing pattern thereafter. Fourth, public assistance, such as the National Basic Livelihood Security benefit, appears to crowd out private transfers. Private transfers have fared better than public transfers in alleviating elderly poverty, but the role of public transfers has been increasing rapidly since the welfare expansion after the financial crisis in the late 1990s, so that one of four elderly people depends on public transfers as their main income source in 2003. As of the same year, however, there existed and occupied 12% of the elderly households those who seemed eligible for the National Basic Livelihood benefit but did not receive any public assistance. To remove elderly poverty, government may need to improve welfare delivery system as well as to increase welfare budget for the poor. In the face of persistent elderly poverty and increasing demand for public support for the elderly, which will lead to increasing government debt, welfare policy needs targeting toward the neediest rather than expanding universal benefits that have less effect of income redistribution and heavier cost. Identifying every disadvantaged elderly in dire need for economic support and providing them with the basic livelihood security would be the most important and imminent responsibility that we all should assume to prepare for the growing aged population, and this also should accompany measures to utilize the elderly workforce with enough capability and strong will to work.