• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.175-181
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• 2012

The widespread pursuit of a thin physique may have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of preadolescents. The influence of body image distortions on the lifestyles, dieting behaviors, and psychological factors was investigated in 631 fifth and sixth grade children in Kyeonggi-do, Korea. Children were classified into three weight groups (underweight, normal, and overweight) and three perception groups (underestimation, normal, and overestimation). Necessary information was obtained by questionnaire, and each subject's weight status was determined by the Rohrer index calculated from the annual measurement records, which were obtained from the school. According to their current weights, 57.4% of children were normal and 32.2% were overweight or obese, 16.6% of the children overestimated their body weight, and 55.2% had an undistorted body image. Overweight children had desirable lifestyles and dietary habits and presented reasonable weight control behaviors. Compared to those without distortion, the overestimated group had greater interest in weight control ($P$ = 0.003) and dissatisfaction with their body weights ($P$ = 0.011), presented unhealthy reasons to lose weight ($P$ = 0.026), and had higher scores for "feeling sad when comparing own body with others" ($P$ = 0.000) and for "easily getting annoyed and tired" ($P$ = 0.037), even though they had similar obesity indices. More subjects from the overestimation group ($P$ = 0.006) chose drama/movies as their favorite TV programs, suggesting a possible role for the media in body image distortion. These findings suggest that body image distortion can lead preadolescents to develop stress about obesity and unhealthy dieting practices, despite similar obesity indices to those without distorted body images. These results emphasize the importance of having an undistorted body image.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2018

Background: This study aimed to examine (1) the patterns of online health information search with respect to seeking and scanning, and (2) how online search, along with eHealth literacy, predicts perceived information usefulness in the context of diet and weight control. Methods: Online survey was conducted with 299 adults from the consumer panel recruited for the purpose of quality assessment of the Korean National Health Information Portal in 2016. We conducted paired sample t-test and multiple logistic regression to address the research questions. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 24.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and SAS ver. 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results: Of the respondents, 38.8% were 'high seek-high scanners,' 35.8% were 'low seek-low scanners,' 13.0% were 'high seek-low scanners,' and 12.4% were 'low seek-high scanners.' eHealth literacy was a significant, positive predictor of online information scanning (odds ratio [OR], 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41-4.29), but not for online information seeking (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.00-3.05). With respect to perceived usefulness of online information seeking, online seeking (OR, 4.90; 95% CI, 2.19-11.00) and eHealth literacy (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.11-4.75) were significant predictors. Perceived usefulness of online scanning had a significant association with online scanning (OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.08-5.22), but not with eHealth literacy. Conclusion: To increase the effectiveness of the health policy for online information search and related outcomes in the context of diet and weight control, it is important to develop education programs promoting eHealth literacy.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.237-245
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among body-esteem, obesity stress, self-esteem and weight control behavior in high school girls. The descriptive correlational study design was used. The data were collected by Self-reported questionnaires from 135 high school girls in the two high school located B and J city. There was except for none weight control behavior or actual BMI was identified with a low body weight. The collected data were analyzed using t-test, one way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient in SPSS statistics 20.0 program. As results of examining the correlation, body-esteem(r=-.18, p<.05), obesity stress(r=-.39, p<.001), self-esteem(r=-.32, p<.001) were related to their unhealthy weight control behavior in high school girls. Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to be considered body-esteem, obesity stress, self-esteem variables during development convergence programs to attract the healthy weight control behaviors in high school girls.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.600-610
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find the effects of an exercise program on body composition, serum lipids, and menopausal symptoms in Korean menopausal women. Methods: This research used none qui valent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 30 middle-aged women who were divided into two groups, an experimental group (n = 16) who participated in the exercise program and a control group (n = 14). The exercise program was composed of gymnastic-ball exercises with RPE $12{\sim}13$ intensity, 50 minutes' duration and three times a week for 12 weeks from April 1 to June 30, 2008. The dependent variables (body composition, serum lipids, menopause symptoms, self-efficacy, and life satisfaction) were measured before and after exercise program. Results: There were statistically significant difference in weight (F=2.92, p=.049), percent body fat (F=4.22, p=.040), total cholesterol (F=2.63, p= .017) and high density lipoprotein (F=6.74, p= .015) between the two groups. Psychological menopausal symptoms also decreased significantly (F=7.01. p=.014) after the exercise in the experimental group. Conclusions: Regular gymnastic-ball exercises are helpful for menopausal women. They have positive effects not only on body composition and serum lipids but also on the decrease of menopausal symptoms. The results of this study suggest that gymnastic-ball exercise programs are effective in health promotion of Korean middle-aged women, and thus it is necessary to develop exercise programs for women.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.37-46
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• 2007

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of combination of isotonic and rhythmic stabilization in proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation on trunk stability and balance in elderly people with chronic low back pain. Subjects : Thirty-two elderly people ($73.78{\pm}8.49$ years of age) who had complaints of CLBP were randomly assigned to 2 groups: experimental group and control group. Methods : Subject trained with combination of isotonic and rhythmic stabilization in proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation for 4weeks with aim of improving trunk stability and balance. Weight distribution, trunk muscle balance, static balance ability and dynamic balance ability were measured before, at the end of training. Results : Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA. After the exercise programs, there were significant differences in the weight distribution, trunk muscle balance and dynamic balance ability between the experimental and control group. However there was no significant difference in the one leg stance test(p<.05). Conclusion : This study suggest that PNF programs may be appropriate for improving trunk stability and balance in elderly people with CLBP.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.557-564
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• 2018

Along with the aging society, the prevalence of dementia is also increasing. Dementia causes short-term memory loss as well as difficulties of performing daily activities and gradually causes suffering of the patients and their family. In spite of various programs for prevention of dementia of older people are being implemented, there is a lack of developing natural-based program for physical and mental health promotion. Therefore, it is necessary to develop programs for the elderly living alone who are more vulnerable to dementia because of their social and economic isolation. The purpose of this study was to develop a natural-based program and investigate the effects of 10 weeks forest therapy program for dementia prevention to improve the psychological and physical health of the elderly living alone. The experimental subjects were 30 elderly (aged 65 or older) and 31 elderly participated in control group. The Stress response, depressive symptoms, weight, body mass index (BMI), fat mass and muscle mass were measured for pre and post test. The results showed that the experimental group showed subjective stress relief (t=5.249, p=.000), improvement in symptoms of depression (t=4.152, p=.000), and decreases in weight (t=2.686, p=.012), BMI (t=2.629, p=.014) and fat mass (t=2.918, p=.007) after the forest therapy program. The experimental group showed lower stress reactions(t=-7.185, p=.000) and less depressive symptoms (t=-5.303, p=.000) than control group after participating the program. These results suggest that periodic forest exposure can help having less stressful and depressive status than non-forest exposure and the forest therapy program can reduce participants' psychological and physical risk factors of dementia.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.97-105
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• 2002

This study attempts to develop a program for obesity prevention and management for students in primary, middle, and high school and was carried based on the program development process as suggested by Ewles and Simnett. Data were collected from September 1st to September 30th, 2000. The study method is as follows: 1) Reviewing the present obesity control programs practiced in primary, middle, and high school (196 schools total) in metropolitan, medium-sized, and small cities, 2) Surveying obesity students'(682 students total) perception of the obesity management in their school. 3) Reviewing the annual plan for obesity in primary, middle, and high schools 4) Analyzing the educational data (CD, VIDEO) for obesity The results are as below: I. The media researched related to obesity were mainly CD and video, aimed primarily primary school students and are biased in nature. 2. The results of how to manage obesity in students: the difficulty of obesity education in the primary school, is the arousal of a sense of shame among obese students and the lack of various educational data are the most. In the middle and high schools, a lack of various educational data, and no time or lack of time were prevailing concerns. Paramount in managing obesity is weight control, as answered by majority of primary, middle, and high school students. The major problem of obesity management is the non-cooperation of children. 3. Asked whether the weight controlling aspect of health care class was helpful or not, 51.4% of primary school students, and 71.6% of middle and high school students answered not. The most popular educational method used in health care class is the computer, with a 56.4% approval rating. Most 43.5% of respondents answered that they wanted the content of obesity management program to focus on how to lose weight. Therefore, based on the results, the obesity management program is constructed to the steps of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessment includes administering surveys on health needs among students and their parents and physique tests. Planning includes the set-up of long term and short term educational goal and the establishment of an operation system. Implementation includes education, exercise, behavior modification, and health service programs. Evaluation includes step-by-step evaluations for obesity reduction. After this study is conducted, the following should be further researched: More practical and systematic obesity management programs should be developed for the evaluation results. In addition, it is important to develop an appropriate media for obesity management the primary, middle and high school students.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2000

Recently, there is a worldwide concern that a great number of man-made chemicals have a hormone-like action both in humans and in animals. EPA and OECD are developing screening programs using validated test systems to determine whether certain substances may have an effect on humans. In the present study, the establishment of in vivo short-term test system for pubertal female assay with thyroid to detect endocrine disrupting chemicals was tried using a model substance, methoxychlor (MC), a chlorinated hydrocarbon insencticide. Forty female rats were assigned to four groups. MC was administered at dose levels of 0, 8, 40 and 200mg/kg by gavage to female rats from day 21 post partum to the completion of vaginal opening. We evaluated body weight change, age at vaginal opening, onset of estrous cyclicity, age at first esturs, ovary weight, and serum concentrations of thyroxine and thyroid stimulating hormone in female rats. The age at vaginal opening of females receiving 40 200mg/kg was significantly younger than control. The onset of estrus cyclicity and age at first estrus of females receiving 200mg/kg was also younger than controls. There was no effect of treatment on body weight, ovary weight, and hormone concentration. Based on these results, it can be concluded that application of MC at dose level of 40mg/kg affects the vaginal opening and application of MC at dose level of 200mg/kg accelerates the vaginal opening and the onset of estrus cylicity.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the Health Promotion Life Profile of normal-weight and obese children, and factors related to obesity in elementary school children, and provide basic data for the development an obesity management program for these children. Method: The survey participants were 878 fourth to sixth grade elementary school children in Gwangju. $x^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA and multiple logistic regression with the SPSS program were used to analyze the collected data. Results: The Health Promotion Life Profile showed significant differences between normal-weight and obese groups according to food habits (t=3.305, p= .001) and exercise habits (t=-4.065, p=< .001). The Health Promotion Life Profile of obese children was also significantly different according to interest in weight control (F=3.044, p= .050), regular breakfast (F=3.699, p= .014), regular meals (F=6.868, p= .002). The multiple logistic regression analysis, showed that factors in obesity were significantly different according to gender, interest in weight control, fast eating, overeating and predilection for some food. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that items on Health Promotion Life Profile such as food habits and exercise habits should be included in education programs to prevent obesity in elementary school children.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-44
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• 2013

This study aimed to analyze about the perception in obesity and body somatotype of university students in Korea and in China. This study provides the basic data of nutrition education for university student healthy weight program in China. The subjects were selected 240 university students of Korea and China. Two types of qualitative and quantitative questionnaires were used to analyze the attitude and body somatotype of subjects. The results of this study were as follows: The average BMI of Korean and Chinese male students was 22.3 and 22.5, respectively while the average BMI of Korean and Chinese female students was 19.8 and 19.7, respectively. In the past three years, the weight gain of Chinese students was higher than that of Korean students. Chinese students preferred the overweight body somatotype more compared to the Korean students. The overweight and obese students had more obvious insufficiency in body somatotype perception. The overweight and obese students had higher tendency to 'eat more meat', 'drink carbonated beverages', 'eat convenience food', 'take fast food' and 'drink alcohol' than the normal and low weight group. The major reasons for Korean students to control weight were 'appearance' and 'self confidence', while the major reasons for Chinese students were 'health' and 'employment'. From the results of associative group analysis (AGA), Chinese students had different semantic value of 'obese' than Korean students. Considering of the food transition status in China, it may be necessary to develop more suitable education programs for weight control for Chinese university students.