• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.223-247
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• 1996

This study was done to provide information which would lead to nursing care of the elderly being more holistically through an understanding of the phenomena of powerlessness based on the lived experience of powerlessness by the elderly, the meaning the elderly give to such phenomena, and what essence of powerlessness is. The methodology used in this study was Max Van Manen's phenomenological method based on the philosophy of Merleu-Ponty and a concerted approach was realized through the 11 steps suggested in the Van Manen's method. Data collection was done from March 2, 1995 to December 30, 1995. The subjects for this study were four elderly persons who lived with their families and who were over 60 years of age. Data were collected about the lived experience of the elderly, this researcher's experience of powerlessness, the linguistic meaning of powerlessness, idioms of the word or a feeling of powerlessness, and descriptions of powerlessness in the elderly as they appeared in the literature, are works, and phenomenological literature. All data were used to provide insights into the phenomena of powerlessness. Data about the experience of powerlessness by the elderly were collected through open interviews, participation, and observation. In the analysis of the theme of this study, the aspects of the theme, powerlessness in the elderly were clarified, thereby abstracting and finding meaningful statements by the elderly about their feeling of powerlessness, and then those significant statements were expressed as linguistic transformations. The summarized findings from the study are as follows : 1. Five meanings of powerlessness in the elderly were defined. 〈weakness〉, 〈dependence〉, 〈frustration〉, 〈worthlessness〉 and 〈giving up〉. 2. 〈Weakness〉 means that the elderly experience, not only their aging but also, their becoming weak and the loss of physical function frequently caused by diseases. 〈Dependence〉 means that the elderly experience dependence without any influence from the surroundings and that elderly patients who are hospitalized lose their autonomy, follow entirely their doctor's prescriptions, use aid equipment and directions, and depend only on those things. 〈Frustration〉 means that the elderly experience the loss of their roles from the past, there by feeling that there is no work for them to do anymore and therefore feel unable to do anything. 〈Worthlessness〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of losing their social roles from the past, having no financial ability, thereby being a burden to their children or the people around them, and therefore regarding themselves useless. 〈Giving up〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of closeness to death in the final stage of their lifetime, lose hope to be healed from their disease, and recognize the incontrollability of their own body. 3. From a general view of the meaning of the theme the powerlessness in the elderly-the most essential meaning of the theme is the 〈sense of loss〉. For the elderly are experiencing a sense of loss in the situation of being elderly and therefore being often hospitalized. Brief definitions of the five phenomena could be 〈weakness〉 meaning the loss of physical strength, 〈dependence〉 the loss of mentality caused by disease and hospitalization, 〈frustration〉 and 〈worthlessness〉 the loss of social performance caused by the loss of social functions from the past, and lastly 〈giving up〉 the loss of the controllability of such situations of aging and suffering disease. In light of the discussion above, it is understandable that the hospitalized elderly experience powerlessness not only as it related to their diseases but also to their normal aging, and this related to other characteristics of being elderly means that the 〈sense of loss〉 is the very essence of their powerlessness. 4. While most cases are of the normal elderly experiencing powerlessness in relation to their social network, cases of elderly who are hospitalized are of those experiencing powerlessness in relation to the loss of their physical desire. 5. The findings discussed above can serve as guidelines for nurses who take care of the ill elderly who are hospitalized and that can provide cues to appropriate nursing service, recognizing that the subjective experience of the objective age of the elderly is so important. Nurses can provide highly qualitative nursing service, based on their deep understanding of the suffering of the elderly due to feelings of powerlessness.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.506-525
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• 1992

Older people, because of the psychological and physiological changes related to the aging process are more vulnerable to experiencing powerlessness than any other age group. This self destructive cycle of depression in older people related to the experience of continued and long term powerlessness can lead even to death. The purpose of this study was to measure powerlessness and resources to increase power in older people, and to measure the effectiveness of a psychological rehabilitation program for reducing powerlessness. The research methodology used was a two step process. In the first step, a survey was done of perceived powerlessness and power resources comparing four groups of elderly people ; those living at home, those in hospital, those living in nursing homes and those attending educational programs for the elderly. The total sample size was 236. In the second step, a psychological rehabilitation program was carried out, pre and post measurements were taken related to this program. The sample consisted of 29 residents in a nursing home. The results of the study are as follows : 1. Powerlessness was classified as cognitive, emotional, activity and learning. The lowest score for powerlessness was in the area of activity, that is the people in the sample felt more power concerning their activities. The highest score was in the area of cognition where they felt they had less power. 2. When the different groups of elderly were compared, it was found that the residents of the nursing home had the highest score on perceived powerlessness and the group who were living at home had the lowest score. 3. Among the general characteristics, the factors influencing the powerlessness score were age, sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the interaction effects among these factors, it was found that level of education and health status were factors influencing perceived powerlessness. The elderly with lower education and poorer health status had the higher scores for perceived powerlessness. 4. The power resources could be classified into the following areas : physical strength, emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge, motivation and belief system. Belief system was given the highest score among the power resources and energy, knowledge and motivation were given low scores. 5. The group participating in an educational program for the elderly had the highest score for power resources while the group made up of residents of a nursing home had the lowest score as well as the highest score for perceived powerlessness. 6. The factors influencing the power resource scores were sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the analysis of the interaction effect among the factors, it was found that sex, level of education and financial resources were the factors that influenced the power resource score, that is, women, those with a low level of education and those with poor financial resources reported a lower level of power resources. 7. There was a negative correlation between perceived powerlessness and power resources in the elderly in this study. Since power resources explainded 49% of the variance for powerlessness, it can be concluded that the power resources can be used to reduce powerlessness. 8. The psychological rehabilitation program was carried out with the nursing home residents over a period of five weeks. No statistically significant difference was found in the scores on powerlessness between the pre and post tests, but there was a slight decrease in the raw scores on the post test for emotional, activity and learning powerlessness. There was a statistically significant increase in the power resource scores for emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge and motivation in the post test as compared to the pre test. In conclusion, the study indicates that a psychological rehabilitation program for the elderly could be effective in increasing power resources and this in turn could lead to a decrease in perceived powerlessness.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.342-357
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• 2004

A descriptive correlation study was done to provide a basic data for comprehensive nursing care by analyzing the relationship between spiritual wellbeing, hope and perceived health status of the rural elderly. 130 respondents who lived at their homes and nursing homes for elders in D county. Kyungbuk province were selected and their age was over 60 years old. Paloutzian and Ellison(1982)'s spiritual wellbeing scale. Nowotny(l989)'s hope scale and Northern Illinois University's health self rating scale was used. From September 2nd to September 30th, 2002, ready made questionnaires were handed out by researcher and two well trained nurse research assistants. to those who can fill it out and for those who cannot fill out the questionnaires alone, the researcher and assistants read it and finished by interview. This study used Pearson's correlation coefficient for the hypothetic test and the average point and standard deviation of spiritual wellbeing, hope, and perceived health status were checked. To find out the difference between spiritual wellbeing, hope, and perceived health status by general characteristics ANOVA and Tukey test were used. The results are as follows : 1. The mean score for spiritual wellbeing of the rural elders was $49.94(\pm5.62)$ in a possible range of 20-80. The mean score of religious wellbeing was $25.20(\pm3.91)$ and that of existential wellbeing was $24.74(\pm2.83)$ in a possible range of 10-40. The average point of religious wellbeing was $2.52(\pm0.39)$ points and existential wellbeing was $2.47(\pm0.28)$ points to 4 point full marks. 2. The mean score for hope was $67.68(\pm10.92)$ in a possible range of 29-116. The average point of hope was $2.33(\pm0.38)$ points to 4 point full marks. 3. The mean score for perceived health status was $9.95(\pm2.66)$ in a possible range of 4-14. The average point of perceived health status was $2.15(\pm0.72)$ point to 4 point full marks. 4. In testing the hypothesis concerning the relationship between spiritual wellbeing and hope, there was a statistically positive correlation(r=0.621. p=0.000). 5. In testing the hypothesis concerning the relationship between hope and perceived health status, there was a statistically positive correlation(r=0.305, p=0.000). 6. There were significant differences in spiritual wellbeing according to age(F=5.60, p=0.000), religion(F=11.61. p=0.000), family status(F=2.86, p=0.040) and average monthly pocket money(F=4.32, p=0.015). 7. There were significant differences in hope according to age(F=16.49, p=0.000), religion (F=3.56, p=0.009), educational level(F=8.94, p=0.000), present occupation(t=-3.13, p=0.002), family status(F=5.90, p=0.001) and average monthly pocket money(F=3.41. p=0.036). 8. There were significant differences in perceived health status according to present occupation(t=-2.16, p=0.033) average monthly pocket money(F=4.11, p=0.019). From the above results it can be concluded that: There was a positive correlation between spiritual wellbeing and hope, hope and perceived health status. There was no positive correlation between spiritual wellbeing and perceived health status. For futher study, adequate spiritual wellbeing scale and hope scale for rural elders should be developed and, age and religion factors has to be reconsidered. When the nurse implicate the nursing intervention which can be promote the spiritual wellbeing and hope, rural elder's spiritual wellbeing and hope can be improved and at the same time, their perceived health status also can be improved.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.303-311
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of oral health awareness and oral health behavior on cardiocerebrovascular prevention behavior in a cardiocerebrovascular diseases risk group and provide basic data for a nursing intervention program for the group. Data were collected from 131 people in the risk group of cardiocerebrovascular diseases living in J Province in February and March of 2018. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, Pearson's correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that preventive acts were positively correlated with subjective oral health state (r=0.261, p=0.003), importance of oral health (r=0.250, p=0.004), and practice of oral health (r=0.303, p<0.001). Moreover, acts to prevent cardiocerebrovascular disease were influenced by oral health (${\beta}=0.29$, p<0.001), age (${\beta}=0.27$, p=0.001), and subjective oral health state (${\beta}=0.24$, p=0.003). Specifically, scores of preventive acts for cardiocerebrovascular diseases increased with higher degree of oral health behavior, older age, and better subjective oral health state. These variables had an explanatory power of 19.3%. The results of this study imply a need to prepare measures to enhance the oral health level of the risk group of cardiocerebrovascular diseases and conduct ongoing follow-up studies of the perception, attitude, and behavior of individuals toward oral health, as well as the state of oral health.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.253-263
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• 1997

농촌지역은 도시지역에 비하여 의료자원의 부족으로 보건의료자원의 이용 접근성이 낮다고 할 수 있다. 따라서 일부 농촌지역주민의 질병이환과 이환시 보건의료자원의 이용양상을 분석하는 것은 매우 의의가 있다고 하겠다. 본 연구방법은 포천군 주민의 보건의료자원의 이용과 치료원의 이용 양상을 분석할 목적으로 1995년 8월 4일~20일까지 1,200가구를 대상으로 가구 면접조사를 실시하였다. 분석대상 가구수는 1,019가구였으며 훈련받은 조사원에 의하여 조사되었으며 경기도 포천군 지역은 연세대학교 보건대학원 및 간호대학의 연구사업지역으로 본 분석 자료는 연세대학교 연구자료의 일부를 사용하였다. 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 성별인구분포는 남자가 49.9%, 여자가 50.1%이고 연령별 분포는 60세 이상이 16.5%로써 전국의 노인인구 비율보다 높았다. 교육상태는 13년 이상 교육이수율이 남자가 여자보다 높았으나 전체 조사 대상 인구는 교육수준이 높았다. 가족 형태는 핵가족이 70.9%로써 농촌지역임에도 매우 높았다. 지난 15일간의 이환상태를 조사한 결과 급성이환율은 5.4%(54/1,000)이며 3개월 이상 만성이환율은 130/1,000으로 나타났다. 급성이환시 증상별 분포는 호흡기계질환이 36.4%, 소화기계가 20.9%, 여러 가지 복합 증상이 33.0%을 나타낸 반면 만성이환율은 관절염 및 류마티즘이 21.2%, 기타 골격계가 12.6%로서 높았다. 급성 이환시 의료이용양상은 포천군관내의 의료기관이용이 62.6%, 약국이용이 15.2%, 보건소 이용이 4.0%였으며 의료기관이 주요 이용자원이었다. 아무 조치를 취하지 않은 비율은 6.1%로서 높지 않았다. 즉 극성질환인 경우 전체이환자의 76.5%가 1회 방문으로 문제를 해결한 것으로 나타난 반면 나머지 23.5%가 2회 이상 의료자원을 이용한 것으로 나타났다. 3개월이상 만성이환자는 포천군관내 의료기관의 이용율이 56.3%, 관외의료관 이용이 19.3%인 반면 한방기관이용이 7.6%로서 급성이환시 한방이용비율인 4.0%보다 높았다. 1회 방문이 67.4%인 반면 2회 이상 보건의료자원을 이용한 비율이 33.6%로서 만성질환 이용시 보건의료자원의 이용 빈도가 높은 것으로 나타났다. 본 분석결과 포천군 주민의 주요 보건의료자원의 이용은 의료기관으로 나타났고 미치료율이 타농촌지역에 비하여 낮았으며 만성질환시 급성이환시보다 한방의료이용이 높았음을 나타났다.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.263-272
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• 2021

This study investigated the oral health knowledge and educational needs of adults by life cycle. We aimed to provide basic data for developing oral health education plans for well -aging. The survey was conducted online and through mobiles by Gallup Korea during February 2021. A total of 319 adults over the age of 19 were surveyed. The study aimed at investigating the general characteristics, the quality of life-related to oral health, knowledge of oral health, and the need for well-aging education. The PASW Statistics ver 18.0 statistical program was used for data analysis. The analysis of the data suggests that prevention was the highest priority among all age groups. Furthermore, there was a difference in the perceived educational need among different age groups. The cause of the youth, the treatment of the middle-aged and the elderly were significantly related to oral and systemic disease. The need for education related to oral diseases was ranked in the order of aches, bad breath, periodontal diseases, and tooth discoloration. For information, the subjects reached out to the internet, dental and medical institutions, and public health centers. The teaching methods experienced by those surveyed included lectures combined with experience, videos, and expert lectures. We believe that this study can be used to develop an education plan that reflects the needs of the subjects when conducting life cycle education for well-aging.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1285-1294
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• 2018

The purpose of this paper was to identify the relationship between the characteristics of community mental health, and to identify if mediatable contextual property acts as factor influencing community mental health. Data of 229 municipal population groups were collected from KNSO and The 6th Community Health Plan. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, Spearman correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The perceived stress showed significant difference depending on health budget, mental health budget, number of mental health personnel, and was negatively correlated with proportion of the elderly, employment rate, percentage of NBLS recipients, health budget, and number of mental health personnel. The depressive mood differed depending on the number mental health personnel, and was negatively correlated with percentage of NBLS recipients and number of mental health personnel. Mental health budget and number of mental health personnel were respectively influencing factor of perceived stress and depressive mood. Following the above result, in order to reduce the gap between the mental health of communities, the researcher suggests that mental health budget as well as overall health budget and the number of mental health personnel be enforced.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.672-681
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• 2018

This study was conducted to test the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Professional Quality of Life Scale-Short Form (ProQOL-K-SF). Survey data were collected from 191 staff involved in long-term care insurance who worked for National Health Insurance Services. Construct validity using exploratory factor analysis and the internal consistency reliability were determined using SPSS/WIN (21.0). Factor analysis of the ProQOL-K-SF demonstrated that it has a two-factor structure (compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigues) and 13 items that support construct validity. Factor loadings of the compassion satisfaction ranged from 0.70-0.86, factor loading of the compassion fatigues ranged from 0.71-0.82 and the total variance was 60%. The ProQOL-K showed interanal consistency based on Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, with a total scale and two sub scale values of 0.76-0.90. Compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction of 30 items of the ProQOL-K were positively correlated with those of 13 items of the ProQOL-K-SF. The results support that the ProQOL-K has satisfactory construct validity and is a reliable measure of professional quality of life in Korea.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.15-41
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• 2001

Since medical clients and the community they live in are expected to be center of future public health and medical care system, new service programs must be developed with patients focused on in line with widening public access of information and social participation. Patients- focused service shall mean the area- oriented provision of public health service. In this study, health officers working at public health centers, public health sub- centers and medical offices in Jeonbuk- do area were taken for population in order to investigate their attitudes toward and knowledge about the service area assigning system under the public health programs. Findings from the survey to 260 health officers, divided by general category, are as follows : Government officers at public health organizations appeared to have high grade of understanding to the service area assigning system and also great appreciation for the necessity of it. Regarding the timing for the system to be introduced, they support the gradual implementation and, as for the type of service to be provided, they preferred home nursing and treatment of chronic diseases. Highly positive responses were centered on the health classes under the health promotion projects, and as far as health projects for the old are concerned, services for home nursing, for the disabled and for home- alone people are favored most. On the other hand, budgeting, manpower and reorganization are rated as prerequisite to establishment of the service area assigning system. From the viewpoint of system side, the improvement of working conditions is rendered as most urgent, while the information system for establishing the service area assigning system is conceived far from satisfactory. Proper assignment of specialists was noted as mostly important to establish the delivery system for medical service through the service area assigning system by team. As merits of the service area assigning system, it is pointed out that, through the system, health clients can better be managed and the nursing quality will be improved thank to the enhanced specialization. It is also perceived that the district health service is not well prepared to respond to the increased and diversified needs of community people and, furthermore, service programs of health centers have not been fully developed. The most serious problem standing in the way to expansion of health projects is, it is noted, uniformity (formality) of the project. Based on the results of the survey which suggest time has ripen to introduce the service area assigning system, following strategies are proposed to anchor down the system as soon as possible: First, we should introduce the system gradually, starting from the area selected, and in consideration of area specialities, refraining from the hitherto stereotyped way of providing health service. Second, we should seek to properly assign the specialists and improve the working conditions of the assigned officers by securing sufficient budget, since it is a most urgent step to lay foundation for the service area assigning system. Third, best service program should be developed to meet the satisfaction of community people by responding to their needs and solidifying the management of medical clients. Fourth, wide scope of study should further be conducted in order to help this system take roots in the central living of community residents since pilot project on the experimental base attended by specialists only can not win popularity among the masses.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.173-207
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• 2018

Japan is a super-aged society where the proportion of the people aged over 65 is exceeded 20%. Therefore, there are many accidents that occur in long-term care facilities in Japan, and there are many civil litigations. The Japanese court has acknowledged in many cases that the long-term facility is responsible for the damage to the elderly who is injured in the facility. The cases can be divided into ① tumbling down, ② wandering, ③ suffocation, ④ bedsore, and ⑤ accidents among the facility-users. In most cases, the court found that the facility violated its obligation to protect their users. This is not only the case where the manager or the employee of the facility violates the obligation to watch and care for the elderly, but in some cases, the failure to maintain the human and material system itself is recognized. The basis for such judgment is whether the facility can predict the possibility of an accident and whether the facility has taken measures to prevent accidents. Also, the Japanese court recognizes the transfer of burden of proof in order to expedite the victims' rights. However, the liability of the facility for damages should not be so heavy that it would be hesitant to allow a person to enter the facility and make a contract.