• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.15-20
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• 2015

This study compared, through a fire simulation, temperature changes of the smoke layer and the air layer, and height fluctuations of the smoke layer, according to the sprinkler head installation and non-installation, and the sprinkler head types in elderly-care facilities. When a standard response sprinkler worked, the radiant heat exceeded the conditions for the occurrence of flashover. However the ESFR sprinkler prevented flashover. When the early response head worked, inhabitants were not damaged by radiant heat because the maximum value of the heat flux remained $2,293W/m^2$, which is less then the burn hazard criterion of $4,000W/m^2$. The highest temperature of the room when fire occurred exceeded the safety standard in all of the smoke layer and the air layer, but the highest temperature was kept below the safety standard after it fell down rapidly. Because the height of the smoke layer was maintained above 1.1 m when the early response sprinkler worked, the falling of the smoking layer was much more delayed than in the case where the standard response sprinkler was used.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.329-352
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• 2009

This study examined life in old age and images of the aged perceived by middle-aged and old-aged generations through indepth interviews with 30 persons aged 40s through 80s residing in three areas (city or county) in capital region in Korea to use it as basic information in planning social welfare policy and reorganizing social services in response to population aging in capital region in Korea. In terms of economic life of the middle-aged and olde-aged generations perceived older people's opportunities for work were rarely given to the aged due to ageism and negative stereotypes of aging and the aged, and the aged tended to regard themselves less able or unable to work. In terms of social life of the aged both middle-aged and old-aged generations perceived that the frequency of social participation was low, and the daily life of the aged was found mostly aimless, unorganized and unplanned. In terms of psycho-social life of the aged both generations still felt that they were not alienated from the family, neighbors, and the society. In terms of social welfare services both generations thought the aged needed basic services such as income maintenance, health care, housing services, and particularly they felt lack of social services. The old-aged generation was willing to travel to the distance taking more than one hour to receive social services that they would need. Both the middle-aged and the old-aged agreed upon the necessity of preparation for old age and the benefits of earlier preparation, however, they said that they could not prepare for their old age due to lack of social programs to help preparation for old age and due to spending for rearing and education of their children. In terms of perceived life in old age both middle-aged and old-aged generations tended to be slightly positive, but the degree of positiveness differed between respondents from urban area and those from rural area regardless of generations. Images of the aged were perceived to be overwhelmingly negative while positive images were very few in number regardless of generations. This finding may suggests that negative stereotypes on aging and the aged are also prevalent in Korean society like in Western societies. Based on findings of this study some implications for social policies in response to population aging in capital region were suggested.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.245-268
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• 1999

It is necessary that the old should have the physical and social ability to perform their daily life. This study is to grasp their degree of disability and problems and suggest their solutions. It surveyed the 87 old people over 65 years old from September 1st until September 30th, in 1997. The findings are as follows. 1) The activities of daily living(ADL) to find their degree of physical disability shows that their average performance ability is 75.9% of all the action while 24.1% of all the old people needs the others' help. As they get older and older, the aged drop off in their physical ability, which is related to a statistical sense (p<0.001). 2) The social disability shows that the aged have their great difference from 9.2% to 85.1% in their instrumental activities of daily living(IADL), intellectual ability and social role. 3) A simple analysis shows that the activities of daily living are, in a statistical sense, related to age(p<0.001), the use of elder's hall(p<0.001), the understanding degree of health(p<0.01) and so forth. 4) A simple analysis shows that the instrumental activities of daily living are, in a statistical sense, related to age(p<0.001), the degree of education(p<0.05), the life of leisure(p<0.001), the understanding degree of health and so forth. 5) A multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that the disability of daily living is related to age, the visit of elder's hall, the period of solitary living, instrumental activities of daily living is age and the visit of elder's hall, and social role is the visit of elder's hall and the decree of education, while intellectual activity has no related variables in a statistical sense.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.745-766
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the research trends regarding the published articles in the Journal of Korean Gerongological Society within the past 10 years. This study is based on the article written by Won and Mo (2008). This article classified previously published studies into themes, methods, and application of theory. Out of the total of 187 articles published in the past 10 years, 11 articles were about social change and institution, 94 articles were about social issues, 12 articles were about social problems and deviation, 42 articles were about social culture, 14 papers were about gerontological theory and 13 papers were about residence/architecture. In the last 10 years, the most popular topic was around the various ways aging. New topic that emerged was the effect of IT and technology on the quality of life among the older adults. Other topics that gained interest were age discrimination and prejudice on aging. Trends in research methods showed increased use of qualitative methods. In the future, more research needs to be completed to theorize the results of quantitative research. Furthermore, the use of qualitative research methods needs to be increased in order to understand the lives of older adults in depth. Through more meta analysis, the results of past research articles should be synthesized to get a bigger picture of the Korean older adults.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.129-144
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the ways to im-prove the level of life satisfaction of the elderly who chose or happened to live at paid facilities by examining some of factors such as individual family social support and facility related el-ements that would influence their life satisfaction. The interview outcomes came out in three main discussions. First the general characteristics of the participating elderly appeared to be that most of them were ver7y elderly relatively highly educated females and religions and the rate of being ill was high. And a half of them considered themselves as heal- thy people and the other half as unhealthy. Secondly in view of statisticsal results the level of their life satisfaction was influnced by their individual family and facillity related factors. As far as their individual related factor are concerned the level of one party's life satisfaction was relative-ely higher than that of other's when the person is female had religio presumed oneself as in healthy and good physical condition. And when participating member keeps good relation-ship with his or her own children the level of the person's life satisfaction was only slightly higher than other elderly group who did not have good relationship with their children. There were no other significant statistical differences on the level of their life satisfaction related to the social support factors between those two group. Thirdly the level of the elderly's life satisfaction was influe- nced in the order of folldwing factors: (1) the quality of facility living condition 2) the commitment of ownership of the organization (3) the elderly residents' own education level (4) the elderly's own subjectivel health condition and (5) the sex of the individuals.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.337-350
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• 2008

The principal objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status and dietary quality in low-income elderly individuals residing at home (LH) or in health care facilities (LHCF) with dietitian. This study was conducted via anthropometric measurements, questionnaire interviews, and dietary surveys using a 24 hr recall method with 120 low-income elderly individuals (LHCF=46, LH=74). The average ages of the LH and LHCF group were 76.3 years and 78.6 years, respectively. The LH group evidenced a significantly higher frequency of skipping meals than the LHCF group. The average energy intakes of the LHCF and LH group were 1921.0 kcal and 1443.9 kcal, with a significant difference (p<0.001). Most of the nutrient intake and intake rates for recommended intake were significantly higher among the LHCF group as compared with the LH group. The LHCF group showed significantly higher values for the nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR), the mean adequacy ratio (MAR), nutrient density (ND), and the index of nutritional quality (INQ) by dietary qualitative estimation than in the LH group. The Korean diet diversity scores (KDDS) were 3.66 for LH group and 4.93 for the LHCF group, thus were significantly higher in the LHCF group than in the LH group. The results of the present study demonstrate that the LH group appeared to experience more dietary problems than the LHCF group. It was suggested that nutritional education is needed for low-income elderly individuals living at home, in order for them to learn proper dietary management. This can be achieved via educational programs in social welfare institutions, incentives toward employment as a dietitian, and implementation of community-based support.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.426-429
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• 2006

A distributed healthcare monitoring system prototype for clinical and trauma patients, was developed, using wireless sensor network node. The proposed system aimed to measure various vital physiological health parameters like ECG and body temperature of patients and elderly persons and transfer his/ her health status wirelessly in Ad-hoc network, to remote base station which was connected to doctor's PDA/PC or to a hospital's main Server using wireless sensor node. The system also aims to save the cost of healthcare facility for patients and the operating power of the system because sensor network is deployed widely and the distance from sensor to base station was shorter than in general centralized system. The wireless data communication will follow IEEE 802.15.4 frequency communication with ad-hoc routing thus enabling every motes attached to patients, to form a wireless data network to send data to base-station, providing mobility and convenience to the users in home environment.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.392-401
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• 2018

Background: Physical activity (PA) is critical for maintaining the health and well-being of older people in community and also institutional settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of PA and related individual and organizational factors among older nursing home residents with and without dementia. Methods: This is a secondary data analysis study of a nationwide survey of 92 long-term care facilities in Korea, and the study sample includes older residents with dementia (n= 753) and without dementia (n= 480). The level of PA was measured by PA time and whether or not residents had an outdoor activity over the past 3 days. Multi-variate, multi-level analyses were conducted. Results: More than half of the sample in both groups had no or less than 1 hour of PA. About one out of four older people in our sample had no outdoor activity over the past 3 days regardless of whether or not they had dementia. Among the people without dementia, several individual-level factors were associated with PA, including dependency for activities of daily living, social activity participation, and caregivers' belief in the functional improvement of residents. Unlike the non-dementia group, individual- and organizationallevel factors including staffing level and having the relevant equipment for PA were associated with PA among those with dementia. Conclusion: Study findings provide evidence on the lack of PA among older nursing home residents, and the importance of institutional capacity with regard to human resources and physical equipment for promoting PA among people with dementia, in particular. Policies and supports are needed to promote the implementation of healthy aging programs including PA for older nursing home residents. Such programs should be person-centered with consideration to the physical and cognitive status of individual residents.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.392-402
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory and descriptive survey study design to examine 1) the physical difficulty by care task, 2) overall occupation-related physical burden by the characteristics of caregivers and care receivers, and 3) the level of help by the use of care robots and devices among formal caregivers working in facilities for older adults. In this study, 308 formal caregivers working in facilities were recruited from 8 nursing homes and 5 geriatric hospitals between Aug. 2021 and Sept. 2022 in South Korea. There were significant differences in ADLs between nursing homes and geriatric hospitals: eating, dressing, hygiene, transfer to bed, transfer to the toilet and walking. For each care item, the items the caregivers had the most difficulty ranked first were bathing, excretion assistance, and mobility support. The difference in occupation-related physical burden according to general characteristics was found to have statistically significant differences in female and bad perceived health. Among the 205 caregivers who had experience using care robots and devices, pressure ulcer prevention was the most experienced one, and those also were the most helpful and exercise aids were the least helpful. In order to reduce the physical burden on care providers, it is necessary to develop and introduce a care robots centered on the care site. Furthermore, national level public support systems are required to enable facilities to actively utilize care robots and devices.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2012

Objective : This study aims to identify the effect of an occupational therapeutic intervention program including horticultural therapy on cognition and daily living performance of the elderly with dementia. Methods : For the purpose, the study measured the changes before and after the therapy, targeting sixteen women with dementia who were living in nursery facilities. We used MMSE-K to analyse the cognition, and evaluated daily living performance using K-MBI(p<.05). Results : The results of the study were presented as follows: 1. To identify changes of MMSE-K before and after the therapy between the control and test groups. As a result, it was discovered that MMSE-K of the control group was $16.25{\pm}1.38$ before the therapy and $16.00{\pm}.92$ after the therapy, which indicated no significant differences, but MMSE-K of the test group was $16.00{\pm}1.51$ before the therapy and $17.87{\pm}1.35$ after the therapy, which was statistically significant (p<.05). 2. To identify changes in daily living performance(K-MBI) between the two groups before and after the therapy, and it was discovered that scores of the control group were $74.00{\pm}1.30$ before the therapy and $74.25{\pm}1.16$ after the therapy, which showed no significant difference, but those of the test group were $73.75{\pm}1.28$ before the therapy and $76.37{\pm}1.30$ after the therapy, which was statistically significant(p<.05). Conclusion : Based on the results above, it was demonstrated that the an occupational therapeutic intervention program including horticultural therapy had a positive effect on cognition and daily living performance of elderly women with dementia and it is suggested that the results can be used as basic data for clinical intervention of the elderly with dementia.