• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.21-34
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• 2019

This study was an examination of the relevance and clinical significance of electroencephalographic (EEG) indexes (e.g., mental/physical stress and attention) and indexes of heart rate variability (HRV) with regard to cognitive function and physiological health conditions in elderly people. A device was used to record two-channel EEGs of the frontal lobe and a one-channel ECG simultaneously. Subjects were 76 people average aged 73. The significant findings are as follows: First, subjects whose intrinsic alpha rhythm had high amplitude, regardless of peak, showed higher resistance to mental stress and lower physical stress than did subjects with low-amplitutde intrinsic alpha rhythm. Second, HRV, SDNN, and RMSSD indexes showed strong positive correlations between the two groups of subjects regardless of the division of groups. Third, the alpha asymmetry of the left and right sides of the brain in subjects with low-amplitude intrinsic alpha rhythm was larger, and the delta/alpha ratio (reflecting physical stress) and theta/sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) ratio (showing the decline in attention) were bigger. Fourth, the subjects in whom intrinsic alpha rhythm peak occurred during slow rhythm had a higher theta/SMR ratio than did subjects whose peak occurred during fast rhythm, which was related to a steeper decline in attention. Therefore, the presence or absence of intrinsic alpha rhythm peak and amplitude on quantitative EEG may be an index reflecting the cognitive function and physiological health of elderly people.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2010

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to find out cognitive function of the patients with subjective memory complaint. Material and Methods : From March 1st 2005 to May 31st 2009, 155 normal individuals without any medical illness who visited Yeungnam University Hospital to undergo medical checkup with neurocognitive test was enrolled, and checked by using Cognitive Assessment & Reference Diagnostic System. Results : 107 of the patients had normal cognitive function, 21 patients (about 15%) were diagnosed with dementia, and 10 patients (about 7%) were diagnosed with considerable psychiatric illness, such as depression, anxiety disorder, adjustment disorder. In amnesia, agnosia, aphasia, attention, calculation, dysexecution, Dementia group and Psychiatric illness group has worse score than Normal individuals group. But, in apraxia, Dementia group has worse score than Psychiatric illness group and Normal individual group. Conclusion : Because the patients with subjective memory complaint can be diagnosed as any psychiatric illness as well as dementia, sensitive screening test and early psychiatric approach is needed.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.584-594
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of visual and hearing impairment and to investigate the effect of visual and hearing impairment on depression and cognitive function in community-dwelling Korean elderly. Methods: The study population consisted of a representative community sample of 4,028 persons aged 65 and older from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging 2008. Depression and cognitive function were measured by CES-D 10-item scale and K-MMSE. Visual and hearing impairment were measured by 5-Likert scale. Data were analyzed using Rao-Scott ${\chi}^2$-test, simple and multiple logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of visual and hearing impairment were 37.3% and 14.0%, respectively. Of the participants, the prevalence of depression was 58.4% and cognitive impairment was 50.6%. There were significant differences in depression and cognitive function according to visual and hearing impairment. Far vision and hearing impairment were predictors for both depression and cognitive impairment even after covariates had been adjusted. Conclusion: These data suggest that visual and hearing impairment in older adults may increase their probability of experiencing depression and cognitive impairment. Thus sensory impairment should be considered a risk factor for mental health and the cognitive function of elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate changes in cognitive functions, depression and life-satisfaction for elderly participants with mild cognitive impairments participating in an individual cognitive improvement program. Methods: A quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was implemented. The participants were senior citizens over 65 years of age who had been clinically diagnosed with mild cognitive impairments in G City and J Province (experimental group: 29, control group: 27). The experimental group participated in the individual cognitive improvement program based on Korean traditional tales and games for nine weeks. Results: After the intervention, only the participants in the experimental group reported significant improvement in K-MMSE (t=-2.5, p=.016), MoCA-K (t=-2.6, p=.008), depression (t=3.51, p=.001), and life satisfaction (t=-2.75, p=.008) when compared to those in the control group. Conclusion: These results indicated that the individual cognitive improvement program was effective in improving cognitive functions, depression, and life-satisfaction among the elderly with mild cognitive impairments. Therefore, the application of this individual cognitive improvement program developed in this study by visiting nurses may strengthen the cognitive functions of seniors with mild cognitive impairments.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.558-568
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing insufficient physical activity in older cancer patients. Data were analyzed from the 2014 Survey of Living Condition of Elderly study. Metabolic Equivalent Tasks(MET) hours were calculated using self-reported weekly frequency, duration and types of physical activities to measure the degree of physical activity. Factors influencing insufficient physical activity in older adults included limitations in ADL and IADL, depression, impaired cognitive function, current smoker, lower levels of social activity participation and life satisfaction with social or leisure activities. When adjusted for demographic factors, patients with ADL limitation had 2.8 times (OR=2.762, CI=1.110, 7.952) higher risks of insufficient physical activities than those without. Current smokers had 2.4 times (OR=2.426, CI=1.113, 5.288) higher risks than non-smokers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.308-320
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• 2019

This study aims at investigating the major symptoms that help family carers detect mental illness in elderly patients. Another purpose of this study is to empirically verify the major factors determining the utilization of mental health services with a focus on family carers. The results of this study are as follows. First, the most commonly detected symptoms that caused the family carers to suspect mental illness in the elderly patients were memory decline and other forms of cognitive function decline. Second, the determinants of the elderly's utilization of mental health services included the patient's long-term care insurance level, the age of the family carer, the period of care, the level stress associated with the provision of care felt by the carer, his understanding of geriatric mental illness, and the level of perception about community mental health services. Based on these findings, this study suggests policies and practical implications for the early detection of and response to elderly mental health problems and the utilization of related services from the viewpoint of the family carers of the elderly.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.475-487
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• 2010

연구목적: 노인을 위한 건강정보 웹사이트들이 사용성과 접근성을 높이기 위해 지켜야 할 디자인 요소를 어떻게 반영하고 있는지 평가·비교함으로써 개선 방향을 제언하고자 하였다. 연구방법: 국내 및 미국에서 개발된 노인 대상의 건강정보 웹사이트를 각각 9개씩 선정하였다. 근거 기반의 웹디자인 지침서인 Make Your Website Senior Friendly: Checklist와 Research-based Web Design & Usability Guideline을 통합 수정하여 얻은 4개 영역의 평가 항목 48개를 적용해 두 명의 평가자가 선정된 총 18개 웹사이트를 평가하였다. 연구결과: '가독성' 영역 중 서체 선택, 줄 간격, 배경색과 글자색 선택 등은 양호하였으나 국내 웹사이트들 중에는 글자 크기가 조절되지 않는 경우가 빈번하였다. '정보의 표현과 구성' 영역에서 다수의 웹사이트들은 정보 배치 등이 우수하고 소비자 용어를 사용하는 노력을 보였다. 그러나 일부 국내 웹사이트들은 프린트 기능을 제공하지 않거나, 노인들의 저하된 인지 능력을 배려하려는 노력이 부족하였다. '미디어 사용' 영역에서 국내 웹사이트들은 글자 외에 다른 매체를 사용하는 빈도가 미국 웹사이트들에 비해 낮았고, 시청각 매체를 사용할 때는 동일한 내용을 문자로도 볼 수 있도록 하라는 권고안을 준수하지 않았다. '내비게이션과 검색의 용이성'에서는 메뉴나 링크의 명칭이 명확하며, 이용 중에도 쉽게 홈페이지로 돌아갈 수 있도록 구성되었다. 그러나 다수의 국내 사이트들이 사이트맵을 제공하지 않거나, 검색어의 철자오류 등에 대한 배려가 부족하였다. 결론: 국내 웹사이트들은 미국 웹사이트들에 비해 노인들의 사용성과 접근성을 높이는 것으로 밝혀진 연구 근거들을 제대로 반영하지 못하고 있었다. 노인 대상의 인터넷과 웹을 활용한 교육이 지속적으로 증가할 것이므로, 그 효과성을 높이기 위해 간호사들은 정보의 질 뿐만 아니라 디자인 측면의 중요성을 인식하고 실천할 수 있어야겠다.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.377-395
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• 2012

This study was conducted to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of Multifactorial Fall Prevention Program (MFPP) for local low-income elderly people on physical·psychological, and home environmental hazards, and falling frequency. The selected elderly people was provided the MFPP during an eight-week period of time, once a week, 70 to 90 minutes per each section. The design of this study was non-equivalent control-group with repeated measuring by quasi-experimental study. Data were collected before treatment, 8 week after treatment and 4 week after retention from July to October, 2010. Data were analyzed with numbers, percentage, Fisher's exact test, x²-test, repeated measures ANOVA, ANCOVA and Logistic regression. There were significant differences in fall frequency, balance, fear of falling, fall efficacy, home environmental hazards between the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). This study showed that the multifactorial fall prevention program(MFPP) was useful nursing intervention for strengthening physical·psychological and environmental functions of the low-income elderly people, as well as preventing fall.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2014

Objectives : Mild cognitive impairment(MCI) and dementia of Alzheimer's type(AD) are characterized by progressive decline of cognitive abilities and a wide range of neuropsychiatric symptoms like depression. Among various diagnostic tools of AD, many studies showed that elevated levels of serum total homocysteine are associated with increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders. We investigated whether elevated homocysteine concentrations are associated with depressive symptoms in MCI and AD. Methods : A total of 86 patients diagnosed with MCI or AD participated. Total serum homocysteine levels in fasting blood samples were measured. We examined cognitive symptoms by MMSE-KC, Global Deterioration Scale(GDS), Clinical dementia rating(CDR) and depressive symptoms by Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale(K-GDS). Results : The total serum homocysteine levels were significantly higher in MCI with depression than in MCI without depression. There was no significant difference in the mean homocysteine levels between AD patients with depression and AD patients without depression. The total homocysteine levels showed a negative correlation with MMSE-KC and a positive correlation with CDR, GDS. Conclusions : These findings suggest that elevated homocysteine level is a risk factor for the decline of cognitive function and depression. We found a significant relationship between elevated serum homocysteine level and depressive symptoms in MCI. But our study had several limitations, thus more research is needed to confirm this finding.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2013

Objective : The objective of this study is to present basic data to find health care plans for the elderly by comparing time-management ability and ADL and identifying the relationships between groups with subjects of elderly people living alone and living with family in Daejeon Metropolitan City. Method : A total of 80 elders who lived alone or with family that were aged 65 or older were selected with MMSE-K, 40 people were selected as subjects for each group. For time-management ability, a questionnaire was used. ADL were assessed by using FIM. The study period was May to June 2013. Result : Comparison of scores for time-management ability and FIM of the elderly who live alone or living with family did not show any statistically significant difference. In comparison of detailed scores between groups, there were statistically significant differences between the two groups being social interaction, problem solving and memory in social cognition items among detailed items. Conclusion : Through this study, we understood that social cognitive function of the aged living alone who had less opportunity of interaction compared to that of the aged living with family was lowered. Based on this, development and study on various programs should be made with consideration of sociodemographic characteristics of the elderly within community-based occupational therapy in the future.