• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.35-51
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to provide information for research about residents' opinion toward the physical environments of elderly facilities, through the analysis and investigation on the research methodology of foreign academic journal articles from 1990 to 2014. The study results were as follows: Firstly, purposive sampling was a large majority of both facilities and elderly residents. In quantitative studies, many researchers have conducted simple random, cluster, or stratified sampling. Diverse facilities in area, size, location, and etc. should be considered for participation. The qualifications for residents' participation should be considered as well, so that they all could have autonomy for study participation. Secondly, questionnaire and semi-structured guide were likely to be used in independent and resident care facilities. On the other hand in assisted living and long-term care facilities, open questions and visual material were used as well. A compatible scale should be developed so that elderly having variable functional level could participate independently in the study. Thirdly, in data collection process, compliance with research ethics and well trained interviewer's skill were important for residents' active responses and minimization of response errors. Enough research period of time and mixed study in data collection will decrease the response error.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.382-395
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the transition experiences of the elderly from long-term care hospitals to their homes. Methods: The participants were eight elderly medicaid beneficiaries, who had been the subjects from the community care project in Korea. The data were collected with one-on-one interviews from April to November in 2020, and analyzed by phenomenological steps. Results: The seven themes derived in this study were 'Space to escape', 'Reliable supporter opened the way to discharge', 'Comfortable life at home', 'Obstacles to independent life', 'Struggling to live alone', 'Fence for community life', and 'Energizing in daily life' Conclusion: The results revealed the positive aspects of Community Care program in Korea. However, it is suggested that active communication between hospitals and community care institutions, and improvement of home environment to live in the community before discharge should be required. And system revision is needed to adjust activity in their home and support health problems of the elderly in the early stage of discharge. The results of this study can be referred to as the foundation of transitional care for the elderly.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.1075-1088
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• 2016

This study aimed to identify the effect of the active aging on life satisfaction and present an improvement strategies to increase life satisfaction in elderly people. Active aging is divide into three aspects; health, participation and security. The subjects were people older than 55 years who were enrolled in Korean Retirement and Income Study. The influencing effect was analyzed by a hierarchial regression. Key factors associated with active aging influencing life satisfaction were subjective health, mental health, participation in the labor market, income, and housing while subjective health was a determinant factor that best describes the effect of the active aging on life satisfaction. On the basis of above result, this study suggests that there needs to be an effort in improvement of physical and mental health, participation in the labor market, and housing at national and regional levels.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.82 no.3
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• pp.261-263
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• 2019

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.74-85
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• 2015

The positive effect of percussion instruments can induce increases in self-esteem and decreases in depression in the elderly. Based on this, the content for a percussion instrument robot that the elderly can use to play music is developed. The elements of the interaction between the elderly and the robot through the robot content are extracted. Music that arouses positive memories in the elderly is selected as part of the music therapy robot content in order to relieve depression, and a scoring system for playing music is constructed. In addition, the interaction components of the robot's facial expressions, which stimulate emotions and sensitivity in the elderly, are also designed. These components enable the elderly to take an active part in using the instrument to change the robot's facial expressions, which have three degrees of emotion: neutral-happy, happy, and very happy. The robot is not only a music game machine: it also maximizes the relief of depression in the elderly through interactions with the robot that allow the elderly person to listen to what the robot plays and through the elderly person becoming involved and playing music along with the robot.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.81-90
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• 2012

This study is to research the use and the demand of the elderly generation that pursue economic ability and active lifestyle. The composition of the meals were "homemade meals" 65.3%, "homemade & convenience meals" 26.7% overall. For the "never miss a meal" category, 70-74 years old was 48.3%, over 80 years old was 60.0%. The elderly under 70 years old showed a high frequency in the use of alternative meals (p < 0.05) and the elderly with higher education used the alternative meals more frequently (p < 0.01). The rice-cakes, bread, tuna cans, Korean side-dishes, beverages, meat, cup-noodles and seafood as alternative meals are in the order of most frequency. Also, 96.0%, 59.0% and 46.5% of the elderly had experience in using "Ready to eat (RTE)", "Ready to heat (RTH)" and "Ready to cook (RTC)". The oldest group surveyed, the elderly at the age of 80 years old and above showed lower preference for "completely cooked state" but showed highest results in the "half-cooked state". This shows the difference between people's perception and the behavior that showed high frequency of 96.0% in the experience with "RTE". This can be inferred that the elderly needs the development of convenience food that is moderately packaged according to the newer lifestyle where the elderly live independent from their children. Moreover, there is a higher demand in the healthy convenience food, which means that there is a need for development in the quality of the convenience food that will allow more faith in convenience food by the elderly.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.49-58
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• 2021

Due to the increasing interest in wellness aroused by the aging population and the pursuing feature of active old age, Korean elderly set importance on long life with their healthy condition. Following the change in the paradigm of the medical delivery system from hospital-oriented, treatment-oriented to personal-centered and self-care, Service design application of Smart Healthcare for the elderly became valuable. Smart Healthcare is a healthcare service provided through the fusion of ICT technologies including mobile/wearable devices, IoT, big data, and information technology, and it is utilized to prevent diseases managing abundant health information and living habits. As a methodology for delivering such Smart Healthcare to the elderly, Service design can be adopted. Therefore, this study would like to present the perquisites of Smart Healthcare design for the elderly through analyzing the results from in-depth interview methods between the elderly and medical staff. As a result of this study, guidelines for Service design application of health vulnerability management for the elderly utilizing smart phones were presented. Therefore, this study presented four prerequisites composed of 'high level of supplementation and ethical decision making', 'improvement of inequality in accessibility and experience', 'resolving problems in policy implementation' and 'user-friendliness' for the Smart Healthcare service design for the elderly. Overall, Service design is expected to play an innovative role in improving the quality of life for the elderly through the process of collecting and delivering information on Smart Healthcare centered on the experience of the elderly.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to determine the association between the number of remaining teeth and oral health-related quality of life according to economic activity status in elderly. Methods: Data from the 9th Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) were used to analyze 6,004 older adults aged 59 years and older. The number of remaining teeth was categorized as less than 20 and more than 20, and the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) was used to measured the oral health-related quality of life of the elderly. Independent t-tests were performed to compare demographic, economic, sociodemographic, and health characteristics, as well as GOHAI scores, between economically active and inactive individuals. In the case of ANOVA analysis, Scheffe's post hoc analysis was performed to confirm statistical significance between groups. Linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the influence of the number of remaining teeth on GOHAI according to economic activity status. Results: Among the study population, 33.9% were economically active, which is approximately half the proportion of those were not economically active. The mean GOHAI scores were 43.32 and 40.15 for economically active and economically inactive individuals with 20 or more residual teeth, respectively (p<0.001). Simple linear regression analysis revealed that having more than 20 remaining teeth was associated with a statistically significant increase in GOHAI by approximately 4.56 times and 4.92 times compared to having fewer than 20 teeth for economically active and non-economically active individuals, respectively (p<0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis, adjusted for demographic, economic, sociodemographic, and health characteristics, showed that having more than 20 remaining teeth was associated with a statistically significant increase in GOHAI by approximately 3.62 and 2.97 times compared to having fewer than 20 teeth in economically active and non-economically active individuals, respectively (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study explored economic activity status as one of several approaches to enhance the oral health-related quality of life of the elderly. By using the number of remaining teeth as an indicator of oral health status. supporting economic activity could potentially improve both oral health and overall quality of life for older individuals. Such interventions may have positive effects on policy outcomes, including reducing economic inequality by promoting economic engagement among the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.236-245
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• 2020

Objectives: Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death in the elderly in Korea. Increased arterial stiffness is linked to risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between arterial stiffness and physical activity in the elderly. Methods: A total of 209 older adults (110 men and 99 women) participated in this study. Arterial stiffness of subjects such as brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and ankle brachial pressure index (ABI) was measured using a non-invasive vascular screening device (VP-1000 Plus, Omron, Kyoto, Japan). The interviewed Korean version of the international physical activity questionnaire short form (IPAQ-SF) was used to evaluate subject's physical activity level and classify subjects as active or inactive group based on the time spent doing moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Results: The mean age of total subjects was 75.3 ± 5.6 years. There was no significant difference in sex distribution between the active group (39.7%) and inactive group (60.3%). The baPWV (1,758.1 ± 375.2 cm/sec) of the active group was significantly lower than that (1,969.7 ± 372.3 cm/sec) of the inactive group (P < 0.05). There was a significant inverse association between time spent in MVPA and baPWV (r = -0.245, P < 0.01). Conclusions: This study suggests that physical activity programs for older adults are needed to prevent arteriosclerosis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.72 no.5
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• pp.416-425
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• 2012

Background: The sensitivities and specificities of interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) vary among different population studies, and the data on the routine use of IGRAs are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis. Methods: We conducted a prospective study, enrolling 77 patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), at a secondary care teaching hospital in Seoul. Results: In total, 12 (15.6%) patients showed indeterminate results due to positive control failure on the QFT-GIT test. Indeterminate results were significantly associated with the elderly, history of the intensive care unit stay, lymphocytopenia, especially low CD4 count, increased C-reactive protein and decreased protein levels. Of the 77 patients, 44 (57.1%) were diagnosed with active pulmonary tuberculosis, and the percentage of false negative results of the QFT-GIT was 36.4% (vs. 31.8% with TST). In the TB group with >65 years old (n=12), the proportions of the indeterminate (33.3% vs. 3.1%) and the false negative results (58.3% vs. 25.0%) of the QFT-GIT were significantly higher than in the younger TB group (n=32). Conclusion: Indeterminate and false negative results of QFT-GIT test were not infrequent in tuberculosis, especially in the elderly. Care should be considered for the interpretation with the elderly, immunocompromised, chronic and severely diseased patients.