• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.121-129
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate post-traumatic stress, job stress, fatigue, and social support of nurses in direct care for COVID-19 patients and to identify the factors affecting post-traumatic stress among the nurses. Methods: The participants were 150 nurses from three hospitals. Data were collected from September 11, 2020 to September 21, 2020. The data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN/25.0 program. Results: The mean score of post-traumatic stress was 22.27±15.49 (range 0~88). The percentage of high risk group of post-traumatic stress was 35.3%, risk group was 20.0%, normal group was 44.7%. Post-traumatic stress showed statistically significant differences according to quarantined experience (t=2.15, p=.033), and provision of COVID-19 manual (t=-2.40, p=.026). Post-traumatic stress was positively correlated with job stress (r=.48, p<.001), and fatigue (r=.58, p<.001), and it was negatively correlated with social support (r=-.22, p=.005). Job stress was positively correlated with fatigue (r=.74, p<.001), and it was negatively correlated with social support (r=-.17, p=.030). Fatigue and social support (r=-.17, p=.029) had a negative correlation. The results of regression analysis showed that the factors affecting post-traumatic stress included fatigue (β=.56, p<.001), provision of COVID-19 manual (β=-.24, p<.001), and quarantined experience (β=.18, p=.006) and that the total explanatory power was 42.0%. Conclusion: In this study, fatigue, provision of COVID-19 manual, and quarantined experience were found as influential factors of post-traumatic stress among nurses in direct care for COVID-19 patients. Therefore, development of the intervention for reducing the fatigue should consider to prevent post-traumatic stress in nurses. Also, provision of COVID-19 manual for nurses and psychological intervention program for nurses experienced quarantine are necessary.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.228-232
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• 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is inflicting a brutal blow on humankind, and no corner of the world has been exempted from its wrath. This study analyzes the chief control measures and the distinctive features of the responses implemented by Korea and the United States to contain COVID-19 with the goal of extracting lessons that can be applied globally. Even though both nations reported their index cases on the same day, Korea succeeded in flattening the curve, with 10 752 cases as of April 28, 2020, whereas the outbreak skyrocketed in the United States, which had more than 1 million cases at the same time. The prudent and timely execution of control strategies enabled Korea to tame the spread of the virus, whereas the United States paid a major price for its delay, although it is too early to render a conclusive verdict. Information pertaining to the number of people infected with the virus and measures instituted by the government to control the spread of COVID-19 was retrieved from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites and press releases. Drawing lessons from both nations, it is evident that the resolution to the COVID-19 pandemic lies in the prudent usage of available resources, proactive strategic planning, public participation, transparency in information sharing, abiding by the regulations that are put into place, and how well the plan of action is implemented.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.36-51
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of electroencephalogram (EEG) biofeedback training for emotion regulation and brain homeostasis on anxiety about COVID-19 infection, impulsivity, anger rumination, meta-mood, and self-regulation ability of late adolescents in the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic situation. Methods: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The participants included 55 late adolescents in the experimental and control groups. The variables were evaluated using quantitative EEG at pre-post time points in the experimental group. The experimental groups received 10 sessions using the three-band protocol for five weeks. The collected data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, t-test and paired t-test using the SAS 9.3 program. The collected EEG data used a frequency series power spectrum analysis method through fast Fourier transform. Results: Significant differences in emotion regulation between the two groups were observed in the anxiety about COVID-19 infection (W = 585.50, p = .002), mood repair of meta-mood (W = 889.50, p = .024), self-regulation ability (t = - 5.02, p < .001), self-regulation mode (t = - 4.74, p < .001), and volitional inhibition mode (t = - 2.61, p = .012). Neurofeedback training for brain homeostasis was effected on enhanced sensory-motor rhythm (S = 177.00, p < .001) and inhibited theta (S = - 166.00, p < .001). Conclusion: The results demonstrate the potential of EEG biofeedback training as an independent nursing intervention that can markedly improve anxiety, mood-repair, and self-regulation ability for emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.379-390
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to provide the basic data for improving the coping ability of clinical nurses by deeply analyzing and understanding the bioethics dilemma the clinical nurses experience in the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the essence of bioethics dilemma the clinical nurses would experience in the COVID-19 pandemic, this study interviewed with a clinical nurse and then analyzed it by using Colaizzi (1978)'s phenomenological method. In the results of this study, total three theme clusters were drawn such as 'Agony to face a situation that violates the principle of respect for man's life and dignity', 'Frustration and confusion caused by the situation in which the principle of good deed and prohibition of evil deed cannot be kept', and 'Doubt about fulfilling and not fulfilling the principle of justice'. To improve the ability to cope with bioethics dilemma the clinical nurses experience in the pandemic situation based on the results of this study, it would be necessary to establish the education and policy for clinical nurses, and also to make efforts to improve the treatment of nurses.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.232-242
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• 2021

Purpose: This study investigated the occupational status and job stress of visiting nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants were 151 visiting nurses working in the public health services in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The study was conducted using a structured online questionnaire. Results: The average age of the visiting nurses was 49.5 years. A occupational period was 38.4% of the participants had worked for a period of 6-10 years and 34.5% of them had worked for a period of 11 years or more. In terms of employment type, 74.8% had permanent contracts and 13.9% had fixed terms. 93.4% of nurses were working on COVID-19-related work; and 57.6% of them were working more than 50% of their work. Each visiting nurse provided health services for a total of 436.4 cases on average and the per day count was 14.3 cases. The service was provided through home visits or phone consultations. The results of the job stress were relationship conflict (60.92±20.72), job demand (59.05±14.10), job autonomy (57.83±14.63), job instability (45.25±27.37), organizational system (44.97±17.21), workplace culture (42.71±18.00), and inadequate compensation (35.29±18.14). There was a significant difference in job stress according to the proportion of COVID-19 work was 'workplace culture' (p=.023), Job autonomy (p=.053) and Inappropriate compensation(p=.054). Conclusion: In order to provide a stable working environment for visiting nurses and effective public visiting health services during unexpected circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to promote progressive policies and systemic improvements.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-133
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to understand and explore the experiences and meanings of life changes and loneliness caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among older people living in rural areas. Methods: This study adopted an individual interview approach. A total of 33 older adults were interviewed using semi-structured questions between October and December; 2020. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Four main themes and ten sub-themes emerged. One main theme was "the never-ending anxiety of a changed world", the second theme was "disconnecting from the world through social distancing", the third theme was "working to overcome COVID-19", and forth "health is the most important thing in life." Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we confirmed the urgent need for psycho-social support to relieve loneliness and social isolation of older people in rural areas during the spread of infectious diseases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.442-453
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess public awareness and policy challenges faced by practicing nurses. Methods: After collecting nurse-related news articles published before and after 'the Thanks to You Challenge' campaign (between December 31, 2019, and July 15, 2020), keywords were extracted via preprocessing. A three-step method keyword analysis, latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, and keyword network analysis was used to examine the text and the structure of the selected news articles. Results: Top 30 keywords with similar occurrences were collected before and after the campaign. The five dominant topics before the campaign were: pandemic, infection of medical staff, local transmission, medical resources, and return of overseas Koreans. After the campaign, the topics 'infection of medical staff' and 'return of overseas Koreans' disappeared, but 'the Thanks to You Challenge' emerged as a dominant topic. A keyword network analysis revealed that the word of nurse was linked with keywords like thanks and campaign, through the word of sacrifice. These words formed interrelated domains of 'the Thanks to You Challenge' topic. Conclusion: The findings of this study can provide useful information for understanding various issues and social perspectives on COVID-19 nursing. The major themes of news reports lagged behind the real problems faced by nurses in COVID-19 crisis. While the press tends to focus on heroism and whole society, issues and policies mutually beneficial to public and nursing need to be further explored and enhanced by nurses.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.101-110
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• 2022

This study aims to understand the effects of nursing college students' anxiety about clinical practice and stress from it during the practice on their nursing professionalism during COVID-19 and be used as baseline data to promote this professionalism. The target is 187 juniors and seniors in nursing college located in Chungnam, Chungbuk, and Gyeongbuk with experience in the clinical practice, and the survey was conducted from September to November 2021. The data was analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression using SPSS 22.0. Nursing professionalism was significantly correlated with clinical practice stress(r=-.151, p=.039). In terms of the factors that influenced the nursing professionalism, the coefficient of determination of satisfaction in major was 5.2%(β=-.24, p=.001), and that of stress from the clinical practice was 3.0%(β=-.17, p=.015), which explains a total of 8.2%. Major satisfaction was the most influential factor predicting greater nursing professionalism. The results of this study demonstrate the necessity to increase nursing students' satisfaction in major and reduce their stress from clinical practice in order to improve the nursing professionalism during COVID-19.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.256-264
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• 2021

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on women's health nursing clinical practicums in undergraduate nursing schools in Korea during the spring 2020 semester. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey on clinical practicum teaching experiences in the spring 2020 semester was distributed to members of the Korean Society of Women Health Nursing (KSWHN) who taught undergraduate nursing. One faculty member from each of 203 institutions was requested to respond and there were no duplicate participants. Seventy-nine participants (38.9%) responded and 74 responses were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were presented for all survey items. Results: Fifty-two faculty members (70.3%) belonged to universities and 22 (29.7%) taught at colleges. Thirty-eight (51.4%) answered that their institutions had affiliated teaching hospitals. More than half (52.7%) conducted hospital-based clinical practicums either entirely (n=20) or partially (n=19), whereas the rest of them (47.3%) conducted clinical practicums at school or home via online teaching. The typical teaching methods for offline or online education were case conferences, tests or quizzes, scenario studies, nursing skill practicums, (virtual) nursing simulations, and simulated patient education. Most of faculties (93.2%) supported the development of an educational platform to share educational materials and resources, such as case scenarios. Conclusion: Nursing faculty members utilized various teaching methods to enhance clinical skills and mitigate limited clinical exposure during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The KSWHN should move forward to develop an education platform and modalities for members who face many challenges related to the accessibility and quality of nursing education contents.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.297-309
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors relating to COVID-19 knowledge and resilience that impact elementary school health teacher performance at infection control. Methods: This study adopted a cross-sectional design. Data were collected from 140 elementary school health teachers by convenience sampling. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS Ver. 26.0. Results: Mean scores were as follows COVID-19 knowledge 17.99±2.37 (range 0-23), resilience 120.36±16.90 (range 30-150), and performance at infection control 85.91±10.07 (range 25-100). A positive correlation was observed between resilience and infection control performance (r=0.57, p<.001). Factors found to influence participant performance at infection control were resilience (𝛽=0.54, p<.001) and two categories of educational experience: 11-15 years (𝛽 = 0.24, p=.011) and more than 20 years (𝛽=0.29, p=.044). Conclusion: These results indicate the resilience of elementary school health teachers positively affects their performance at infection control. Generally, both age and work experience affected ability to perform infection control. Therefore, this study supports the need to develop programs to increase the resilience of elementary school health teachers according to infection control performance and age.