• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.139-149
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to analyze characteristics related to the activity of Daily Living (ADL) and dementia among the elderly people who have Medicaid. The cross-sectional descriptive survey study was a nationwide randomization sampling among the population of elderly families who have Medicaid. The data were collected during the month of October, 1999 and total sample was 1,027 elderly people. There were major findings according to the studies. In the results of the ADL assessment most of elderly people were within the 24 to 45 point range. Also, 63.3% of elderly people who made 45 points do not need help when performing daily activities according to the 15 areas of activity components, and 4.9% of these people couldn't do their daily activities. The results of the Dementia assessment were 70.6% of elderly people were in the normal range, 21.7% have a mild case, and 2.8% have severe case of dementia. These were found by using instruments for mental states, which simplified to items of detection of early dementia. In the result of these tests, there was a significantly positive correlation between ADL and degree of dementia with the pearson correlation coefficients. As a result of these studies, the author recommend to strengthen function and organization of public health like a visiting nurse center for elderly people who are over 65 years old. In addition, the government should apply early detection and management system for dementia in the community continuously and cost-effectively, especially for elderly people who live alone and are vulnerable elderly as our priority.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.477-485
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• 2018

This study is to find construction factors of assessing the support needs of people with intellectual disabilities. For this purpose, 19 social welfare activists of the disabled having experiences in individual support services interviewed 196 persons with intellectual disabilities and based on the interview results, confirmatory factor analysis has been conducted. The study has found a construct of 6 areas and 20 items to assess the support needs. Compared to ICF and SIS-A, it shows the health care area has been emphasized while community life, social life and civic life have decreased. The study discusses the possibility of using the simple scale in the early stage of introduction of individual support services for people with intellectual disabilities in South Korea and the normative scores are needed to be produced by additional larger scale survey studies in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.265-272
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• 2018

This study is a descriptive study to investigate the factors influencing the level of cognitive function among elderly living alone according to the presence of dementia risk factors. We conducted a simple questionnaire, GDS-K and MMSE-DS tests to investigate the risk of dementia among 143 elderly people living alone in the community. The results showed that the major factors influencing the cognitive function of the elderly people living alone were education, age, depression status, smoking, leisure activities, and gender. In order to develop strategies for the prevention of dementia in the elderly people living alone, it is necessary to change lifestyle and provide various management methods to identify risk factors that negatively affect cognitive function and to help cognitive health.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.209-225
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• 2008

This study has been designed to develop integrated supportive service works for the families of disabled children registered in the D-Healthy Family Support Center. The service works are intended to improve family members' health and their growth potentials, and cover service programs of family education, counselling, culture solidarity, and information networks. There are two topics covered in this study; first, this study is to develop integrated supportive service programs for the families of disabled children, and second, the study is also to construct comprehensive strategies and plans for effective services after evaluating practical service programs. In this study, 31 families with one or more disabled children have been selected through stratified random sampling, and all the family members were observed for program effects of integrated service items developed from previously validated indices. For analysis, eight question items were made for interview and each item denotes satisfaction score ranging from 1(very dissatisfied) to 5(very satisfied) on the Likert's five point scale. Mean value of each item was counted after the program, and satisfaction scores were compared over the programs implementation. Overall, the satisfaction scores range 4.1 to 4.6, indicating relatively high satisfaction over most service program. Therefore, it is finally proposed that a longitudinal strategy model offer high quality service programs consistently for the target families, as a goal of achieving comprehensive cooperation and support exchanges between community and healthy family support center be schematized.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.162-165
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• 2020

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought the world to a standstill and has exposed the lack of preparedness of most nations' health care systems. Even in usual times, palliative care has not received its fair share of recognition as an important component of patient care; instead, the emphasis is often placed on aggressive patient management. Now, with the entire medical community and decision-making committees focussed on intensive patient care, end-of-life care has taken a backseat. Methods: This article is a brief communication. Results: COVID 19 infection has been shown to lead to greater mortality and morbidity in patients with pre-existing illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, renal failure, and cancer. Patients typically in need of end-of-life care, such as those with late-stage cancer or heart failure, are therefore at a higher risk of both contracting COVID-19 and suffering a more severe disease course. The strict nationwide lockdowns being imposed in most countries have deterred patients from seeking medical attention or hospice care. Every day new research is coming to light regarding COVID 19. This has helped significantly in creating awareness and limiting the spread of disease. However, misinformation is also rampant, leading to discrimination and mistreatment of infected patients. Conclusion: This pandemic has been a terrifying ordeal for all and has exposed our entire population physically, psychologically, emotionally, and financially to unimaginable stresses. In the present scenario, EOL care is as much a necessity as intensive care and should be given at least a fraction of its importance.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.782-793
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is the examination of stress levels and the eating habits that are affected by stress, and the provision of basic nutritional education data for the improvement of the eating habits of students who have experienced stress-related nutritional problems. Using the BEPSI-K instruments, a questionnaire survey was administered to 327 student subjects (166 male and 161 female) in the areas of Seoul and Gangwon province. The subjects were classified into 3 groups (low-stress, medium-stress and high-stress), and 59 students (18%) belonged the high-stress group. The BMI readings of the Gangwon province students are significantly higher than those of the Seoul students. The survey results show that the lunch frequency and vegetable intake levels are lower in the high-stress group, whereas the intakes of hot spicy food is higher in this group; they also show that Gangwon province students had eating habits that are relatively undesirable compared with the Seoul students. There are significant differences between the Seoul students and Gangwon porvince students regarding residence type, household economic level, types of leisure activities and level of some stresses. The Gangwon province students ate occasionally breakfast, lunch and snacks, but their midnight snack consumption is relatively frequent compared with the Seoul students. The results of the survey indicate that the BEPSI-K score has a negative correlation with the following variables : sleeping time, economic level of household, degrees of satisfaction regarding appearance and academic achievements, lunch frequency and vegetable intakes. Desirable eating habits are essential for the maintenance of a favorable health status and for the stress-management of university students who need to be a healthy members of society in the near future. To facilitate the formation of desirable eating habits among university students, community-based nutritional assistance and appropriate nutritional education programs should be considered necessary.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.358-364
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• 2014

Purpose: Flexed posture commonly increases with age in older women and is characterized by an excessive curvature in the thoracic spine (kyphosis), forward head posture, and decline in height. This study was conducted in order to determine the relationship between flexed posture, physical performance, and psychosocial factors in community dwelling elderly women in Korea. Methods: Fifty-two subjects with thoracic kyphosis of $40^{\circ}C$ or greater participated in this study. Flexed posture was measured using kyphosis angle (KA), forward head posture (FHP), and round shoulder (RS), and physical performance was evaluated using the short physical performance battery (SPPB), grip strength, and static and dynamic balance. Psychosocial factors were measured using depression and the quality of life (QOL). All data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 software for windows. Results: KA showed significant correlation with SPPB score (r=-0.447) and dynamic balance (r=0.426) (p<0.05) depression (r=0.405) and QOL (r=-0.464) but not with grip strength and static balance in elderly individuals. FHP and RS showed significant correlation with SPPB score (r=0.002, r=-0341) and dynamic balance (r=-0.278, r=0.346) (p<0.05) but not with psychosocial factors. Conclusion: These findings suggest that flexed posture provides meaningful information about physical performance and psychosocial factors in elderly women. Our data suggest that the flexed posture may need to be addressed as part of the health management process for elderly women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2607-2612
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• 2014

Background: Cancer screening rates in Japan are much lower than those in Western countries. This study evaluated the relationship between cancer screening rates and strategies used to improve screening rates, and determined which strategy is the most effective. Materials and Methods: All municipalities are responsible for conducting gastric, lung, colorectal, cervical, and breast cancer screenings in Japan. Of the 1,746 municipalities in total, 92-99% were included in the analyses for each cancer screening. Using national data in 2009, the correlations between cancer screening rates and strategies for improving screening rates of all municipalities, both large (populations of over 30,000) and small (populations of under 30,000), were determined. The strategies used were as follows: sending personal invitation letters, personal visits by community health workers, use of a clinical setting for screening, and free screening. Results: Of all four strategies used to improve cancer screening rates, sending personal invitation letters had the highest correlations with all screening rates, with the exception of breast cancer screening. The partial correlation coefficients linking this strategy with the screening rates in all municipalities were 0.28, 0.32, 0.30, and 0.26 for gastric, lung, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening, respectively. In large municipalities, the correlations between the number of examinees in a clinical setting and the screening rates were also relatively high, particularly for cervical cancer screening (r=0.41). Conclusions: Sending personal invitation letters appears to be particularly effective in improving cancer screening rates in all municipalities. All municipalities should implement a system that sends personal invitation letters for cancer screening. In large municipalities, increasing the availability of screening in a clinical setting is also effective in improving cancer screening rates.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.123-138
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate the social inclusion of permanent rental and lot-sold apartment and to provide basic source of their physical and social inclusion. The research method was in-depth interview for 32 residents in two apartment complex based on the social inclusion index developed in the previous study. The results of the study were summarized as follows: First, the majority of the residents' average monthly income in the permanent rental apartment were lower than the minimum cost of living. But, they were not seriously realized it and gave up any economic activities due to their poor health and age. Second, the big different indexes from the residents in lot-sold apartment were the family networks and social activity participations. They were not satisfied with their family members, seldom had social gatherings, and did not have any information of community cultural events. Third, since they had narrow sphere of activities, they could not properly evaluate the diversity of neighborhood facilities and the convenience of public transportations. But, they obviously recognized anti-social behaviors and the invasion of the privacy in the apartment complex, and maintained superficial neighborship. Fourth, on the other hand, the residents in lot-sold apartment had the feeling of being harmed by the various troubles of the permanent rental apartment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1725-1730
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• 2014

Management of patients with stage II colorectal carcinomas remains challenging as 20 - 30% of them will develop recurrence. It is postulated that these patients may harbour nodal micrometastases which are imperceptible by routine histopathological evaluation. The aims of our study were to evaluate (1) the feasibility of multilevel sectioning method utilizing haematoxylin and eosin stain and immunohistochemistry technique with cytokeratin AE1/AE3, in detecting micrometastases in histologically-negative lymph nodes, and (2) correlation between nodal micrometastases with clinicopathological parameters. Sixty two stage I and II cases with a total of 635 lymph nodes were reviewed. Five-level haematoxylin and eosin staining and one-level cytokeratin AE1/AE3 immunostaining were performed on all lymph nodes retrieved. The findings were correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Two (3.2%) lymph nodes in two patients (one in each) were found to harbour micrometastases detected by both methods. With cytokeratin AE1/AE3, we successfully identified four (6.5%) patients with isolated tumour cells, but none through the multilevel sectioning method. Nodal micrometastases detected by both multilevel sectioning and immunohistochemistry methods were not associated with larger tumour size, higher depth of invasion, poorer tumour grade, disease recurrence or distant metastasis. We conclude that there is no difference between the two methods in detecting nodal micrometastases. Therefore it is opined that multilevel sectioning is a feasible and yet inexpensive method that may be incorporated into routine practice to detect nodal micrometastases in centres with limited resources.