• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2006

Purpose: The goals of this research are to find out factors influencing the duration of work-related disability and to present implications for policies to prevent delayed recovery. Method: The subjects of this study were 238 workers who had been proved to be industrial disaster victims for occupational low back pain between January 1 2000 and December 31 2003. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the proportion of duration of disability associated with low back pain, and Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify factors predicting it. The model distinguished main symptom variables affecting acute(${\leq}90\;days$) and chronic phase of disability (>90 days). Result: Fifty percent of the workers had not recovered in 408 days. The results of Cox regression show that delayed duration of disability was predicted by diagnosis, pain radiation (in chronic phase), sex, the size and labor union of the workplace, scheduled rest, compensation from the company, and operation. Conclusion: Duration of disability associated with compensated low back pain is influenced not only by factors related to the company and compensation system but also by individual factors. Thus, future efforts to reduce duration of disability may need to take into account all these factors.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2007

Objective: The Purpose of this study is the factive and descriptive research to identify the factors affecting the functional disability of the chronic low back pain patients. We investigated the effect of ODI by the Questionnaire and questioned an 70 patients who were back pain unit at G university hospital in D city from March to May, 2007. The functional disorder in this study were based on the Oswestry Disability Index(ODI) lower back pain disability questionnaire by fairbank(1980), and these data were proceeded by using SPSS/WIN version 10.0. Result: 1. The functional disorder in accordance with age, gender, academic background, occupation, diagnosis, pain cause, pain experience, treatment duration had no significantly similar difference statistically(p>0.05). 2. The functional disorder in accordance with duration of painful generation had statistically significance(P<0.05). Conclusion: we could verify that duration of painful generation affect on the factors affecting the functional disability of the low back pain patients.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.76-84
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between pain intensity, physical impairments, disability, and psychological factors according to the difference in duration of low back pain. This study was a cross-sectional survey of 102 participants with low back pain, divided into two groups equal in number: The first group consisted of patients with acute and subacute low back pain, while the second group consisted of patients suffering from chronic low back pain. The results showed that gender, age, pain intensity, physical impairment, disability and Fear-Avoidance Beliefs (FABs) for work activities were not significantly different between two groups. FABs for physical activities of the first group were significantly more prevalent than in the second group. More than moderate correlations were found between pain intensity, physical impairment, and disability in the first group. Less than moderate correlations were found between pain intensity, physical impairment, disability, FABs, and depression in the second group. These findings suggest that we must consider psychological factors in the treatment of patients with chronic low back pain. Regression analyses revealed that pain intensity and FABs for work activities significantly contributed to the prediction of disability in the first group. Also, pain intensity and FABs for physical activities significantly contributed to the prediction of disability in the second group. Pain intensity was most important predictor of disability in two groups.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.60-68
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• 2009

Psychsocial factors appear to play an important role in the maintenance and development of chronic disability from low back pain. Fear of pain may be more disabling than the pain itself in patients with nonacute low back pain. The purpose of this study was to identify the contribution of gender, age, depression and pain-related fear to pain intensity and disability in nonacute low back pain patients. This was a cross-sectional survey study of eighty four patients who had low back pain for at least 4 weeks. More than moderate correlations were found between pain intensity, disability, fear-avoidance beliefs and depression. Regression analyses revealed that disability ratings and fear-avoidance beliefs for work activities significantly contributed to the prediction of pain intensity, even when controlling for age, gender and pain duration. Also, fear-avoidance beliefs for physical activity, pain intensity, age and depression, significantly contributed to the prediction of disability, even when controlling for gender and pain duration. These findings suggest that disability scores and fear-avoidance beliefs for work activities are important determinants of pain intensity. They also suggest that fear-avoidance beliefs for physical activity, pain intensity, age and depression are important determinants of disability.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.310-315
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• 2008

Objectives : The evaluation of disability after trauma in psychiatry is relatively subjective compared with other departments. A consensus among evaluators could improve reliability of evaluations. We compared disability rate of common psychiatric disorders without definite brain injury depending on their diagnosis from experienced evaluators in Korea. Methods : A written questionnaire was mailed to each evaluator and the reply was analyzed. The questions included disability rate ranges of postconcussional syndrome, PTSD and depression. Other questions related with admission for evaluation, expected duration of treatment, life expectancy and need of supporting person were also asked. Results : Range of disability rate were from $8.6{\pm}4.5%$ to $26.6{\pm}12.8%$ in postconcussional syndrome, from $10.4{\pm}6.8%$ to $36.4{\pm}13.8%$ in PTSD and from $10.0{\pm}4.6%$ to $30.6{\pm}10.3%$ in depressive disorder. There were lots of diversity in expected duration of treatment with psychiatric disability. Decline of life expectancy and need of supporting person were considered at least 50% of disability. Conclusion : There is much diversity in evaluation of psychiatric disabilities with disability rate and expected duration of treatments even among experienced evaluators. A common consensus among experts may increase reliability of psychiatric evaluations after trauma.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.27-50
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• 2001

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease. Although the joints are the major loci of the disease activity, fatigue is a common extraarticular symptom that exists in all gradations of rheumatoid arthritis. Fatigue is defined as a subjective sense of generalized tiredness or exhaustion and has multiple dimensions. Therefore fatigue is a common and frequent problem for those with rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, 88-100% of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis experience fatigue. Especially the degree of fatigue is higher in women than men with rheumatoid arthritis. Despite the importance of fatigue among the patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the mechanism that leads to fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis is not completely understood. This study was intended to test and validate a model to predict fatigue in women with rheumatoid arthritis. Especially it was intended to identify the direct and indirect effects of the variables of pain, disability, depression, sleep disturbance, morning stiffness, and symptom duration to fatigue. Data were collected by questionnaires including Multidimensional Assesment of Fatigue(Tack, 1991), numeric scale of pain, graphic scale of joints, Ritchie Articular Index, Korean Health Assessment Questionnaire(Bae, et al., 1998), Inventory of Function Status(Tulman, et al., 1991), Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression, and Korean Sleep Scale(Oh, et al 1998). The sample consisted of 345 women with a mean duration of rheumatoid arthritis for 10.06 years and a mean age of 49.64 years. SPSS win and Win LISREL were used for the data analysis. Structural equation modeling revealed the overall fit of the model. Pain predicted fatigue directly and indirectly through disability, depression, and sleep disturbance. Disability, sleep disturbance predicted fatigue only directly, while depression only indirectly through disability and sleep disturbance. Also morning stiffness and symptom duration predicted fatigue through disability and depression. All predictors accounted for 65% of the variance of fatigue. Depression, pain, and disability predicted sleep disturbance. Depression had reciprocal relationship with disability and they both were predicted by pain directly and indirectly. In summary, pain, depression, disability, sleep disturbance, morning stiffness, and symptom duration contributed to the fatigue of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The best predictor of fatigue was pain. This finding indicates that the modification of pain, depression, disability, sleep disturbance, morning stiffness could be nursing intervention for relief or prevention of fatigue.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.351-360
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to report the efficacy of using Korean medicine treatment, for anxiety induced by chemotherapy and traffic accident. Methods: We treated a patient's anxiety with Korean medicine treatments (Yangshimtang-Gamibang, ear acupuncture, acupuncture, cupping, interferential current therapy, and herbal acupuncture therapy). To evaluate the results of this treatment, we measured the Beck Anxiety Inventory, EuroQol-Five Dimensions, Numeric rating scale, Neck Disability Index, Oswestry Disability Index, total sleep duration, time duration to fall asleep, and the number of wake-up times during sleep. Results: Improvements of the Beck Anxiety Inventory, EuroQol-Five Dimensions, Numeric rating scale, Neck Disability Index, Oswestry Disability Index, and total sleep duration were observed after the treatments. Conclusions: This study showed one case of a patient who received Korean medicine treatment for the anxiety induced by anticancer therapy and traffic accident, and improvement was observed.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.133-146
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• 2001

This study was performed to predict the conservative treatment outcome of TMD patients by investigating the prognostic factors ; symptom duration, history of previous treatment, history of previous medication, history of trauma, disability of daily activity, severity of pain, noise, limitation of mouth opening(LOM) and maximum comfortable opening(MCO). Two hundreds and fifty-four subjects were selected for this study among the TMD patients who had visited the Dept. of Oral Medicine BNUH and been treated conservatively with medication, physical therapy, behavioral treatment, and splint therapy from 1991 to 2000. The subjects were divided into two groups improved or unimproved according to the treatment response following six months of conservative treatment. Those who showed less than 1 on NAS for pain, TMJ noise, and opening limitation belonged to the improved group and those who showed more than 2 on NAS belonged to the unimproved group. The two groups were compared with respect to symptom severity, number of diagnosis, history of trauma, previous treatment, previous medication, and disability of daily activity. A prognostic equation with the factors revealed to be significantly related to the prognosis of conservative treatment was obtained. The obtained results were as follows ; 1. In improved group, mean duration of history was 12 months, mean treatment duration of a patient was 4 months an mean number of treatment was about 10 times. In other words, in unimproved group, mean duration of history was 27.4 months, mean treatment duration of patient was 10.5 months and mean number of treatment was 19 times. 2. In unimproved group, multiple diagnosis, chronicity, disability of daily activity were significantly greater than that of the improved group. 3. Patients in unimproved group revealed severe noise at first visit and smaller maximum comfortable opening comparatively. 4. Prognostic factors such as duration of treatment, number of treatment, multiplicity, and chronicity and disability of daily activity showed a significant relation in prediction of improvement. 5. Prognostic equation with significant variables is as follows ; Y = 1.984 - 0.251Noise + 0.068MCO - 0.673Multiplicity. - 0.958Chronicity - 0.065Disability. Classification accuracy of 70.3 %, sensitivity of 71.4% and specificity of 66.7% were shown. 6. Prognostic equation with all factors is as follows : Y = 1.599 - 0.038Pain - 0.256Noise - 0.006Limitation + 0.068MCO - 0.580Multiplicity - 1.025Chronicity - 0.720Disability - 0.329Medication - 0.087Treatment + 0.740Trauma. Classification accuracy of 70.3 %, sensitivity of 73% and specificity of 64.3% were shown. 7. Prognostic value of the improved group with significant factors was $1.0446{\pm}1.0726$ and prognostic value of the unimproved group with significant factors was $-0.013{\pm}1.0146$. Prognostic value of the improved group with all factors was $1.0465{\pm}1.0849$ and prognostic value of the unimproved group with all factors was $-0.057{\pm}1.0611$.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.43-62
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• 2006

The survey was conducted with participation of the 289 handicapped persons residing at the rural area OOeup-gun in Kyungbook for the period of March 2 - May 31, 2006, to study the nature in general of the handicapped and the boundaries of their need. For the nature in general of the handicapped, the study was done by gender iscrimination, age, marital status, religion, educational level, occupation, monthly income, disability cause, disabled duration, disability type, disability level. For the boundaries of their need, the study was done by demand of financial support, educational demand, demand of voluntary workers, need of rehabilitation and medical treatment, job training, improvement of living conditions, or so. Using the Win.SPSS program, we made a frequency analysis and conclusions on the nature in general of the handicapped and the boundaries of their need on a 2-test. Conclusions are : 1. Nature in general of the handicapped The existence of the handicapped shows high at the age over 51 (71.6%), male-handicapped (65.1%), primary school graduates (62.9%), farming engaging (65.2%), monthly income less than one million Won (80.5%), cause by disease (53.8%), duration more than 10 years (61.6%), disability at level 3 (39.8%), extremity disability (66.4%). 2. Correlation of nature in general with demand of the handicapped a. In demanding the financial support, support for helper’s compensation shows high (p<0.05). In demanding the necessity of voluntary workers, the male-handicapped appears high during the absence of family assistance and the female-handicapped appears differently per week and also appears high during the absence of family assistance (p<0.05). b. In educational demand of the handicapped by their age, the age below 30 demands technical-job training and the age over 31 demands medical education for health care (p<0.01). c. In demanding the financial support by educational level, support for living cost shows high (p<0.05). d. In demanding improvement of living conditions by postnatal cause of disability, improvement of house structure shows high (p<0.05). e. In demanding assistance of voluntary workers by disabled duration, "No Need" shows high in the disabled duration more than 4 years (p<0.05). f. In demanding rehabilitation and medical treatment by disability type, home-visiting treatment, oriental medical treatment and physical therapy show high (p<0.001). g. In educational demand by disability level, medical education for health care shows high (p<0.01).

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.751-758
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the Quality of Life (QOL) and related factors in the patients with dizziness. Methods: The data were collected between March and June 2008 for 200 individuals who agreed to participate in the study. Uncertainty (Uncertainty in illness scale), anxiety, depression (Hospital anxiety & depression scale) and Vestibular disability activities of daily living (Vestibular disability-activities of daily living [ADL] scale) as well as QOL (Dizziness Handicap Inventory) were measured. Results: The mean QOL score was 37.5 (${\pm}23.0$). Monthly income, etiology of, frequency of, and total duration of dizziness were the significant factors related to QOL in these patients. Having had a fall, anxiety, depression, uncertainty and vestibular disability in daily living were also significant factors influencing QOL. In multiple regression analysis, anxiety, vestibular disability-ADL, falls, total duration of symptoms, uncertainty, and etiology of dizziness explained 41% of variance of QOL. Conclusion: The level of QOL in our patients was moderate as compared to those in previous studies. Anxiety and vestibular disability were the most important factors predicting low QOL. Use of nursing intervention programs designed to relieve these factors should also result in improving the QOL in the patients with dizziness.