• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.147-160
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• 2007

This research challenges the general notion of one-person households of the elderly during widowhood as impoverished, isolated, and vulnerable. Recognizing a high potential vulnerability, however, this research attempts to describe the diverse composition of one-person households of the elderly. For this purpose, relying on 2% sample data from the 2000 census, it examines regional distribution, socio-economic characteristics, and determinants of one-person households of the elderly during widowhood. Socio-economic characteristics of one-person households of the elderly differ by region. Jeju island is distinct in terms of sex and age distribution, and residence area of children. In general, rates of economic activity and self-subsistence are higher in provinces than in cities. Compared to the elderly living with family, the elderly living alone show high rates of economic activity, self-subsistence, and capability of physical activity. Results of logistic regression analysis of determinants of living arrangement are consistent with those of descriptive statistics. Those who are economically active and able to move around without assistance tend to live alone after the death of a spouse. Number of sons and living in an urban area are negatively associated with living alone, whereas females are more likely than males to live alone. According to the separate analysis by age, the positive effect of economic activity is greater in the oldest of the old than in other age groups. Those who possess high educational attainment tend to live alone when they are 80 and older, unlike other age groups. Based on these findings, this paper finds that one-person households of the elderly nay not always be the most vulnerable group, and are diverse in terms of socioeconomic characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.647-658
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was to analyzed the types of subjectivity that elderly who live alone caregivers have about the lonely death. Methods: This study objectified the subjective area by applying the Q methodology. It studied 24 caregivers in H region, who responded to 34 Q sample statements. The method of forced distribution was practiced regarding the results on a 9 points Q sample distribution chart. The collected data was analyzed using PC QUANL program. Results: The caregivers' perception of lonely death has been classified into four types: Type 1 ('type of fate-receptive invitation of lonely death'), Type 2 ('type of afterlife-expectantly invitation of lonely death'), Type 3 ('type of death preparation invitation of lonely death'), and type 4 ('type of rejection of lonely death due to attachment with life'). Conclusion: The present study attempts to provide basic resources for the development of nursing-intervention program to solve the problems with lonely death by grasping and understanding the types of the caregivers' perception of lonely death through which it also aims to yield information necessary to improve the quality of life in their remaining years.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate physical health status. depression. activities of daily living (ADL & IADL) of the low-income elderly who live alone in urban areas. Method: The subjects were the 400 low-income elders who live alone in Daegu city and the following instruments were used: 1. The number of self-reported physical health problems and present diseases: 2. CES-D scale for depression by Jo Nam-Oak et al. (1998): and 3. ADL scale by Katz (1989) and IADL scale by Lawton and Brody (1969). Results: 1. Visual difficulty was the most prevailing problem (55.3%) among physical problems. the second bowel elimination and the third hearing disturbance. As for present diseases. arthritis (26.5%), hypertension(24.3%) and DM (11.8%) were the most common diseases. 2. There were significant differences in physical health status according to age (t=3.115. p=.045). kind of medical security (t=-1.973. p=.049). perceived life satisfaction (F=4.966. p=.007) and the number of present diseases (F=2.937. p=.033). 3. There were significant differences in depression according to sex (t=-3.758. p=.000) . kind of medical security (t=-4.368. p=.000). perceived life satisfaction (F=35.743. p=.000) and the number of present diseases (F=4.246. p=.006). 4. There were significant differences in ADL according to sex (t=-2.136. p=.033) and age (F=4.863. p=.008). and in IADL according to sex (t=4.552, p=.000), age (F=3.090. p=.047) and kind of medical security (t=-3.306. p=.001). 5. Physical health state was correlated positively with both the number of present diseases (r=.140. p=.005) and depression (r=.352. p=.000), and negatively with ADL (r=-.176. p= .000) and IADL (r= -.230. p=.000). Depression was correlated positively with the number of present diseases (r=.169. p=.001) and negatively with both ADL (r=-.139. p=.005) and IADL (r=-.203. p= .000). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that general characteristics are important factors for physical health status, depression. ADL and IADL of the low-income elderly who live alone and there are close relations among physical health status, the number of diseases, depression, ADL and IADL. Therefore, these results must be reflected in community health programs for the low-income elderly who live alone. In addition, this kind of study must be extended to the low-income elderly who live alone in rural areas.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.26-40
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• 2000

This study was conducted to find out residential environment, mood states, ADL(Activity Daily Living) and nursing need of the elderly who live alone. The questionnaire survey was conducted on 154 single household elderly over 65years who live n D-city, Kangwon Province. The data were collected between September 1. 1999 and October 17, 1999 and analyzed by means of SPSS package. The results were as follows; 1. The percentage of the subjects who owned their house was no were than $13\%$., which showed that they still belonged to the economically vulnerable class. As for their residential environment, the average indoor temperature and humidity level were $16.45^{\circ}C\;and\;44.62\%$ respectively during the daytime between September and October, which proved to range within the standard scope. The average indoor illumination level was, however, 43.61 Lux, which showed that their illumination environment was very poor. 2. The average score of their mood states was 3.31. which turned out to be rather low. 3. The mean score of ADL was 1.69, which showed that they didn't have any serious inconveniences in their ordinary lives. 4. The mean score of their nursing need was 275, which proved to be close to the normal level. 5. The higher the room humidity was, the higher their nursing need increased. The higher the degree of illumination level was, the lower the degree of their nursing need was and the higher the level of ADL was. 6. The major factors influencing their moon status were the frequency of their contact with children and room humidity. These two factors could account for $22\%$ of the total mood status. These results suggest that the residential environment should be necessarily considered in the psychological nursing intervention for the elderly who live alone and they should be urgently supported in terms of health policy so that they can maintain the optimum level of illumination during the daytime.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1095-1101
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• 1997

The present paper resents information on the dietary intake and biochemical status of elderly who are living in different types of residence. On hundred and sixty five women(age 65-80 years old) were divided into three groups ; those who are living alone (LA) , living with family (LF) , and living in institutions (LI) within the same general community. Nutrient intake, body fat content, and biochemical measurements in blood and urine were examined statistically and potential environment-related influence are discussed. Elderly women living alone had significantly lower intake of nutrients than elderly women were not living alone LF group showed significantly higher fat consumption than LA and LI groups. Body fat content, plasma albumin and calcium levels in elderly women who lived with other people were significantly higher than those in elderly women living alone, but fat weights and lean body mass between groups were not different. None of the plasma lipid fractions were significantly different among the three groups except LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentration. In the LI group, LDL-C was lower than that of LF and LA groups. From the above results, serious nutritional deficiency has been shown in elderly women that live alone. Therefore, nutritional education and social help should be carried out to improve these situations for elderly people.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2004

Purpose: This study was to identify factors that influence the life satisfaction of solitude elderly. Method: The subject were 100 homebound the elderly living alone(age=76.58) who were live in M city located in Jeollanamdo. Data were collected from June 1 to September 30, 2002. The instrument used for this study were a survey of general characteristics, residential environment, MUNSH, Health Self-rating scale, ADL, loneliness and POMS. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and stepwise Multiple Regression. Result: In general the perceived health status was poor, but ADL was moderate., loneliness was high but mood and life satisfaction were low. In regression analysis, life satisfaction was significantly influenced by mood(51%), ADL(4%), loneliness(3%), and perceived health status(1%). These variables explained 59% of the variances in the life satisfaction. Conclusion: The result suggests that health care professionals should give more attention to helping the elderly raise their life-satisfaction. A further study is necessary to find out an effective nursing intervention for a better those in a comfortable residential environment, decreasing the loneliness and to promoting the mood for those elderly who live alone.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.145-154
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• 2017

Objectives: This study used data of urban and rural elderly living alone to compare the general characteristics of the elderly who have had suicidal ideation, and to investigate the suicidal ideation of urban-rural elderly with varying degrees of emotional support status, health status, and health behavior. Methods and materials: The research participants included 2,750 elderly aged 65 or above, of which 1,487 were from dong unit and 1,263 were from eup myeon units according to the raw data of 2011 Survey on Elderly Status. All collected data were analyzed using cross tabulation of SPSSWIN(ver 21.0) program and multivariate logistic regression. Results: The results were as follows. First, the factors that influenced the suicidal ideation of urban and rural elderly living alone included degree of depression, experience of abuse, and nutritional management status. Second, the suicidal ideation of urban elderly living alone was affected by the emotional support of their children who live apart and their grandchildren. Third, the suicidal ideation of rural elderly living alone was affected by the emotional support of their kin (including siblings).

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.207-219
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of suicide attempts and non-attempts of the elderly living alone and the subjects in this study were 690 elderly persons living alone in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. For data analysis, this study used descriptive analysis, mean comparison correlation analysis, and binominal logistic regression analysis using PASW 20.0. To explain the suicide attempts of elderly persons who live alone, variables such as sex, age education level, monthly household income, religion, subjective economic status, subjective health status, ADL/IADL, depression, hopelessness, social support, and stress were used. The findings of the study were as follows: First, 9.2 percent(64) of the elderly living alone had attempted suicide and 90.8 percent(626) had never attempted suicide. Second, monthly household income, hopelessness, and social support were identified as the factors that affected their suicide attempts. In other words, the elderly living alone who had lower monthly household income, less social support, and greater feelings of hoprlessness had made more suicide attempts. As it is a cross-sectional research using data from non-probability sampling, this has a limitation in generality sampling, this has a limitation in generalizing the study results. To overcome this limitation, longitudinal research using data from probability sampling is necessary.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.201-207
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• 2021

This study investigated the effects of self-esteem on the depression of baby boomer and eco-boomer generation (the children of baby boomers) living alone. It was identified from the point of view of comparison between the two groups. Using the 15th data of the 2020 Korea Welfare Panel, an independent sample t-test and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted with the data of baby boomers who live alone (born in 1955-1963) and eco-boomers who live alone (born in 1979-1992). The results of this study show that baby boomers who live alone had lower levels of education, income, and health condition than the eco-boomers who live alone, and had higher level of depression, but relatively lower level of self-esteem. In both groups, self-esteem had an effect on depression, but it was confirmed that the influence was greater in the group of baby boomers (Adjusted R2 .259) than in eco-boomers (Adjusted R2 .083). Based on the results of this study, practical and policy alternatives were suggested to prevent the depression among middle-aged, elderly people, and young adults who live alone.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2017

Objectives: I examined the health and oral health status of elderly people living alone compared to elderly people living with their families by using data (2014) from the 6th Two-Year Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: Among 1,454 health survey respondents aged 65 years and over who participated in the 6th Two-Year Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2014, 311 were elderly people living alone and 1,143 were elderly people living with their families. Results: In terms of socio-demographic characteristics, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high especially in women and when the subjects' age, education level, and income level were low. In terms of oral health status, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high when elderly people thought that their subjectively viewed health was poor and the frequency of drinking and exercise was low. In terms of oral health status, the percentage of elderly people living alone was high among elderly people who did not have good oral health in their subjective view and did not get oral examinations for a year and had a lot of difficulty chewing. Conclusions: Family support or additional social support for elderly people who live alone should be considered to promote the healthy lives of elderly people.