• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.77-93
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• 1998

Have elderly parents parted with parental role after the children were grown up? If they still have, what kinds and degrees of parental responsibilities endured? Do they actively perform the role? Do they satisfy to engage in parenting? The main purpose of present study explored these questions conceming rural old-aged families using data of 143 elderly parents aged 60 years and above. The results indicate that elderly parents perceived parenting adult children to be very important, regarding themselves as househeads to teach family members how to integrate together. The results also demonstrate that elderly parents performed parental role actively in teaching family rituals and providing emotional support. The elderly parents also report that they were fairly satisfied with involvement in adult children's lives. Our findings suggest that further in-depth research is required in eliciting the role parameters of elderly parents based on our social and cultural changes. In addition, it is encouraged to examine the adult children's expectation of their elderly parents for renegotiating and restructuring parent-child relationships when both are adults.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.192-202
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• 2007

Purpose: This study was to examine the degree of anxiety about aging for middle aged and elderly women and to identify the overall degree of anxiety about aging and general characteristics of middle aged and elderly women. Method: The subjects of the study were 674 women who lived in Busan city, Korea. The sampling was at the researcher's convenience and data was collected from April to August, 2007. The instrument for the study was questionnaires consisting of the general characteristics, and Anxiety about Aging for Elderly by Watkins, Coates, and Ferroni(1998). Descriptive statistics, t-test or ANOVA with Scheffe's test were used for data analysis. Result: The results of this research were as follows: The mean score of anxiety about aging was 50.32$\pm$5.75. The results reveal that middle aged women are more anxious about aging than old women. Anxiety about aging was the most common psychological dimension of the six factors. According to the general characteristics, there was a significant difference in education, subjective economic status, composition of family and job status in anxiety about aging. Conclusion: The results of this study help in explaining psychological health. In addition, development of adequate interventions to decrease anxiety about aging in women is needed.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.131-141
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• 2023

This study aimed to identify the determinants of physical frailty among the old-old adults in rural Korean communities. A total of 191 individuals aged 75 and older were included in the study, with the majority being female. Participants were classified into healthy (n=47), pre-frail (n=54), and frail (n=90) groups. Significant differences were found across these groups in terms of age, gender, education level, depression, and nutritional status. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age (OR=1.16), depression (OR=0.21), malnourishment (OR=10.85), and short physical performance ability (OR=0.70) were significant predictors of physical frailty. These findings underscore the multifaceted nature of physical frailty among old-old adults in urban-rural complex communities and highlight the need for comprehensive and integrated interventions. Such interventions should consider not only physical factors but also broader health conditions and socio-demographic influences impacting the elderly. Further research is needed to develop and evaluate interventions that address these determinants and promote health equity among the elderly population in urban-rural complex communities

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.496-504
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• 2010

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of outpatient cost-sharing on health care utilization by the elderly. Methods: The data in this analysis was the health insurance claims data between July 1999 and December 2008 (114 months). The study group was divided into two age groups, namely 60-64 years old and 65-69 years old. This study evaluated the impact of policy change on office visits, the office visits per person, and the percentage of the copayment-paid visits in total visits. Interrupted time series and segmented regression model were used for statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that outpatient cost-sharing decreased office visits, but it also decreased the percentage of copayment-paid visits, implying that the intensity of care increased. There was little difference in the results between the two age groups. But after the introduction of the coinsurance system for those patients under age 65, office visits and the percentage of copayment-paid visits decreased, and the 60-64 years old group had a larger decrease than the 65-69 years old group. Conclusions: This study evaluated the effects of outpatient cost-sharing on health care utilization by the aged. Cost sharing of the elderly had little effect on controlling health care utilization.

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.609-615
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate the relationship between quality of life, activities of daily living, and depression among Korean super-aged women. In this study, the 7th (2018) data of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) were used. The participants in this study were 363 super-aged women. The mean age was 88.67 years old. Quality of life was significantly related with Activities of daily living (ADL) (r = .34, p < .001), and depression (r = -.47, p < .001). The analysis of the hypothesized model showed a good fit to the data except for the χ² value (χ² = 38.8, df = 11, p < .001, CFI = .98, TLI = .96, RMSEA = 0.08). The hypothesized model explained 34% of the variance in super-aged women. The activities of daily living of elderly women had an indirect effect on quality of life via depression. Very old women with a high level of ADL were more likely to be feeling less depression, and elderly people who had less depression were likely to have a better quality of life. The findings thus highlight prevailing depression and activities of daily living as critical foci for clinical management strategies in super-aged women.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.11.1-11.5
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• 2011

The MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) volumetric analysis of the brain was performed in 59 healthy elderly Koreans (aged 62-76 years; 34 male, 25 female) to investigate whether the previously reported significant correlations between body height and brain volumes in the young aged Koreans (20's) still exist in the old aged Koreans (60's and 70's). Unlike previously reported significant correlations in the young aged Koreans, neither the correlation between whole brain volume and body height in male nor the correlation between cerebellar volume and body height in female show any significance in the old aged Koreans. The significant correlation between body height and whole brain volume was still observed when both male and female data were combined (r=0.27, P<0.05), but the correlation coef-ficient and the level of significance markedly decreased from those of previously reported Korean youth data (r=0.67, P<0.01). Simple linear regression analysis shows decrease of explanatory power of height (measured in $r^2$) from 44% in the youth group to 7% in the old age group on the variance of whole brain volume. Multiple linear regression analysis shows that age and sex, rather than height, are major explanatory variables for whole brain volume in the old aged Koreans. The loss of correlations in the aged group is suspected to be mainly due to age related brain volume changes.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.162-175
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between social support, psychosocial factors, and health behaviors of old adults in korean society. Methods: The data which was used in this study was extracted from the second wave of the Korean longitudinal study of aging in 2008. A total of 3,978 elderly aged 65 years or older were included in this study. We conducted $X^2$-test, t-test for the elderly health behavior in accordance with their social support and psychosocial factors. Also, multivariate logistic regressive analysis was performed in order to find how degree social support and psychosocial factors are associated with health behavior after adjusting sex, age, smoking (alcohol drinking), and other significant variables. The data was processed by SAS ver. 9.1 and Stata SE ver. 11. Results: Social support in older adults was significantly associated with lower smoking, alcohol drinking, exercise, and eating habit. Also, psychosocial factors were positively associated with smoking, alcohol drinking, regular exercise, and eating habit. Conclusion: health behaviors of old adults are likely to be vulnerable to social support and psychosocial factors. To increase effectiveness of the health policy for the elderly in Korea, it is important to adapt new strategy to include the empowerment of elderly's social networks, policy support to enhance subjective expectation, and life satisfaction.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.103-121
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• 2009

Increased consensus among gerontologists exist on the need to pay greater attention to the reciprocal relationship between the social and spatial in order to understand the construction of aged identity and everyday lives of old people. With urbanization, spaces are increasingly age-graded and as a consequence, urban elders are socially isolated from the community. In this study, we examine the social interaction patterns in various places specifically designated for the elderly, such as the Senior Center, Senior Welfare Center, and Hall for the Aged in Seoul. Main purpose of this study is to understand everyday life experiences of space the elderly people residing in the city go through. Data were gathered through qualitative, case study method. Results show that such spaces were important sites for social interaction for urban elderly who lacked social spaces after retirement and active parenting role. Also, it was shown that each place presents different contexts for social interactions and certain components of social class differences existed. Heterogeneity within the participants of each place was also observed. Quite strong stereotypes about certain places were also observed among the urban elders. Based on these results, importance of developing a 'community perspective' in the study of old age is discussed.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.79-89
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• 2022

Whereas systolic blood pressure (SBP) continuously rises with age, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) gradually decreases after the age of 55 years. Therefore, hypertension in the elderly shows the pattern of isolated systolic hypertension. There is evidence on the benefits of controlling blood pressure (BP) in elderly patients with hypertension. The BP lowering effect has also been demonstrated in patients over 80 years of age with hypertension. The BP threshold for the initiation of antihypertensive drug treatment for older adults with hypertension is gradually decreasing. The antihypertensive treatment is recommended if, despite therapeutic lifestyle modifications, SBP ≥140 mmHg or DBP ≥90 mmHg in those aged 65-79 years old, and SBP ≥140-160 mmHg or DBP ≥90 mmHg in those aged ≥80 years old. Although there is no consensus on the target BP for older adults with hypertension, a target SBP of <130-140 mmHg and DBP of <80-90 mmHg are recommended. In older adults over 80 years of age with hypertension, the target SBP is <140-150 mmHg. When the dose of antihypertensive drugs is increased to reach the target SBP, DBP may decrease to less than 70 mmHg, but it should not be <60 mmHg. Thiazide diuretics, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or angiotensin receptor blockers can be selected as the first-line drug for older adults with hypertension. Beta-blockers may be selected in case of compelling indications.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.133-143
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• 2003

The main purpose of the study is to identify the perception, as well as the prejudices, of sexuality of the elderly and their sexual life. Older men and women aged 66-80 (N=17) who are married, healthy, and living in communities were interviewed regarding ADL, present and past sexual practices, prejudices on elderly sexuality, and obstacles to sexual life. The findings of this study are as follows: First, the old perceived that sexuality even in old age is an important part of life. However, they were also prejudiced about sexual intimacy in old age. Second, although an increase in age is correlated with a decrease in sexual activity, a number of older men and women continue to have active sexual life and they are satisfied with it as ever. This indicates a duality in the way the elderly perceive sexuality. Third, health status, partner's responsiveness, and environmental problems are prominent obstacles to sexual life. The study revealed that late-life sexuality must be conceived as a complex bio-psycho-social phenomenon. Consequently, it is important to hold sexual education programs for the young and the old.