• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.167-187
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• 2000

The rates and numbers of elderly suicide in Korea have been increased during 1985-1998. This indicates the seriousness of the problems which the elderly are faced with. So many late-life problems may push older people across the edges. Those in unbearable situations may call out fur helps, they may try to cope with various ways, or they may commit suicides. Because it is widely believed that suicide among the elderly can be understood as a personal solution or alternative to late-life problems in old age, the elderly\`s suicides seem to be an appropriate indicator in estimating seriousness of late-life problems. A comparison of the history of suicide research with other populations shows that the several late-life problems have been found with placing an individual elder at risks for increasing suicidal behaviors Research has identified such problems as financial insecurity, retirement, loss of social roles, physical illness, lack of social supports, and loneliness as the problems that increase the incidence of suicidal behavior. Though it is difficult far us to explain and understand the phenomenon of the elderly\`s suicide because of its complexity, we need to ascertain problems and social conditions behind suicides and also to prepare for some appropriate policy-tasks in light of social welfare for the aged, through examining the phenomenon. For explaining the elderly\`s suicide, the theoretical orientations are based on sociological perspectives in the paper. From the standpoints of social integration theory and exchange theory, this study is to examine the relationship between late-life problems and suicide. These two may have been fruitfully employed in conjunction with each other. Finally, this study would identify urgent late-life problems related with the elderly\`s suicide and suggest the relevant policies for Korean elders. Sometime in the near future, the government should be required to provide social welfare programs for the elderly, particularly for those at risk for increasing suicidal behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.690-705
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• 2000

This ethnography was based on Kleinman's explanatory model of a health care system. It is conducted to make thick discription of illness conception of the elderly in a sociocultural context. The basic assumptions were as follows. 1) A health care system is a cultural system, and as with any other cultural system, it is a system of symbolic meanings anchored in a particular arrangement of social institutions and patterns of interpersonal relationships; 2) In all societies health care activities are more or less interrelated. Therefore, they need to be in a holistic manner as socially organized responses to disease that constitute a special cultural system; health care system; 3) Health and illness experiences are the natural process of disease. Individuals who recognized a for state of health, their family, neighbors, and communities define the state, search for causes of the health problems, and response to it. According by, they proceed to search for healing stratagies. So, understanding of the illness experience is the starting point for health care. The study participants were 12 elders aged 60 or more. The fieldwork was conducted in an agricultural clan village of Namwon city. The data collection and analysis were cyclic, from descriptive observation, domain analysis, focused observation, taxanomic analysis, selected observation, componential analysis, and finally cultural themes were all analysed. Proxemic and text analysis techniques were used according to the characteristics of the data. The data of sociocultural context and descriptive data were collected from 1990 to 1992. Informations on illness concepts were collected during 1994 using focused observation. Data confirming and contrast observations were conducted from 1997 and 1999. Illness concepts of the elderly were taxonomized supernatural cause, non-supernatural cause, immediate cause, and ultimate cause. The supernatural ones were ancestors, god of home, god of village, and ghost such as 'sal(evil force of dead man)' and 'gagqui(ghost of begger)'. The non-supernatural ones were Ki, natural phenomenones, natural objects, foods, human and human behaviors. Immediate ones were insufficiency and overflows, discretion and consolidation, disorder and out of order, cloudness and contamination, and fluctuation and stagnation of supernatural cause and non-supernatural ones. Ultimate causes were intrusion and loss of supernatural and nonsupernatural ones. The cultural themes of illness concepts of the elderly are: 1) illness concepts are not based on causality principle, but on reciprocal principle; 2) illness concepts are affected by social level and charicteristics of the patients; 3) the causes of disease are recognized as imposed both positive and negative effects on health based on interpretation of the indiviuals; 4) illness concepts reflects on principles of everyday life of the society members such as hierachial structure and group cohesiveness; 5) illness concepts are ruled on principle of reciprocity and spread; 6) illness concepts are interrelated with physical environment of the participants. It can be concluded that the illness concepts of the elderly in a traditional clan village are a component of health care system as a cultural system based on these results. The these results can be a useful basis for gerontological nursing practice and education.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1566-1575
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• 2014

In this study, we have investigated the effect of perceived health status, sleep, depression and pain on quality of life by Gender in Community-dwelling Older Adults. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a survey of elderly aged 65 years or older that registered in the health care center located in J city from december 20, 2012 to february 15. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA. Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis using the SPSS Win 18.0 program. The result of perceived health status on average $9.89{\pm}2.21$ points, sleep $39.72{\pm}8.79$ points, depression, $7.13{\pm}7.54$ points, pain $5.37{\pm}1.90$ points and quality of life, the average was $7.61{\pm}2.25$ points. Perceived health status of low-income that perceived health status, sleep, and pain. explained 44.6% of variance in their quality of life. Based on the findings of the study, low-income elderly in home in order to improve the quality of life of the systematic development of intervention programs for health care and nursing needs to be applied.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.314-321
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• 2019

Based on data obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) conducted by Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC), this study analyzed the relationship between existence of the spouse, number of family members, and disease afflictions of the Korean elderly, and factors affecting their quality of life. The collected data were analyzed by Chi-square test, t-test and One-way Anova, using the SPSS / WIN 25. Our comparative analysis on the health status and quality of life revealed that individuals in the singles group had significantly more diseases than the married group. The singles group considered their health was subjectively poor, whereas the quality of life of the married group was higher. Analyzing the characteristics of chronic disease and activity restriction showed significantly higher prevalence of several diseases in the singles group. Besides, the singles group revealed significantly higher limitations of activity. Taken together, our results reveal a difference in the health status, quality of life, and the presence of chronic diseases in accordance to existence of the spouse, indicating that having a spouse increases the level of health and quality of life of the elderly.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.827-835
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• 2017

With the rapid progress of ageing several issues concurrently occur, and one important social issue that must be resolved is accidents involving Elderly drivers. Efforts to reduce the frequency of such accidents is a must in order to be prepared to face a superaged society. Currently people aged 65 or older are prescribed as an "Elderly person." Therefore, various studies concerning accidents involving Elderly drivers apply this age criteria to separate regular drivers and Elderly drivers. However, there is no criteria to practically discern Elderly drivers with certain physical features as vulnerable road users based on a level of acceptable accuracy. Therefore, this studies intends to compare the possibility of accidents by age group of Elderly drivers by correlation analysis to analyze the accident characteristics by age group. Results showed that for drivers aged 75 and older, their influence on major accident characteristics by vehicle type increased with higher age groups. In particular, passenger cars had a relatively low accident frequency rate for drivers aged between 70 and 80, but for drivers aged 75 to 84, they had higher influence on accidents for the same vehicle type. This demonstrates that as ageing progresses and the average life expectancy increases, the age span of elders continues to increase, meaning that characteristics differ by age group among the aged. This study confirmed that the influence on the possibility of accidents differs by age group among the aged.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.28-38
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• 2000

Purpose : This study examined characteristics of, problems of and services provided to hospice recipients and their family members at a home hospice organization. Methods : The subjects were 113 people who were discharged from one free-standing home hospice organization between November, 1994 and lune, 1999. Since the opening of the organization in November of 1994, it has provided hospice services at patients' homes with no charge. Data were collected from those subjects' records. Results : The average age of the subjects was 57.1 years; those aged 60 and over were 54%. Spouse was the most frequent(50.9%) primary caregiver followed by daughter-in-law and daughter. All the subjects were diagnosed as having cancer. Of those 41 subjects who did not know their terminal stage in the beginning, 31 subjects came to know their states. Of the subjects, 72.7% were referred from their physicians. On the average, the service duration and the number of home visits were 6.8 weeks and 7.2 times, respectively. Pain was the most prevalent problem of the subjects(89.4%). Medication management was the most frequently provided service followed by psychological supports. The reasons for discharge were death(88.5%) and refusal(8%). Home was the most frequent place of death(60%). Conclusion Home hospice service providers should be trained particularly in working with elders and in managing cancer pain. People need to be referred at an appropriate time for achieving goals of hospice. Community recognition of hospice services needs to be promoted.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.131-144
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• 1998

The lack of characteristical understanding of the Home Economics Education will have difficulty in achieving the goal of the Home Economics Education. To allow the Home Economics Education class in school contribute toward the enhancement of the quality of life, it is inevitable to reinforce the recognition of the importance and necessity of the Home Economics Education and to newly propose a directional guidance forward the coming 21st century. The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for planners of the future Home Economics Education by surveying research administrators in charge of programming the overall school curriculum. This study was conducted under the following procedure to have the outcome as follows ; 1. Answers from respondents of age over 50 or careers over 16 years tended to grasp the goal of Home Economics Education in relation to the enhancement of quality of life rather than to the accumulation of knowledge, skill or capacity. 2. Of all the surveyed, 9.64% regarded Home Economics Education as an essential part of school education and the positive ratio was higher with younger respondents. 3. To the question asking if the high school Home Economics Education could have influence on one's capacity, 97.2% of the answerers said yes. The respondents with career under 15 year showed 100% of positive agreement in this matter and of age under 40 marked much higher ratio of 98.84% than the elders. 4. The overall recognition of the necessity for separate sections in Home Economics Education programmed in accordance with the 6th Revision of High School Curriculum displayed a considerably high ratio, with a little differences among age and job groups. The purpose of this study is to analyze and understand adolescents'culture, thereby to provide fundamental information for Preventive Education for Adolescents'Problems in Home Economic Education. 745 articles collected in computer communication service were used for the analysis. The data were analyzed by frequency and percentage using the SPSS/PC+computer program. The most important results of this study were as follows ; 1) Concerning 'Adolescent's Problems's, problems such as violence, homicide and robbery were treated with the greatest frequency. It was also analyzed that the older generations are highly inclined to understand adolescents'culture as a negative one, for example, 'delinquency'or 'immaturity'. 2) Although the area of 'Adolescents'Education'was treated most frequently reflecting the high educational concern in our society, the significant part of those articles were on wrongful educational administration. As much as 70.6% of the articles analyzed were on 'Education'and 'Problems'. Thereby it may be concluded that the other areas such as health, activities, worries, values and harmful environments ere treated respectively as only a 'subculture'or'fragmentary culture'. The articles containing correlations and interactions among them and certain alternative proposals were very rare. 3) The areas such as 'Worries and Counselling'and 'Health'were occupying only a small portion of the articles. The articles which were treating the practical worries and their resolutions were even rarer. 4) 'Values'of the adolescents tended to be viewed by the older generations very negatively. It was also found that the older generations gave the tendency to see the 'consumption culture'of the adolescents as a kind of 'counter culture'or'subculture'.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2011

Purpose: The Assessing Care Of Vulnerable Elders project has developed indicators for the quality of the end-of-life (EOL) care. However, family members of cancer patients may have a different view on the quality indicators (QIs) established by health care experts. We evaluated the QIs from the family members' perspective. Methods: The information used in this study was gathered by surveying family members of cancer patients who were admitted to the inpatient hospice ward in Korea. A cross-sectional anonymous questionnaire was distributed to 120 potential respondents from July to October 2009. We included 69 responses in this study (effective response rate, 57.5%). Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS for Win ver. 14.0, with independent t-test and Pearson's chi-square test. Results: Among QIs for good hospice care, families agreed the most on "Medical examination by the palliative care team or specialist" (88.4%) and "Dying in the family's presence" (88.4%). They agreed the least on "Discussing cardiopulmonary resuscitation with patients" (15.9%). Among QIs for bad hospice care, "Occurrence of fall or pressure ulcer are undesirable" showed the highest agreement rate (94.2%). The lowest agreement rate was 11.6% on "Dying in the hospital is undesirable." In addition, women, patients who were aware of their prognoses, and people with a high socioeconomic status tended to agree more on the QIs. Conclusion: Patients' families did not agree on some of the QIs recommended by previous studies. Family members' characteristics were related to their opinions on QIs.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.295-300
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• 2009

Statement of problem: As the number of elders is growing with the advancement of medicine, partially or fully edentulous patients have increased. Medically compromised conditions are common in the older population so that it should be taken into account in prosthetic treatment planning as well as their economic conditions. In the older patients, removable prosthesis has been preferred to implant prosthesis. However, cast metal based removable partial dentures also has several limitations. Purpose: In this report, we present several cases of Valplast$^{(R)}$ flexible denture which were fabricated in patients who had medically compromised conditions or whose remaining teeth showed a relatively poor prognosis. Results & Conclusion: This article describes an alternative treatment for a partially edentulous patient with mouth opening limitation, after cancer surgery, compromised general condition and questionable remaining teeth. In these patients, Valplast$^{(R)}$ flexible denture was used because of its unique characteristics and the results were all satisfactory. Patients had 1-2 check-up and there were no postoperative pain or fracture of denture up to now.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.441-450
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• 2006

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to identify variables related to self-care behavior and to find factors related to the control of hypertension. A cross-sectional study was carried out to provide basic data for effective and continuous hypertension control in the low-income elderly. Methods: This study was performed with a total of 189 subjects who were hypertensive and were receiving pharmacological treatment of hypertension from a community health center in D Metropolitan City. Data were collected through a face to face survey, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (the mean value of the two measures) were measured during May 2004. Obtained data were analyzed by $x^2$ test, t-test, multiple logistic regression and Pearson's correlation coefficient (using SPSS Version 10.1). Results: 1. According to demographical characteristics, the score of self-care behavior was significantly higher in elders living along ($47.63{\pm}7.276$) than in those living with the family ($45.19{\pm}5.501$) (p<.05), and in those with religion ($47.11{\pm}6.722$) than in those without religion ($45.01{\pm}6.110$) (p<.05) 2. As to blood pressure control, the percentage of blood pressure control within the normal range (systolic 140mmHg, diastolic below 90mmHg) was 37.03%. According to demographical characteristics, the percentage of blood pressure control was significantly lower in those without religion (p<.05). In practicing hypertension self-care behavior, those who do not control salk intake showed a significantly lower percentage of hypertension control (p<.05). The score of hypertension self-care was $48.28{\pm}4.443$ in the controlled group, and $45.42{\pm}7.399$ in the uncontrolled group, showing a significant difference (p<.01). 3. Hypertension self-care behavior was in a positive correlation with blood pressure control (r=.210, p<.05). Conclusion: Attention should be paid to self-care behavior to increase the control of hypertension in the low-income elderly. These results can be used guidances for improving self-care behavior and the control of hypertension in the low-income elderly.