• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.132-143
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to observe cospla subculture in 1990s new generation of Korean youth, focused on activity that was reproducing the appearance of individual characters in animation, comic books and computer games, and to understand the representing process and meaning of appearance. The ethnographic methods including in-depth interviews and observation were used to approach such cultural form more closely from the youth generations perspective and their language. The results were as follows: 1. Although the cospla is originated from Japan, the local experience of Koreans make it the special youth subculture of Korea. 2. There are homological features and hierachical structure among group members of cospla subculture. The core values of Korean cospla are that they are realizing their ideal and elevating their own self-esteem. 3. Their appearance has connotation as symbolic resistance. The cultural activity of cospla is non-realistic, non-productive, but cosplayers conform to the social norm, too.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.69-85
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• 2000

Recently, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) received widely held attention from diverse audiences. However, to the author's knowledge, relatively little attention was paid to the educational implications of voice recognition (VR) softwares in language teaching in general, and teaching and learning pronunciation in particular. This study explores, and extends the applicability of VR softwares toward second language research areas addressing how VR softwares might facilitate interview data entering processes. To aid the readers' understanding in this field, the background of classroom interaction research, and the rationale of why interview data, therefore the role of VR softwares, becomes critical in this realm of inquiry will be discussed. VR softwares' development and a brief report on the features of up-to-date VR softwares will be sketched. Finally, suggestions for future studies investigating the impact of VR softwares on second language learning, teaching, and research will be offered.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.805-817
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• 2009

Purpose: This ethnograpy was done to explore patterns of health care behavior in patients with chronic health problems. Methods: The participants were 15 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 2 family members. Among the patients 4 had progressed to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Data were collected from iterative fieldwork in a department of internal medicine of I hospital. Data were analyzed using text analysis and taxonomic methods. Results: Illness and disease, relationship between health care givers and clients, and communication patterns between health professions and clients were discussed as the context of health care behavior. Health care behavior of the participants was categorized by its focus: every day work centered, body centered, organ centered, and pathology centered. Conclusion: Participants' health care behavior was guided by folk health concept and constructed in the sociocultural context. Folk etiology, pathology, and interpretation of one's symptoms were influencing factors in illness behavior. These findings must be a cornerstone of culture specific care for the chronic diseases.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.895-904
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• 2008

Purpose: This study analyzes the trends of nursing researches about organ donation and transplantation, and recommends the direction of future nursing studies in Korea. Methods: Ninety-nine researches based upon organ donation and transplantation in Korea were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: Among them 58 papers were master's theses and 9 were doctoral dissertations. Articles about organ beneficiaries were seventy. The 47 articles among them were for kidney transplantation. By the types of research design, there were 73 quantitative studies, 19 qualitative studies, and 9 methodological studies. In correlation studies, the quality of life of subjects were evaluated the association with stress, social support, self-efficacy, and compliance. In experimental studies, the independent variables were self efficacy promotion exercise, steroid medication, educational programs regarding an organ transplantation and a brain death, DanJeon breathing exercise, and telephone counseling. The methods of qualitative studies were based on the grounded theory, phenomenology, interpretive phenomenology, and ethnography. The dominant concepts of qualitative researches were experiences of a decision-making of donors and of recipients for organ transplantation. Conclusion: Descriptive surveys or correlation studies were predominant on the nursing research about organ transplantation. Qualitative studies were conducted to some extent. It is recommended to conduct clinically applicable interventional researches with the experimental design.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.394-405
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe cultural meanings for married Japanese immigrant women in rural Korean communities. Methods: The informants were 10 women in rural areas. Data were collected from August 2017 to June 2018 through in-depth interviews and participant observations and analyzed using text analysis and taxonomic methods developed by Spradley. Results: The meanings of adaptation were classified into five cultural domains: Practicing the doctrine, accepting the difference, redemption, true home, and confronting reality. The subthemes according to meanings of adaptation were comprised of international marriage with a sense of calling, bearing with sense of duty, and making a living substantively. The subthemes in this study reflect the process of adaptation. The cultural themes in the process of adaptation were overcoming differences and conflicts between Korea and Japan to achieve true family. Conclusion: The adaptation processes of married Japanese immigrant women included making their living reality known and recognizing the times when exchanges between Koreans and Japanese cannot exist within a hostile composition.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 2011

Purpose: Global shortages in nursing and strong demand for nursing services provided Korean nurses with more overseas employment opportunities, especially in the developed countries such as the United States and Canada. The purpose of this study was to explore the ageing experiences of the Korean nurses dispatched to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. Methods: The researcher interviewed 10 Korean nurses living in four cities in Germany. Interviews were performed twice in January and July, 2010, and the data, in the form of field notes and interview transcripts, were analyzed using the Agar's (1980) ethnographic method. Results: The ageing experiences of the participants can be summarized into three theme stages: coming upon old age, reluctantly realizing getting old, and finally accepting being old. The first stage is characterized by 'wiring money to homeland all throughout youth', second 'still feeling like a stranger anywhere', and finally 'burying homeland in heart'. Conclusion: The research findings not only suggest crucial materials for training prospective nurses overseas for their successful settlement, but also shed lights on related problems and solutions with ageing experience in overseas employment.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.329-337
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• 2007

Purpose: Increasing numbers of Koreans have immigrated to the United States since the late 1960s. The first generation of Korean immigrants or their parents become old and institutionalized in American nursing home setting. Although the Korean elders would experience many cultural differences in the nursing home, no study to date has investigated their everyday lives on how they live through their later lives within a different cultural environment from their own. Methods: Using ethnographic methodology, the purpose of this paper was to illustrate Korean residents' experiences and daily lives in a nursing home located in an east coastal city in the U.S. Participant observation, filed notes, semi-structured interviews were utilized by means of data collection. Eighteen Korean residents were observed, and five of them and two nurses participated in informal qualitative interviews. Results: The overriding theme from the findings is "thrown in a different world." Three sub-themes include "constant struggles in making themselves understood", "dealing with culturally inappropriate nursing care," and "maintaining their own ways of life". Conclusions: The discovered themes reflect culturally isolated lives of the participants and open a venue for designing a culturally congruent nursing care for Korean elders living in the U.S. nursing homes.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.174-184
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• 2009

Purpose: While there exist a good number of studies on Korean nurses who were dispatched to Germany in 1960s and 1970s in sociological or labor economic perspectives, there have been few studies on their experiences from a nursing perspective. The purpose of this study is to recapture their lives and experiences from a nursing point of view. Methods: This paper adopts an Agar's ethnographic approach which is more suitable to investigate personal qualitative experiences of those Korean nurses. The data were collected from group discussion and individual interview, and field observation with 10 dispatched Korean nurses. Results: The experiences of those dispatched nurses to Germany can be summarized into three themes: challenging to life, embracing new life, and giving a meaning to life. Challenging to life involved 'hope and anxiety', and embracing new life was reflected by 'wonderment and envy' and 'loneliness and sorrow'. Lastly, they took pride in their contributions to their mother country and also felt something lacking that they had not been properly evaluated. Conclusion: By rediscovering their lives and experiences from a nursing perspective, this study argues for more future studies to reexamine their impact and contribution to the nursing field in Korea.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.200-209
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this micro-ethnography is to examine whether science and societal changes impact family communication patterns among a convenience sample of 16 Korean women. Methods: The authors observed family communication in the context of a new breast cancer genetic screening and diagnostic testing program to detect BRCA gene mutations in Korean women at highest risk. Results: Analysis of in-depth interviews and field notes taken during participant observation illustrated that communication patterns in families vary according to a woman's position in the family. If a grandmother tests positive for a gene mutation, her daughters make decisions on her behalf; they open and maintain the communication channel among family members. If a housewife is diagnosed with cancer and a genetic mutation, she immediately consults her husband and her sisters. The husband creates an open communication channel between his wife, his parents and his siblings. As a result, a woman's cancer is a concern for the whole family not merely a woman's secret or crisis. Conclusion: Cultural differences are important to consider when designing new genetic service programs in different countries.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.662-675
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• 2010

Purpose: This ethnography was done to explore the meaning of illness in Korean Americans with chronic hepatitis B. Methods: The participants were 6 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 6 general informants who could provide relevant data. Data were collected from iterative fieldwork with ethnographic interviews within Korean communities in two cities in the United States. Data were analyzed using causal chain analysis developed by Wolcott. Results: The analyses revealed three meanings for the illness: hidden disease, intentionally hidden disease, and inevitably hidden disease. The contexts of meaning of illness included characteristics of the illness, social stigma, structure of health care system and communication patterns and discourse between health care providers and clients. Conclusion: The meaning of illness was based on folk illness concepts and constructed in the sociocultural context. Folk etiology, pathology and interpretation of one's symptoms were factors influencing illness behavior. These findings could be a cornerstone for culture specific care for Korean Americans with chronic hepatitis B.