• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.162-173
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• 2014

Among OECD countries, Korea is the only country which has continuously recorded total birthrate below 1.3 person for over 10 years. Since 2006, the Korean government has promoted the population policy in full scale. But, the fertility rate which became low has not shown any sign to go up again. Thus, Korea can be understood as having fallen into 'low fertility trap'. Such a low fertility can cause serious problems such as weakening of national competitive power and even survival of the country. In Korea, due to studies and finding jobs among young women, their childbirths are kept being postponed. In some cases, poor working conditions where women work can cause physical conditions not appropriate for pregnancy. Thus, it is very important to let childbearing women, pregnant women take care of their health. Accordingly, conscious of this low fertility era, this study examined major international organizations and countries' health promoting strategies-with focus on motherhood and suggested some methods to effectively improve health for motherhood.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.190-195
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• 2023

Objectives: Pregnancy complications, including pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes (GDM), and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), impact long-term health. We compared the frequency of screening documentation for pregnancy complications versus a general medical history at well woman visits between providers in primary care and obstetrics and gynecology. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of subjects with at least 1 prior birth who presented for a well woman visit in 2019-2020. Charts were reviewed for documentation of a general medical history (hypertension, diabetes, and mood disorders) versus screening for comparable obstetric complications (pre-eclampsia, GDM, and PMADs). The results were compared using the McNemar and chi-square tests as appropriate. Results: In total, 472 encounters were identified, and 137 met the inclusion criteria. Across specialties, clinicians were significantly more likely to document general medical conditions than pregnancy complications, including hypertensive disorders (odds ratio [OR], 2.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18 to 5.48), diabetes (OR, 7.67; 95% CI, 3.27 to 22.0), and mood disorders (OR, 10.5; 95% CI, 3.81 to 40.3). Obstetrics and gynecology providers were more likely to document any pregnancy history (OR, 4.50; 95% CI, 1.24 to 16.27); however, they were not significantly more likely to screen for relevant obstetric complications (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 0.90 to 6.89). Overall, the rate of pregnancy complication documentation was low in primary care and obstetrics and gynecology clinics (8.8 and 19.0%, respectively). Conclusions: Obstetrics and gynecology providers more frequently documented a pregnancy history than those in primary care; however, the rate was low across specialties, and providers reported screening for clinically relevant complications less frequently than for general medical conditions.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2022

Purpose: This study investigated whether parenting stress, work-family conflict, resilience affect retention intent in Korean nurses returning to work after parental leave. Methods: The participants in this study were 111 nurses recruited from 10 hospitals in Korea, who were working after formal parental leave from their hospitals. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression. Results: Retention intention (33.80±7.78), parenting stress (101.70±17.57), and resilience (85.02±12.75) were at greater than moderate levels and a midpoint level of work-family conflict (29.63±7.00) was noted in this sample of mostly women nurses in their 30s. The factors affecting retention intent were parental leave duration, the number of times that participants had taken parental leave, health condition, work-family conflict, and resilience. The total explanatory power of these variables was 36.7%. Retention intent had a negative correlation with parenting stress and work-family conflict. Conversely, retention intent was positively correlated with resilience. Conclusion: This study supports the need for flexible adjustment of returning nurses' working hours and family-friendly policies to promote balance between work and family. It is also necessary to develop and apply measures that boost resilience and support health improvement for nurses returning to work.As nurses are often assigned to new areas of work upon return, training programs to aid their adjustment may also be helpful.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.299-308
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was designed to identify nurses' perceptions and educational intentions regarding natural childbirth control (NCC) methods. Method: The participants were 313 nurses working at three general hospitals in Seoul. They were asked to complete a questionnaire composed of scales measuring knowledge and perceptions childbirth control methods, awareness of bodily changes in ovulation phase, perceptions of fetal life, which were developed by the author. Also, Chang's (2002) Sexual Autonomy Inventory was utilized. The data were analyzed by the SAS program. Results : Methods of condom and rhythm were considered to be more useful for childbirth control than other methods. Only 34-54% of them knew exactly about the NCC methods using menstrual cycle, body temperature, and mucus. The mean scores of sexual autonomy and awareness of bodily changes in ovulation phase were 3.8 and 3.4 out of 5, in respect. Educational intention was different statistically by the age, marital status, future intention to use NCC methods, and perception of educational need for NCC methods. Conclusion : Nurses' perceptions and educational intentions regarding NCC were low, especially in nurses who were married. It is recommended to encourage nurses to learn NCC methods for clients education.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.205-214
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine womens' perceptions regarding influenza vaccination during pregnancy among Korean childbearing women. Methods: Data was collected using focus group interviews from June to September, 2010. Forty Korean women participated in 13 focus groups. After obtaining permission from participants, each session of the focus group was audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The responses were analyzed utilizing qualitative content analysis. Results: Forty women ranging from 26 to 43 participated in the study. The major themes were safety concerns; effects of fetal protection and infection prevention; lack of perceived needs; and encouragement as well as concerns from others. Participants raised questions on whether the vaccine was safe and effective, and concerns about the potential harmful effect of influenza vaccine to their bodies and the fetus. The major reason for influenza vaccination during pregnancy was to protect self and fetus. Also, clinician's recommendation was the facilitating factors for influenza vaccination during pregnancy. Conclusion: The findings suggest that concerns associated with influenza vaccination should be considered when educating childbearing women about the influenza vaccine during pregnancy.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.363-368
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• 2009

One of the frequent occurrences in rearrangements is chromosome inversion. Pericentric inversion is considered to be the variant of normal karyotype. We investigated the karyotypes of 1195 cases being referred to prenatal diagnosis using standard GTG banding for karyotype preparation. The chromosomal analysis revealed a total of 15 (1.26%) inversions. The characteristics of inversion type [(inv(4), inv(8), inv(9), inv(11)) were investigated on the basis of chromosomal analyses of fetuses and their parents. The results from chromosomal examination of the parents, whose fetuses were diagnosed as inversion, show that either parent might be the carrier. Inversion in human chromosome is commonly seen in normal humans and the frequency estimated to be 1 to 2% in general population and the exact amount of this phenomenon is still unclear. These results indicate that inv(8), inv(9), and inv(11) are phenotypically normal. However these may often cause clinical problems in offspring of the carrier, such as fetal wastage repeated spontaneous abortions and infertility with unknown mechanisms related to sex. We describe an inversion of human chromosome and its clinical correlation with human genetic disease.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.197-198
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• 2016

Although three different research groups have reported successful derivations of human somatic cell nuclear transfer-derived embryonic stem cell (SCNT-ESC) lines using fetal, neonatal and adult fibroblasts, the extremely poor development of cloned embryos has hindered its potential applications in regenerative medicine. Recently, however, our group discovered that the severe methylation of lysine 9 in Histone H3 in a human somatic cell genome was a major SCNT reprogramming barrier, and the overexpression of KDM4A, a H3K9me3 demethylase, significantly improved the blastocyst formation of SCNT embryos. In particular, by applying this new approach, we were able to produce multiple SCNT-ES cell lines using oocytes obtained from donors whose eggs previously failed to develop to the blastocyst stage. Moreover, the success rate was closer to 25%, which is comparable to that of IVF embryos, so that our new human SCNT method seems to be a practical approach to establishing a pluripotent stem cell bank for the general public as well as for individual patients.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.196-204
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• 2008

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effects abdominal breathing on anxiety and length of labor time in primipara women. Method: It was a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent comparison group, performed from October 11 to December 4, 2007. Thirty-six subjects who received pitocin and met the inclusion criteria were chosen by convenience sampling from the labor room of Y hospital located in Seoul. The intervention of abdominal breathing was 'four seconds of inhale, six seconds of exhale breathing method.' The abdominal breathing was carried out 30 times each when the uterine cervix was dilated $3{\sim}4cm$ and $5{\sim}6cm$. Psychological anxiety was measured by VAS-A before and after the cervix dilatation to $3{\sim}4cm$ and $5{\sim}6cm$. Result: Anxiety scores of the experimental was found lower than that of the control group at $3{\sim}4cm$(z=-3.05, p=.00) and $5{\sim}6cm$(z=-2.04, p=.04) of cervix dilatation. However, the abdominal breathing was not effective to the length of labor from the active phase thru full dilatation, though there was 56 minutes of difference between the two groups. Conclusion: Carrying out the abdominal breathing 30 times at two time points was effective in decreasing anxiety level during labor. Further study is suggested to examine the effects of abdominal breathing on labor time, fetal heart rate, and uterine contraction.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2012

This paper is an analysis on the topography spatial structure and geomagnetic disturbance for the ideal spot of birthplaces in Jeollanam-do area. Here, representating the ideal spots for birthplaces means those homes that are wellknown to a lot of local residents, It also it speaks on the birthplaces where famous people spend their childhood. We chose three such birthplaces and analyzed them into Feng-Shui regarding the topography spatial structure, and also analyzed them for the geomagnetic disturbances. On the basis of such an analysis, we found a relation between the ideal spot of birthplaces and the geomagnetic disturbances. We studied the impact of geomagnetic disturbances on ideal spot of birthplaces. As a result, three birthplaces turned out to be an ideal spot with regards to our analysis of Feng-Shui and the topography spatial structure, also they had uniformly distributed almost no geomagnetic disturbances with stable the structure of the earth's stratum. Consequently we could know that the ideal spot of birthplaces did not a little affect mental health and physical health of the birthplace residents by liveliness while they lived fetal life until childhood.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.58-70
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• 2018

Purpose: To provide accurate information on induced labor and find strategies to enhance women's childbirth satisfaction. Methods: Participants were pregnant women expected to have normal vaginal delivery. A total of 113 women with induced labor and 61 women with spontaneous labor were surveyed. Data were collected using a questionnaire and electronic medical records. Results: The following variables related to labor progress showed significant differences between the induced labor group and the spontaneous labor group: length of the first stage of labor in primigravidas, use of analgesic, incidence of uterine hyperstimulation, incidence of fetal distress, and medical treatment for the expectant mother. Delivery type and the incidence of postpartum complications showed significant difference between the two groups. Induced labor women's childbirth satisfaction was mainly affected by the process of labor whereas spontaneous labor women's childbirth satisfaction was affected by the outcome of childbirth. Conclusion: Medical staff should have accurate information on the risk of induced labor and the benefits of a natural delivery. Moreover, medical staff should provide necessary information and environment for women to participate in the decision-making process.