• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.551-567
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• 2018

Demographic and socio-structural information is useful to identify potential welfare recipients who are in need of disease-prevention and intervention services. Thus, the present study aims to explore the differences in grip strength among middle and old-aged adults by living conditions and by living area. The 5th wave data of Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging was utilized. The dependent variable was grip strength, and the independent variables were living alone (living alone or not) and living area (city or non-city). Covariates were age, education, log-transformed household income, spouse existence, body mass index, self-rated health conditions, depressive symptoms, cognitive function, smoking, regular exercise, frequency of meeting with friends, and the number of social participation. Regression analysis was performed for middle-aged men, middle-aged women, old-aged men, and old-aged women, respectively. ANOVA and Chi-test were additionally used to specifically discuss significant results. Cross-sectional weight was applied to all analyses. According to the results, living alone and living area did not have significant effects on grip strength among middle-aged men, old-aged men, and old-aged women. In middle-aged women, however, living alone and living area were significantly associated with grip strength. To be specific, middle-aged women who lived alone in rural areas had the lowest grip strength compared to other middle-aged women. Additional analysis showed that middle-aged women who lived alone in rural areas had risk factors, such as low education level, low income, or high depressive symptoms. It implies that middle-aged women living alone in rural areas may have physical health risks, so they might be in need of disease prevention. This study is meaningful in that it can provide reliable information on the latent welfare recipients by using representative panel data and applying weight values.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.569-592
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• 2018

This study purported to investigate the current state of human rights of older adults residing in rural areas of Korea. The study utilized, as an analytic framework, 4 priority directions (1. "older persons and development", 2. "rural area development", 3. "advancing health and well-being into old age", and 4. "ensuring enabling and supportive environments") with 13 task actions recommended by Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). Furthermore, the study examined gender differences in all items included in the analytic framework. Data was collected by the face-to-face survey on 800 subjects aged 65 and over. Statistical analyses were conducted using STATA 13.0 program. The main results were summarized in order of 4 priority directions as follows. First, average working hours per day were 6.2, and men reportedly participated in economic activities and needed job training more than women, while women participated in lifelong education programs more than men. Awareness of fire and disaster prevention facilities was low in both genders. Second, accessibility to the support center for the elderly living alone as well as protective services for the vulnerable elderly was found to be low. IT-based services and networking were used more by men than women, and specifically, IT-based financial transactions and welfare services were least used. Third, medical check-ups and vaccinations were well received, while consistent treatments for chronic illnesses and long-term care services were relatively less given. In addition, accessibility to mental health service centers was considerably low. Fourth, although old house structures and the lack of convenience facilities were found to be circumstantial risk factors for these elders, experiences of receiving housing support services were scarce. The elderly were found to rely more on informal care, and concerns for their care were higher in women than men. Plus, accessibility to elderly abuse services was markedly low. Based on these results, discussed were implications for implementing policies and practical interventions to raise the levels of the human rights for this population.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.645-666
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of the elderly with disability focused on comparison between aging with disability and disability with aging in Korea. Disability in older age has been related to several psychosocial characteristics, including social support, self-esteem, life satisfaction and depression. However, the exact role of these characteristics in the disablement process remains uncertain and this study focused on comparison between aging with disability and disability with aging in Korea. This study analyzed the 12th wave (2017) KWPS(Korean Welfare Panel Study)and Disability Study which included 692 elderly with disability aged 65 and over. The data were processed by SEM and multi-group SEM analysis. The findings were as follows; First, family support and the significant others support showed direct effects on the life satisfaction of the elderly with disability. Second, family support and the significant others support reduced the level of depression and enhanced self-esteem and finally impact on the life satisfaction of the elderly with disability. The formal support enhanced the depression and reduced self-esteem and eventually reduced the life satisfaction. Third, the disability with aging group showed more higher perception and more experience of formal support and formal service and more higher depression than the aging with disability group. Forth, the significant others support on life satisfaction only showed significance in disability with aging group and depression had significance in disability with aging group. Finally, aging with disability group showed positive effects on the formal support of life satisfaction but showed negative effects on the depression and self-esteem. Based on these findings, practical implications of future directions for research are discussed.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.83-102
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• 2018

According to socioemotional selectivity theory, if people perceive their time left in life as expanded, they have a future-oriented goal of life, but if perceive as limited the goal of life is changed into the pursuit of present emotional satisfaction. Thus, if we perceive our time left as getting limited as we get older, we pay more attention to the positive stimuli than the negative ones and remember more the positive stimuli in order to maintain the current emotional state as positive. This is known as the positivity effect. This study examined whether the positivity effect is caused by a limited future time perspective. The participants were presented with scenarios for hypothetical situations in which the future time was expanded or limited, and were encouraged to immerse in the virtual situation by talking about what they would like to do and whom they wanted to spend time with. Then the participants were presented with 48 positive, negative, and neutral emotional pictures and were asked to recall after 10 minutes delay. 75 university students and 65 elderly participated in the study. In the control condition where the future time perspective was not manipulated, the elderly showed the positivity effect but the youth showed the bias toward negative pictures. The elderly in the expanded time condition recalled positive pictures less and negative pictures more than the elderly in the control condition. On the other hand, the youth in the limited time condition recalled less the negative pictures than the youth in the control condition. These results demonstrated that the elderly did not show the positive bias when the future time perspective was expanded, and that the youth showed the positive bias when the future time perspective was limited. These results show that the positivity effect is related with the limited future time perspective.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1279-1295
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• 2008

This study was done to find out the effects that group art therapy would have on low rank cognitive functions and the self-esteem of the elderly with dementia. The study subjects were four elderly females with light dementia symptoms who scored lower than 19 points on the MMSE-K(Mini Mental State Examination-Korea) test. They were chosen from the ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}$ Senior Welfare Service Center located in Seoul. A total of 15 sessions of a group art therapy were given once a week for 60 minutes from January 15th to April 30th of 2008, the research tools employed were the MMSE-K and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale on which a pre-test and a post-test were given. The results obtained are as follows. First, it was shown that group art therapy is effective to improve the cognitive functions of the elderly with dementia. According to the pre-tests and post -tests based on MMSE-K, the average score improved from 16.75 to 19.75, using Wilcoxon non-parameter statistics, verification resultant p-value which significant difference exhibited as .046, from the pre-tests and post-test, the average score improved in the subordinate areas of Orientation, Registration, Attention and Calculation, language function, understanding and judgment but there was no significant difference, memory recollection improved by a score of 0.70 according to the pre-test and post-test. using Wilcoxon non-parameter statistics, the verification resultant p-value which significant difference exhibited as .043. Second, it appeared with the fact that group art therapy effects the Self-Esteem of the elderly with dementia. From the verifications of a pre-test and post-test on Self-Esteem, the average score improved from 20.75 to 24.25, the effectiveness of the program was given proven by statistically considering the statistical resultant p-value of .048.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.461-474
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to develop the caregiver guideline for participation in activities daily living for the elderly with early dementia in home including easily adaptable and professional strategies as early intervetion. The process of this study was 3 stage. First stage, the development of preliminary caregiver guideline as the first stage of this study was to translate to Korean and reclassify the items about caregiver guideline for participation from reports of foreign association or government related dementia, and it consisted of 3 areas, 128 statements for questionnaire for Delphi investigation. Second stage, the guideline was to conduct the content validity, and delete, reclassify, integrate, revise inappropriate items through 2 rounds and 16 Delphi panels. Third stage, the establishment of the final version of caregiver guideline. It consisted of 8 areas: home modification and assistive device, home activities of daily living, health management, communication, psycho-emotional support, leisure activities, social participation, general strategies. All 68 items was arranged in important order. The content validity, stability, agreement index in this study were 0.81, 0.15, 0.79 respectively. When content validity, stability was above 0.49, below 0.5 in Delphi survey with 15 panels, it was not required additional survey. The result of this study meaned that it was not required to additional Delphi survey, and the result was stable and agreeable. This developed guideline was useful and practical to maintain the elderly's with dementia independent and healthy life as education materials for their caregivers, so it will expect to decrease caregiver's burden. Lastly, it stated limitation and suggestion for further study.

• 한국노년학
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1041-1054
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• 2008

This study aimed to identify the severity and types of prostate symptom, to identify the relationship of prostate symptom, sleep quality and quality of life of the elderly in korea, so to provide basic data for developing nursing interventions for the elderly's prostate symptom management. This study used a descriptive correlational research design. The subjects of this study were 100 elderly men over 65yr in an urban city. Data were collected through personal interviews using questionnaires from September 2006 to March 2007. The IPPS, PSQI and SF-36-K were administered. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation. The major findings of this study were as follows: 1) 44% of the participants have moderate to severe Prostate symptom(IPSS>7). 2) Prostate symptom has positive relationship with sleep quality(r=.272, p=.006) and negative relationship with health related quality of life(r=-.197, p=.049). The results of this study indicate that prostate symptom is related to sleep quality and quality of life. So it is necessary to give information to the elderly about the effective coping method of prostate symptom and about the life style which have positive effect to prostate symptom.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.281-291
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• 2017

The present study aimed to investigate the rate of unmet healthcare needs for elderly over the age of 65 years, as well as analyze the relevance between employment status and unmet healthcare needs due to financial reasons. With regard to the study method, a logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the correlation between employment status and unmet healthcare needs due to financial reasons, targeting 5,528 subjects over the age of 65 years. The results showed that the rate of unmet healthcare needs was 18.9%, in which the rate of unmet healthcare needs due to financial reason was 8.1%. The rate of unmet health needs was higher for temporary workers(ORs=1.75) than for retirement workers. However, the rate of unmet healthcare needs caused by financial reasons was higher among day workers(ORs=1.92). In conclusion, in order to prevent unmet healthcare needs for senior Korean patients, it is necessary to not only improve the income security system for the elderly, but also improve the occupational form and level of income of these economically active citizens, considering the increase in average life expectancy. Moreover, it is also necessary to reinforce health insurance coverage systems for settling medical expenses.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.1003-1024
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• 2016

The human rights of older people have gotten more attention recently in South Korea, a country that is in transition to a super-aged society. This study aimed to systematically review studies on elder abuse and related factors among community-dwelling older adults in South Korea over twenty years (1994-2016). We searched major databases (Riss, DBpia, KISS, KMbase, and PubMed) and identified published studies relevant to the topic. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria related to study quality, a total of 31 studies were selected for this review. We examined types, measurements, and risk factors of elder abuse as well as study designs in the selected studies, guided by Johannesen's theoretical framework on elder abuse. All of the reviewed studies on elder abuse in Korea were cross-sectional studies, most of which focused on older people living in urban areas, using a non-random sampling method. All of the studies focused on certain types of elder abuse only. Some adopted elder-abuse instruments that were not validated, and others used self-developed instruments without psychometric tests. As for the risk factors of elder abuse in South Korea, the physical and mental health of the victims and aggressors impacted the risk of elder abuse, but general sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and education were less likely to be related to the risk. In addition, decreasing caregiver burden and building elder-friendly communities are important for the prevention of elder abuse. Needed are further empirical studies on elder abuse with a theoretical framework that gives consideration to the unique sociocultural contexts of Korea. It is also recommended to develop instruments to measure elder abuse reflecting the sociocultural contexts of Korea, and to examine the multi-dimensional risk factors of elder abuse.

• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.673-691
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• 2016

As the provision of long-term care policy takes root and with a gradual increase in elderly population, the use of elderly care service has become a growing norm. More than ever, there exists an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the building of an institutional basis for the improvement of care service, from the prevalent practice of 'need based service' toward the concept of 'human rights based service'. A great focus is being shed on care-workers, at the 'front line' of advocating human rights, as their human rights advocacy behaviour is seen as a key variable in providing high quality care service for elders. This study aims to examine how care-workers' individual human rights awareness levels, and the influence of their respective organizations, as an environmental factor, affect their human rights advocacy behaviour. The study includes a comprehensive analysis of the interactions between the regulatory effect of environmental factors (service orientation?) on an organizational level, human rights awareness (individual level) and the service environment (organizational). The analysis sample consisted of 782 registered non-profit corporation of long-term care facilities all over the country in 2014. The findings of the thesis suggest that human rights awareness at individual levels has a significant influence on human rights advocacy behavior. The interaction of human resources management in service orientations was also found to influence human rights advocacy on a significant level. Both human rights awareness at individual level and service orientations at organizational level were thus determined as key variables for improving the human rights awareness of care worker in long-term care facilities in Korea.