• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.439-446
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• 2007

In order to reduce the health inequalities within a society changes need to be made in broad health determinants and their distribution in the population. It has been expected that the Health impact assessment(HIA) and Healthy Cities can provide opportunities and useful means for changing social policy and environment related with the broad health determinants in developed countries. HIA is any combination of procedures or methods by which a proposed 4P(policy, plan, program, project) may be judged as to the effects it may have on the health of a population. Healthy city is one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential. In Korea, social and academic interest regarding the HIA and Healthy Cities has been growing recently but the need of HIA and Healthy Cities in the perspective of reducing health inequality was not introduced adequately. So we reviewed the basic concepts and methods of the HIA and Healthy Cities, and its possible contribution to reducing health inequalities. We concluded that though the concepts and methods of the HIA and Healthy Cities are relatively new and still in need of improvement, they will be useful in approaching the issue of health inequality in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.29-44
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify community health practitioners' (CHP) perception of barriers to research utilization, current status and competence in evidence-based practice (EBP). Methods: From all over the country, 126 CHP completed an e-mail survey. Results: The items with the highest barrier scores were that it is difficult to understand articles written in English and physicians will not cooperate with implementation. There were statistically significant differences in the scores for attitude toward EBP and knowledge in EBP by education level and nursing academic society membership status. When faced with a problem, the nurses usually use related regulations or asked a colleague for advice. Conclusion: Results indicate an awareness of the necessity of applying EBP, need to improve readiness to use EBP voluntarily and actively, and need to search for various factors that are barriers to research utilization. There is a need to develop and apply EBP training/education programs to find new evidence that might actually support previous practice for which nurses lack confidence. Guidelines that consider CHP task characteristics and barrier factors to research utilization should be developed.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.50-57
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• 2006

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to research the health belief, perception and need of prevention program for musculoskeletal disease of office workers in a public corporation. Method: We surveyed 339 office workers at a industry based in Ahn Yang, Kyunggi Province, with questionnaires, during the period June 3rd - June 18th, 2004. Result: Forty-four percent of the subjects said they had musculoskeletal symptoms, and 10.9% said they had received medical treatment for musculoskeletal disease in the last year. Factors that affected perception of musculoskeletal disease were appeared to be perceived severity, perceived barrier, cue to action, marital status, regular exercise and age, and they explained 23.2% of perception of musculoskeletal disease. Factors that affected need of prevention program appeared to be perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit and PC using hours, and they explained 20.8% of need of prevention program. Conclusion: In conclusion, we suggested that in management the prevention of musculoskeletal disease for office workers, it should be considered nursing intervention strategies to reinforce health belief.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was to verify the effectiveness of group program for promoting empowerment and self-advocacy of the the mentally disabled persons' families. Methods: This program was set up for the mentally disabled persons' families to share their experiences, do consciousness raising, advocate themselves through group process. A pre-post control group design was used for this study. Results: The results of this study verified that group program was effective to promote empowerment and self advocacy of the mentally disabled persons' families. Also group program helped to express and ventilate family burden actively. Conclusion: This study suggests as follows. In the mental health social work practice we need to develop group programs for family to talk about themselves, to ventilate their emotions, to understand their circumstances and to initiative the change of mental health circumstances as well as education and coping skills about mental illness. For this, there is a need for mental health social worker to have a macroscopic viewpoint and work with family. Also there is a need for mental health social worker to promote family self-help groups and to support their construction and growth.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.239-247
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the denture attachment status and the denture need of elderly Koreans and to provide basic data for improving the quality of life by developing methods and education programs for the oral health of the elderly. Methods: This study selected 4,340 persons who completed questionnaires and oral examinations among elderly people aged 65 or older only from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data of the 6th period (2013-2015). Results: There was a significant relationship between age, residence, and education level in complete dentures. There was a significant relationship between gender, age, residence, and education level in the partial denture wearing state. In the complete denture need, there was a significant relationship with age. The need for partial denture was found to be significant in gender, age, and residence. Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, it can be used as basic data for oral health education and dental prosthesis related to denture which can improve oral health of the elderly in the future.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2024

Purpose: This study explored the impact of using a music and horticultural therapy program on depression among rural seniors living in Yeongam-gun and conducted a comparative analysis before and after the program to present basic data helpful for an integrated mental health promotion program tailored to rural areas. Research methodology: The analysis subjects of this study were users of the rural residential program of 'Our Village Day Care Center' in Yeongam-gun in 2023, with a total of 20 people, 10 seniors for each program. The research analysis used SPSS to determine the effect on participation and depression before and after the program was implemented. Results: As a result of the analysis, depression levels decreased after completion of the horticultural therapy program and music therapy program, and this was statistically significant. Conclusion: Three implications are presented based on the following research results. First, the need for programs that can improve not only the physical health but also the mental health of elderly people living in rural areas is suggested. Second, the need for programs that link cultural programs such as music and gardening activities with welfare programs is suggested. Third, the need for follow-up management and verification of periodic mental health checkups for rural elderly is suggested.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.155-172
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• 1995

This study is an empirical analysis on the equity in the delivery of heatlh care under the Korean Medical Insurance Corporation System. The purposes of this study are to find out effects of income on the health care utiliztion and measure the income-related inequity in the distribution of health care. This study was carried out based on the fact that the health insurance program has been organized to achieve the equity objective, "equal treatment for equal needs". Of 41, 828 insured persons who had been diagnosed in the 1993 Health Screening Test and utilifzation data from 1, January 1993 through 31, December 1993 were derived from the Benefit Managment File. Inequity was measured by means of I) share approach, ii) standardization concentration curve approach, iii) inequity index, iv) test for inequity. The major findings were as follows : 1. The expenditure shares of the top two quintile groups exceeded their morbidity shares, whereas the opposite was true of the bottom three quintile groups, Which showed a positive HI$_{LG}$ inequity index, suggesting the presence of some inequity favoring the rich group. 2. Compared with other residential areas, the rural area showed the highest positive HI$_{LG}$ irrespective of need indicatior applied. 3. Standardized expenditure concentration indices adjusted by age, gender and need structure were also found to be positive, and therefore still indicated that there has been inequity favoring the rich after the standardization. 4. The Loglikelihood Ratio (LR) test for the statistical significance of income-related inequity of medical care utilization was carried out using the logistic regression model. The resulting loglikelihood ratio test statistic value was 176, which did exceed the 0.5 percent critical value of the chi-square distribution with 28 degrees of freedom, which is 50.993. Therefore, the null hypothesis of no income-related inequity of medical care utilization was rejected at the 99.5 percent confidence level. 5. The Regression based F-test has been carried out for analyzing the income-related inequity of medical expenditure in terms of age, gender, morbidity indicators as explanary variables. The hypothesis of the absence of income-relate inequity was rejected for all need indicators at the 95% confidence level.nce level.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.308-322
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate associations between contextual characteristics and unmet healthcare needs in South Korea after accounting for individual factors. Methods: The present study used data from the 2012 Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) of 228 902 adults residing within 253 municipal districts in South Korea. A multilevel analysis was conducted to investigate how contextual characteristics, defined by variables that describe the regional deprivation, degree of urbanity, and healthcare supply, are associated with unmet needs after controlling for individual-level variables. Results: Of the surveyed Korean adults, 12.1% reported experiencing unmet healthcare needs in the past. This figure varied with the 253 districts surveyed, ranging from 2.6% to 26.2%. A multilevel analysis found that the association between contextual characteristics and unmet needs varied according to the factors that caused the unmet needs. The degree of urbanity was associated with unmet need due to "financial burden" (odds ratio [OR], 0.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42 to 0.66 for rural vs. metropolitan), but not unmet need due to "service not available when needed." There were no significant associations between these unmet need measures and regional deprivation. Among individual-level variables, income level showed the highest association with unmet need due to "financial burden" (OR, 5.63; 95% CI, 4.76 to 6.66), while employment status showed a strong association with unmet need due to "service not available when needed." Conclusions: Our finding suggests that different policy interventions should be considered for each at-risk population group to address the root cause of unmet healthcare needs.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.177-189
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• 2002

Sexual health education for the patients is an independent function as well as a professional responsibility of nurses. Education should be based on the needs of patients in order to be successful and effective. Therefore nurses must identify sexual health education needs of their patients. A sexual health education protocol for hysterectomy patients was developed by the researcher for this study and included physiosexual and psychosexual topics as well as the topic of sexual interaction. The subject pool was composed of 108 post op total hysterectomy patients who had undergone doing a hysterectomy 5 to 10 days previously at 5 hospitals located in the Seoul and Kyunggi-do area from July 23 to September 30, 2001. The questionnaire was composed of 60 items on sexual health education and used a Likert-type 4-point scale. Internal consistency of this questionnaire in this study was cronbach's $\alpha$=.9495 for sexual health educational needs. For data analysis, the study executed a t-test, ANOVA, and Duncan's Test, in accordance with the purpose of the study using SPSS/PC Win 10.0. The results were as follows: The need for education was highest in the psychosexual area (3.38 point) with education related to sexual interaction the lowest (3.20 point). Osteoporosis (3.75 point) was ranked overall as the highest area of educational need. The degree of educational need varied in correlation with other characteristics of the patients including age, status of marriage, duration of marriage, religion, academic career, monthly income, occupation, the number of children age of menarche, menstruation, other diseases except gynecological disease, previous genital organ operation experience, disease discovery method, pre-explanation for the hysterectomy, average sexual intercourse frequency, how to acquire sexual health information and previous sexual health education (p<.05). In conclusion, the degree of sexual health education needs of hysterectomy patients was very high. Therefore, sexual health educational programs planned according to characteristics of the participating women is necessary.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.126-136
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• 2011

Purpose: The increase of cosmetic surgery procedures is partly motivated by more positive attitude toward cosmetic surgery as a means of improving physical appearance. In this study factors expected to predict need for cosmetic surgery were examined. Methods: A descriptive design was used with 321 high school girls who completed a questionnaire about sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, body image, self-esteem, and need for cosmetic surgery. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to examine factors affecting need for cosmetic surgery. Results: Bivariate correlations showed that need for cosmetic surgery was positively correlated with internalization and awareness of sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, and appearance orientation in body image and negatively correlated with self-esteem and ideal body mass index (BMI). Multiple regression showed that the predictive variables explained 22.1% in need for cosmetic surgery. The significant factors influencing need for cosmetic surgery were greater internalization and awareness of sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, better appearance evaluation and higher appearance orientation in body image, lower self-esteem, and lower ideal BMI. Conclusion: Overall, results of this research suggest that prevention of media influence and body image disturbances, and promotion of self-esteem are very important to young women.