• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.77-81
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• 2019

Suicide is a major public health issue that causes over 800,000 deaths each year globally. Korea ranks high in suicide rates, in which around 24.3 per 100,000 individuals are reported to have died by intentional self-harm in 2017 according to Statistics Korea. The aim of this study was to examine the current status and trend of suicide ideation and attempt using data from the following five sources: Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, '07-13, '15-17), Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, '12-17), Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, '10-13), and Statistics Korea (1983-2017). Suicide ideation and attempts were also further examined based on equalized household income levels. Data published by Statistics Korea were used to show the updated suicide rate and number of deaths by intentional self-harm. The rate of suicide ideation at the recent year was 4.73% (KNHANES, '17), 6.96% (KCHS, '17), 1.63% (KOWEPS, '17), and 5.39% (KHP, '13). That of suicide attempts as recent year was 0.71% (KNHANES, '17), 0.32% (KCHS, '17), and 0.09% (KOWEPS, '17). Annual percentage change of suicidal ideation was -15.4% (KNHANES, '07-17), -2.5% (KCHS, '08-17), -8.6% (KOWEPS, '12-17), and -10.9% (KHP, '10-13). Annual percentage change of suicide attempts was -4.0% (KNHANES, '07-17), -4.4% (KCHS, '08-17), and -14.9% (KOWEPS, '12-17). Individuals with lower income levels were more likely to experience suicide ideation and attempts. Considering that Korea still shows a high suicide rate despite the continuously decreasing trend of suicide ideation and attempt, continuous observation and appropriate policy implementation regarding suicide related problems are necessary.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2023

Objectives: Rwanda reported a stunting rate of 33% in 2020, decreasing from 38% in 2015; however, stunting remains an issue. Globally, child deaths from malnutrition stand at 45%. The best options for the early detection and treatment of stunting should be made a community policy priority, and health services remain an issue. Hence, this research aimed to develop a model for predicting stunting in Rwandan children. Methods: The Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2019-2020 was used as secondary data. Stratified 10-fold cross-validation was used, and different machine learning classifiers were trained to predict stunting status. The prediction models were compared using different metrics, and the best model was chosen. Results: The best model was developed with the gradient boosting classifier algorithm, with a training accuracy of 80.49% based on the performance indicators of several models. Based on a confusion matrix, the test accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1 were calculated, yielding the model's ability to classify stunting cases correctly at 79.33%, identify stunted children accurately at 72.51%, and categorize non-stunted children correctly at 94.49%, with an area under the curve of 0.89. The model found that the mother's height, television, the child's age, province, mother's education, birth weight, and childbirth size were the most important predictors of stunting status. Conclusions: Therefore, machine-learning techniques may be used in Rwanda to construct an accurate model that can detect the early stages of stunting and offer the best predictive attributes to help prevent and control stunting in under five Rwandan children.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.95-105
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• 2024

PURPOSE: This study aimed to utilize the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) tool to identify a problem list and explore intervention effects using proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) for improving the crosswalk performance of patients who have undergone a bilateral hip arthroplasty. METHODS: The subject of this study was a 43-year-old male who had undergone a bilateral hip arthroplasty. To address the subject's functional status, a clinical decision-making process was carried out in the order of examination, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, and outcome. Patient information during the examination was collected using the ICF core set. The evaluation involved listing the items of each problem using the ICF assessment sheet and identifying the interaction between activity limitations and the impairment level. The diagnosis explicitly described the causal relationships derived from the evaluation using ICF terminology. The prognosis presented activity goals, body function, and structured goals in terms of the activity and participation levels that needed to be achieved for an individual's functional status. The intervention approached problems through the four components of the PNF philosophy, namely basic principles and procedures, techniques, and patterns, in an indirect-direct-task sequence. Results were compared before and after the intervention using the ICF evaluation display. RESULTS: The results of the study showed that the primary activity limitation, which was the walking time across the crosswalk, showed improvement, and the trunk's counter rotation and the weight-bearing capacity of both the lower limbs, which were impairment level indicators, were enhanced. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that PNF intervention strategies will serve as a positive approach for improving crosswalk walking in patients with bilateral hip arthroplasty.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.73-91
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• 2011

This paper demonstrates empirically that individuals who monitor indicators of their current cardiovascular health status by undergoing medical examinations are more likely to invest in their own health than those who do not observe such monitoring protocols. Using data from the 2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of Korea in a structural econometric model, this paper attempts to control the endogeneity problem inherent to the individual decision as to whether to undergo medical examinations, and provides estimation results showing that increased individual health awareness via medical examinations exerts a statistically significant positive effect on health investments. From the policy perspective, the estimation results of this paper may provide a rationale supporting the health policy of free provision of health examination services to the insured via National Health Insurance.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.36-49
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• 2000

Evaluation of nutritional status is an essential element in providing appropriate intervention strategies to achieve the highest level of health, Nutritional assessment of the older population is complicated by many factors which do not significantly affect the nutritional status in young adults, therefore, it should be considered in two ways; community-dwelling elders group and hospitalized or institutionalized elderly group. To sort out the individuals with nutritional problems in a community efficiently, nutrition screening tools must be simple, relatively inexpensive, and applicable to a large number of subjects. Combination of tools and indicators such as 24-hour food recall, body weight and height, and questionnaires on eating practices, and the presence of chronic diseases is practically applicable as basic tools of nutritional screening of older age group. However, the lack of validated screening techniques remains a barrier in improving nutrition. Validation is only limited to energy, BMI, protein intake of the older populations living in western countries. Further refinement of nutritional assessment tools is demanded to figure out whether those are practically applicable to community-living older adults in Asian Society. A careful and systematic evaluation of nutritional assessment tools should be carried out prior to implementation of stepwise nutrition service to the heterogeneous older population. For an in-depth nutritional assessment at the individual level, we need to extend research efforts to clarify the requirements of nutrients due to aging and diseases. More cost-effective method that will allow rapid analysis of survey results are needed so that information can be readily available to policymakers.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to promote understanding of physical activity and metabolic syndrome in middle-aged adults and to provide basic data of interventions development for the prevention and management of metabolic syndrome. Using the 2020 data for Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1,786 middle-aged adults between the ages of 40 and 64 with no missing data were analyzed. As a result of the study, 56.5(±2.1)% of men and 52.9(±1.81)% of women were sufficient activity group among physical activity, and the proportion of men was higher than that of women, but it was not statistically significant(t=1.27, p=.207). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 38.9(±2.1%) of men and 25.4(±1.5)% of women, the prevalence of men was significantly higher than that of women(t=5.12, p<.001). Compared to the insufficient activity group, the sufficient activity group had a 0.71(95% CI: 0.57~0.88) times the risk of developing low HDL(high density lipoprotein)- cholesterol(p=.002), and this pattern was maintained even after adjusting for age, education level, body mass index, smoking status, and drinking status(p=.002). Based on the results of this study, a physical activity and metabolic syndrome risk group in middle-aged adults should be selected, and physical activity promotion program to improve high density lipoprotein-cholesterol among metabolic syndrome indicators should be developed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2006

Objectives: We examined whether the neighborhood socioeconomic position predicts the smoking rates after adjusting for individual socioeconomic position indicators. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2001 Seoul Health Indicators Survey. The neighborhood socioeconomic position was the residential distribution of the high class (power elites), as measured by the location quotients (LQ) for each administrative dong (district). A high LQ denotes a high neighborhood socioeconomic status. The individual socioeconomic position included education, occupation and income. Age-adjusted smoking rates according to the LQ level were computed with the direct method. The total number of subjects in this study (26,022 men and 28,007 women) was the reference. A multilevel logistic regression analysis was conducted with the individuals at the first level and the neighborhoods at the second level to estimate the odds ratios of smoking with 95% confidence intervals. Results: For men, the age-adjusted smoking rates increased with a decrease in the LQ. For women, the relationship between the age-adjusted smoking rate and the LQ was not clear. The odds of smoking for both genders were greater among those subjects with lower incomes and lower education. The manual occupational class had greater odds of smoking than the non-manual class for the males, while the odds ratio of smoking among females with a manual occupation tended to be lower than those females with a non-manual occupation. For the males, the LQ levels independently predicted smoking after adjustment for individual income. However, this relation between the LQ and smoking in males was explained by full adjustment for the individual socioeconomic position indicators (education, occupation and income). Conclusions: A low level of neighborhood socioeconomic position was associated with higher smoking rates among the men residing in Seoul. This association between the neighborhood socioeconomic position and smoking in men was explained by the individual socioeconomic position. Anti-smoking efforts to reduce geographical inequality in smoking should be directed at reducing the smoking rates between the individuals with different socioeconomic backgrounds in the metropolitan city of Seoul, South Korea.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.376-382
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• 2017

Purpose: The consistent rise in the number of foreign students in Korea demands an accurate and detailed investigation into their dietary practices and nutritional status. For these international students, assimilation into new cultures can be stressful. The influence this process may have on dietary behaviors as well as overall health cannot be overlooked. Methods: The researchers in this study sought to investigate the nutritional status and dietary practices of Ghanaian students studying in Korea. A total of 81 Ghanaian male students with an average age of $29.4{\pm}4.0years$ were sampled between May and June 2016. Investigations were carried out on the general characteristics of the participants, their daily food and nutrient intakes using a 24-h dietary recall method, meal skipping practices, and the nutritional quality of their diets based on their meal skipping habits. Results: The study revealed that the daily nutrient intake of subjects did not fully meet the daily recommended nutrient intake (RNI) established by Ghanaian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), particularly for energy, calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamin B2 requirements. The Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) for calcium was very low, posing a deficiency risk to the participants. Meal skipping practices among participants changed significantly after arriving in Korea. The study also compared the diet quality indicators (Nutrient Adequacy Ratio and Mean Adequacy Ratio) of those who skipped meals ${\geq}7times/week$ with those who skipped meals < 7 times/week. Participants who skipped meals ${\geq}7times/week$ were shown to have lower dietary intakes of vitamins B1 and B2 than those who skipped meals < 7 times/week. Conclusion: Ultimately, the study found that meal skipping among Ghanaian students was common, and their daily nutrient intakes did not meet the set dietary standards. Those who skipped meals ${\geq}7times/week$ had lower dietary intakes of vitamins B1 and B2 than those who skipped meals < 7 times/week. Based on our study findings, we recommend that nutrition education should be organized for the Ghanaian student community in Korea using our results as a template to draw up a nutrition program that is culturally appropriate.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.603-614
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• 2017

Purpose: This study was performed to identify the health and nutritional status of Korean adults according to food security by age group. Methods: The subjects were 20~79 year old adults (n = 16,595) who participated in the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010~2012). Subjects were divided into three groups based on food security such as secure, mildly insecure, and moderately/severely insecure groups. Dietary intake was estimated by 24-hour dietary recall. As for mental health status, the data on mental stress, sleep hours, depression symptoms, and suicide ideation were used. Results: Korean adults who were exposed to high food insecurity typically had low income levels, lived alone, and were recipients of basic welfare. In the 20~39y group, people with higher food insecurity had lower concentrations of hemoglobin and higher iron-binding capacity. In the 40~59y group, people with higher food insecurity had lower HDL-cholesterol. In the 60~79y group, people with higher food insecurity had higher total cholesterol levels, more stress, more experiences of depression symptoms, and were more suicidal. Mean intakes of energy, protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, carotene, vitamin $B_1$, vitamin $B_2$, niacin, and vitamin C were lower in the food insecure groups. Amounts of vegetables, fruits, and seasoning intakes tended to be lower in people with higher food insecurity. The effects of food security on nutrition intake were greater in the 40~59y and 60~79y groups than the 20-39y group. Conclusion: Food insecurity was related to certain health indicators such as anemia and cholesterol levels and affected mental health. The effects of food insecurity on health and nutritional status were different by age group.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.19
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• pp.63-112
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• 1990

The environment of the modern library is changing rapidly with advancements in information technology, massive increse in information, and with the changing needs of users for information in order to keep up with developments in science and technology. The library should also be in a constant state of change in accordance with the changing environment. But the current situation is that library organizations in Korea do not show any change. Here arises the need to diagnose the health of these organization. Organizational innovations can be achieved either by change in the organizational structure or administrative methods or in personal attitudes. In making organizational innovations, however, it is not sufficient only to change the organizational structure or the administrative methods without changing personal attitudes. The purpose of this thesis is to diagnose the health of university library organizations in Korea and to suggest prescriptions based on the results of this diagnosis, by means of organization development theory. In this study, the action research model and the diagnostic model were developed for the health of university library organization in Korea. The action research model consisted of 3 steps: diagnosis, intervention and evaluation. The diagnostic model comprised diagnostic criterion and diagnostic indicators. The health of an organization was selected as the diagnostic criterion. Diagnostic indicators were divided into 3 levels: personal job-satisfaction at the individual level, cohesiveness at the group level, and the organizational climate at the organizational level. Both the interview and the questionaire were used as diagnostic methods. The questionaire form was designed according to the Likert typle 5-point scale. For the investigation, 10 university libraries were selected from the private universities in Seoul, and questionaire sheets were sent to their 156 librarians and responses were received from 116 persons. An interview was carried out with a selected chief of departments of the library concerned. The results of the diagnosis show that the average personal job­satisfaction was 3.57, the group cohesiveness was 3.15 and organizational climate was 2.93, and accordingly the comprehensive health indicator was 3.22. The health of university library organizations in Korea was generally on the decline at all 3 levels. In particular, the organizational climate was in a very weak state. Most problems concern dissatisfaction with personnel policy, communications and non-professionally qualified directors. As the prescriptions, the following was suggested: institutionalization of the staff meeting for resolving problems with communication, appointement of professional directors, performance appraisal, conferring faculty status for librarians, and a suggest system. And for the improvement of the organizational climate, managerial grid training was suggested as one of the educational strategies for organizational development.