• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2022

Purpose: This study investigated the vulnerability to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and associated factors among married women in northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional survey (n=657) was conducted from April 1 to 15, 2020, in Metema District, northwest Ethiopia, in four randomly selected kebele administrations (the lowest level of local government). The inclusion criteria were married women aged ≥18 years residing with their husbands. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with married women's vulnerability to HIV infection. Results: Participants were on average 33.70±9.50 years and nearly one-fourth (n=148, 22.5%) were identified as vulnerable to HIV infection (i.e., experienced sexually transmitted disease symptoms or an extramarital affair of either spouse within the past 12 months). Only 18.9% reported sexual communication with their husband. Respondents who did not discuss the risk of HIV infection with their husbands had fivefold odds of vulnerability (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 5.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43-17.5). Those who did not have premarital sex (AOR, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.05-0.77) had no worries about HIV infection (AOR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.08-0.94), sufficient income (AOR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.16-0.86), and less than four children (AOR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.50-0.97) had decreased odds of being vulnerable to HIV than their counterparts. Conclusion: Not discussing risk of HIV infection with husband was a major factor of vulnerability to HIV infection as was premarital sex, worry about HIV, income, and number of children. Measures to strengthen couple's sexual communication and support economical stability is important for decreasing HIV vulnerability.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.167-170
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• 2015

The dairy industry, as part of the broader agricultural sector, is classified as a basic industry to the Korea economy. Basic industries provide income to a region by producing an output, purchasing production inputs, services and labor. An integrated, multidisciplinary approach for the next generation of dairy products with added health benefits represent the direct economic contribution. The commercialization of "nutritional" functional foods can only be successful if the consumer is confident in the scientific validity of the claims. Modern biotechnologies such as genomics, genetic expression and biomarkers of health performance suggested to whole dairy products, such as fluid milk, butter, cheese, ice cream and frozen dessert products (German, 1999). The following definition makes the point that dairy products can provide a nutritional value beyond the basic nutritional requirements: 1) The dairy industry has the opportunity to improve the health and well-being of its customers and/or to reduce their risk of disease through dairy products with added activities. 2) Functional dairy products are those that can be demonstrated to benefit target functions in the body in a way that improves the state of health and /or reduces the risk of disease. They are food products that are consumed as part of a normal diet rather than pills or supplements. 3) Dairy products based on functionality will need to link the scientific basis of such functionality to the communication of its benefit to the general public. 4) Both the efficacy and the safety of the food components with health benefits will require evidence based on the measurement of scientific biomarkers relevant to their biological responses and health end points. 5) Sound evidence from human studies based on intermediate health end points using accepted biomarkers will provide the basis for promotional messages divided into two categories-enhanced function and reduced risk of disease. 6) Success in solving key scientific and technological challenges will only be achieved by interdisciplinary research programs to exploit the scientific concepts in functional dairy science.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.495-508
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to evaluate the reliability, validity, sensitivity, and specificity of the Short Form of Bobath Memorial Hospital Fall Risk Assessment Scale (BMFRAS-SF). Methods: A validation study was conducted on 207 elderly patients aged over 65 who were admitted to Bobath Memorial Hospital. Fall risk scores of BMFRAS, composed of eight subscales (age, fall history, physical activity, consciousness level, communication, fall risk factors, underlying disease, and medications) were assessed from the electronic medical record. BMFRAS-SF was derived from eight subscales of the BMFRAS representing the significance between fallers and non-fallers (fall history, physical activity, fall risk factors, underlying disease, and medications). Internal consistency reliability and interrater reliability were assessed by Cronbach's alpha and kappa coefficient. Validity was assessed by Spearman correlation analysis, factor analysis. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values, and a receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) were generated. Results: Fallers had significantly higher risk scores than non-fallers in fall history, physical activity, fall risk factors, underlying disease, and medication scales. The BMFRAS-SF demonstrated acceptable Cronbach's alpha (.706) and kappa coefficients of .95. The BMFRAS-SF subscales showed good convergent validity and construct validity. The BMFRAS-SF presented good sensitivity(86.7%), specificity(67.9%), positive predictive value(42.9%) and good negative predictive value(94.8%) at a cut-off score of 5. Areas under the ROC curves were .860 for the BMFRAS and .861 for the BMFRAS-SF. Conclusion: The BMFRAS-SF was proved to be reliable and valid. It could be used for time-saving assessment and evaluation of the high risks for falls in clinical practice settings.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.23-37
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• 2022

The pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has contributed more challenges for mothers as the family's primary caregiver in overcoming the widespread infection. Pandemic-related information is essential for mothers to reduce uncertainty as well as to maintain the health of family members during this unprecedented situation. Adopting the framework of the Situational Theory of Problem Solving, this study extends the theory by, first, testing the mediating role of COVID-19 anxiety on mothers' information seeking and information forwarding, referred to as active communication action of problem solving, as well as preventive behavior; and second, by predicting the effect of information seeking on preventive behavior. Referring to an online survey from 371 Indonesian mothers, the findings suggest that in terms of direct effect, only problem recognition was found to have no significant effect on situational motivation. The results suggest that Indonesian mothers perceive COVID-19 as personally relevant so that they are motivated to solve the problem by seeking and forwarding related information. In addition, COVID-19 anxiety was found to play a significant role in predicting information seeking, information forwarding, and preventive behavior. The result of this study is expected to give insights for risk communicators and health professionals in Indonesia in communicating COVID-19, particularly to mothers.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.323-331
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• 2011

Objective: This study aimed to examine the level of risk perception related to pesticide contamination of food products and associated sociodemographic factors, as well as investigate the association with environmental pollution preventive behaviors. Methods: Based on data from Social Survey conducted in 2008 among a nationally representative sample of the population 15 years or older, we estimated proportions and 95% confidence intervals of the risk perception of pesticide contamination of food products. Logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the effects of sociodemographic status on risk perception. Results: Among respondents, those who feel anxious about the risks of pesticide contamination of domestic food products accounted for 40.4%, whereas the proportion rose to 87.0% with imported food products. These numbers showed that levels of anxiety about the pesticide contamination of imported food products were ranked at the top, and those for domestic products were at the bottom of the list of all environmental pollutants examined in the survey. Significantly related factors to anxiety about pesticide contamination of food products included women, the 40-50 age group, university graduates, married, non-manual employment, having school-aged children, and owning one's own home. The population attempting to prevent environmental pollution showed higher levels of anxiety about pesticide contamination of food products than did those who were not taking such steps. Conclusion: Compared to other forms of environmental pollution, Koreans show the highest levels of anxiety about pesticide contamination of imported food products. Therefore, it is necessary to establish appropriate regulations and transparent risk communication with the public about the safety of imported food.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.218-222
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• 2023

A holistic approach to diabetes considers patient preferences, emotional health, living conditions, and other contextual factors, in addition to medication selection. Human and social factors influence treatment adherence and clinical outcomes. Social issues, cost of care, out-of-pocket expenses, pill burden (number and frequency), and injectable drugs such as insulin, can affect adherence. Clinicians can ask about these contextual factors when discussing treatment options with patients. Patients' emotional health can also affect diabetes self-care. Social stressors such as family issues may impair self-care behaviors. Diabetes can also lead to emotional stress. Diabetes distress correlates with worse glycemic control and lower overall well-being. Patient-centered communication can build the foundation of a trusting relationship with the clinician. Respect for patient preferences and fears can build trust. Relevant communication skills include asking open-ended questions, expressing empathy, active listening, and exploring the patient's perspective. Glycemic goals must be personalized based on frailty, the risk of hypoglycemia, and healthy life expectancy. Lifestyle counseling requires a nonjudgmental approach and tactfulness. The art of diabetes care rests on clinicians perceiving a patient's emotional state. Tailoring the level of advice and diabetes targets based on a patient's personal and contextual factors requires mindfulness by clinicians.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.387-393
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• 2018

Objectives: This paper describes an experience of implementing seamless service trials online and offline by adopting Internet of Things (IoT) technology based on near-field communication (NFC) tags and Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) beacons. The services were provided for both patients and health professionals. Methods: The pilot services were implemented to enhance healthcare service quality, improve patient safety, and provide an effective business process to health professionals in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea. The services to enhance healthcare service quality include healing tours, cancer information/education, psychological assessments, indoor navigation, and exercise volume checking. The services to improve patient safety are monitoring of high-risk inpatients and delivery of real-time health information in emergency situations. In addition, the services to provide an effective business process to health professionals include surveys and web services for patient management. Results: Considering the sustainability of the pilot services, we decided to pause navigation and patient monitoring services until the interference problem could be completely resolved because beacon signal interference significantly influences the quality of services. On the other hand, we had to continue to provide new wearable beacons to high-risk patients because of hygiene issues, so the cost increased over time and was much higher than expected. Conclusions: To make the smart connected hospital services sustainable, technical feasibility (e.g., beacon signal interference), economic feasibility (e.g., continuous provision of new necklace beacons), and organizational commitment and support (e.g., renewal of new alternative medical devices and infrastructure) are required.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.246-264
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• 2020

As netizens increasingly utilize social media to obtain and engage with information, this study aims to determine the extent to which the follower-influencer interaction is manifested and strengthened. To analyze information related to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a total of 62,119 online posts from 11 Internet forums were examined to find a relationship between followers and influencers in Taiwan. These forums are PTT, SOGO, Ck101, Plurk, Mobile01, TalkFetnet, Gamez, PlaySport, Dcard, Eyny, and PCDVD. The variables that were the best predictors of influencer classification were strong influences, engagements, and hot values across 11 Internet forums. Learning the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is vital because public actions could have been fueled by stigmatizing terms that may harm public health and well-being. The results questioned the conventional diffusion of traditional news sources because the influencers brought widespread attention to the health threat issues in the early outbreak stages. This study enhances the understanding of forum types, follower engagement, and influencers' impact maximization in social networks. The conclusion provides insight into the relationships and information diffusion mechanisms to ensure accurate health information dissemination.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.192-199
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• 2024

Background: Safety data sheets (SDSs) are hazard communication materials that accompany chemicals/hazardous products in the workplace. Many SDSs contain dense, technical text, which places considerable comprehension demands on workers, especially those with lower literacy skills. The goal of this study was to assess SDSs for readability, comprehensibility, and suitability (i.e., fit to the target audience). Methods: The Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) tool assessed SDSs for suitability and readability. We then amended the SAM tool to further assess SDSs for comprehensibility factors. Both the original and amended SAM tool were used to score 45 randomly selected SDSs for content, literacy demand, graphics, and layout/typography. Results: SDSs performed poorly in terms of readability, suitability, and comprehensibility. The mean readability scores were Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (9.6), Gunning Fog index (11.0), Coleman-Liau index (13.7), and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook index (10.7), all above the recommended reading level. The original SAM graded SDSs as "not suitable" for suitability and readability. When the amended SAM was used, the mean total SAM score increased, but the SDSs were still considered "not suitable" when adding comprehensibility considerations. The amended SAM tool better identified content-related issues specific to SDSs that make it difficult for a reader to understand the material. Conclusions: In terms of readability, comprehensibility, and suitability, SDSs perform poorly in their primary role as a hazard communication tool, therefore, putting workers at risk. The amended SAM tool could be used when writing SDSs to ensure that the information is more easily understandable for all audiences.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

With developments in science and technology and improvement in living standards, human life expectancy is steadily increasing worldwide. For effective healthcare, it is necessary to check health conditions according to individuals' behavior and acquire prior knowledge on possible diseases. In this study, we classified the diseases that are major causes of death in Korea by referring to data provided by the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We selected indexes that could be used as indicators of major diseases and created the LCBB-SC. In the LCBB-SC, the data are systematically subdivided into related fields to provide integrated data related to each disease and to provide an infrastructure that can be used by researchers. In addition, by developing a web interface allowing for self-symptom assessments, this resource will be beneficial to people who want to check their own health condition using a list of diseases that might be caused by their behaviors.