• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.234-242
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• 2013

In 2007, Long-Term Care Insurance Law was enacted to share the family burden of caring for the elderly who are unable to perform every day living activities due to their old age and chronic diseases such as senile dementia, diabetes mellitus, stroke and more. Backed by this law, since 2008, care workers have been sent to the elderly care centers or each elder's home to help them not only with their recovery from illnesses, but also with general activities from dressing, eating, bathing, walking even to toileting. However, according to the recently released survey by National Human Rights Commission, it has been found that the caring workers are in a very poor working condition including low income, abused blanket wage system, shortage of welfare services, extra works and even sexual harrassment. It is becoming an important issue due to fast-ageing population, the fact that the care workers have had experiences of violation in their right of labor while they are at work needs to be carefully treated. In that sense, this article presents some difficulties the caring workers face and proposes effective ways to solve these problems through the perspective of human rights and human labor rights based on the report written by National Human Rights Commission. In short, for this law to function properly and to boost the worker's capability of providing better services to beneficiaries, followings can be good answers - enhanced management and supervision on caring plans and care centers, providing immediate counselling and protection for victimized care givers, training courses offered to promote service receiver's sincere respect and strengthened awareness upon care givers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.35
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• pp.107-131
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• 1998

This study tried to formulate and operate an interdisciplinary case management team in Eun-Pyung Gu, Seoul. This was a part of an effort to promote efficiency of service delivery system for low-income elderly or the handicapped by linking. coordinating. and integrating various health and human services providers. In-depth qualitative analysis described the process of which the interdisciplinary case management team was formed, along with the process of the team operation. The interdisciplinary team consisted of home helpers, visiting nurses, and social workers from Health Center and Social Welfare Centers. Issues dealt with by the team include: 1) information exchange of clients' social, economic, and medical situations; 2) identification of types of service provision to clients; 3) clients' needs assessment and its prioritization; 4) assignment of a leading case manager for each case; 5) identification of problems and issues regarding integration of service delivery system The team approach to case management contributed to the systematic delivery of services to the elderly and the handicapped by avoiding service duplication and fragmentation. This study argued that public agency played a key role in constituting and operating the interdisciplinary case management team Suggestions for further studies were presented.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-26
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• 2008

This research examines the effect of area level characteristics on individual health, particularly focusing on the vulnerable populations in Seoul. We consider adult individuals whose family income is under 1.5 million won, who are aged 65 and over, or who have neither spouse nor job but aged 40 and over as vulnerable populations. Using the 2005 Seoul Citizens' Health Interview Survey, we conducted multilevel analyses to simultaneously investigate the effect of area and individual level characteristics on health. Between-area variance of self-rated health status was greater for the elderly population than for all populations. Area material deprivation index and happiness index were associated with the self-rated health of economically disadvantaged populations. Vulnerable populations showed greater between-area variances in emotional health than the same for all populations. Area happiness index, material deprivation index, the proportion of households below poverty line and street safety showed statistically significant association with emotional health. The effect of area characteristics were particularly salient for the emotional health of elderly population and its between area variance was also notable.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.497-505
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of private health insurance subscribers and non-subscribers as they relate to severely ill patients, and to identify the factors of participation. The study was conducted using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2015, and data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 23.0. The subjects were 417 patients with severe disease (cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease) over 19 years of age. Crossover analysis was employed to identify differences between the state of private health insurance participation, while binary logistic regression analysis was used to confirm the factors affecting private health insurance subscription. Analysis of the effects of the subjects on the private health insurance participation rate revealed that the social and demographic characteristics were higher in younger individuals regardless of sex, residence, or marital status. Moreover, higher household income, regardless of the education level, was associated with a higher participation rate of health insurance target individuals compared to medical benefit target individuals. The private health insurance participation rate was low and the explaining power was 51.7%, regardless of subjective health awareness and walking practice. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve the living environment and support local governmental programs for the elderly, low income households, socially vulnerable groups with limited activities and groups with limited health behavior. It is also necessary to consider various health policies, such as providing government health education or programs to prevent severe illness.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.109-120
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was to examine the associations between obesity level and major chronic diseases in older population in Korea, using different obesity indicators. Methods: Data was from the 2008 KloSA Biomarker pilot, a nationwide sample of 514 non-institutionalized subjects (age $63.6{\pm}9.8$ years; women 57.2%). Anthropometric information was collected by home visiting nurses. Portable bioimpedence devices(Omran HBF359) were used for measuring fat mass. Obesity cut-offs used the Asian criteria of $BMI{\geq}25$, $WC{\geq}90/85cm$, and $fat%{\geq}25/35$ for men and women. Chronic disease prevalence was defined by physician-diagnosed history of 8 specified diseases. Results: Prevalence of chronic diseases significantly increased with increment of obesity level by BMI, WC and fat %. Odds ratios of acquiring chronic diseases remained significant in the obese group (BMI OR 2.76, 95%CI 1.82-4.19; WC OR 2.73, 95%CI 1.81-4.11; Fat OR 1.87 95%CI 1.26-2.78), after adjusting for age, sex, marital status, education, work participation, household income, smoking, drinking, and exercise. Conclusions: Obesity measured by all three indicators, BMI, WC, and fat mass cannot be disregarded, accentuating the significant effect on increases in disease risks among older population. BMI and WC measure appeared better to assess the risks of chronic diseases.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.61-84
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• 2009

There has been a continuous debate on decentralization of welfare. The proponents of decentralization argue that it will enhance the autonomy of local governments and the efficiency in the provision of service. However, the opponents argue that it will lead to the welfare reduction and the increased inequality among localities. This study attempts to deal with the question, focusing on the evaluation of decentralization reform of Roh Government. The main results are as follows: After the decentralization, local governments has undergone hardships in financing the welfare service, while there is no clear evidence that the local autonomy has enhanced. In respect of fiscal role-sharing, local duties has significantly increased because of the insufficient grants-in-aid for decentralization and inappropriate formula in assessing the grants. In respect of functional role-sharing, the decreased role of central government made it difficult for local governments to provide enough residential institution for the elderly and the disabled. To improve the decentralization reform, deliberate reclassification is needed to decide which item should be transferred to localities. Regarding the characteristic of the projects, social services could be transferred in the long run, while central government should take more responsibilities for the income guarantee and protection for the disadvantaged.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.63-82
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• 2019

Libraries are recently emerging as the core institutions designed to resolve the information equality that is forecasted to further deepen with the arrival of the fourth industry revolution era. This study thus analyzed the trends of studies on the library services offered to people suffering information inequality in Korea, and proposed measures for the activation of the research and future studies so as to strengthen the domestic library services targeting the people suffering information equality and to promote the research. As a result, proposed as measures for the activation of research were (1) Policy support and project expansion at the national level, (2) Various approaches and research environment creation at the academic level, (3) Strengthening of services for the various levels of people suffering information inequality and deployment of professional librarians at the level of libraries, and (4) Encouraging librarians to enroll with graduate schools and to conduct research. Further, proposed were the future studies that can be approached according to the various levels of people suffering information inequality, such as disabled people, multicultural family members, elderly people, children, youth, agricultural and fishing areas, low-income people, and refugees(North Korea defectors).

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.155-172
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to examine the relation between the later personality adjustment types and the elderly percepted conflict with their married children. The subjects for this study are the aged over 60 years in Seoul both having the eldest sons' couples and perceiving their own economics level as the middle-upper. The results based on this are as followed: 1) The Active Integrated Coper is appeared in the higher educational level group in the better health condition in the 11-30 thousand won of personal expense in the professional and management occupation and in the more vigorous for social activity. The Failing Overcoper the Dependent Passive Coper and the Self-negating Undercoper is appeared in th female elder group in the later group of the older age in the lower educational level in the worse health condition in the group without spouse in one without income in the below 10 thousand won in the less preparation for the later life. 2) The problems of emotion and iew of values bring about the conflicts between them and theirs rather than the financial problem. when they are in the worse health condition in the group without religion in the group not cohabiting their eldest sons' couples and in the group not well-prepared for their later life as the socio-demographic variables the old recognized the seriousness of the conflict with their eldest sons' couples. 3) The lower the Active Integrated Coper is and the higher the Failing Overcoper is the more intense the conflict between them and their eldest sons' couples is. 4) The t-test to examine the difference in the old's conflict with their eldest sons' couples among the later groups shows that it is in the less the Active Integrated Coper and in the more the Failing Overcoper that the conflict is more surfaced. 5) The educational level the level of the later life preparation the contact frequency with their daughter the level of their social activity as the socio-demographic variables and the Failing Overcoper as the later personality adjustment type answer for 22 percentage of the conflict.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

This study analyzes the effect of the level of satisfaction with the living environment of rural people on migration. The analysis data were used by the Rural Development Administration for the survey of welfare systems for farmers and fishermen in 2017, and samples of 3,776 were used for the analysis. The analysis variables were divided into a group of migrants, a group of permanent residents, and a group of decision-keeping, and the level of satisfaction with the living environment of each of the 10 rural areas was used as an independent variable. According to the analysis results, the basic living base and safety of rural residents were having a positive effect. The results show that the projects for developing rural areas, which increase the basic living base, are making substantial contributions to preventing the breakaway of the rural population. Safety has been neglected in the area of rural planning, but if the level of discontent is not enough, it has had the greatest impact on the livelihoods of rural residents. Welfare and cultural leisure set the main demand level for welfare and cultural leisure to the elderly and vulnerable classes, and interpret it as a result of weakened defense against stress from relocation of residence, difficulty of migration due to low income levels, and migration. Therefore, the paradoxical analysis results could be interpreted as showing that measures to increase the satisfaction of the people on welfare and cultural leisure should be taken.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.59-72
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• 1995

This study was carried out to analyze the food intake and associated factors of the urban poor elderly by comparing poor district, Unbong rental apartment in Bansong 2 dong with other areas in Pusan. 135 elderlies(men 36, women 99) in Unbong rental apartment, 136 elderlies(men 45, women 91) in the other areas were investigated during the period of March to August in 1994. The assumption that the study area represented poor district was satisfied because the age and sex distribution was not significantly different, and the income of the study area was significantly lower than that of the control area. The variables of hospitalized in previous 12 month, gastrointestinal problem, alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking did not differ significantly. But the variables of chronic disease, take medicine, perceived health, vitamin supplement differed significantly between two groups. Therefore some factors associated with health state in the study area are worse than those of the control area. At most of all variables, nutrients intake of the study area did not reach the recommended dietary allowances(RDA) for Koreans, and that nutrient intakes of the study area were significantly lower than those of the control area. The hypothesis of this study that nutrient status depends on economical status was proved. As for the score of nutritional knowledge, the study area was significantly lower than the control area. But as for the score of nutritional behavior, two areas were not significantly different. The latter is counter result of our hypothesis, owing to the effect of the confounding factors including education etc. As for the correlation of variables, not only economic status and educational level, but the score of nutritional knowledge effects strongly on nutrient status in the study area, the poor district. Therefore, adequate nutritional education to the elderly in e poor district should be considered.