• Title/Summary/Keyword: Korean Long-term Care Insurance

Search Result 336, Processing Time 0.028 seconds

A Study on Forest Insurance (산림보험(山林保險)에 관한 연구(硏究))

  • Park, Tai Sik
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
    • /
    • v.15 no.1
    • /
    • pp.1-38
    • /
    • 1972
  • 1. Objective of the Study The objective of the study was to make fundamental suggestions for drawing a forest insurance system applicable in Korea by investigating forest insurance systems undertaken in foreign countries, analyzing the forest hazards occurred in entire forests of Korea in the past, and hearing the opinions of people engaged in forestry. 2. Methods of the Study First, reference studies on insurance at large as well as on forest insurance were intensively made to draw the characteristics of forest insurance practiced in main forestry countries, Second, the investigations of forest hazards in Korea for the past ten years were made with the help of the Office of Forestry. Third, the questionnaires concerning forest insurance were prepared and delivered at random to 533 personnel who are working at different administrative offices of forestry, forest stations, forest cooperatives, colleges and universities, research institutes, and fire insurance companies. Fourth, fifty three representative forest owners in the area of three forest types (coniferous, hardwood, and mixed forest), a representative region in Kyonggi Province out of fourteen collective forest development programs in Korea, were directly interviewed with the writer. 3. Results of the Study The rate of response to the questionnaire was 74.40% as shown in the table 3, and the results of the questionaire were as follows: (% in the parenthes shows the rates of response; shortages in amount to 100% were due to the facts of excluding the rates of response of minor respondents). 1) Necessity of forest insurance The respondents expressed their opinions that forest insurance must be undertaken to assure forest financing (5.65%); for receiving the reimbursement of replanting costs in case of damages done (35.87%); and to protect silvicultural investments (46.74%). 2) Law of forest insurance Few respondents showed their views in favor of applying the general insurance regulations to forest insurance practice (9.35%), but the majority of respondents were in favor of passing a special forest insurance law in the light of forest characteristics (88.26%). 3) Sorts of institutes to undertake forest insurance A few respondents believed that insurance companies at large could take care of forest insurance (17.42%); forest owner's mutual associations would manage the forest insurance more effectively (23.53%); but the more than half of the respondents were in favor of establishing public or national forest insurance institutes (56.18%). 4) Kinds of risks to be undertaken in forest insurance It would be desirable that the risks to be undertaken in forest insurance be limited: To forest fire hazards only (23.38%); to forest fire hazards plus damages made by weather (14.32%); to forest fire hazards, weather damages, and insect damages (60.68%). 5) Objectives to be insured It was responded that the objectives to be included in forest insurance should be limited: (1) To artificial coniferous forest only (13.47%); (2) to both coniferous and broad-leaved artificial forests (23.74%); (3) but the more than half of the respondents showed their desire that all the forests regardless of species and the methods of establishment should be insured (61.64%). 6) Range of risks in age of trees to be included in forest insurance The opinions of the respondents showed that it might be enough to insure the trees less than ten years of age (15.23%); but it would be more desirous of taking up forest trees under twenty years of age (32.95%); nevertheless, a large number of respondents were in favor of underwriting all the forest trees less than fourty years of age (46.37%). 7) Term of a forest insurance contract Quite a few respondents favored a contract made on one year basis (31.74%), but the more than half of the respondents favored the contract made on five year bases (58.68%). 8) Limitation in a forest insurance contract The respondents indicated that it would be desirable in a forest insurance contract to exclude forests less than five hectars (20.78%), but more than half of the respondents expressed their opinions that forests above a minimum volume or number of trees per unit area should be included in a forest insurance contract regardless of the area of forest lands (63.77%). 9) Methods of contract Some responded that it would be good to let the forest owners choose their forests in making a forest insurance contract (32.13%); others inclined to think that it would be desirable to include all the forests that owners hold whenerver they decide to make a forest insurance contract (33.48%); the rest responded in favor of forcing the owners to buy insurance policy if they own the forests that were established with subsidy or own highly vauable growing stock (31.92%) 10) Rate of premium The responses were divided into three categories: (1) The rate of primium is to be decided according to the regional degree of risks(27.72%); (2) to be decided by taking consideration both regional degree of risks and insurable values(31.59%); (3) and to be decided according to the rate of risks for the entire country and the insurable values (39.55%). 11) Payment of Premium Although a few respondents wished to make a payment of premium at once for a short term forest insurance contract, and an annual payment for a long term contract (13.80%); the majority of the respondents wished to pay the premium annually regardless of the term of contract, by employing a high rate of premium on a short term contract, but a low rate on a long term contract (83.71%). 12) Institutes in charge of forest insurance business A few respondents showed their desire that forest insurance be taken care of at the government forest administrative offices (18.75%); others at insurance companies (35.76%); but the rest, the largest number of the respondents, favored forest associations in the county. They also wanted to pay a certain rate of premium to the forest associations that issue the insurance (44.22%). 13) Limitation on indemnity for damages done In limitation on indemnity for damages done, the respondents showed a quite different views. Some desired compesation to cover replanting costs when young stands suffered damages and to be paid at the rate of eighty percent to the losses received when matured timber stands suffered damages(29.70%); others desired to receive compensation of the actual total loss valued at present market prices (31.07%); but the rest responded in favor of compensation at the present value figured out by applying a certain rate of prolongation factors to the establishment costs(36.99%). 14) Raising of funds for forest insurance A few respondents hoped to raise the fund for forest insurance by setting aside certain amount of money from the indemnity paid (15.65%); others wished to raise the fund by levying new forest land taxes(33.79%); but the rest expressed their hope to raise the fund by reserving certain amount of money from the surplus money that was saved due to the non-risks (44.81%). 15) Causes of fires The main causes of forest fires 6gured out by the respondents experience turned out to be (1) an accidental fire, (2) cigarettes, (3) shifting cultivation. The reponses were coincided with the forest fire analysis made by the Office of Forestry. 16) Fire prevention The respondents suggested that the most important and practical three kinds of forest fire prevention measures would be (1) providing a fire-break, (2) keeping passers-by out during the drought seasons, (3) enlightenment through mass communication systems. 4. Suggestions The writer wishes to present some suggestions that seemed helpful in drawing up a forest insurance system by reviewing the findings in the questionaire analysis and the results of investigations on forest insurance undertaken in foreign countries. 1) A forest insurance system designed to compensate the loss figured out on the basis of replanting cost when young forest stands suffered damages, and to strengthen credit rating by relieving of risks of damages, must be put in practice as soon as possible with the enactment of a specifically drawn forest insurance law. And the committee of forest insurance should be organized to make a full study of forest insurance system. 2) Two kinds of forest insurance organizations furnishing forest insurance, publicly-owned insurance organizations and privately-owned, are desirable in order to handle forest risks properly. The privately-owned forest insurance organizations should take up forest fire insurance only, and the publicly-owned ought to write insurance for forest fires and insect damages. 3) The privately-owned organizations furnishing forest insurance are desired to take up all the forest stands older than twenty years; whereas, the publicly-owned should sell forest insurance on artificially planted stands younger than twenty years with emphasis on compensating replanting costs of forest stands when they suffer damages. 4) Small forest stands, less than one hectare holding volume or stocked at smaller than standard per unit area are not to be included in a forest insurance writing, and the minimum term of insuring should not be longer than one year in the privately-owned forest insurance organizations although insuring period could be extended more than one year; whereas, consecutive five year term of insurance periods should be set as a mimimum period of insuring forest in the publicly-owned forest insurance organizations. 5) The forest owners should be free in selecting their forests in insuring; whereas, forest owners of the stands that were established with subsidy should be required to insure their forests at publicly-owned forest insurance organizations. 6) Annual insurance premiums for both publicly-owned and privately-owned forest insurance organizations ought to be figured out in proportion to the amount of insurance in accordance with the degree of risks which are grouped into three categories on the basis of the rate of risks throughout the country. 7) Annual premium should be paid at the beginning of forest insurance contract, but reduction must be made if the insuring periods extend longer than a minimum period of forest insurance set by the law. 8) The compensation for damages, the reimbursement, should be figured out on the basis of the ratio between the amount of insurance and insurable value. In the publicly-owned forest insurance system, the standard amount of insurance should be set on the basis of establishment costs in order to prevent over-compensation. 9) Forest insurance business is to be taken care of at the window of insurance com pnies when forest owners buy the privately-owned forest insurance, but the business of writing the publicly-owned forest insurance should be done through the forest cooperatives and certain portions of the premium be reimbursed to the forest cooperatives. 10) Forest insurance funds ought to be reserved by levying a property tax on forest lands. 11) In order to prevent forest damages, the forest owners should be required to report forest hazards immediately to the forest insurance organizations and the latter should bear the responsibility of taking preventive measures.

  • PDF

The Effect of Korean-Japanese College Students' Perception of Welfare, Dementia Perception, and Dementia Attitude on Dementia Policy Perception (한·일 대학생의 노인복지 인식, 치매 인식, 치매태도가 치매정책 인식에 미치는 영향)

  • Ae-Ran Ryu;Kuk-Gwen Lee
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
    • /
    • v.9 no.5
    • /
    • pp.349-355
    • /
    • 2023
  • This study attempted to examine the effect of Korean and Japanese college students' perception of welfare for the elderly, dementia perception, and dementia attitude on dementia policy. The main results are as follows. As a result of analyzing the impact of Korean-Japanese college students on their perception and attitude of dementia policy, it was found that Korean-Japanese college students' perception of welfare for the elderly and dementia attitude had a positive (+) effect on dementia policy perception. As a result, I would like to present the following implications. Korea and Japan have developed social insurance systems for the elderly in a low birth rate and aging society, and are developing and implementing support services suitable for the culture of both countries. In the perception of dementia policies of college students in Korea and Japan, the influence of long-term care insurance for the elderly in Korea and nursing care insurance in Japan has led to changes in the perception of dementia among college students. However, it has been shown that dementia awareness does not affect dementia policy awareness, indicating that college students lack dementia awareness. Dementia awareness can increase the demand for the development of various dementia-related services or dementia policies, but low dementia awareness can lead to misunderstanding or negative perceptions of dementia. This can also affect the perception of dementia policies, and services and policies such as social support, prevention, and treatment related to dementia may not be sufficiently developed. In order to compensate for these problems in the future, efforts should be made to improve awareness through the provision of various information such as the government and society to help improve and understand dementia awareness for college students.

A Study on Differences of Opinions on Home Health Care Program among Physicians, Nurses, Non-medical personnel, and Patients. (가정간호 사업에 대한 의사, 간호사, 진료관련부서 직원 및 환자의 인식 비교)

  • Kim, Y.S.;Lim, Y.S.;Chun, C.Y.;Lee, J.J.;Park, J.W.
    • The Korean Nurse
    • /
    • v.29 no.2
    • /
    • pp.48-65
    • /
    • 1990
  • The government has adopted a policy to introduce Home Health Care Program, and has established a three stage plan to implement it. The three stage plan is : First, to amend Article 54 (Nurses for Different Types of Services) of the Regulations for Implementing the Law of Medical Services; Second, to tryout the new system through pilot projects established in public hospitals and clinics; and third, to implement at all hospitals and equivalent medical institutions. In accordance with the plan, the Regulation has been amend and it was promulgated on January 9,1990, thus establishing a legal ground for implementing the policy. Subsequently, however, the Medical Association raised its objection to the policy, causing a delay in moving into the second stage of the plan. Under these circumstances, a study was conducted by collecting and evaluating the opinions of physicians, nurses, non-medical personnel and patients on the need and expected result from the home health care for the purpose of help facilitating the implementation of the new system. As a result of this study, it was revealed that: 1. Except the physicians, absolute majority of all other three groups - nurses, non-medical personnel and patients -gave positive answers to all 11 items related to the need for establishing a program for Home Health Care. Among the physicians, the opinions on the need for the new services were different depending on their field of specialty, and those who have been treating long term patients were more positive in supporting the new system. 2. The respondents in all four groups held very positive view for the effectiveness and the expected result of the program. The composite total of scores for all of 17 items, however, re-veals that the physicians were least positive for the- effectiveness of the new system. The people in all four groups held high expectation on the system on the ground that: it will help continued medical care after the discharge from hospitals; that it will alleviate physical and economic burden of patient's family; that it will offer nursing services at home for the patients who are suffering from chronic disease, for those early discharge from hospital, or those who are without family members to look after the patients at home. 3. Opinions were different between patients( who will receive services) and nurses (who will provide services) on the types of services home visiting nurses should offer. The patients wanted "education on how to take care patients at home", "making arrangement to be admitted into hospital when need arises", "IV injection", "checking blood pressure", and "administering medications." On the other hand, nurses believed that they can offer all 16 types of services except "Controlling pain of patients", 4. For the question of "what types of patients are suitable for Home Health Care Program; " the physicians, the nurses and non-medical personnel all gave high score on the cases of "patients of chronic disease", "patients of old age", "terminal cases", and the "patients who require long-term stay in hospital". 5. On the question of who should control Home Health Care Program, only physicians proposed that it should be done through hospitals, while remaining three groups recommended that it should be done through public institutions such as public health center. 6. On the question of home health care fee, the respondents in all four groups believed that the most desireable way is to charge a fixed amount of visiting fee plus treatment service fee and cost of material. 7. In the case when the Home Health Care Program is to be operated through hospitals, it is recommended that a new section be created in the out-patient department for an exclusive handling of the services, instead of assigning it to an existing section. 8. For the qualification of the nurses for-home visiting, the majority of respondents recommended that they should be "registered nurses who have had clinical experiences and who have attended training courses for home health care". 9. On the question of if the program should be implemented; 74.0% of physicians, 87.5% of non-medical personnel, and 93.0% of nurses surveyed expressed positive support. 10. Among the respondents, 74.5% of -physicians, 81.3% of non-medical personnel and 90.9% of nurses said that they would refer patients' to home health care. 11. To the question addressed to patients if they would take advantage of home health care; 82.7% said they would if the fee is applicable to the Health Insurance, and 86.9% said they would follow advises of physicians in case they were decided for early discharge from hospitals. 12. While 93.5% of nurses surveyed had heard about the Home Health Care Program, only 38.6% of physicians surveyed, 50.9% of non-medical personnel, and 35.7% of patients surveyed had heard about the program. In view of above findings, the following measures are deemed prerequisite for an effective implementation of Home Health Care Program. 1. The fee for home health care to be included in the public health insurance. 2. Clearly define the types and scope of services to be offered in the Home Health Care Program. 3. Develop special programs for training nurses who will be assigned to the Home Health Care Program. 4. Train those nurses by consigning them at hospitals and educational institutions. 5. Government conducts publicity campaign toward the public and the hospitals so that the hospitals support the program and patients take advantage of them. 6. Systematic and effective publicity and educational programs for home heath care must be developed and exercises for the people of medical professions in hospitals as well as patients and their families. 7. Establish and operate pilot projects for home health care, to evaluate and refine their programs.

  • PDF

A Study on Classification of Senior Friendly Products by Difficulty of Daily Living for Senior Citizens (노인의 일상생활장애 정도에 따른 고령친화제품 분류 연구)

  • Lee, Yun-Hee;Hwang, Sung-Won;Choi, Ryung
    • Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
    • /
    • 2008.11a
    • /
    • pp.327-331
    • /
    • 2008
  • In Korea, welfare needs brought on by the rapidly growing of elderly population. Also, the senior group with spare time, wealth and health is increasing. Currently, the people have known about needs welfare system for improving quality of life during senescence personally and socially. In addition to the senior friendly industry, having distinction with simple approach medical services, will be great expanding after 2010. And there will be a new welfare services plan supporting long term care insurance for senior citizens. But we don't have prepared systematically organized senior friendly industry and products yet. So, the purpose of the study is to analyze systematically the classification characteristics of the senior friendly products according to the difficulty of daily living for senior citizens. Above all, the study finds out the senior friendly products characteristics according to the consumer's various situations about health and housing space. Therefore the result of the study reveals that the simulation guidelines for choosing the products depend on the customer's needs are essential and useful to improve senior friendly industry. And the post evaluation data of senior friendly products would be put to practical use in the industry.

  • PDF

Effects of virtual reality cognitive rehabilitation program on cognitive function, physical function and depression in the elders with dementia

  • Moon, Hyun Ju;Choi, Yoo Rim;Lee, Sung Kook
    • Journal of International Academy of Physical Therapy Research
    • /
    • v.5 no.2
    • /
    • pp.730-737
    • /
    • 2014
  • The aim of this study is to examine the effects of virtual reality cognitive rehabilitation program on cognitive function, physical function and depression of long-term care insurance nongrading elderly dementia using Daytime protection service. For achieve this purpose, 30 dementia elderly were randomly assigned in to the experimental group(n=15)and control group(n=15). All subjects performed a general therapeutic exercise and 20- 30minutes takes virtual reality cognitive rehabilitation program were conducted with experimental group 2 times a week for 8 weeks. The intervention effects were measured by using cognitive function is mini-mental states examination-Korean version(MMSE-K), visual perception is MVPT(Motor-Free Visual Perception Test), Berg's balance scales(BBS), depression test GDS-K and lower limb strength. The results of study represented that the training group showed significant improvement in MMSEK( p<.05), visual perception(p<.05), balance(p<.05), lower limb strength(p<.05) and depression (p<.05). In conclusion, the virtual reality cognitive rehabilitation training using improves visual perception included cognitive function, physical function included balance, and lower limb strength and depression. These results suggest that virtual reality training using virtual reality cognitive rehabilitation program is feasible and suitable for mild dementia.

Analysis of VR Usability of MCI People and Family (경증치매노인과 가족의 VR 활용도 분석)

  • Han, Jeong-won
    • Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
    • /
    • 2022.10a
    • /
    • pp.523-525
    • /
    • 2022
  • According to Elderly Long-term Care Insurance, MCI people can be provided cognitive program at dementia center and daycare center. However, the appropriate definition or guideline of cognitive program is not clear. Considering the situation of adapting VR program at diverse elderly facilities, this paper aims to analysis of VR usability at daycare center. Usability is divided into two section; one is intimacy and the other is usage possibility. In both section, high rate is recorded. Development of VR cognitive program is needed afterwards.

  • PDF

Task Analysis of the Job Description of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners based on DACUM (DACUM 기법을 이용한 노인 전문 간호사의 직무 분석)

  • Kim, Keum-Soon;Park, Yeon-Hwan;Lim, Nan-Young
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
    • /
    • v.38 no.6
    • /
    • pp.853-865
    • /
    • 2008
  • Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and to analyze the task of gerontological nurse practitioners (GNPs) in Korea. Methods: The definition of GNP and job description was developed based on developing a curriculum (DACUM) by 7 panels who have experienced in DACUM analysis and gerontological nursing. One hundred sixty nurses who were working at long term care facilities were participated. The questionnaire included frequency, importance, and difficulty of duties, tasks, and task elements. The data were collected in November 2006, analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The job description of GNPs in Korea revealed 5 duties, 23 tasks, and 86 task elements. On the all five duties, the highest duty in frequency and in importance was professional nursing care ($3.25{\pm}0.35$, $3.49{\pm}0.29$). But the highest duty in difficulty was research ($3.24{\pm}0.46$). 'Prevent health problem ($3.42{\pm}0.43$, $3.56{\pm}0.33$)', 'Teach other staffs ($2.83{\pm}0.77$, $3.39{\pm}0.43$)', 'Develop the evidence-based standards ($2.43{\pm}0.76$, $3.22{\pm}0.43$)', 'Develop the self ($2.81{\pm}0.65$, $3.26{\pm}0.42$)', and 'Participate the team activities' were the highest score in frequency and in criticality of tasks. 'Provide emotional support to older adults and families ($3.16{\pm}0.41$)', 'Counsel older adults and their families ($3.14{\pm}0.49$)', 'Do clinical research ($3.32{\pm}0.49$)', 'Quality insurance ($3.25{\pm}0.49$)', and 'Build collaborative system ($3.18{\pm}0.47$)' were perceived the most difficult tasks. Conclusion: The political efforts for the legislation of role and task of GNPs were needed.

Nutritional Management by Dietitian at Elderly Nursing Homes in Gyeonggi-do (경기도 일부 노인요양시설의 영양사 유무에 따른 영양관리 현황)

  • Yoon, Mi-Ock;Moon, Hyun-Kyung;Jeon, Ju-Young;Sohn, Cheong-Min
    • Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
    • /
    • v.19 no.4
    • /
    • pp.400-415
    • /
    • 2013
  • The purpose of the study was to examine the current status of nutritional management at elderly nursing homes. A survey was performed of 83 nursing homes from January 5, 2011 to January 21, 2011 via mail. A total of 34 nursing homes responded to the survey and 149 elderly subjects were analyzed according to the presence of a dietitian. Among the 34 nursing homes, 70.6% had a dietitian on duty. All of the facilities with a dietitian had the dietitian making the meal plan, whereas 70% of the facilities without dietitian served meals planned by a non-professional person. Overall, however, a low proportion of nursing homes implemented dietetic treatments for residents with diseases. For the nutritional assessment of these residents, a mini nutritional assessment (MNA) was performed. MNA scores were significantly associated with body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), calf circumference (CC), ingestion problems, and weight loss during the last 3 months (P<0.001). Among the elderly studied, 5.4% were malnourished, and 36.9% were at risk for malnutrition by MNA score. The results of this survey show that the current management of nutrition at nursing homes is insufficient because the elderly who needed dietetic treatment did not receive proper care. Dietetic management is the most important service in all nursing homes. Therefore, to improve the nutritional status of elderly residents in nursing homes, systematic nutrition management by nutrition experts should be implemented.

A Study on Family Caregivers' Preferences for Utilization of Community-based Welfare and Health-care Services (요보호 노인 부양가족의 재가복지 및 재가보건 서비스 유형별 이용의향에 관한 연구 - 2002년도 서울시 노인복지 기초수요조사 자료 분석 -)

  • Kim, Hye-Kyung
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare
    • /
    • v.56 no.4
    • /
    • pp.123-147
    • /
    • 2004
  • The purposes of this study are, 1) to explore the factors related to the family caregivers' preferences for service utilization both of the community-based welfare and health-care services, and 2) to examine the reasons why not want to use services analyzing a survey data obtained from family caregivers(n=1,000). Anderson and Newman's Behavior model was employed to examine the factors related to the preferences for service utilization. The main results are as follows. 1) Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that predisposing factor(such as age and relations with frail elderly) and enabling factor(such as economic status, secondary caregiver, informal informational support provider, etc) were significant predictor for caregivers' preference for service utilization. Contrary to an expectation, needs factor was negatively related to the preference for service. More specifically, the more they have service needs, the less they show their willingness to use community-based service both in welfare and health-care services except for care education program. 2) Caregiver identified 'family caregiving consciousness'(family should take care of frail elderly, elderly dislike be taken care of) as an important reason not want to use community services next to financial factor. These findings have several implications for policy making especially for 'public long-term care insurance' which was planned to start in 2007.

  • PDF

The Impact of Childhood Cancer on The Korean Family (암 환아 발생이 가족에게 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • ;;Ida Martinson
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
    • /
    • v.22 no.4
    • /
    • pp.636-652
    • /
    • 1992
  • This study identified the impact of childhood cancer on the Korean family. The purpose was to contribute knowledge for family nursing and pediatric hospice care practice with sick children and their families. This descriptive study was conducted during a 6 month period with children who were being treated for cancer at six university hospitals in Seoul. The data were gathered from members of 68 families ; 24(Group A), with a child newly diagnosed with cancer : 27(Group B), with a child under treatment and without complications, and 17 (Group C), with a child in relapse. Medical records, structured questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. The questionnaires and interview schedules had been used previously in Martinson's research in the USA and China. The findings, conclusions, and suggestions are as follows. 1. The impact of childhood cancer on the family. Members of the family experienced fear, helplessness, guilty feelings, and anger at the time of the initial diagnosis and at relapse. Mothers complained of headache, anorexia and poor appetite, weight loss, sleep disturbance, and bad dreams. Many of the fathers either lost or changed jobs, and all working mothers stopped working. Half the parents reported changes in their marital relationships such as frequent quarrels but also stronger unity. Family members perceived cancer as the most frightening disease. Change in their world view was expressed as living on faith understanding suffering, determining to live a better life, wanting to live an upright life and valuing health as the most important. Religious activities are found most helpful through this difficult experience. Financial debt due to the treatment and care of the sick child, burdened 22 families. The above mentioned impact was most evidant in Group B(those presently undergoing treatment) and Group C(those in relapse). Findings indicate that nursing care should embrace the family of a child who is being treated for cancer. 2. Characteristics of the child with cancer The majority of the children in this sample had a diagnosis of leukemia. Their mean age was 6.8 and the ratio of boys to girls was 1.12 ; 1. The mean hospitalization frequency was 13.5 times and the mean duration of illness was 16.8 months. Most of 1.he children perceived cancer as the most frightening disease ; 32.7% of the children described their sickness as serious. Children in Group C were hospitalized more frequently, stayed in hospital for longer periods, and expressed their sickness as quite serious more often than the other two groups. These findings indicate how much comprehensive pediatric hospice nursing care services are needed along with relevant research and nursing education. 3. Characteristics of the families. The mean age of the father was 39.5 and the mother, 36,6 ; they are in their most productive life period. Mothers especially expressed feelings of financial uneasiness and powerlessness about giving up their jobs, and guilty feelings for not providing enough care and concern to other children due to taking care of the sick one. The burden of caring for the sick child can bring negative changes in family dynamics which they think provoke potential health problems in members of the family These findings suggest a need for nursing support and counselling resources. Findings also suggest the need for ethical inquiry about such questions as who should give information to the child in regard to diagnosis and prognosis, when, and how. Other suggestions included : 1) Quality health care for childhood cancer such as home care and pediatric hospice programs should be established. 2) Special and practical consideration for long-term patients should be made in the present insurance coverage. The reimbursement period for long-term patients should be lengthened. 3) Further in-depth qualitative studies are needed. 4) Education programs including guided practice experience for pediatric hospice care practitioners are needed.

  • PDF