• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.53
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• pp.129-153
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• 2003

This study examines the socio-economic impacts of recent welfare reform in the United States. Based on the neo-conservative critique to the traditional public assistance system for low-income families, the 1996 welfare reform has given greater emphases on reducing welfare dependency and increasing work effort and self-sufficiency among welfare recipients. In particular, the welfare reform legislation instituted 60-month lifetime limits on cash assistance, expanded mandatory work requirements, and placed financial penalties for noncompliance. With the well-timed economic boom in the second half of the 1990s, the welfare reform seems to achieve considerable progress; welfare caseload has declined sharply to reach less than 50% of its 1994 peak, single mothers' labor force participation has increased substantially, and child poverty has decreased. In spite of these good signals, the welfare reform also has several potential problems. Many welfare leavers participate in the labor market, but not all (or most) of them. The economic well being of working welfare leavers did not increased significantly, because earnings increase was canceled out by parallel decrease in welfare benefits. Furthermore, most of working welfare leavers are employed in jobs with poor employment stability and low wages, making them highly vulnerable to frequent layoff, long-time joblessness, persistent poverty, and welfare recidivism. Another serious problem of the welfare reform is that a substantial number of welfare recipients are faced with extreme difficulties in finding jobs, because they have severe barriers to employment. The new welfare system with 5-year time limit can severely threaten the livelihoods of these people. The welfare reform presupposes that welfare recipients can achieve self-reliance by increasing their labor market activities. However, empirical evidences suggest that many people are unable to respond to the new, work-oriented welfare strategy. It may be a very difficult task to achieve both objectives of the welfare reform((1) providing adequate income security for low-income families and (2) promoting self-sufficiency) at the same time, because sometimes they are conflicting each other. With this in mind, a possible solution can be to distinguish welfare recipients into "(Very)-Hard-to-Employ" group and "(Relatively)-Ready-to-Work" group, based on elaborate examinations of a wide range of personal conditions. For the former group, the primary objective of welfare policies should be the first one(providing income security). For the "Ready-to-Work" group, follow-up services to promote job retention and advancement, as well as skill-training and job-search services, are very important. The U. S. experiences of the welfare reform provide some useful implications for newly developing Korean public assistance policies for the able-bodied low-income population.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.248-257
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the relationships of types of dental insurance coverage in Korea with sociodemographic characteristics and the prevalence of systemic and oral diseases, as well as to evaluate the socioeconomic impact of Korean dental insurance policies. Methods: Sample cohort data from 2006 to 2015 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Service. Patients were divided into 2 groups. The exposed group comprised patients who received insurance benefits for complete dentures, removable partial dentures, and implant care, while the control group comprised patients who did not receive these benefits. The type of insurance coverage and the prevalence of systemic and oral diseases were compared between the 2 groups. Results: Patients who received benefits in the form of complete dentures, removable partial dentures, and implants had similar sociodemographic characteristics in terms of sex, age, income quintile, and type of insurance coverage to the control group. The prevalence of hypertension, anemia, renal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, and cerebral infarction was higher in the exposed group than in the control group (P<0.05). The prevalence of periodontal diseases and dental caries was also higher in the exposed group. Conclusions: Korean dental health insurance policy has been beneficial for the medical expenses of low-income and elderly people suffering from a cost burden due to systemic diseases. However, since there is a tendency to avoid invasive interventions in older patients due to the high risk of systemic diseases, insurance coverage of dentures may be more helpful from a socioeconomic perspective than coverage of dental implant treatments.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.207-215
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• 2008

This study was conducted to measure and evaluate the food and nutrient intakes of the people living near the nuclear plant and to investigate the relationship between the household income level and the food and nutrient intake patterns. A total of 552 cases (263 males and 289 females) were surveyed during the period from April 1 to December 21 of 2005. Dietary intake was measured by means of the 24-hour recall method. The data were analyzed using SPSS Windows (ver. 14.0). The household income level of the subjects was classified into two groups : Low income group (LIG; $\leq$2,000,000 won) and high income group (HIG; > 2,000,000). The subjects at large had less energy and nutrient intakes than did the population in town and village who participated in the 2005 National Health and Nutrition Survey. The intake of calcium, zinc, vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin $B_6$, vitamin C, and folic acid was less than the Estimated Average Requirement in case of $50{\sim}95%$ of the subjects. The LIG consumed less beans, vegetables, fruits, meats, and beverages than did the HIG in male, while the LIG consumed less eggs and beverages than did the HIG in female. The LIG consumed less nutrients than did the HIG in male, except for carbohydrate, while the LIG consumed less nutrients including zinc, vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B6, vitamin C, folic acid than did the HIG in female. In addition, the LIG had higher percentage energy consumption from carbohydrate. These results suggest that higher food and nutrient intake is associated with higher income.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 1999

To examine the relationship between the casual infection of gastric cancer and lifestyle and nutritional status we surveyed 169 persons 90 females and 79 males aged 40∼69 years from June 7 to June 14 1997 in Whachon area Kang-Won Do Korea. For this purpose we investigated Helicobacter pylori infec-tion and identified the effect of sex age, smoking alcohol consumption economic status occupation life-style and food intake on Helicobacter phlori infection. Helicobacter pylori status was evaluated using an en-zyme-linked immunosorbant assay(ELISA) for anti-Helicobacter pylori immunoglobulin G(IgG). Helicob-acter pylori infection was present in 66.3% of total subjects namely 67.7% of female and 64.4% of male and its prevalence increased with smoking low education level and low monthly income. Energy total protein calcium and vitamin C intakes in the negative Helicobacgter phlori infection group were higher than those in positive Helicobacter pylori infection group. However iron and niacin intakes were lower in the helicobacter pylori negative group than in the positive group.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.41-74
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• 2020

In this study, using the job history data of the Youth Panel(1-12th year: 2007 ~ 2018) of the Korea Employment Information Service, it is found that characteristics and duration distribution of first jobs of wage and salary worker, and estimated the factors of first job exit by utilizing survival analysis. As a result of the analysis, regular workers are less likely to leave their first jobs than temporary/daily workers. In addition, the group with a high degree of major congruence was found to have a lower chance of leaving the first job than the group with a major mismatch. And the higher the income level, the lower the probability of departure, which shows that the possibility of leaving low-income workers is very high.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.569-581
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• 2019

This study investigated differences in cosmetic buying behavior and personal characteristics between cosmetic involvement groups. Cosmetics buying behavior refers to reason for using cosmetics, use of information sources, selection criteria, place of purchase, use/non-use of cosmetics, purchase propensity, purchase frequency, purchase amount, and satisfaction with cosmetics. Personal characteristic contains pursuing image, age, residence area, job, and average household monthly income. Data was collected from 5-10 December 2016, from 308 females in their 20s using an internet survey. The analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and chi-square tests. The respondents were divided into two groups (a high cosmetic involvement group and a low cosmetic involvement group) according to the degree of cosmetic involvement. The results of t-tests revealed significant differences between groups in terms of reasons for using cosmetics, use of information sources, selection criteria, purchase frequency, place of purchase, use/non-use of cosmetics, and satisfaction with cosmetics. The results of Mann-Whitney U tests highlighted a significant difference in purchase frequency between both groups. The results of chi-square tests indicated significant differences in purchase frequency, purchase amount, pursuing image, and average household monthly income. However, no significant differences were evident in terms of purchase propensity, age, job, and area of residence between groups.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.126-130
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• 2020

Catastrophic health expenditure refers to measure the level of the economic burden of households due to medical expenses. The purpose of this study was to examine the proportion of households that experienced catastrophic health expenditure between 2006 and 2018 using available data from the National Survey of Tax and Benefit (NaSTaB), Korea Health Panel (KHP), and Households Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES). Trend test was used to analyze the proportion of household with catastrophic healthcare expenditure. The households experienced the catastrophic health expenditure 2.08% in 2018 using the NaSTaB data. Trend analysis was significant with the decreasing trend (Annual Percentage Change [APC], -4.88; p<0.0001) in the proportion of households with the catastrophic health expenditure. On the other hand, the results of the HIES showed 2.92%, and KHP showed 2.48% of households experienced the catastrophic health expenditure in 2016. The trend was significantly increased in HIES (APC, 1.43; p<0.0001) and KHP (APC, 6.68; p<0.0001). Therefore, this suggests that further interventions to alleviate the burden of catastrophic health expenditure to the low-income group are needed.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.488-495
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• 2004

Purpose: This study is a descriptive study to contribute to children health improvement by finding out the actual state of breakfast and related features of skipping breakfast. Method: The subjects of this study were 724 children. The collected data were analyzed through real numbers, percentage, mean and standard deviation, cross tabulation, χ2-test and t-test using the SPSS WIN 10.0. Result: The rate of the children's skipping breakfast recorded 48.6%. Related Factors to skipping breakfast were sex, income, mother's education level and father's education level. 53.1% of girls skipped breakfast. In case of the group their family's income was over 3 million won/month andtheir father graduated college, the rate of skipping breakfast was low significantly. In groups having breast with rice, soup and side dishes, getting up before 7 A.M. and having good eating habit, the rate of skipping breakfast was low significantly. Conclusion: It is necessary to induce a desirable breakfast habit by health education about the importance and necessity of breakfast. Therefore, it is supposed that parents should pay attention to their children to form the right eating habits and encourage them not to skip breakfast.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.118-130
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to estimate of home-visiting nursing costs for low-income elderly with chronic disease in a metropolitan city using the severity classification and ABC(active-based costing). Methods: First, the HHC activity pool was established. The performance time of each nursing activity were estimated. Second, nursing resources(labor costs, operating costs, and traffic expenses) were analyzed and nursing cost per minute was calculated. And then the cost of each activity was estimated. Third, 202 visiting cases were classified into three group by their severity. And then nursing cost per visit according to their severity was estimated. Results: 59 nursing activities were included in HHC activity pool. The average working time of 59 nursing activity was 6.7minutes and nursing cost per minute was 489 won. According severity, nursing cost per visit were in class I, 54,296 (won), class II 83,124(won), and class III 93,455(won).

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2011

Purpose: The objective of this research was to measure health literacy level of the visitors of a university hospital's out patient clinic and to consider its influence factors. Methods: Subjects were 400 visitors in an outpatient clinic of a university hospital. By using self-report questionnaire which included Newest Vital Sign (NVS) and general information inquiry, the level of health literacy and its influence factors were measured. The data were analyzed by using t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation. Results: The NVS score of subjects was $3.54({\pm}1.91)$ out of maximum 6 scale. The factors that have significant relationships with the health literacy were age, sex, marital status, educational background, monthly income, health information source, number of diseases, number of medications and drinking status. Participants who are men, in old age, having lack of supportive relationship, having low levels of education, having low income, having more comorbid diseases & medications, tend to have lower NVS score compared to others. Conclusion: We suggest extending our research results for evaluating the risky group to improve the health literacy and to develop the strategic methods for better health outcomes.