• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.297-326
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was firstly to analyse the conceptualization of disability of the Mental Health Act and related laws and to suggest revision of the definition of psychiatric disability of Mental Health Act to improve the protection of human rights and welfare of the people with psychiatric disability. For these purposes this paper reflected on the disability models of WHO(1980, 2001) and multiple paradigm of disability of Priestley(1998) and suggested a new conceptualization of disability consists of impairment, functional disability, and social interactional disability. Based on the analyses of conceptualizations of psychiatric disability of related laws, this study suggested revision of Mental Health Act to distinguish between mental disorder and psychiatric disability, to introduce the definition of mental capacity, and to expand the conceptualization of social interactional disability.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.310-315
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• 2008

Objectives : The evaluation of disability after trauma in psychiatry is relatively subjective compared with other departments. A consensus among evaluators could improve reliability of evaluations. We compared disability rate of common psychiatric disorders without definite brain injury depending on their diagnosis from experienced evaluators in Korea. Methods : A written questionnaire was mailed to each evaluator and the reply was analyzed. The questions included disability rate ranges of postconcussional syndrome, PTSD and depression. Other questions related with admission for evaluation, expected duration of treatment, life expectancy and need of supporting person were also asked. Results : Range of disability rate were from $8.6{\pm}4.5%$ to $26.6{\pm}12.8%$ in postconcussional syndrome, from $10.4{\pm}6.8%$ to $36.4{\pm}13.8%$ in PTSD and from $10.0{\pm}4.6%$ to $30.6{\pm}10.3%$ in depressive disorder. There were lots of diversity in expected duration of treatment with psychiatric disability. Decline of life expectancy and need of supporting person were considered at least 50% of disability. Conclusion : There is much diversity in evaluation of psychiatric disabilities with disability rate and expected duration of treatments even among experienced evaluators. A common consensus among experts may increase reliability of psychiatric evaluations after trauma.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2017

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the portion of physical disability was 51.4% which was the highest among the registered disabled in December 2015, followed by visual disability(10.1%), disability of the brain lesions(10.0%), hearing disability(10.0%). The aim of this study is to investigate the types of disability in patients with disabilities visiting the Pediatric Dentistry, Chonbuk National University Dental Hospital in 2016. Of the patients who visited the pediatric dentistry, 196 patients (7.5%) had disabilities, and 19 patients had two or more disabilities. Twelve patients (6.1%) had both disabilities of brain lesion and intellectual disorder. Of the 177 patients with only one disability, 54 patients (30.5%) had physical disorders and 123 patients (69.4%) had psychiatric disorders. In psychiatric disorders, intellectual disorder was the most with 98 patients (55.3%), followed by autistic disorder with 23 patients (12.9%). In physical disorders, disability of brain lesion was the most with 37 patients (20.9%), followed by speech disability with 8 patients (4.5%). In this study, as a result of analyzing the types of disability with the patients who visited the Pediatric Dentistry of Chonbuk National University Dental Hospital, most of them had either intellectual disorder, disability of brain lesion, or autistic disorder. Dentists need to understand their general and dental characteristics to treat children and adolescents with disabilities. Since the most chief complaint of the patients was dental caries, early interventions should be made by dentist to reduce the incidence of the disease.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2006

Objectives: This study estimated the burden of disease especially caused by psychiatric disorders in Korea by using DALY, a composite indicator that was recently developed by the Global Burden of Disease study group. Methods: First, 11 of the major psychiatric disorders in Korea were selected based on the ICD-10. Second, the burden of disease due to premature death was estimated by using YLLs (years of life lost due to premature death). Third, for the calculation of the YLD (years lived with disability), the following parameters were estimated in the formula: the incidence rate, the prevalence rate and the disability weight of each psychiatric disorder. Last, we estimated the DALY of the psychiatric disorders by adding the YLLs and YLDs. Results: The burden of psychiatric disorder per 100,000 people was attributed mainly to unipolar major depression (1,278 person-years), schizophrenia (638 person-years) and alcohol use disorder (287 person-years). For males, schizophrenia (596 person-years) and alcohol use disorder (491 person-years) caused the highest burden. For females, unipolar major depression (1,749 person-years) and schizophrenia (680 person-years) cause the highest burden. As analyzed by gender and age group, alcohol use disorder causes a higher burden than schizophrenia in men aged 40 years and older. For females, unipolar major depression causes the highest burden in all age groups. Conclusions: We found that each of the psychiatric disorders that cause the highest burden is different according to gender and age group. This study's results can provide a rational basis to plan a national health policy regarding the burden of disease caused by psychiatric disorders.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.362-369
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• 2019

Background: Chronic nonspecific symptoms attributed to indoor nonindustrial work environments are common and may cause disability, but the medical nature of this disability is unclear. The aim was to medically characterize the disability manifested by chronic, recurrent symptoms and restrictions to work participation attributed to low-level indoor pollutants at workplace and whether the condition shares features with idiopathic environmental intolerance. Methods: We investigated 12 patients with indoor aire-related work disability. The examinations included somatic, psychological, and psychiatric evaluations as well as investigations of the autonomic nervous system, cortisol measurements, lung function, and allergy tests. We evaluated well-being, health, disability, insomnia, pain, anxiety, depression, and burnout via questionnaires. Results: The mean symptom history was 10.5 years; for disabling symptoms, 2.7 years. Eleven patients reported reactions triggered mainly by indoor molds, one by fragrances only. Ten reported sensitivity to odorous chemicals, and three, electric devices. Nearly all had co-occurrent somatic and psychiatric diagnoses and signs of pain, insomnia, burnout, and/or elevated sympathetic responses. Avoiding certain environments had led to restrictions in several life areas. On self-assessment scales, disability showed higher severity and anxiety showed lower severity than in physician assessments. Conclusion: No medical cause was found to explain the disability. Findings support that the condition is a form of idiopathic environmental intolerance and belongs to functional somatic syndromes. Instead of endless avoidance, rehabilitation approaches of functional somatic syndromes are applicable.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.79-89
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• 1998

This study was to evaluate the performance status and associated factors with the health promoting activities. Two hundred three old aged over 65 years old sampled by quota sampling among 660 old aged in a rural area, Dae-Ma Myun, Young-Kwang Gun, Chollanam Do. The questionnaire survey was performed from June 1st to August 31st in 1997. The major findings were as follows ; 1. The performance rate of health promoting activities were higher in female, dwellers at community health practitioner post area, and old aged believes in a religion and high educated old aged. 2. A multiple regression analysis showed that physical health promoting activity was related to psychiatric wellbeing status, the disability of daily living, residental area and family numbers(P<0.05). 3. The disability of daily living and psychiatric wellbeing status were related to mental health promoting activities by a multiple regression analysis(P<0.05). In conclusion, psychiatric wellbeing status, the disability of daily living, the disability of daily living and residental area were associated the performance of health promoting activities for old aged in a rural area.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.54
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• pp.123-147
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• 2003

It is well known that one of essential features of psychiatric disability is vocational impairment. Since the year of 2000 when psychiatric disability was declared as one of disability categories in Korea, vocational rehabilitation programs have been actively administered. At this point, it is compelling that vocational evaluation serves as a means of screening out the most promising candidates, identifying their vocational deficits and strengths, designing the individualized vocational interventions, and evaluating vocational outcomes. Still, vocational evaluation for people with psychiatric disabilities has been more problematic than for any other group with disabilities. The authors argued that vocational evaluation for people with psychiatric disabilities should be based on a certain vocational rehabilitation model to address those problems. It is because there exists an indispensible relationship between the vocational rehabilitation model and vocational evaluation. In other words, the main purposes, measurement time points, and focus of vocational evaluation may depend on which of vocational rehabilitation models to make a choice of. In addition, the vocational rehab model(i.e., vocational readiness model or graduation model) underlying traditional vocational evaluation does not seem to work for people with psychiatric disabilities. Authors argued that accelerating model fits for psychiathric characteristics which are often unpredictable and turbulent. As a preliminary step of developing vocational functioning instrument incorporating the demand characteristics of the accelerating model, post-hoc analyses were done on data from a vocational functioning measure and the results were critically examined from viewpoints of accelerating model. For these purposes, discussions were made about a) general functioning of vocational evaluation, (b) relation between vocational rehabilitation model and vocational evaluation, (c) the reasons why the accelerating model is more appropriate to the characterstics of psychiatric clients than the graduation model, (d) post-hoc analytic results reviewed from viewpoints of accelerating model-based vocational evaluation This study is significant in that it attempted model-based, model-specific vocational evaluation as a preliminary step for developing vocational functioning assessment instruments ill future.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.232-243
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• 2002

Purpose: We studied whether brain perfusion SPECT is useful in the psychiatric disability evaluation of patients with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI). Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine patients (M:F=58:11, age $39{\pm}14$ years) who underwent Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT, brain MRI and neuropsychological (NP) tests during hospitalization in psychiatric wards for the psychiatric disability evaluation were included; the severity of injury was mild in 31, moderate in 17 and severe in 21. SPECT, MRI, NP tests were peformed $6{\sim}61$ months (mean 23 months) post-injury. Diagnostic accuracy of SPECT and MRI to show hypoperfusion or abnormal signal intensity in patients with cognitive impairment represented by NP test results were compared. Results: Forty-two patients were considered to have cognitive impairment on NP tests and 27 not. Brain SPECT showed 71% sensitivity and 85% specificity, while brain MRI showed 62% sensitivity and 93% specificity (p>0.05, McNemar test). SPECT found more cortical lesions and MRI was superior in detecting white matter lesions. Sensitivity and specificity of 31 mild TBI patients were 45%, 90% for SPECT and 27%, 100% for MRI (p>0.05, McNemar test). Among 41 patients with normal brain MRI, SPECT showed 63% sensitivity (50% for mild TBI) and 88% specificity (85% for malingerers). Conclusion: Brain SPECT has a supplementary role to neuropsychological tests in the psychiatric disability evaluation of chronic TBI patients by detecting more cortical lesions than MRI.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.66-75
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• 2004

Objectives: This study was intended to see the relationship between psychiatric consequences and injury severity following traffic accidents. Methods: We surveyed the 134 patients who were hospitalized from 1994 to 2003 at Chosun University Hospital for psychiatic disability evaluation following traffic accident. We reevaluate demographic factors from admission note. Psychiatric symptoms from mental status exam in medical records. Psychological tests(MMPI, BAI, BDI, K-WAIS) were done. Then we calculate the injury severity score and McBride's rate of disability due to diagnosis from emergency care hospital records. Their relationships were evaluated by statistical methods which were t-test and Pearson correlation analysis using SPSS-10. Results: When physical injury was not severe, suicidal attempt was more frequent and depression, hysteria, psychasthenia, psychopathic deviation subscales were high in MMPI. But when physical injury was severe, they have diffficulty in concentration, impaired orientation, and changed in IQ score. There was no relationship between physical injury severity and faking bad scales(F, Ds-r). Conclusion: We must not assume when physical injury was not severe, the severe sympomts are just faking for their benefit.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2006

Patients with severe mental problems have difficulty maintaining good oral hygiene, so that the incidence of dental disease is greater, the disease is more severe, and the progression is much faster in these patients. Generally, they require physical restraint, drug-induced sedation, and general anesthesia since they are not cooperative. In many cases, these patients have systemic disease, so that the prognosis after dental treatment depends highly on the management of existing diseases. The problems related to treating these patients are examined and methods of using general anesthesia and sedatives are further examined to propose better ways of treating these patients.