• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2017

Purpose: This study was done to identify the influence of severity of drinking problem, circadian rhythm and sleep quality in patients with alcohol use. Methods: A descriptive study design was utilized. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires from 139 patients with alcohol use disorder who were admitted to a psychiatric hospital in D city, Korea. The questionnaires included Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Composite Scale of Morningness (CMS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Korea sleep scale A. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple regressions using the SPSS 20.0 program. Results: There was significant correlations among severity of problem drinking, circadian rhythm, sleep quality and sleep disorder. The significant factors influencing sleep disorder were severity of problem drinking(${\beta}=.12$, p= .042), circadian rhythm(${\beta}=-.14$, p= .039) and sleep quality(${\beta}=.63$, p= < .001). This model explained 56% of variance in sleep disorder(F = 57.34, p= < .001). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the development of sleep intervention programs for alcohol use disorder patients needs to consider severity of alcohol use, circadian rhythm and sleep quality, and sleep assessment and intervention are needed the early stage of the treatment and recovery process.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.8
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• pp.321-328
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• 2020

Background: Pediatric hypertension is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric populations. Purpose: To examine pediatric hypertension in a clinical setting, we used the percentile rank approach and defined hypertension as that above the 95th percentile. Methods: The present study was linked to the a national analytical cross-sectional community-based Iranian Children and Adolescents' Psychiatric Disorders (IRCAP) survey. The survey was nationwide and funded by the National Institute of Medical Research Development. The IRCAP survey included 31,000 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years in all 31 Iran provinces. The current study included 1,035 children and adolescents and linked the data of the risk factors of cardiovascular disease only in Yazd province via random cluster sampling. Results: Of the total participants, 456 (44.1%) were male and 579 (55.9%) were female. The mean age was 11.2±3.8 years (11.7±3.7 years for males, 11.0±3.6 years for females), while mean height was 146±20.0 cm overall, 147.2±22.0 cm for males, and 144.6±17.0 cm for females (P=0.009). The blood pressure distributions and percentiles were evaluated. Conclusion: Here we determined age- and height-specific 50th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentiles of systolic and diastolic blood pressures in Yazd boys and girls using 10-cm height intervals.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.373-384
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• 2013

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to understand the cognition of the initiation of diseases of North Korean refugees in South Korea. Methods: 9 North Korean refugees hospitalized in Oriental Neuropsychiatry of National Medical Center participated in the interview. The statements were analyzed by using the phenomenological research methodology and Giorgi's analytical method, in particular, was applied. Results: A total of 4 categories and 15 sub categories were derived from the participants' descriptions. North Korean refugees who thought their diseases have begun while living in North Korea coming to South Korea, have fire disease because of the strict social system, limitations imposed on their actions, and the violence of their husbands. And who thought during escaping from North Korea, have anxiety about being killed, found and transferred to North Korea. They also suffered from a sense of guilt towards their family who were left behind as well as from depression. Consequently, they thought their skeletal diseases have begun during this period. Who thought during their period in Korea, their diseases like fire disease and depression have been worsen because of unfamiliar circumstances and doctors who said their problems had been caused by psychiatric disorder. Nevertheless, they did their jobs, felt happy and had a will to be cured thingking possibilities of overcoming diseases. Conclusions: These results suggest that various factors during different periods in the life of North Korean refugees could have an effect on their present diseases.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2014

Objective : Social Phobia is associated with extensive disability and reduced quality of life. The concept of 'social self' is a representation of the self-reflected in the eyes of others, and is recruited during self-face recognition, which is closely related to self-esteem. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship of face recognition for self and others using measures of social anxiety and self-esteem in patients with social phobia. Methods : Twenty-seven patients with social phobia and twenty-three normal controls were evaluated with scales of self-esteem, depression, anxiety and other psychiatric symptoms. All participants completed the self-face recognition task. Nine self-faces, nine other faces and eighty-one morphed faces were presented randomly for each trial. The participants were instructed to make a decision as to whether the stimuli were self-face or not. The responses and reaction times were recorded during the task. Results : There were no group differences of the morphing composition at the recognition start point as self-face. In patients with social phobia, the mean reaction time at the start point of recognizing as a self-face was 1,037.6 ms, which was significantly longer than that of normal controls (911.3 ms, p<0.05). Patients with social phobia showed a significant negative correlation between the mean reaction time and the severity of depression when the stimuli were recognized as a self-face (r=-0.421, p<0.05). Conclusion : A difficulty in attention rather than avoidance may be an important factor of face recognition in patients with social phobia. When considering self-face recognition in such patients, many factors, such as anxiety, depression, working memory and theory of mind, need to be considered.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2016

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop the computerized Comprehensive Learning Test-Reading (CLT-R) to evaluate the cognitive processes and achievements related to their basic reading ability and identify dyslexia in children and adolescents in South Korea. We also obtained the normative data and evaluated the reliability and validity of the test. Methods: We developed the CLT-R, including the word attack/nonword decoding, paragraph reading, sound blending, nonword repetition, rapid automatized naming, letter-sound matching, visual attention, orthography awareness, and digit span tests, for the purpose of diagnosing dyslexia. We investigated the reliability and validity of the tests and gathered the normative data from 399 subjects (male 48.9%), aged 5-14 years, from the last grade in kindergarten to middle school, dwelling in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Results: No statistical differences were observed between the means of the tests and retests of the CAT. The mean of the correlation coefficient of the test-retest scores was 0.85. According to the construct validity test calculated by principal constant analysis using the oblique rotation method, 4 factors explained 70.0% of the cumulative variances. In addition, the normative data were obtained for all of the CLT-R subtests. Conclusion: The computerized CLT-R can be used as a reliable and valid tool to evaluate the reading achievement and reading related cognitive process in Korean children and adolescents in schools, clinics, and research institutes.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.23-42
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to identify the inpatient service quality at mental hospitals and to examine the effect of service quality on patient's overall satisfaction and customer loyalty. Data collection was done through conducting a survey of inpatients in three mental hospitals located in Chungnam, Korea using self administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included the modified version of 'service satisfaction scale for psychiatric patients' invented by Chul Kwon Kim and other members, which consists of five dimension of service quality: staff attitude, treatment quality, ward environment, access/cost and ward rule. Total 236 questionnaires were gathered and 219 were used for analysis. The data was analyzed by using version SAS9.2 and path analysis model was applied to test our hypothesis. As a result, the four factors of service (staff attitude, treatment quality, ward environment and ward rule) were extracted, which counted for 62.89% of the common variance. Moreover, Cronbach Alpha showed relatively high internal consistency of answer, all exceeding 0.6. According to the study, ward environment and treatment quality turned out to have direct influence on the patient's satisfaction. In addition, staff attitude and overall satisfaction directly influenced the customer loyalty while ward environment and ward rule indirectly had influence using overall satisfaction as a medium. In conclusion, in order to enhance the satisfaction and customer loyalty in mental hospitals, efforts in improving environmental service quality in particular is highly demanded.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.65-85
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• 1992

To study the personality characteristics of alcoholic patients, they were screned with the MAST(Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test) and administered with the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) in the Dept. of Neuropsychiatry, Oriental Medical Hospital in Kyung Hee Univ. form March 1991 to June 1991. Patients admitted for alcoholism were examined and analyzed using the above tests and then studied by Sasang Constitutional approach. Results were as follows; 1. In the MAST score, the cases of obvious alcohol dependence was 53.3% and overall mean score was 28.1 point. 2. In the MMPI scale, the mean of the T-scores for 2(D)-4(Pd) profile was high, but it was not statistically significant. 3. The results obtained by multivariate cluster analysis of MMPI T-scores can be divided into 3 subgroups; 1) 9% showed the psychiatric tendency of F-6(Pa)-9(Ma)profile, 2) 44.2% showed no significant profile, 3)46.5% showed the neurotic tendency of 1(Hs)-2(D)-3(Hy)-4(Pd) profile. 4. Since 44.2% showed no significant profile on the MMPI, much more alcoholic patients were caused not by personality factors but by social tolerance, and also by increasing apportunities of drinking in Korean society. 5. When analyzed with Sasang Constituional approach, 1) for the Soyangin (少陽人): 6(Pa) scale was particularly high, 1(Hs) and 3(Hy) scales were low compared to others, 2) for the Taiumin(太陰人): 1(Hs)-2(D)-3(Hy)-4(Pd) neurotic profile was high, the K-scale and 4(Pd)scale were high compared to the Soyangin, 3) for the Soumin(少陰人): 1(Hs)-2(D)-3(Hy)-4(Pd) neurotic profile and 7(Pt) scale were also high.

• Journal of Endocrine Surgery
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.219-227
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• 2018

Purpose: The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the course of anxiety and depression in thyroidectomy. The second objective was to investigate the association between somatic symptoms and psychological symptoms, and the final objective was to identify the sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors that affect psychiatric morbidity. Methods: This prospective study, 101 patients who were admitted to the Endocrine Surgery Clinic of the Department of General Surgery, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, University of Istanbul, with thyroid pathology were included in the study. Data were collected before surgery, and in the early, and late periods after surgery. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form, a visual analogue scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: The average scores of anxiety and depression before surgery were statistically significantly higher compared with the early and late periods after surgery (P<0.001). Psychological morbidity was identified about 10% of patients before surgery and remained after thyroidectomy. A poor positive correlation founded between somatic symptoms and psychological condition in period surgery (P<0.05). Various sociodemographic features and psychosocial parameters affected anxiety and depression level (P<0.05). Conclusion: Anxiety and depression level in thyroid diseases decreased after thyroidectomy. These patients may express psychologic distress through somatic symptoms. Screening of psychological morbidity is suggested in patients planned thyroid surgery, especially in women, low-educated, inadequate social support, attributed to psychological causes.

• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate suicidal behaviors and the related psychopathology across the different stages of schizophrenia. Methods: We recruited 131 patients with schizophrenia and categorized them into two groups, according to the duration of illness (DI) as follows: ≤10 years (n=39) and >10 years (n=92). Psychopathology and suicidality were assessed using the 18-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-18) and the suicidality module from the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, respectively. Results: One-quarter of the patients with a DI ≤10 years and nearly one-sixth of the patients with a DI >10 years experienced suicidal behaviors in the previous month. Suicidality scores were significantly associated with the "affect" factor scores of the BPRS-18 in patients with a DI ≤10 years (β=0.55, p=0.003) and with the "resistance" factor scores in patients with a DI of >10 years (β=0.29, p=0.006). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that psychopathological factors were differentially associated with suicidality in patients with schizophrenia according to the illness stage. Our findings suggest that for effective suicide prevention, different approaches are required for the management of each stage of schizophrenia.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.394-401
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• 2023

Background: Pregnancy is associated with a number of physical, emotional, and biological changes that can exacerbate maternal psychological disturbances, such as body image concerns and depression. Sleep disturbances during pregnancy can also have adverse impacts. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression, sleep disturbances, and body image concerns among pregnant women. The study also examined the relationship between these factors and pregnancy-related variables, such as bad obstetric history and whether the pregnancies were unplanned. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 146 pregnant patients was conducted at a tertiary care center over 15 months. The patients were administered the Beck Depression Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Body Image Concern Inventory questionnaires. Contingency tables, Fisher exact test, and Spearman correlation were used to identify underlying relationships. Results: The prevalence of depression was 22.6%. Although body image disturbance was noted in only 2.7% of patients, 46.6% had poor sleep quality. Poor sleep was associated with primigravida status. Bad obstetric history and unplanned pregnancy were associated with depression. Depression was found to be significantly correlated with body image disturbances and poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Psychiatric disorders were prevalent during pregnancy. This study highlights the importance of screening for depression in pregnant patients. Counselling and caregiver education can be useful for mitigating psychological disturbances. Management of pregnancies by multidisciplinary teams that include psychiatrists could be immensely useful in improving the pregnancy experiences of patients.