• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.70-80
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore the mediating effects of internalized stigma on the relationship between hospitalization stress and quality of life among patients with mental illness in closed wards. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. The participants were 141 hospitalized patients with mental illness in the closed wards of K university hospital and Y psychiatric hospital in Korea. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires including hospitalization stress, internalized stigma and quality of life. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 programs and the mediating effects were examined by the method suggested by Baron and Kenny. Results: There was a significant correlation between hospitalization stress, internalized stigma and quality of life of psychiatric patients. In addition, internalized stigma was found to have a partial mediating effect on the relationship between hospitalization stress and quality of life. Conclusion: The results suggest that the internalized stigma plays an important role in improving the quality of life of the people with mental illness in a closed unit. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a program focusing on internalized stigma for improving the quality of life in hospitalized patients in a closed unit.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.33-41
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• 2010

Objectives : This study is designed to find out the relationship of scoliotic curve, cervical lordosis, lumbar lordosis and Ferguson's angle. Method : The study was composed of 46 scoliosis patients who had single curvature(Group I) on their lumbar spine(Group I-A) or thoracic spine(Group I-B) and 38 patients who had double curvature(Group II) on their lumbar and thoracic spine. The patients were evaluated with X-ray findings of full spine AP and Lateral views and statistically analyzed. Results : 1. Group II showed a significant increase in scoliotic curve angle as compared with Group I(P<0.05). 2. Scoliotic curve has a negative relationship with cervical lordosis in group II. Conclusion : 1. The patients who has double curvature of spine had higher scoliotic curve angle compared with who has single curvature. 2. The Scoliotic curve and cervical lordosis was statistically concerned on patients who has double curvature of spine.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.55-68
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• 2006

In Korea, there are constantly increasing number of cancer patients with reaching 65,000 deaths and it was 26.3% of the total number of death in 2004. Many cancer patients suffer from surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy after being diagnosed as cancer. And many of them are facing fear of death because they can't be perfectly cured. Due to patients' physical, psychological, and spiritual pain, quality of life drops dramatically. Patients' families also suffer from huge medical expenses while they have to take care of patients's suffering from pain. At the same time, family's attitude can influence on the quality of patients' life. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the death orientation of first care giver and the quality of life of hospice patient. The subjects of the study were 80 hospice patients registered at ten hospice institutions with hospice team and medical practitioners in six cities including Seoul as well as their first care givers. This study used 13 questions for the hospice patients and nine questions for the first care givers to recognize general characteristic. To measure death orientation of the first care giver the tool developed by Noh, Soon-hee (2003) was used. And to measure quality of life of the hospice patients Yoo, Seung-yeon's structured tool was used. The data were collected for a month through interview method. SPSS win 12.0 was used to analyze the data by using frequency, percentage, t-test, Pearson correlation. The study result is as follows. In relationship between general characteristic of hospice patient and quality of life, the highest suffering was pain (60%) and the second suffering was anorexia (23.8%). There was no significant relationship between physical pain and general characteristics of hospice patient. In psychological aspects, religion (p=.044) showed significant difference (p<.05). In existential aspects, age (p=.035) showed significant difference (p<.05). There was no significant difference variable in support aspects. And religion (p=.000) was statistically significant variable in spiritual aspects (p<.001). Age (p=0.025) and religion (p=.050) were the variable showed significant difference according to general characteristics of first care giver's death orientation. Although the relation between death orientation of first care giver and quality of life of hospice patient was not statistically significant correlation. In conclusion, while death orientation of first care giver and hospice patient's quality of life are not statistically significant in correlation analysis.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.48
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• pp.312.1-312.10
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• 2018

Background: Obesity is related to several comorbidities and mortality, but its relationship with acute kidney injury (AKI) and long-term mortality remain undetermined in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Methods: Data from 3,018 patients (age ${\geq}18$ years) who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery from two tertiary referral centers were retrospectively reviewed between 2004 and 2015. Obesity was defined using the body mass index, according to the World Health Organization's recommendation. The odds and hazard ratios in post-surgical, AKI, and all-cause mortality were calculated after adjustment for multiple covariates. Patients were followed for $90{\pm}40.9$ months (maximum: 13 years). Results: Among the cohort, 37.4%, 2.4%, 21.1%, 35.1%, and 4.0% of patients were classified as normal weight, underweight, overweight-at-risk, obese I, and obese II, respectively. Post-surgical AKI developed in 799 patients (26.5%). Patients in the obese groups (overweight-at-risk to obese II) had a higher risk of AKI than did those in the normal-weight group. During the follow-up period, 787 patients (26.1%) died. Underweight patients had a higher risk of mortality than did normal-weight patients, whereas overweight-at-risk, obese I, and obese II patients showed better survival rates. Conclusion: After coronary artery bypass graft surgery, obese patients encountered a high risk of AKI, and underweight patients exhibited a low chance of survival. Awareness of both obese and underweight statuses should be raised in these patients.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.253-277
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• 1999

Patients with chronic disease have various treatment patterns because it shows a progressive degenerative feature. Especially various physical and emotional problems of the rheumatoid arthritis patients leave them shopping around various types of treatment. According to previous studies, over 70% of patients with arthritis experienced the traditional oriental medicine or folk remedies simultaneously with medical treatment within one year after the onset of disease. The purposes of this study are 1) to compare the patterns of treatment-seeking behaviors between Korean arthritis patients and Americans ; and 2) test two models of treatment-seeking behaviors by path analysis, one for early treatment-seeking behavior model(ETBM) and the other is chronic treatment-seeking behavior model (CTBM) in Korean sample. The interview survey was performed to 133 RA patients with structured questionnaire at out-patient clinic or public health center. Patients characteristics such as age, duration of disease were similar in two countries except higher educational background in Americans. There were no patients using only alternative therapies or no medical treatment in the US. Most of the American patients have chosen both medical treatment and alternative therapy, while the Koreans less than American. In Korea, combined treatment group usually consists of the people who are younger, more educated and higher economic status than the characters of other groups in early or chronic stages. In early stage, they tend to have strong belief of curing from the disease, satisfy the relationship with their physicians and comply with direction of the medical professional. The paths of two models were explained by 70% in ETBM and 33% in CTBM. When the models were modified, almost all paths of the CTBM were the same as the previous one, but direct determinant factor was changed from the relationship with physicians to the lay referral system in chronic model. These two models' explanation powers became 94% and 88%, respectively. The attitude or perception of disease, lay referral system and the relationship with medical personnel are the main determinants of treatment-seeking behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2007

Objectives : This study aimed to examine the relationship between behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD) and patient and caregiver QOL in Alzheimer's disease(AD). Methods : Fifty-one AD patients and their caregivers participated. Measures about patients were Neuropsychiatric Inventory(NPI), Korean version of QOL-Alzheimer's Disease(KQOL-AD), Activities of Daily Living(ADL), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR), and Korean version-Mini Mental State Examination(K-MMSE). Caregiver QOL was assessed with KQOL-AD and General Health Questionnaire/Quality of Life-12(GHQ/QOL-12). Results : Patient QOL-AD on patient ratings was negatively correlated with appetite/eating change and NPI scores. Patient QOL-AD on caregiver ratings was negatively correlated with hallucinations, depression/dysphoria, and NPI scores. Caregiver QOL assessed by the GHQ/QOL-12 was negatively correlated with agitation/aggression, depression/dysphoria, and NPI scores and was negatively correlated with distress related to agitation/aggression, depression/dysphoria, and NPI scores. Conclusion : BPSD of AD patients was associated with low QOL of both patients and caregivers. Thus, interventions of BPSD were needed to improve both patient and caregiver QOL.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.397-413
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the income level and the healthcare utilization by health insurance type in all cancer patients in year 2005. Methods: The target population was cancer patients with health insurance who used healthcare as a diagnosis code (C00-C97) from January 1 to December 31 of 2005. The Korea Central Cancer Registry Center's Cancer Patient Registry Data, the list of cancer patients of the National Health Insurance Corporation, and the claim data of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service were used. The I was the wealthiest, followed by II, III, IV. The V was the poorest in this study. For the analysis, the $x^2$-test, ANOVA (and Kruskal-Wallis test), and regression were used. Results: Outpatient and hospitalization medical expenses, and outpatient visit days of cancer patients with self-employed health insurance were highest in I (p<.001, respectively), and the hospitalization days were the highest in II (p<.001, respectively). Outpatient and hospitalization medical expenses, and outpatient visit and hospitalization days of cancer patients with occupational health insurance were the highest in I (p<.001, respectively). Outpatient and hospitalization medical expenses, and outpatient visit and hospitalization days in cancer patients were higher in I compared to V, and higher in II and III, IV compared to V (p<.001, respectively). Conclusion: Supporting plan for cancer patients' outpatient healthcare utilization are necessary. Moreover, we should make specialized strategy for low income cancer patients with self-employed health insurance when we develop quality improvement policy for inpatient service.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1621-1626
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• 2012

Background and objectives: Weight loss and malnutrition are common among cancer patients, these two factors greatly affecting survival and quality of life during treatment. Since cancer is becoming increasingly common in the world and in order to provide better treatment measures, it is important to identify and prevent side effects. The present study has been conducted in 2010 on a sample of cancer patients in the oncology center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences to determine the prevalence rates of malnutrition and the factors affecting it. Methods: The PG-SGA standard questionnaire was administered to 416 cancer patients to evaluate their nutrition status and determine the frequency of each malnutrition stage. Correlations and ANOVA tests were used to analyze the relationship between factors and weight loss and how they might affect the development of malnutrition. Results: The prevalence of malnutrition among the patients was 53.1% out of which 29.1% had moderate and 24% had severe malnutrition. The most common factors inducing nutritional symptoms were depression and anorexia. Some 35 % of the patients had over 5% weight loss in the last mouth. The average PG-SGA score was 10.1 with 49 being the highest. 46.1 percent of the patients scored over 9 (requiring critical nutrient intervention). Malnutrition has a high correlation with weight loss, activity limitations, nutritional symptoms, and cancer stage, but low correlation with treatment and pathologic type. Conclusion: Malnutrition has a high prevalence in Iranian cancer patients and has a close relationship with mortality, morbidity and treatment-related problems and also quality of life. Therefore, periodical assessment by PG-SGA to detect malnutrition in patients should be made so that appropriate nutritional interventions can be provided.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2018

Objectives The objective of this study is to examine the interpretability of the questionnaire-based pattern identification in terms of biosignals. For this purpose, we investigate the relationship between electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) and Qi-Blood-Yin-Yang Deficiency Questionnaire (QBYY-Q) in diabetic patients. Methods A total of 40 patients with diabetes mellitus answered the QBYY-Q and their ESC were measured by SUDOSCAN device (a diabetes screening device, France). To analyze the relationship between QBYY-Q and ESC, ANOVA analysis and Scheffe test were performed and Pearson correlation coefficients were obtained. Results Of the 40 diabetic patients, 23 (57.5%) were males and 17 (42.5%) were females. According to the QBYY-Q, 9 patients were classified into Qi deficiency pattern (QD), 9 patients were Blood deficiency pattern (BD), 10 patients were Yin deficiency pattern (YiD) and 12 patients were Yang deficiency pattern (YaD). Demographic information (age, body mass index, duration of illness, etc.), signs of vitality (blood pressure, body temperature, etc.), fasting plasma glucose and glycated hemoglobin were not significantly different in each deficiency pattern. The ESC of the right leg was significantly lower in the BD group compared to the YiD group (p<0.022). Pearson's correlation coefficient was negatively correlated with the BD questionnaire score (r=-0.343, p <0.05). Finally, ESC showed a positive correlation with hemoglobin and erythrocyte levels in all limbs (r=0.483, p<0.01). Conclusions We showed that ESC could be used to classify the Deficiency pattern identifications in diabetic patients. Especially, the ESC was significantly lower in the BD group and was negatively correlated with the BD scores. It implies the potential utility of the ESC to understand the BD in terms of modern biosignals.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.15-27
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• 2015

As patient satisfaction is a crucial component of improved health care outcomes, there is a need to evaluate the relationship between physicians' attitude and patients' satisfaction. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between patients' satisfaction and physicians' friendly and caring attitudes by using recent physician ratings by patients. Data from a cross-sectional survey using a convenience sampling was utilized to examine the relationship between physicians' attitudes and patients' satisfaction. The independent variable was the physician's attitude, and the dependent variables were patients' satisfaction with the physician and the office setting. A total of 273,994 patients it the US were included. The patients' average (standard deviation, SD) satisfaction with the physician was 78.08 (0.14), and the average (SD) satisfaction with the office setting was 78.62 (0.12) out of 100. Physicians' attitude was a significant predicting factor impacting the patients' satisfaction with the physician and the office setting (p < 0.001). To facilitate patients' satisfaction with healthcare, a continuous effort to develop physicians' ability to communicate in an empathetic manner should be undertaken so that patients perceive their physicians as empathetic.