• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.29-47
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• 2006

The objectives of this study were to explore rural elderly's perception on rural area as a proper place to live for the elders and to find out their residential satisfaction and its related variables. The data were gathered through the questionnaire survey from 241 rural elderly over 70 aged living in Gyeonggi province during July 2005. The major findings of this study were as follows: 1) Those who are men, having experience living in urban area, and favorable perception to social relation with other residences prefer the rural area to urban area as living place for the elderly ; 2) Those who are subjectively perceived healthy and favorable perception to social relation with other residences tend to be in higher residential satisfaction than other groups ; 3) Such variables as age, educational background, living term in community and urban area were not significant to rural elderly's perception on rural area as a proper place to live for the elders and residential satisfaction; 4) Such variables as identification as community residences, people-oriented personality, sex and having experience living in urban area explained 26.4% of variance in rural elderly's perception on rural area as a proper place to live for the elders ; 5) Such three variables as identification as community residences, relationship with the primary group and age explained 55.2% of variances in residential satisfaction; 6) In shortly, the most influential factor to rural elderly's perception on rural area as a proper place to live for the elder and residential satisfaction was their identification as community residences.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.423-432
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• 2015

Objectives: In Korea, the percentage of elderly is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and is expected to account for 40% of the population by 2060. This massive demographic change stresses the importance of research on aging as it is necessary to improve the quality of life (QoL) of this population. This study aimed to examine the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the rural elderly and to clarify its association with the nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR). Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in S-gun, Chonbuk, a critical agricultural area. The elderly people without abnormal physical functioning composed our study population and the data were collected by personal visits to 336 elderly people aged over 65 years (110 males and 226 females). Subjects were interviewed with questionnaires pertaining to general characteristics and EuroQol (EQ-5D). Nutrient intakes were assessed two days by 24-hours recall method. Subjects were defined as high QOL group if EQ-5D index with Nam's model was above the median. Results: Generally, EQ-5D index was lower in women than in man, and lower in older subjects than in younger subjects. The percentages of people below the median were 42% (low QoL group) and 58% (high QoL group) were found to be the above the median. The high QoL group had higher NAR, especially for vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and folate. All dimensions in the EQ-5D were affected by NAR of some nutrients and especially anxiety/depression dimension was significantly correlated with NAR of 5 nutrients (protein, calcium, iron, vitamin C and vitamin B1) and EQ-5D scores. Conclusions: HRQol was significantly reduced in elderly with increasing age and this was more pronounced in women than in man. The NAR of some nutrients were associated with the EQ-5D index, especially anxiety/depression dimension, among rural elderly.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-60
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate what life safety services the elderly living alone in rural areas need and to propose the life safety services that they actually need. The research subjects were 1,000 people aged 65 years and over living in the rural areas of Korea. Among the total 1,000 respondents, 283 elderly people who did not live together with their married children were included in this study. Data were analyzed through frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this study were as follows. First, the needs of health care services and vehicle support services (when the elderly went to the hospital or walked out) were high. These were services related to health, which means that the health of the elderly is not good and that they are interested in health. Of course, it is important to treat the disease. However, it is more important to prevent disease and maintain health. An expansion of these services is urgently needed. Second, the need for life safety services was affected by the frequency of contact with neighbors, uncomfortable housing, exercise, the frequency of contact with children, gas accidents, and nutrition variables. Through this analysis, we propose to include the housing improvement service, nutrition improvement services, and expanding social relations services in the life safety services.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.286-298
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• 2006

The study aimed to identify major factors related to global self-rated health of the community-dwelling elderly people in rural areas. Interviews were conducted with 433 persons over 65 years of age. The socio-economic characteristics, chronic disease status, measures of functional and mental health, life satisfaction, health-related behaviors including smoking, drinking, exercise, social activity, dietary habit, and food intakes were analyzed to determine their influence on self-rated health index. Data on food intake were obtained through the 24-hour recall method. The self-rated health of rural elderly was poor or very poor as reported by 42.6% and 52.4% of the men and women, respectively. Poor self-rated health was found to be related to elderly aged $65{\sim}74$, female, absence of work, more chronic diseases, dependence on Instrumental Activity Daily Living (IADL), higher mental unhealthy days, lower current life satisfaction, less social activity, lower dietary habit scores, lower intake of total food, fruit, eggs, fishes & shell fishes, vitamin C (%RDA), and Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR). The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that poor self-rated health index is significantly associated with more chronic diseases, mental unhealthy days, gastrointestinal disease, musculoskeletal disease, less social activity, and lower intake of fruits. The results also suggested that improving the nutritional status and functional ability, and reducing the burden of chronic diseases are beneficial to the self-rated health index of the elderly.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.257-262
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• 2000

This paper is to report our findings that vitamin B6 and folate nutritional state in the rural elderly population with alcohol dependency is poor. The present study was carried out to assess vitamin B6 and folate status in the 17 rural elderly subjects with alcohol dependency and 15 age-and sex-matched controls. Plasma and red cell folate concentrations were analyzed microbiologically, and pyridoxal-5-phosphate dependent erythrocyte alanine aspartate transminase(EAST) activity coefficients were determined using enzyme-coenzyme saturation kinetics. There was no difference in the amount of vitamin consumed between the two groups, and their intakes were 64% and 74.7%, respectively of the Korean dietary recommended allowances for vitamin B6 and folate. The mean percent activation for EAST of the total subjects was greater than 80%, suggesting an inadequate vitamin B6 status between the two groups. Folate concentrations in the red cell, but not in the plasma were significantly lower in the alcohol dependent(141.9ng/ml) subjects than that of the control(233.2ng/ml). Cigarette smokers had lower vitamin B6 and folate levels. Plasma and red cell folate levels were highest among the non-smoking, non-alcohol dependent subjects(11.7 and 257.3ng/ml, respectively) and lowest in the smoker-alcohol dependent group(6.7 and 132.9ng/ml). Finding ways to improve vitamin nutritional state such as vitamin supplementation might be necessary for the rural elderly people, especially for those with alcohol dependency.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between self-rated health and Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and self-care behavior of rural elderly in Korea, focused on the difference among three distinctive living arrangements; living alone, living only with his/her spouse, and living with their married children. For this purpose, data were gathered from a nationwide survey, a total of 586 elderly aged 65 or older and living in rural area, using the structured questionnaire. Also, self-care behavior were categorized into 4 groups; life-style practice, medical self-care, adaption to functional limitation, and emotional management. The major findings are as follows; 1) Rural elderly perceived their health little and more 'bad' but their ADL capacity were 'not difficult', especially among elderly living with spouse. 2) The level of 20 items in self-care behavior ($1{\sim}5$score) was ranged from 2.51 to 3.81 score. The behavior level of regular exercise, setting up additional phone, taking a nutrient, and testing BP or pulse regularly were low but that of taking a medicine according to prescription, close contact with other people, and regular eating were proportionally high. 3) The majority of self-care behavior were correlated with subjective health positively but medical self-care behavior were correlated with subjective health or ADL negatively. Based on these results, policy implications are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.19-26
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to clarify the actual condition of the daily living activities of the elderly with dementia in skilled nursing facilities. The thorough investigation and observation works were made from the view points of daily living behaviors and behavioral places of the recuperating elderly with dementia in skilled nursing facilities. This article discusses about the basic characteristics of the elderly and the actual condition of the daily living activities of the elderly with dementia in 3 skilled nursing facilities. The results of this study are summarized as follows; There is no wide difference between skilled nursing facilities on the characteristic of living behaviors of the elderly with dementia. Daily living activities and the use of spaces are largely influenced by the daily program and the operation policy of each skilled nursing facilities in addition to human relationship of the elderly with dementia. Common spaces such as day room, dining room plays an important role for their daily living activities, because that most of the elderly with dementia stay long during daytime. Layout of each private room and common space seems very crucial point in designing these facilities, in order to enable demented people to live their lives more independently.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to clarify the actual condition of the daily living activities of the elderly with dementia in skilled nursing facilities. The thorough investigation and observation works were made from the view points of daily living behaviors and behavioral places of the recuperating elderly with dementia. This article discusses about the basic characteristics of the elderly and the actual condition of the daily living activities of the elderly with dementia in 2 skilled nursing facilities. The results of this study are summarized as follows; There is no wide difference between skilled nursing facilities on the characteristic of living behaviors of the elderly with dementia. Daily living activities and the use of spaces are largely influenced by the daily program and the operation policy of each skilled nursing facilities in addition to human relationship of the elderly with dementia. Common spaces such as day room, dining room plays an important role for their daily living activities, because that most of the elderly with dementia stay long during daytime. Layout of each private room and common space seems very crucial point in designing these facilities, in order to enable demented people to live their lives more independently.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2015

This study aimed to compare and evaluate nutritive conditions of the female elderly (2,893 people) based on a national health nutrition survey and health-related factors influencing nutritional intake. The results are as follows.- Average age of all subjects was $72.12{\pm}5.2$ old. BMI ($24.48{\pm}3.3kg/m^2$) and waist size ($83.9{\pm}9.5cm$) of urban elderly was larger ($23.74{\pm}3.3kg/m^2$, $82.28{\pm}9.9cm$) than that of rural elderly. MAR[4] and MAR[10] were also higher in urban elderly than rural elderly. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that factors influencing poor nutrition of elderly subjects were increasing age, smoking, and self-rated health. Old-old and current smokers were associated with a higher likelihood of poor nutrition (OR 1.82, 95%CI 1.43~2.30) and (OR 3.40, 95%CI 2.17~5.33) elderly female subjects in urban areas. Smoking (OR 2.29, 95%CI 1.33~3.95), poor self-rated health (OR 1.55, 95%CI 1.11~2.16), over nine hours of sleep per nighting (OR 1.72, 95%CI 1.17~2.53) and stress (OR 1.46, 95%CI 1.10~1.92) of elderly female subjects in rural areas were associated with higher likelihood of a poor nutrition. In conclusion, rural elderly are more influenced by poor health practice behaviors (self-rated health, sleeping stress) and psychological factors. Nutrition status of the rural elderly is worse than that of the urban elderly. To reduce nutritional risk of Korean elderly, especially rural elderly, active nutrition arbitration should include psychological environmental factors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.21-29
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to present the basic direction of the desirable spatial plan for elderly care facilities by analyzing the spatial characteristics of elderly care facilities in gyeongnam-province. As a research method, 189 elderly care facilities in gyeongnam-province were investigated for location conditions, site area, floor area, total floor area, and space composition. In addition, the area of each specific space was analyzed for two elderly care facilities with a typical floor plan. The results of the survey and analysis are as follows. First, the average number of people in the facility was 53.8, and the number of people in the facility needs to be planned to be medium or less so that they can live in a more comfortable environment in the future. Second, in the location type, it was found that many facilities were distributed in the order of suburban and rural type, urban type, mountain type, and waterfront type. In addition, in terms of facility space composition, the proportion of detached facilities was 50.8%. Complex facilities require a reasonable plan in consideration of the location type and other functional facility characteristics. Third, the average total floor area per person of elderly care facilities was 27.57m². There is a limit to constructing a unique nursing space. In the composition of bedrooms, quadruple rooms account for 67.4%, but it is necessary to expand the proportion of bedrooms that can be used by fewer people.