• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.34
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• pp.327-337
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• 2018

Korea is rapidly becoming an aging society as much as it takes the first place among OECD countries, and as the life expectancy of Korea gradually increases, the proportion of the elders in society increases. Accordingly, the happiness of the elders is contributed to the overall social atmosphere and happiness, however, the lower quality of life of the elders due to physical, psychological and social changes can be developed into social problems such as depression and rising suicide rate. As a result, there is a social interest in improving the quality of life and satisfaction of the elders, and the senior citizen center is receiving renewed attention as a form of welfare facility that can play a pivotal role in the social activities of the elders. In recent years, efforts to improve the environment of the senior citizen center have been made due to the growing role of it, however, there is a controversy over whether the quality of the indoor environment is user-friendly or not due to the limitations of material resources and human resources. It is considered that the quality of the color environment should be improved in the senior citizen center in the way that the color environment is not only an indoor environmental factor which gives high psychological and mental effects to users but also a way to improve the environmental satisfaction at the lowest cost. Previous studies on the facilities related to the elders have been actively carried out, but they were very sporadic and there was very little information about the color environment in the related laws or in the guideline presented by cities. It is necessary to integrate guidelines that are scattered within a comprehensive range without any specific target in order to grasp the current status of the color environment and to properly evaluate it. In addition, considering that the senior citizen center is an important leisure facility for the elders that functions in a residential area with a nationwide network, the results of this study are expected to contribute to the environmental improvement of existing senior citizen center which will be activated in the future by enabling the improvement of psychological satisfaction of the elders.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.113-120
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• 2015

In recent years, the population composition of rural area is changing due to the decreasing population growth of the aged with disability and people returning to farming. Since 1970's the rural community facilities have been spreaded out across most rural villages. Although the rural community facilities are the most widely used facilities, the existing facilities are need to be new built or remodeled according to demographic changes, usage of facilities, and environmental condition. Given this reality, the rural community facilities such as village assembly hall and nursing home for senior citizen are not only used for daily life place but also used like co-residence having meals and sleeping together. Therefore the rural community facilities have the potential to become welfare service space for rural elderly people. This research focuses on the current situation of universal design applied community facilities. According to the research, most of the village community facilities were built in the 1990s and 82% of the buildings were more than 15 years old. Furthermore, 45% of the village community facilities more than 15 years old most have a ground floor in masonry structure. The area of the building is 65% less than $100m^2$. The width of the access entrance, the height of the sink, gas safety valve and so forth were relatively well designed. However, the handrail of the entrance, space in front of the toilet bowl, the height difference between the entrance and floor, the installation of the width of the ramp and stair handrail was relatively incomplete. Village community facilities to be built in the future should be universal design fundamentally.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.727-733
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the awareness toward oral health and plaque removal in the elderly people in Korea. Methods: An interview method was carried out to 308 elderly people from a senior welfare facility in Mokpo, Jeonnam from May 1 to December 30, 2011 after receiving informed consents. Except 4 incomplete answers, data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The questionnaire consisted of demographical characteristics of the subjects, experience of plaque removal, recognition towards plaque removal, and correlation to systemic diseases. Results: Most of the elderly people experiences plaque removal(63.4%) and 55.9% had revisit intention. Those having plaque removal accounted for 47.8% and they had good subjective oral health recognition. Those not having plaque removal accounted for 61.8% and 61.8% having average systemic health condition and 53.3% having poor oral health recognition. The plaque removal was closely related to subjective oral health recognition. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop the preventive oral health program for the elderly people. The plaque removal in the elderly people is the most important services to prevent the systemic diseases including hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, nervous disease, and gastrointestinal diseases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was to identify nursing interventions which were perceived highly in the importance and performance of nursing interventions by nurses in long-term care facilities for elderly. Method: Data was collected from nurses working in long-term care facilities for elderly over 2 years who participated in continuous education by Korea Association of Senior Citizens Welfare Institution. Data was analyzed using mean and paired t-test to compare difference between the importance and performance of each nursing intervention. Results: Among 264 nursing intervention, 49 nursing interventions were considered highly important and performed very often by nurses. Especially, 11 nursing interventions had significant difference between the importance and the performance, which meant that nurses perceived them as the most important and they were not implemented often as much as that by nurses. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that what kinds of the nursing interventions were perceived highly important and performed very often by nurses in long-term care facilities for elderly. These nursing interventions can be utilized in the development of standardized nursing intervention classification to be used for the long-term care facilities for elderly.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.39-55
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• 2001

Concerns about paid-facilities for the elderly with dementia from middle and upper class families have been discussed lately in Korea. Small-scale, home-like group homes for the elderly with dementia were developed in Sweden in the 1980, but they have not been effectively introduced in Korea where they remain a comparatively new concept. The group home, however, would provide a good alternative to Koreans who feel guilty when they have to leave their frail parents in large-scale facilities or hospitals instead of caring for them at home. The aim of this paper is, first, to define the care of the demented elderly who come from upper and middle class families in Korea and, secondly, to discuss the need for group homes to help care for them. A survey was done by questionnaire and was answered by 577 respondents who belonged to middle and upper class families living in Korea in December 2000. Methods of analysis were frequency, mean, and Chi-square. The results of this study were as follows: 1) the traditional notion that the eldest son should be burdened with the primary responsibility for a demented parent has weakened remarkably; 2) a small-scale long-term care facility was considered the most desirable living environment for the demented elderly; 3) the facilities families needed for professional hospitals for victims of dementia, senior citizen centers, large and small-scale long-term care facilities, day-care centers, and short-stay and service housing. The study also revealed that there was low awareness of the group home. The most preferred type of structure for group homes was a single-family detached house, and the most preferred management system was small-scale that could create home-like atmosphere. Additionally the respondents wanted group homes to consist of 6-8 residents with 2-4 persons per room. The results of this study strongly suggest that policy makers should encourage the development of smallscale group homes as an alternative form of housing for the elderly with dementia.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.67-84
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• 2022

This study aimed to explore the status of food service outsourcing behavior of long-term care institutions (LTCIs) through a cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire administered between July 16th and August 7th, 2020. The survey respondents were either dietitians or facility managers, who worked at 731 nursing homes, 477 group homes, and 673 day-care centers. Approximately 25.9% of nursing homes, 11.7% of group homes, and 33.1% of day-care centers used a managed-services company to operate their food service units. The main reason for outsourcing food service by nursing homes was related to the staffing of dietitians and cooks, whereas group homes and day-care centers outsourced food services due to factors relating to meal costs and the cooking process. Almost all the LTCIs entered into private contracts for outsourced food services. Only a few food service contracts included the types of meals, nutrition standards such as protein and calories per meal, and the parameter or ratio of food cost. Of the respondents, 84.5% from nursing homes, 87.5% from group homes, and 87.1% from day-care centers agreed that the quality of outsourced food services of the LTCIs should be regulated. Meals are essential for maintaining the health and functional status of LTCI users. As more LTCIs outsource their food services, we suggest the following: (1) Increasing the minimum dietitian staffing standards for LTCIs as per the Welfare of Senior Citizens Act and requiring at least one dietitian for every nursing home, (2) Making it mandatory to use a standard food service contract template when drafting food service contract, and (3) Developing realistic standards for food service operations considering the size and operation type of the LTCIs.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1361-1381
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• 2009

There have lately been a variety of social issues in our society due to rapid social changes. Specifically, how to approach elderly people who suffer from dementia is never an easy task, and few in-depth studies have ever focused on their quality of life due to that. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of life of elderly people with dementia and the relationship between their quality of life and the environments of facilities for them in an attempt to lay the foundation for the development of compatible programs tailored to the environments of the facilities and for relevant policy setting. It's ultimately meant to improve the quality of life of the elderly with dementia and the environments of facilities for them. The subjects in this study were elderly people with dementia who were housed in senior residential and medical welfare facilities in Daegu and Gyeongsangbukdo. The collected data were analyzed with a SPSS 12.0 program, and frequency analysis, cross-tabs and multiple logistic regression analysis were utilized. As a result, facility environments were identified as one of the variables that had a significant impact on the quality of life of the elderly people with dementia. There are some suggestions about how to boost their quality of life: First, good environments should be prepared in consideration of the characteristics of elderly people with dementia in order for themto be satisfied with their own quality of life, and the way of looking at their potentials should be changed. Second, it's found that main caregivers affected the quality of life of the elderly people with dementia, and the kind of programs that focus on the improvement of the relationship between elderly people with dementia and their main caregivers is required. Third, there should be a change in the environments of the facilities. The facilities should be well equipped to successfully respond to the symptoms of elderly people with dementia. To redress their poor accessibility to the facilities, infrastructure involving nursing homes and professional personnels should be built by utilizing the Internet, and the facilities and local community should make concerted efforts to provide quality care to elderly people in want of it.