• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2011

In 1967, the problem of occupational lead exposure came to public attention in Korea. Since then, regular progress has been made in lowering workplace lead exposures, instituting new workplace controls, and implementing health examinations of exposed workers. Past serious lead poisoning episodes made it possible to introduce biological monitoring programs on a voluntary basis in high-lead-exposure facilities in Korea. Industry-specific occupational health services for lead workers in Korea during the last 22 years can be categorized into three phases. During the first phase (1988-1993), efforts were directed at increasing awareness among workers about the hazards of lead exposure, biological monitoring of blood zinc protoporphyrin began, and a respiratory protection program was introduced. During the second phase (1994-1997), a computerized health management system for lead workers was developed, blood-lead measurement was added to biologic monitoring, and engineering controls were introduced in the workplace to lower air-lead levels to comply with air-lead regulations. Finally, during the third phase (1998-present), a new biomarker, bone-lead measurement by X-ray fluorescence, was introduced. Bone-lead measurement proved to be useful for assessing body burden and to demonstrate past lead exposure in retired workers. Occupational health service practice for lead workers, including the industry-specific group occupational health system, has brought considerable success in the prevention of lead poisoning and in reducing the lead burden in Korean lead workers during the last several decades. The successful achievement of prevention of lead poisoning in Korea was a result of the combined efforts of lead workers, employers, relevant government agencies, and academic institutes.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.71-81
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• 2016

The objective of this study is to suggest methods to improve in-home service quality through service evaluation by long-term care workers. To achieve this objective, general characteristics of 223 long-term care workers, evaluation of service and agency, and retraining needs have been surveyed. An assessment of the survey results have resulted in the following conclusions. Though long-term care workers are not uneducated, the majority face unstable employment. And the content of supervision hoped for in producing improved long-term care services has been found to be based on the service-user's relationships. Moreover, among topics needing to be addressed for retraining, much attention has been shown for understanding of the elderly and their families, health care knowledge about geriatric diseases, and counseling techniques directed towards the affected person and their family. Findings from the research are as follow: enhancing the quality of long-term care requires a structural reassessment; upgrading the quality of care agencies requires the improvement of methods used to raise awareness of users and their guardians and the expansion of opportunities for education programs for professionalism.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.177-200
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• 2008

The study is to investigate the extent to which public sector and private sector have established local governance at the community level. Also, it examines similarity and dissimilarity in the perception of unmet needs in the community service delivery system among local officials and workers in social service agencies for poor female-headed households, using survey questionnaire. It finally aims to propose more effective way of local governance between officials and workers in service agencies, and to improve living conditions for poor female headed households. Results show that first, about 70% of survey participant assess community governance and network system do not work well. Second, the more positive people evaluate their outreach efforts and the network level among community service agencies, the more they perceive that unmet needs are satisfied and recipients are well benefited. Third, the perceptions are significantly different in the extent of service delivery and the unmet needs between local officials and service workers who implement direct social service to female-headed households, after controlling for other related factors. In conclusion, suggestions are given to develope more effective service delivery system for poor female-headed households.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.274-282
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• 2020

This study examined the effect of job stress and mental health factors on the oral symptoms of caring service workers in Seoul. For the research method, a survey was conducted from July 24 to August 6, targeting 150 caring service workers. The survey items were job stress, mental health (physical symptoms, anxiety, and insomnia), and self-diagnosed oral symptoms. The results of the study were as follows. Job stress (p=0.001) had a significant effect on the oral symptoms. In addition, physical symptoms (p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (p<0.001), and insomnia symptoms (p<0.001) all had significant effects on the oral symptoms. Among the risk factors, physical symptoms had the greatest influence on oral symptoms. In addition, according to the correlation result of job stress, anxiety symptoms, insomnia symptoms, oral symptoms, as job stress increases, physical symptoms (p<0.001), anxiety symptoms (p<0.001), insomnia symptoms (p<0.001), oral symptoms (p<0.01) showed an increasing positive correlation and a statistically significant difference. Physical and psychological labor power is greatly exhausted by care service workers performing tasks that require physical and mental care for those who are being cared for. Therefore, there is a need for systematic expansion measures for the mental health of workers and the introduction of customized oral health education programs to improve oral health because improved health and oral health conditions can increase work performance.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.476-484
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• 2021

In this study, we analyze the relationships between long-term care workers' person-centeredness and job satisfaction, emotional labor, and service quality. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 460 long-term care workers in long-term care facilities. In the research model, person-centered care was verified using independent variables, with emotional labor (surface behavior, internal behavior) and job satisfaction applied as parameters, and service quality applied as a dependent variable. The results of this study are as follows. First, the fit of the model is good. Second, the implicit behavior of emotional labor is found to be an important factor affecting service quality. Also, emotional labor is an important mediator, improving the value of person-centered care and service quality. There is a positive correlation between internal behavior and service quality, and a negative correlation between surface behavior and service quality. Third, emotional labor (surface behavior, internal behavior) is the most influential variable in terms of service quality. The results of this study demonstrate the necessity to pay clinical and academic attention to person-centered care in terms of long-term care workers' emotional labor and service quality.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.97-124
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• 2021

In medical institutions, there are radiation-related workers such as radiological technologists, physicians, dentists, and dental hygienists who handle diagnostic radiation generators. Also, there are work assistants, such as nurses and assistant nurses, who assist in radiation treatment or transfer patients to the radiation examination room. Radiation exposure management for radiation-related workers is carried out under the 「Medical Service Act」, but there is no legal basis for work assistants, etc. And the management of radiation exposure for diagnosis is regulated by the 「Medical Service Act」, and the management of radiation exposure by therapeutic radiation and nuclear medical examination is governed by the 「Nuclear Safety Act」. Thus, to improve the management of radiation exposure for diagnosis, the regulations on radiation exposure management for diagnosis under the 「Medical Service Act」 were compared and reviewed with those of the 「Nuclear Safety Act」. As a result, the main contents are as follows. First, it is necessary to legislate to include nurses, assistant nurses, and clinical practice students who are likely to be exposed to radiation besides radiationrelated workers as subjects of radiation exposure management for diagnosis. Second, when a radiation-related worker for diagnosis is confirmed to be pregnant, the exposure dose limit should be defined. Third, it is necessary to revise the regulations on the types of personal exposure dosimeters in the 「Rules on the Safety Management of Radiation Generators for Diagnostics」. Fourth, it seems that health examination items for radiation-related workers, radiation workers, and frequent visitors should be the same. Fifth, It is necessary to unify and regulate diagnostic radiation and all medical radiation, including therapeutic radiation and nuclear medicine, in one legal system.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2015

Working the night-shift and long working hours may be linked to insomnia. The purpose of this study is to determine the association between night-shift work and long working-hours with regard to subjective insomnia in Korean workers. This study was based on the Third Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS) conducted on workers in 2011. The total number of individuals included in the analysis was 34,708 workers. Adjusted odd ratios showed statistically effective associations to insomnia. For night-shift work, the results were 2.71 (1.53 - 4.82) for night shift work by experts and managers, 2.95 (2.11 - 4.11) for night-shift work by officers, and 3.90 (2.05 - 7.42) for night-shift work by engineers compared with day duty. For long working hours, the scores were 2.43 (1.68-3.51) for >52 working hours by officers, 1.72 (1.15 - 2.58) for those in sales and service compared to ${\leq}40$ working hours. We suggest the need for Korean workers to target specific groups when creating policies related to reasonable environmental conditions.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.197-200
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• 2013

Background: A variety of sociodemographic factors, such as gender, age, household income, and educational level, influence individuals' likelihood of smoking.Work-related factors may also be linked to smoking behavior.We sought to investigate the relationship between smoking and work environment in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to determine whether there was an association between smoking and occupation type (e.g., manual, nonmanual, or service work), night-shift work, and hours worked/week (e.g., <40, 40-48, 49-60, or >60 hours) for 4,685 workers. Regression models were adjusted for sociodemographic variables such as age, recent alcohol consumption, hours slept, educational level, and household income. Results: The prevalence of smoking was 50.1% in men and 7.2% in women. For women, manual workers had 2.34 times [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02-5.36] greater odds of smoking compared with nonmanual workers, whereas service workers had 2.37 times greater odds (95% CI: 1.28-4.40). Furthermore, women who worked 49-60 hours had 2.21 times greater odds of smoking (95% CI: 1.10-3.75) as compared with women who worked 40-48 hours. Conclusion: Women who work long hours or who are employed in service or manual positions are more likely to smoke. These results indicate a need in South Korea to target these specific groups when creating nonsmoking policies.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.311-317
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• 2017

The purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of social support on the job performance of workers at care facilities for elderly. For the study, a survey was conducted on 176 workers at care facilities for elderly in Gyeongsangbuk-do from the 5th of September of 5th of November, 2016. For the analysis, SPSS WIN 18.0 and Amos 21.0 programs were used to conduct t-test, one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis at a significance level of 5%. The research results were as follows. First, the level of social support on the workers varied depending on their marital status, religions and years of service, while no difference was found for different genders, ages, education levels, positions, monthly incomes and workloads. Second, the job performance of the workers varied with their marital status, with the married workers performing at higher level then single workers. Third, it was found that the job performance of workers at care facilities for elderly has positive correlation with the level of social support. This paper is required to be used as a primary source for political development on the job performance of workers at care facilities for elderly.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2020

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) is characterized by persistent airflow limitations associated with chronic inflammatory response due to noxious particles or gases in the lung. Increasing oxidative stress associated with COPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influencing factors of biomarkers for oxidative stress in retired miners with COPD. Methods: The levels of total peroxide(TPx), total antioxidant capacity(TAC), and oxidative stress index(TPx/TAC ratio, OSI) in plasma as biomarkers for oxidative stress, serum C-reactive protein(CRP) as a biomarker for inflammation, and general characteristics were measured in 93 male subjects with COPD. COPD was defined as post bronchodilator FEV₁/FVC<0.7 by spirometry. Results: Mean levels of TPx(p=0.013), TAC(p=0.010), OSI(p=0.040), and CRP(p=0.024) were higher in current smokers. Levels of TPx(β=0.445, p<0.001), TAC(β=0.490, p<0.001), and OSI(β=0.351, p<0.001) were related to CRP levels, and CRP levels were related to %FEV₁ predicted(β=-0.295, p=0.003) and current smoking(β=0.214, p=0.032). Conclusions: These results suggest that oxidative stress was related to inflammation, and inflammation were related to decreasing %FEV₁ predicted and current smoking in retired miners with COPD.