• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.491-505
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• 1992

The purpose of this research was to understand the structure of the lived experience of parents of a child terminally ill with cancer The research question was “What is the structure of the experience of parents of a child terminally ill with cancer\ulcorner” The sample consisted of 17 parents of children admitted to the cancer units of two university hospitals in Seoul. The unstructured interviews were carried out from October 10, 1991 through January 10, 1992. They were audio-recorded and analysed using Van Kaam's method. Parents ascribed the cause of the cancer to the mother's emotional imbalance during pregnancy, the mother's stress, failure to observe religious rites, food, the parent's sin, misfortune and pollution. The theme clusters were tension, fear and depression experienced during pregnancy, stress that children suffer from abusive parents, failure to observe religious activites, bad luck, and sins committed during a previous life. When the child suffered a recurrence of cancer, the parents experienced negative emotions, nervousness, sorrow. depression and death. The theme clusters were feelings of despair, helplessness, regret, guilt, insecurity, emptyness and apathy. The long struggle with cancer resulted in the loss of economic security, loss of psychological and physical well being, and social withdrawal. The theme clusters were the economic burden of medical cost, giving up treatment, debt, limited medical insurance coverage and blood transfusion. The loss of psychological well being included stress, lack of support systems, inability to carry out responsibilities, lack of trust of the medical ten family breakdown, inappropriate expression of emotion and not disclosing the diagnosis to the child. Physically the parents suffered fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, loss of weight, dizzness, headache, psychosomatic symptoms, and increased consumption of liquor and cigarettes. Social withdrawal was manifested by taking time off from work to look after the child, decrease of outside social activities and feelings of isolation. Influences on family life were spousal conflicts, negative response of siblings, separation of the family members and economic hardship. The theme clusters were blaming a spouse for the cause of the illness and disagreements, maladjustment, lonliness, hostility and depression of siblings. The high price of medical care over the long period was a major factor influencing the life of the family. Positive experiences during the child's long illness were the strengthening of support systems and religious beliefs and financial help from social organizations. The support of one's spouse primarily helped to overcome the stress of the long illness. In addition, support was received from parents of other children with cancer and from nurses and religious leaders. The nurse, by providing empathetic support, should be a person with whom parents can express their feelings and share their experiences.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.240-248
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• 2016

Objectives: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) adversely impacts food security in households of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Little research has focused on food insecurity among PLWHA in India. The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of and factors relating to food security in households of PLWHA in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was carried out among 173 PLWHA residing in Siliguri and registered at the Anti-retroviral Therapy Centre of North Bengal Medical College & Hospital. Data was collected at the household level with interviews of PLWHA using a food security survey instrument. We analyzed the associations using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of household food security among the participants was 50.9% (88/173). Five years or more of schooling, higher socioeconomic class and males were found to be significantly associated with a higher likelihood of food security. A later stage of the disease and the presence of other family members with HIV/AIDS were significantly associated with a lower likelihood of food security. The major coping strategies to deal with food insecurity in the acute phase HIV infection included borrowing money (56.1%), followed by spousal support, loans from microfinance institutions, banks, or money lenders, borrowing food, or selling agricultural products. Conclusions: The present study revealed that only about half of households with PLWHA were food secure. Prior interventions relating to periods of food and economic crisis as well as strategies for sustaining food security and economic status are needed in this area.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.295-332
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• 2017

The main purpose of this research is to analyze stress, social support and coping behavior of adults based on their level of self-efficacy. A total of 899 adults (399 male; 500 female), each with a child attending either elementary and secondary school, participated in the study. The inter-rater reliability for the open-ended questionnaire utilized in the study was 93.4%, with a Kappa coefficient of .92. The range of Cronbach α for the variables measured through a quantitative method was .87~.92. The results were as follows: First, the representative responses to the question about their most painful stress experiences were, financial difficulties, child rearing and duties of workplace. The Lower Efficacy group, compared to the Upper Efficacy group, responded much more with financial difficulties related responses. There were significant differences in the level of stress symptoms according to level of self-efficacy. The Lower Efficacy group expressed stronger levels of stress symptoms when compared to the Upper Efficacy group. Second, in terms of social support, the participants responded that they received the most help from their family members, followed by none(self), and friends. When comparing the two efficacy groups, the Upper Efficacy group responded most frequently that they received social support from their family members, whereas the Lower Efficacy group indicated none. There were significant differences in the level of relational conflicts according to the level of self-efficacy. The Upper Efficacy group showed much less conflict in parent-child relations, spousal relations and relations with their boss, compared to the Lower Efficacy group. Third, for the type of social support participants received, the most frequent response was emotional support, followed by none, and advice. Relatively, when comparing the two groups with each other, the Lower Efficacy group responded more frequently with none, whereas for the Upper Efficacy group responded more frequently with advice. There were significant differences in the amount of emotional support received according to level of self-efficacy. The Upper Efficacy group received much more emotional support from their spouses and their bosses compared to the Lower Efficacy group. Fourth, the most frequently adopted coping style to stress was self-regulation, followed by direct problem solving, and nothing(none). The most frequent response for the Upper Efficacy group was direct problem solving, whereas for the Lower Efficacy group was nothing(none). There was a significant difference in coping efficiency to stress according to level of self-efficacy. The Upper Efficacy group coped more efficiently with stress than the Lower Efficacy group.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1-17
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of family characteristics of the baby boomer generation on the level of their later life preparation. This study randomly sampled a birth cohort between 1955 and 1963 consisting of participants living in Seoul, South Korea with a spouse and a child/children. This study investigated a total of 455 subjects from March 2 to March 20, 2016. The study findings are summarized as follows. This study analyzed the characteristics of baby boomers' family relationships and their effects on their later life preparation. It was found that 55.4% of the subjects had at least 2 children, and 44.6% had 1 child. Concerning their children's marital status, 33.8% had married children and 66.2% had unmarried children. The level of their children's support was found at 2.82 points (standard deviation [SD] = .64), which is slightly higher than the mean value of 2.5. The spouse satisfaction among the subjects was found to be 3.59 (.79) which is higher than the mean value of 3. The general status of later life preparation was 2.70 (SD = .44), which is lower than the mean value of 3. In the sub-dimension, the level of social preparation was 2.98 points (SD = .61); the level of economic preparation was 2.60 (SD = .64); and the level of physical preparation was 2.53 (SD = .45). All the values were lower than the mean value of 3. The overall status of later life preparation of the subjects in this study was low. The physical preparation level was particularly low. To analyze the factors that affect baby boomers' later life preparation, a hierarchical regression analysis was implemented. As a result, a significant effect was found in specific factors, such as spouse satisfaction (${\beta}$ = .32, p < .001), age (${\beta}$ = .26, p < .001), number of children (${\beta}$ = -.18, p <.001), health status (${\beta}$ = .18, p < .001), gender (${\beta}$ = -.11, p < .05), household income (${\beta}$ = .10, p < .05), and children's marital status (${\beta}$ = .10, p < .05). That is, the higher the spousal satisfaction, the older the age, and the lower the number of children, the higher the levels of later life preparation. Further, a higher level of later life preparation was observed in women, those with higher household incomes, and those with married children.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.379-407
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• 2020

This study examined the psychological and social factors of middle-aged conglomerate executives in Korea for successful adaptation after their involuntary retirement. For this, in-depth interviews on 13 retired executives (male, average age 58.2) including changes over time and their assessment or interpretation on them were conducted, and the contents were analyzed in phenomenological methods. As a result, 'financial preparation' and 'spousal support' were predisposing factors of adaptation. The starting point of adaptation was 'acceptance of reality', which consisted of subfactors such as reevaluating the past life, acknowledging various changes and deviating from the past, accepting themselves as common retiree in the 50s, living with anxiety, and the need of proper time. Next, they made cognitive and emotional reevaluations and reevaluated the value of life, and reestablished 'psychological reconstruction' and 'ego identity' through new activities that they chose. Their retirement and adaptation processes after retirement are the conflicting process from their experience as a conglomerate executive that satisfied psychological and social capital and the consequent story on maladaptive coping style, as well as a narration in cognitive, emotional and behavioral perspectives to overcome such disharmony. Results of this study provides implications for corporations, nation and retirees on handling retirement.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1083-1101
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to describe how the structural and functional features of social network change among widowed middle and older adults and to examine the effect of personal predictors of the social network change. Data was obtained from men and women between 45 to 98 years of age(N=118) who were bereaved by the death of their spouse since the first wave survey and participated in the second wave survey of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA). The main findings are as follows: First, their social network after the bereavement was strengthened centered around children; for example, the number of adult children living in proximity to the parent, frequency of contact with children, and the financial and non-financial support from children generally increased. Second, the social network change pattern was categorized into four types such as "overall increased type," "children-centered increased type," "children/close relationship-centered increased type," and "stagnation type." Finally, the health condition of the widowed middle and older adults was a strong predictor of the social network change.