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A Study on Users' Resistance toward ERP in the Pre-adoption Context (ERP 도입 전 구성원의 저항)

  • Park, Jae-Sung;Cho, Yong-Soo;Koh, Joon
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.77-100
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    • 2009
  • Information Systems (IS) is an essential tool for any organizations. The last decade has seen an increasing body of knowledge on IS usage. Yet, IS often fails because of its misuse or non-use. In general, decisions regarding the selection of a system, which involve the evaluation of many IS vendors and an enormous initial investment, are made not through the consensus of employees but through the top-down decision making by top managers. In situations where the selected system does not satisfy the needs of the employees, the forced use of the selected IS will only result in their resistance to it. Many organizations have been either integrating dispersed legacy systems such as archipelago or adopting a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system to enhance employee efficiency. This study examines user resistance prior to the adoption of the selected IS or ERP system. As such, this study identifies the importance of managing organizational resistance that may appear in the pre-adoption context of an integrated IS or ERP system, explores key factors influencing user resistance, and investigates how prior experience with other integrated IS or ERP systems may change the relationship between the affecting factors and user resistance. This study focuses on organizational members' resistance and the affecting factors in the pre-adoption context of an integrated IS or ERP system rather than in the context of an ERP adoption itself or ERP post-adoption. Based on prior literature, this study proposes a research model that considers six key variables, including perceived benefit, system complexity, fitness with existing tasks, attitude toward change, the psychological reactance trait, and perceived IT competence. They are considered as independent variables affecting user resistance toward an integrated IS or ERP system. This study also introduces the concept of prior experience (i.e., whether a user has prior experience with an integrated IS or ERP system) as a moderating variable to examine the impact of perceived benefit and attitude toward change in user resistance. As such, we propose eight hypotheses with respect to the model. For the empirical validation of the hypotheses, we developed relevant instruments for each research variable based on prior literature and surveyed 95 professional researchers and the administrative staff of the Korea Photonics Technology Institute (KOPTI). We examined the organizational characteristics of KOPTI, the reasons behind their adoption of an ERP system, process changes caused by the introduction of the system, and employees' resistance/attitude toward the system at the time of the introduction. The results of the multiple regression analysis suggest that, among the six variables, perceived benefit, complexity, attitude toward change, and the psychological reactance trait significantly influence user resistance. These results further suggest that top management should manage the psychological states of their employees in order to minimize their resistance to the forced IS, even in the new system pre-adoption context. In addition, the moderating variable-prior experience was found to change the strength of the relationship between attitude toward change and system resistance. That is, the effect of attitude toward change in user resistance was significantly stronger in those with prior experience than those with no prior experience. This result implies that those with prior experience should be identified and provided with some type of attitude training or change management programs to minimize their resistance to the adoption of a system. This study contributes to the IS field by providing practical implications for IS practitioners. This study identifies system resistance stimuli of users, focusing on the pre-adoption context in a forced ERP system environment. We have empirically validated the proposed research model by examining several significant factors affecting user resistance against the adoption of an ERP system. In particular, we find a clear and significant role of the moderating variable, prior ERP usage experience, in the relationship between the affecting factors and user resistance. The results of the study suggest the importance of appropriately managing the factors that affect user resistance in organizations that plan to introduce a new ERP system or integrate legacy systems. Moreover, this study offers to practitioners several specific strategies (in particular, the categorization of users by their prior usage experience) for alleviating the resistant behaviors of users in the process of the ERP adoption before a system becomes available to them. Despite the valuable contributions of this study, there are also some limitations which will be discussed in this paper to make the study more complete and consistent.

A Study on Improvement of Vital Registration and Statistics System in Korea (인구동태신고 및 통계조사의 개선방안)

  • 신윤재
    • Korea journal of population studies
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.58-75
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    • 1988
  • 1.Objectives of the Study It is a well known fact that a prompt and reliable data on demographic information is essential in a proper planning and evaluation of any program of national or community level. Especially vital statistics are an important demographic component among demographic information. Realizing the importance of vital statistics, the government has made some efforts for years to improve the vital registration system which has a close relationship with the production of vital statistics. However, it is still observed that there are some limitations in utilizing vital registration data due to considerable amount of vital events which are never registered and registered but not in time or inaccurately, even though vital registration system in Korea has sound legal basis. In this connection, the objectives of the study is as follows :(1) To examine some problems of the vital registration system in various aspects, (2) To make improvement programme of continuous Demographic Survey as a supplementary source of vital statistics, and (3) To find out some alternatives for making it possible to produce and utilize the reliable vital statistics by developing analytical methodologies on that. 2. Current Situation of Vital Registration System All the vital events, i.e. births, deaths, marriages and divorces, are to be registered in time under the Civil Registration Law, Statistics Law and Regulation on Vital Statstics as a duty of people. Some recent tendencies in each of recent registration are summarized as below: (1) The completeness of vital registration .Out of all births which are occurred during a year, around 75% of those compared to the estimates are registered in the year of occurrence. .In case of death registration, the percentage of registration in the year of occurrene has been gradually increased from 86.2% in the year of 1980, but it is still below the level of 90% compared to the estimates. .The percentage of registration for marriages and divorces in the year of occurrence out of total registered numbers was revealed to be 69% and 73% respectively in 1985. (2) Continuous Demographic Survey .It is a kind of sample survey for the purpose of producing reliable vital statistics which could not be provided by the vital registration. .It covers about 17, 000 sample households at national level and important information for vital events are collected in every month by 323 expertized enumerators who are regular staff of the government. .Although the result of the survey seems to be more reliable than of vital registration, the reliability of the data is still bellow the acceptable level if compared with relevant information from other sources such as population census or special surveys. 3. Problems of Vital Registration System There are four major obstacles in improving vital registration system in Korea; (1) In general, policy priority is not given on any programme of improving vital registration system. It is, therefore, very difficult to formulate comprehensive programme through having cooperation from related authorities and sufficient financial assistance. (2) In all the laws related and system itself, there is substantial degree of overlap and irrationality. Registration of each vital event is maintained according to several laws and regulation such as Civil Registration Law, Statistics Law, Resident Registration Law and Regulation on Vital Statistics. However they are mutually overlapped and overall supervision can not be done systematically due to lack of co-operation among the authorities concerned. (3) The administration of vital registration system seems to be working inefficiently, because of most of civil servants who are in charge of vital registration are lacking of conception on vital statistics and also there is a certain extent of regidity in handling the works. Therefore, they are doing their jobs in a passive way. (4) A substantial proportion of vital events occurred is not registered within the legal time limit (i.e. within one month after the occurrence in case of birth and death) or not registered forever. Some of social customs and superstitution seem to be the potential causes especially in case of births and deaths. 4. Recommendations for the Improvement of Vital Statistics (1) Reporting systems such as civil registration, vital statistics and resident registration should be integrated under the single law. Also, administrative supervision, personnel and budget with regard to the registration system should be under the control of a single ministry. (2) It is necessary to simplify the procedures and methods of reporting vital events, i.e., reducing number of sheets of the form, making corrections easily, reducing registration items, etc. (3) Continuous Demographic Survey as a supplementary source of vital registration should be improved and special ad-hoc surveys should be conducted wth regular interval. (4) In-depth analysis should be done using various sources of data on vital statistics. 5. Concluding Remarks From this study, we can notice that temporary campaign and motivation programs are not sufficient to improve the quality of vital statistics. Strong intentions and continuous efforts of the government are needed for the improvement of the vital registration system. Furthermore, most of the data collected through the registration are not properly analyzed and utilized, partly due to the lack of appreciation among high-level governmental officials of the need for vital statistics. It is, therefore, requested that long-term improvement programs of vital statistics be implemented with policy priority and continuous efforts be given to this purpose as a long-term goal of development in Korea.

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The Records and Archives Administrative Reform in China in 1930s (1930년대 중국 문서당안 행정개혁론의 이해)

  • Lee, Won-Kyu
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.10
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    • pp.276-322
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    • 2004
  • Historical interest in China in 1930s has been mostly focused on political characteristic of the National Government(國民政府) which was established by the KMT(中國國民黨) as a result of national unification. It is certain that China had a chance to construct a modern country by the establishment of the very unified revolutionary government. But, it was the time of expanding national crises that threatened the existence of the country such as the Manchurian Incident and the Chinese-Japanese War as well as the chaos of the domestic situation, too. So it has a good reason to examine the characteristic and pattern of the response of the political powers of those days. But, as shown in the recent studies, the manifestation method of political power by the revolutionary regime catches our attention through the understanding of internal operating system. Though this writing started from the fact that the Nationalist Government executed the administrative reform which aimed at "administrative efficiency" in the middle of 1930s, but it put stress on the seriousness of the problem and its solution rather than political background or results. "Committee on Administrative Efficiency(行政效率委員會)", the center of administrative reform movement which was established in 1934, examined the plan to execute the reform through legislation by the Executive Council(行政院) on the basis of the results of relevant studies. They claimed that the construction of a modern country should be performed by not political revolution anymore but by gradual improvement and daily reform, and that the operation of the government should become modern, scientific and efficient. There were many fields of administrative reform subjects, but especially, the field of records and archives adminstration(文書檔案行政) was studied intensively from the initial stage because that subject had already been discussed intensively. They recognized that records and archives were the basic tool of work performance and general activity but an inefficient field in spite of many input staff members, and most of all, archival reform bring about less conflicts than the fields of finance, organization and personnel. When it comes to the field of records adminstration, the key subjects that records should be written simply, the process of record treatment should be clear and the delay of that should be prevented were already presented in a records administrative meeting in 1922. That is, the unified law about record management was not established, so each government organization followed a conventional custom or performed independent improvement. It was through the other records administrative workshop of the Nationalist Government in 1933 when the new trend was appeared as the unified system improvement. They decided to unify the format of official records, to use marker and section, to unify the registration of receipt records and dispatch records and to strengthen the examination of records treatment. But, the method of records treatment was not unified yet, so the key point of records administrative reform was to establish a unified and standard record management system for preventing repetition by simplifying the treatment procedure and for intensive treatment by exclusive organizations. From the foundation of the Republic of China to 1930s, there was not big change in the field of archives administration, and archives management methods were prescribed differently even in the same section as well as same department. Therefore, the point at issue was to centralize scattered management systems that were performed in each section, to establish unified standard about filing and retention period allowance and to improve searching system through classification and proper number allowance. Especially, the problem was that each number system and classification system bring about different result due to dual operation of record registration and archives registration, and that strict management through mutual contrast, searching and application are impossible. Besides, various problems such as filing tools, arrangement method, preservation facilities & equipment, lending service and use method were raised also. In the process this study for the system improvement of records and archives management, they recognized that records and archives are the identical thing and reached to create a successive management method of records and archives called "Records and Archives Chain Management Method(文書檔案連鎖法)" as a potential alternative. Several principles that records and archives management should be performed unitedly in each organization by the general record recipient section and the general archives section under the principle of task centralization, a consistent classification system should be used by classification method decided in advance according to organizational constitution and work functions and an identical number system should be used in the process of record management stage and archive management stage by using a card-type register were established. Though, this "Records and Archives Chain Management Method" was developed to the stage of test application in several organizations, but it was not adopted as a regular system and discontinued. That was because the administrative reform of the Nationalist Government was discontinued by the outbreak of the Chinese-Japanese War. Even though the administrative reform in the middle of 1930s didn't produce practical results but merely an experimentation, it was verified that the reform against tradition and custom conducted by the Nationalist Government that aimed for the construction of a modern country was not only a field of politics, but on the other hand, the weak basis of the government operation became the obstacle to the realization of the political power of the revolutionary regime. Though the subject of records and archives administrative reform was postponed to the future, it should be understood that the consciousness of modern records and archives administration and overall studies began through this examination of administrative reform.

Composition and Development of Archival Content Service for Teaching-learning Materials (교수·학습자료용 기록정보 콘텐츠 서비스의 구성 및 개발)

  • Shim, Sungbo
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.16
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    • pp.201-256
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    • 2007
  • Nowadays Korean main archives and manuscript repositories are planning to develop archival information service for students and teachers in their web sites. This study is aimed at discovering main issues of developing archival information service for students and teachers and finding a solution. The goal of archival information service for students and teachers is the promotion of use through launching service and the gradual growth of archival management program. The customer group is segmented into the students and teachers who are learning and teaching Korean history in classroom. As a result of analyzing curriculum and educational environment, the archival information must be developed into teaching-learning materials. And the processing archival information into archival content is needed. Consequently the character of archival information service for students and teachers is conceptualized as archival content service for teaching-learning materials. At every step of developing archival content service for teaching-learning materials, the next main points are considered and achieved. First, the strategy of customer-focused service must be the same from beginning to end. Second, the growth of traditional archival management(e.g. classification, description and finding aids) must be contributed. Third, the collaboration system leading by professional education staff must be organized. Fourth, the archival information must be related with teaching-learning activities. Fifth, the quality of content is more important than the quantity of it. Sixth, the networking with another agencies for cooperation must be considered.

The Conservation Status and Vitalization Plan for Railroad Car Heritage (철도차량유산의 보존현황과 활성화 방안)

  • Seok, Min-Jae
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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    • v.51 no.2
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    • pp.38-57
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    • 2018
  • Led by the Cultural Heritage Administration, studies on the cultural heritage of railways have merely focused on modern registered cultural heritage and on excavating the cultural heritage of modern rail transportation. Endeavors of institutions relevant to railways to protect the cultural heritage of railways were not sufficiently made. Only the internal guideline to protect the cultural heritage of railways made by the railway corporation is being implemented. This study aims to assert the need to examine the protective measures of the heritage of railroad cars and to vitalize plans of conserving the heritage of railroad cars. Also, plans to protect the heritage of railroad cars and methods to invigorate schemes of protecting the heritage of railroad cars will be suggested. The current situation of protecting the heritage of railroad cars was investigated via a field trip. Through exploring overseas examples of protecting the heritage of the railroad cars, ways to vitalize plans of widely publicizing the heritage of the railroad cars with their historical values were suggested. Results showed that first, the way of openly exhibiting conserved railroad cars by setting up stands other than the way of exhibiting and conserving in one site was necessary. Second, in order to properly preserve and manage the cultural heritage of railways, railroad cars, much like natural monuments or intangible cultural properties, need to be perceived as cultural properties. Also, it is necessary to amend the Cultural Properties Protection Law to include railway heritage. Third, the perception of the cultural heritage of railways should be heightened, and SNS, blogs, and cafes need to strategically promote this heritage in order to increase the public's interest. Fourth, in addition to enacting legislations and gaining institutional support for the cultural heritage of railways, the budget to operate the responsible department, and employing staff for the heritage of railroad cars should be resolved as a priority in order to enhance the capability of managing this cultural heritage. In order to rationally protect the cultural heritage of railways and invigorate plans to protect the cultural heritage of railways, it is necessary to garner administrative and financial support, and enact the appropriate legislation. The heritage of railroad cars is priceless and has a social value in terms of regional icons, historic marks, and the record of life. It is considered that in this situation, the standard of amending both policy and the Cultural Properties Protection Law for the heritage of railroad cars should be urgently established.

Methods of Record Management for Head of Local Government (광역자치단체장의 기록 관리 방안 연구)

  • Lee, Young-eun
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.27
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    • pp.35-88
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    • 2011
  • This study suggested the methods of record management for the heads of local government, which would be the most valuable among local records. In order to conduct a systematic record management for the heads of local government, this study suggested the methods of establishing a record management system regarding regulation arrangement, production registration, preservation, utilization and services. First of all, in order to estimate the record category of the heads of local government, the study examined the duties of the offices of the deputy heads of local government, secretary's offices and information offices, which have been subsidiary & assistance branches in charge of producing the record. In addition, it investigated the present conditions of record management for the heads of local government through the interviews with secretary offices and information offices belonging to 16 cities and provinces and the claims for information disclosure and found out the following problems. They included incomplete record production, non-registration of produced records, abolition of records and taking them out of designated places with due notice, record preservation period regardless of the term of the heads of local government, varied preservation period for the records of the heads of local government by local self-government, short preservation period of primary records and non-management of home pages after the term of the heads of local government. To solve such problems, the study suggested the regulation arrangement for record management and a record management system. The regulation arrangement could be obtained through the establishment of the administrative organization setup condolence etiquette enforcement regulation and the recorders in local government and the revision of operation rules and through the revision of the reference plan for operation rules enactment of recorders from National Archives of Korea. As for the record management system, the study suggested the establishment of production, registration and preservation system of records for the heads of local government and the utilization and services of their records. In order to produce and register the records, the unit assignments should be founded by department in charge of the duties related to the records of the heads of local government on record management criteria, thus letting the staff surely produce and register the records. In terms of utilization and services of the records, the study suggested the use of websites and drawing up the record list, through which each record viewer would be able to figure out which records have been managed through the list services and which services could be given to the residents, thus letting the residents and the heads of local government who finished their term of duties use the records.

Clinical Practice Guideline for Cardiac Rehabilitation in Korea

  • Kim, Chul;Sung, Jidong;Lee, Jong Hwa;Kim, Won-Seok;Lee, Goo Joo;Jee, Sungju;Jung, Il-Young;Rah, Ueon Woo;Kim, Byung Ok;Choi, Kyoung Hyo;Kwon, Bum Sun;Yoo, Seung Don;Bang, Heui Je;Shin, Hyung-Ik;Kim, Yong Wook;Jung, Heeyoune;Kim, Eung Ju;Lee, Jung Hwan;Jung, In Hyun;Jung, Jae-Seung;Lee, Jong-Young;Han, Jae-Young;Han, Eun Young;Won, Yu Hui;Han, Woosik;Baek, Sora;Joa, Kyung-Lim;Lee, Sook Joung;Kim, Ae Ryoung;Lee, So Young;Kim, Jihee;Choi, Hee Eun;Lee, Byeong-Ju;Kim, Soon
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.52 no.4
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    • pp.248-329
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    • 2019
  • Background: Though clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are an effective and widely used treatment method worldwide, they are as yet not widely accepted in Korea. Given that cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Korea, it is urgent that CR programs be developed. In 2008, the Government of Korea implemented CR programs at 11 university hospitals as part of its Regional Cardio-Cerebrovascular Center Project, and 3 additional medical facilities will be added in 2019. In addition, owing to the promotion of CR nationwide and the introduction of CR insurance benefits, 40 medical institutions nationwide have begun CR programs even as a growing number of medical institutions are preparing to offer CR. The purpose of this research was to develop evidence-based CPGs to support CR implementation in Korea. Methods: This study is based on an analysis of CPGs elsewhere in the world, an extensive literature search, a systematic analysis of multiple randomized control trials, and a CPG management, development, and assessment committee comprised of 33 authors-primarily rehabilitation specialists, cardiologists, and thoracic surgeons in 21 university hospitals and 2 general hospitals. Twelve consultants, primarily rehabilitation, sports medicine, and preventive medicine specialists, CPG experts, nurses, physical therapists, clinical nutritionists, and library and information experts participated in the research and development of these CPGs. After the draft guidelines were developed, 3 rounds of public hearings were held with staff members from relevant academic societies and stakeholders, after which the guidelines were further reviewed and modified. Results: CR involves a more cost-effective use of healthcare resources relative to that of general treatments, and the exercise component of CR lowers cardiovascular mortality and readmission rates, regardless of the type of coronary heart disease and type and setting of CR. Conclusion: Individualized CR programs should be considered together with various factors, including differences in heart function and lifestyle, and doing so will boost participation and adherence with the CR program, ultimately meeting the final goals of the program, namely reducing the recurrence of myocardial infarction and mortality rates.

Survey of Knowledge on Insomnia for Sleep Clinic Clients (수면클리닉을 방문한 환자들의 불면증에 대한 인식조사)

  • Soh, Minah
    • Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.23-32
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    • 2019
  • Objectives: Insomnia is not only the most common sleep-related disorder, but also is one of the most important. Knowledge of the comorbidities of insomnia is essential for proper treatment including pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods to prevent disease chronification. This study aimed to determine sleep clinic patients' knowledge of insomnia. Methods: This study recruited 44 patients (24 males and 20 females; mean age $54.11{\pm}16.30years$) from the sleep clinic at National Center for Mental Health. All subjects were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire about their reasons for visiting a sleep clinic and about their knowledge of treatment and comorbidities of insomnia. Results: The reasons for visiting the sleep clinic were insomnia symptoms of daytime sleepiness, irregular sleeping time, nightmares, snoring, and sleep apnea, in that order. Of the responders, 72.7% had a comorbidity of insomnia, and 22.7% showed high-risk alcohol use. In addition, 70.5% of responders chose pharmacological treatment of insomnia as the first option and reported collection of information about treatment of insomnia mainly from the internet and medical staff. More than half (52.3%) of the respondents reported that they had never heard about non-pharmacological treatments of insomnia such as cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT-I) or light therapy. The response rate about comorbidities of varied, with 75% of responders reporting knowledge of the relation between insomnia and depression, but only 38.6% stating awareness of the relation between insomnia and alcohol use disorder. Of the total responders, 68.2% were worried about hypnotics for insomnia treatment, and 70% were concerned about drug dependence. Conclusion: This study showed that patients at a sleep clinic had limited knowledge about insomnia. It is necessary to develop standardized insomnia treatment guidelines and educational handbooks for those suffering from insomnia. In addition, evaluation of alcohol use disorders is essential in the initial assessment of sleep disorders.

Development of nutrition quotient for elementary school children to evaluate dietary quality and eating behaviors (학령기 아동 대상 영양지수 개발과 타당도 검증)

  • Lee, Jung-Sug;Hwang, Ji-Yun;Kwon, Sehyug;Chung, Hae-Rang;Kwak, Tong-Kyung;Kang, Myung-Hee;Choi, Young-Sun;Kim, Hye-Young
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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    • v.53 no.6
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    • pp.629-647
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    • 2020
  • Purpose: This study was undertaken to develop a nutrition quotient for elementary school children (NQ-C) for evaluating the overall dietary quality and eating behaviors. Methods: The NQ-C was developed by implementing 3 stages: item generation, item reduction, and validation. Candidate food behavior checklist (FBC) items of the NQ-C were derived from systematic literature reviews, expert in-depth interviews, statistical analyses of the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, and national nutrition policies and recommendations. For the pilot survey, 260 elementary school students (128 second graders and 132 fifth graders) completed self-administered questionnaires as well as 24-hour dietary intakes, with the help of their parents and survey team staff, if required. Based on the pilot survey results, expert reviews, and priorities of national nutrition policy and recommendations, checklist items were reduced from 41 to 24. A total of 20 items for NQ-C were finally selected from results generated from 1,144 nationwide samples surveyed. Construct validity of the NQ-C was assessed using the confirmatory factor analysis, LInear Structural RELations. Results: Analyses of the exploratory factors of NQ-C identified that 5 dimensions of diet (balance, diversity, moderation, practice and environment) accounted for 46.2% of the total variance. Standardized path coefficients were used as weights of the items. The NQ-C and 5-factor scores of the subjects were calculated using the obtained weights of the FBC items. Conclusion: Our data indicates that NQ-C is a useful and suitable instrument for assessing nutrition adequacy, dietary quality, and eating behaviors of Korean elementary school children.

A Comparative Analysis of Childcare Expansion and Social Investment in Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, Japan and South Korea (스웨덴, 프랑스, 독일, 영국, 일본, 한국의 아동 돌봄 체제와 사회투자에 대한 비교 연구)

  • An, Mi-Young
    • 한국사회정책
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.169-193
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    • 2013
  • This paper examines how a social investment approach can be applied in a comparative analysis of childcare arrangements. We compared changes in Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, Japan and Korea during the 2000s, focusing on four dimensions of social investment: activation, gender equality, quality of care, and the degree of state's intervention in the family. We considered leave systems and the number of children enrolled in formal care and education facilities as indicators for labour market activation. For gender equality, women's position in employment is considered with respect to labour market participation rates, proportion of permanent employment, and wage-sex ratio. Quality of care concerns child-to-staff ratio and care provided with government quality control. The state's intervention was measured as social spending on families as proportions of GDP and total social spending. Our analysis provides empirical evidence that Sweden and France are pioneers in this arena and that the UK, Germany, Korea, and Japan are path-shifters in their care paradigms, albeit to varying degrees. Is the social investment approach an adequate paradigm for care? In a normative sense, this approach has potential. However, the following issues remain unaddressed: gender equality should be achieved through an expansion in good-quality jobs, fathers should be encouraged to take on childcare duties, and families should have universal access to good-quality childcare services controlled by the government.