• International Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.33-41
• /
• 2014

The bra is one of the most essential pieces of women's underwear which gives support for the breasts and holds them in position to make better outer appearance of upper body. Despite being worn by most women of all ages, brassiere manufacturers often use brassiere sizes and shapes that are close to the body measurements of women in their 20s, which raises questions whether the bras are suitable for older women's physique. Also, many lingerie markets tend to center on designs and tastes of younger women, leaving those of older women are largely ignored in the manufacturing process despite the fact that their purchasing power and market shares are expected to grow in conjunction with the aging of the global population. Against this backdrop, this study attempts to provide information about bra preferences and breast perceptions of the middle-aged and older US women over the age of 40 years to help manufacturers better understand the bra purchasing priorities and bra elements of older women and prompt them to design bras with a high level of fit and comfort that are appreciated by the population groups as a means to ultimately acquire competitive edge in the fast growing aging market. An email survey and interviews were conducted with 301 US women who live in New York City. The findings of this study suggest that there are internal and external factors such as changes in body and breast shapes with age influence the level of fitness and effectiveness of bra components, and thus the responses to the questions on bra preferences and breast perceptions varied between the researched age groups.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.923-936
• /
• 2012

Apparel companies define their target customers to integrate consumers' needs into their product development processes. The sizing standards play a significant role in ready-to-wear garment business. Consumers' body build and sizes are different according to gender, age, and body type. The consumers' morphological feature of the one geographical area has changed with immigration, aging, and lifestyle change. In this study the way of defining body types in the standard garment sizing systems published in USA., UK, Germany, Japan, and Korea were compared. The results of this study show that most of the systems classified the body types by the index value. The chest-waist drop value was used for men's body type classification. Women's body types were defined by hip proportion. The hip-bust drop value was used for it. German and European garment sizing systems provide a wide range of men's body types. US men's garment sizes are developed for very conservative body type. US women's garment sizing system has had clearly defined women's body types. The Misses body types projected in the US garment sizing system had changed as women's waist girth got bigger compared to the past. In 2011 the US Misses sizes were divided into Curvy Misses size and Straight Misses size by the hip-waist drop value. The Curvy Misses sizes have smaller waist girth and larger hip girth than the Straight Misses sizes.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.107-112
• /
• 2017

In this paper, I studied several universities which are especially famous for video and media fields in the United States to develop our international competitiveness. I selected the outstanding US universities and researched the various indexes of corresponding department, internship program and other activities related with company. Then, analyzed the research results and compared with the department of Video Broadcasting at the K women's university in our country. As a result, the retention rate and the graduate rate of the 4-years universities(bachelor's degree) are very higher than the 2-years associated degree among the US universities. On the other hand, although the department of Video Broadcasting at the K women's university is the associated degree course, it shows up the highest the retention rate and the graduate rate than the US universities. Therefore, we are able to recognize that K Women's University has managed its students well. However, the employment rate of the K Women's University was poor than the US universities due to the lack of the internship programs, other activities supported by companies and the career service center.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.241-251
• /
• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore preserved belief system supporting Korean immigrant women's Taekyo practices and influencing factors while they observe the tradition within US sociocultural context. Methods: Leininger's exploratory focused ethnographic approach was used. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with purposive sample of sixteen Korean immigrant women who gave birth in the US within last 6 months. Researcher's observation and reflective field notes were also integrated into the interview data. Leininger and McFarland's four phases of ethnographic analysis guided data analysis process. Results: The perceived belief system supporting Taekyo practices included Taekyo as an enculturated Korean tradition, connecting parents with fetus, and positive impacts on fetal development. And Korean immigrant women's Taekyo practices were influenced by resources of information, woman's orientation toward Taekyo, pressure from local Korean community, and child order. Conclusion: The findings from this research would serve as an important knowledge base to expand US health care providers' understanding of Korean traditional Taekyo practices observed by Korean immigrant women's as important prenatal self-care practices. The findings could also aid in providing more patient-centered and culturally-tailored prenatal care plan to Korean immigrant by including Korean traditional belief system supporting Taekyo practices.

• English & American cultural studies
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.1-25
• /
• 2017

This essay investigates how the industrialization of the US food system was closely linked to US foreign policy, gender issues, and the rise of consumerism in the Cold War era. While many scholars in American studies and women's studies over the past few decades have paid increasing attention to the interrelationship of gender politics and the media industry in shaping US domesticity, they have seldom studied how and why reading gender issues in relation to environmental discourse in general and the industrialized US food system in particular can help us better understand the complex relationship between environmental and social problems that we are facing today, both collectively and individually. In this context, this essay shows how US national politics have not only created the ideal of American domesticity that promotes traditional gender roles and consumerism at the expense of gender equality, but also negatively affected women's somatic and mental health writ large. By closely examining the cultural implications of Nixon's and Khrushchev's Kitchen Debate in the 1950s alongside newspapers, photographs, advertisements, and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (1963), I argue that reading Cold War consumer culture in relation to the US food system leads readers to see the invisible links between gender politics and today's environmental and social problems in comparative and global contexts.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.66-71
• /
• 2013

This study analyzes important factors of foodservice in school through comparison of students' satisfaction of using foodservice in Korea and US in order to meet students' expectations. The survey was composed of 4 categories including menu, service, hygiene, and facility and it was carried out in both countries to evaluate satisfaction. First, comparison of satisfaction between two countries was made using t-test. Secondly, multiple regression was performed to identify factors affecting satisfaction. As a result Korean students were more satisfied than American students in all aspects. However, regardless of nationality, the top three factors affecting the students' satisfaction were the same. The predictors were food taste (Korean 0.375 and American 0.350), menu variety (Korean 0.305 and American 0.278), and service line (Korean 0.226 and American 0.192). Despite the similarity of the predicators, it can be concluded that the difference in satisfaction level between the two nationscan be explained by the approaches to create comfortable and acceptable changes in schools' foodservice. Korea has been increasing the foodservice quality based on their objectives to provide students comfortable and positive environment when eating nutritious meals. However, US have made their main objectives on making changes to decrease youth obesity. Foodservice improvements according to continuous evaluations and surveys are necessary in order to increase students' satisfaction.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.9
• /
• pp.4353-4356
• /
• 2016

Purpose: To study the prevalence of CIN2+ diagnosis in women with atypical Papaniculoau (Pap) smears to suggest appropriate management option for Thai health care. Materials and Methods: Data from all patients with liquid based cytology with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing between May 2013 - May 2016 were collected from medical records. Women with atypical cervical Pap smears were recruited. Results for age, HPV testing, HPV 16, 18, 45 and other genotypes tested, colposcopic examination and histopathological assessment were all collected. Atypical smears were defined as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and atypical squamous cells cannot be exclude high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H). Results: A total of 2,144 cases were recruited. Twenty six women with ASC-US on cytology had high risk (HR) HPV detection while eight cases with ASC-H had HR-HPV (40.0% VS 72.7%, p=0.005). Among the 26 women with ASC-US cytology and positive HR-HPV, HPV type 16 (n=8, 30.8%), type 18 (n=1, 3.8%), type 45 (n=1, 3.8%) and other HPV types (n=17, 65.4%) were found. Eight women with ASC-H and positive HR-HPV demonstrated type 16 (n=6, 75%) and other HPV types (n=2, 25%). Fifty seven women with ASC-US had normal colposcopy, CIN1 and CIN2+ at percentages of 80.7 (46/57), 14.0 (8/57) and 5.3 (3/57), respectively. In the ASC-H group, 7 out of 10 women had normal colposcopy and three (30%) had CIN2+ results. Conclusions: In women with ASC-US cytology, immediate colposcopy is highly recommended. HPV testing can be performed if colposcopy is not an available option because there was high prevalence (5.3%) of CIN2+ in our findings. ASCCP recommendations for ASC-H that colposcopy should be performed on all ASC-H cases regardless of HPV result are thereby supported by the findings of this investigation.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.430.1-430.1
• /
• 2002

The research was designed to identify the overall environment that the Korean pharmacists face in providing counselling to their patients. A nation-wide survey was conducted for both community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists. The results were used to highlight the environmental factors needed for better patient counselling. School curriculums in pharmacy school in Korea and the US were compared to identify future tasks in building more effective professional pharmacy education in Korea. Regulations in the US and Japan were also researched for this purpose. (omitted)

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.107-112
• /
• 1999

Diet quality index DQI) offers a new way of comparing eating habits across populations and across countries. Nutrients and food consumption data from 100 elderly Korean women aged 65 and older were collected in Seoul or Kyunggi-do, Korea by the 24 hour recall method. Diet quality index (DQI) was computed for 1049 elderly women (65 and older) from the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) in the US according to US dietary guidelines, and applied to the diet of elderly Korean women for purposes of comparison. A modified 16-point DQI awarded 2 points each for moderate consumption of fat ($\leq$ 30% energy), saturated fat ($\leq$ 10%), cholesterol ($\leq$ 300 mg/day), sodium ($\leq$ 2400 mg/day), and protein ($\leq$ 100% RDA), adequate intakes of carbohydrate ($\qeq$50% energy) and calcium ($\qeq$ 100% RDA), and plenty of fruits and vegetables ($\qeq$ 5 servings). Criteria were based on US dietary guidelines. Partial scores were given if subjects were close to meeting these cutoff points. Diets with $\leq$ 300 mg cholesterol/day were reported by 97% or the Korean sample and 82% of the American sample, while 90% of the Koreans and 42% of the Americans met the goal of $\leq$ 30% of energy from fat, and 98% of the Koreans and 47% of American met the recommendation of $\leq$ 10% of energy from saturated fat. In contrast, only 8% of the Korean sample met the sodium recommendation of $\leq$ 2400 mg sodium per day, whereas 54% of the American subjects met this goal. The mean DQI scores were 10.1 for the elderly American women and 11.3 for the elderly Korean women. Overall, the elderly Korean diet was more consistent with the US dietary guidelines than the elderly American diet.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.100-112
• /
• 2022

Purpose: This study is a qualitative analysis of Korean-American (K-A) women's cancer prevention in the US. Methods: Qualitative research was conducted. Fifteen K-A women in four states were interviewed. Content theme analysis was used to analyze verbatim transcriptions of interviews. Results: Participants experienced difficulties in utilizing cancer screening programs. Factors include unfamiliarity with the US health care system, high health care costs or lack of health insurance, language barriers, and irregular and sporadic cancer screening participation. Participants also actively pursued non-institutional approaches to cancer prevention. They engaged in word-of-mouth informational exchanges in K-A communities, sought cancer screening in hospitals in Korea, conducted internet searches, autonomously decided on their health issues, and adopted healthy practices including better diets, physical exercise, and spiritual practices. Conclusion: It is necessary to implement measures to increase K-A women's utilization of the US cancer screening services and to encourage their active engagement in hands-on cancer prevention practices. K-A women should be empowered through increased familiarity with US cancer screening services and through the establishment of improved K-A community social services.