• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.947-956
• /
• 2012

This study aims to investigate both general dietary behaviors and clinical symptoms of diet related effects among fifth grade students at an elementary school in Ulsan Metropolitan City, and to categorize those relationships in terms of their comparative differences. The findings of this study are as follows. 1. Out of 694 students polled, 53.7% were of boys and 46.2% were girls with average age of $11.9{\pm}0.3$, average height of $145.1{\pm}6.8cm$, and average weight of $39.7{\pm}9.7kg$. Obesity in boys (5.5%) exceeded girls (3.9%) whereas children categorized as underweight showed girls (14.6%) slightly exceeded boys (10.4%). 2. Dietary behaviors were largely the result of four factors - unbalanced diet, balanced diet, protein and fruits and healthy dietary habits. Of these factors, protein and fruits ($4.04{\pm}1.03$) ranked first, balanced diet ($3.38{\pm}1.04$) second, healthy dietary habits ($3.04{\pm}1.01$) third and unbalanced diet ($2.23{\pm}0.6$) ranked last. 3. When Dietary behaviors were classified with four low ranking factors, they were divided into four types such as convenience (22.4%), good diet (24.7%), busy contemporary modern man (24.3%) and healthy dietary habits (26%). 4. Clinical symptoms include colds ($2.27{\pm}1.15$) followed by headaches ($2.17{\pm}1.19$), stomachaches ($2.16{\pm}1.15$), dizziness ($2.02{\pm}1.15$), atopic allergy ($1.95{\pm}1.30$), prevalence for cold sores ($1.86{\pm}1.07$), allergy ($1.65{\pm}1.05$), and constipation ($1.54{\pm}0.87$). 5. According to the results, clinical symptoms were divided into two groups - unhealthy (40.1%) and healthy (59.9%). 6. By analyzing the relationship between dietary behavior types and clinical symptom types, the convenience factor included slightly more of the unhealthy group (56.3%), whereas the good diet (71.1%), busy contemporary modern person (55.8%) and healthy dietary habits (69.7%) included more of healthy group (p<.001). Since the majority of students belonging to the unhealthy group had convenience dietary behavior, education about desirable dietary activities is needed for these students. In addition, nutrition information and information on possible clinical symptoms caused by nutritional imbalance should be provided for students and their households.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.182-190
• /
• 2004

Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the health status and health behaviors of preschoolers to provide baseline data for developing health promotion programs. Method: Parents of children attending day-care centers were recruited for the study. Participating day-care centers were selected using a stratified sampling method. Data was collected from June to August 2002 using a questionnaire. Result: Among 754 preschoolers, 17.3% were overweight, while 18.2% were underweight. The most frequent infectious diseases that children have had previously were hand-foot-mouth disease (20.2%) and chicken pox (18.7%). Current health conditions that children have frequently are respiratory disease (28%) and atopic dermatitis (23.8%). Only 61% brush their teeth everyday at bedtime, 54.3% wash their hands every time after returning home, 8.8% wear bicycle helmets, 9.3% use a child car seat, and 8.1% eat fruits and vegetables five times a day. Children residing in the metropolitan area were more likely to have positive health behaviors, and children of parents with an advanced college level education were more likely to have positive health behaviors than those with only a high school level education. Conclusion: Based on the study results, health professionals could plan and develop health promotion programs to change unhealthy behaviors of preschoolers targeting high-risk groups.

• Journal of Korea Association of Health Promotion
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.93-104
• /
• 2004

Purpose : This study was conducted to understand the health status and health behaviors of preschoolers to provide baseline data for developing health promotion programs. Method 'Parents of children attending day-care centers and guardians of preschoolers were recruited for the study. Data were collected from June to August2002 using a structured questionnaire. Result . Among 754 preschoolers, 17,3% were overweight, while 18.2% were underweight, while 15.9% and 23.2% were overweight and underweight respectively, among 85 children living with guardians. The most frequent infectious diseases that children have had previously were hand-foot-mouth disease, chicken pox, and measles. Current health conditions that children have frequently are respiratory disease and atopic dermatitis for bother groups. Only 54%-61% brush their teeth everyday at bedtime, 49%-54% wash their hands every time after returning home, 4.5%-8.8%wear bicycle helmets, 9,3%-11.1% use a child car seat, and 3.5%-8.1% eat fruits and vegetables five times a day, Children living with guardians were less likely toper form positive health behaviors compared with children in day-care centers. Conclusion 'Based on the study results, health professionals could plan and develop health promotion programs to change unhealthy behaviors of preschoolers targeting high-risk groups.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.87-98
• /
• 2007

Background: Health promotion services should be provided based on clients' health promotion needs. To provide health promotion services for elementary students in Korea, health promotion needs by geographical regions should be analyzed. Purpose: To analyze elementary students' health behaviors by regions. Method: Elementary students of 4018 from large cities, 1636 from medium sized cities, 328 from rural areas were included. Data collection was done using items from National Health and Nutrition Survey and was collected by mail from schools. For data analysis, Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were utilized. Result: From comparison of health behaviors, there were no significant differences between large cities and medium sized cities. However, there were significant differences between urban students and rural students in terms of fast food intake, breakfast, soft drink intake, sleeping hours, tooth brush, and obesity. Conclusion: Health promotion services, especially correcting unhealthy eating behaviors for rural elementary students should be focused.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.578-591
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to identify the health behaviors, health status, and utilization patterns of health care institutions for homeless shelter residents as well as to compare these research outcomes between younger and older male homeless shelter residents. Methods: The subjects in this study were 357 homeless shelter residents that were recruited by simple random sampling. Data were collected from August to September 2009. Health behaviors, health status, and utilization patterns of health care institutions were measured using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the Chi square test and Fisher's exact test using SPSS 14.0. Results: Both younger and older male subjects showed unhealthy behaviors, and their health status was lower than that of the Health & Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2009. Subjects preferred to utilize national or municipal hospitals as well as pharmacies as opposed to general hospitals, clinics, and public health centers. Conclusion: Differentiated comprehensive health care services and monitoring should be provided to homeless shelter residents based on the needs of each group in order to improve their health status as well as to prevent communicable diseases and complications of chronic diseases.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.15 no.sup1
• /
• pp.41-52
• /
• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Curfew due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could influence health behaviors in people, especially in children, who can easily acquire unhealthy eating habits. This study aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on weight, health behaviors including eating habits, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in children aged 6-15 years in Saudi Arabia. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey that included 280 children aged 6-15 years in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 curfew. The survey included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, and health behaviors including eating habits, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. RESULTS: We observed a significant difference in the body mass index before and after the COVID-19 pandemic (P < 0.001). Children significantly tended to skip breakfast, along with a decreased intake of dairy products and fast food (P < 0.001). Moreover, children were less physically active and significantly tended to be involved in leisure screen-based activities, including watching TV and use of computer/games (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence for the negative influences of the COVID-19 curfew on health behaviors, including eating habits, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in children in Saudi Arabia.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.530-536
• /
• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The concept of "food deserts" has been widely used in Western countries as a framework to identify areas with constrained access to fresh and nutritious foods, providing guidelines for targeted nutrition and public health programs. Unlike the vast amount of literature on food deserts in a Western context, only a few studies have addressed the concept in an East Asian context, and none of them have investigated spatial patterns of unhealthy food consumption from a South Korean perspective. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We first evaluated the applicability of food deserts in a Korean setting and identified four Korean-specific unhealthy food consumption indicators, including insufficient food consumption due to financial difficulty, limited consumption of fruits and vegetables, excessive consumption of junk food, and excessive consumption of instant noodles. The KNHANES 2008-2012 data in Seoul were analyzed with stratified sampling weights to understand the trends and basic characteristics of these eating patterns in each category. GIS analyses were then conducted for the data spatially aggregated at the sub-district level in order to create maps identifying areas of concern regarding each of these indicators and their combinations. RESULTS: Despite significant reduction in the rate of food insufficiency due to financial difficulty, the rates of excessive consumption of unhealthy foods (junk food and instant noodles) as well as limited consumption of fruits and vegetables have increased or remained high. These patterns tend to be found among relatively younger and more educated groups, regardless of income status. CONCLUSIONS: A GIS-based analysis demonstrated several hotspots as potential "food deserts" tailored to the Korean context based on the observed spatial patterns of undesirable food consumption. These findings could be used as a guide to prioritize areas for targeted intervention programs to facilitate healthy food consumption behaviors and thus improve nutrition and food-related health outcomes.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.145-170
• /
• 2003

The purpose of this study was to clarity the concept of health insensitivity using Hybrid model, which consists of three phases： theoretical, empirical, and analytic. In the theoretical phase, the definitions of health insensitivity were searched in korean dictionary and examples used in the websites because the concept of health insensitivity has never been studied before. Two dimensions of health insensitivity emerged out from this investigation were cognitive and behavioral. And then a working definition of health insensitivity was established. The sub-concepts and related factors of health insensitivity were identified through the extensive reviews of the literature focusing on two dimensions of cognitive and behavioral. In the empirical phase, in order to obtain description of health insensitivity, face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with nine persons who are not related to professional health care. Grounded theory approach was applied to analyze these qualitative data. In the final analytic phase, theoretical results and empirical results were analyzed in the integrated way and a theoretical framework of health insensitivity was established. A refined definition of health insensitivity was that decreased health risk perception in cognitive dimension and conduction of the unhealthy behaviors in behavioral dimension. Sub-concepts of decreased health risk perception were optimistic bias and decreased general fear. Sub-concepts of unhealthy behavior were doing health threatening behavior and not doing desirable health behavior. The contact of health information was a causal condition of health insensitivity. Optimistic disposition, health locus of control, and avoidance coping style were intervening conditions of health insensitivity. Three types of health insensitivity were identified： unconcern or ignorance type, optimistic bias type, and cognitive dissonance type. Finally, The implications of these findings for further research and nursing practice are discussed.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.175-181
• /
• 2012

The widespread pursuit of a thin physique may have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of preadolescents. The influence of body image distortions on the lifestyles, dieting behaviors, and psychological factors was investigated in 631 fifth and sixth grade children in Kyeonggi-do, Korea. Children were classified into three weight groups (underweight, normal, and overweight) and three perception groups (underestimation, normal, and overestimation). Necessary information was obtained by questionnaire, and each subject's weight status was determined by the Rohrer index calculated from the annual measurement records, which were obtained from the school. According to their current weights, 57.4% of children were normal and 32.2% were overweight or obese, 16.6% of the children overestimated their body weight, and 55.2% had an undistorted body image. Overweight children had desirable lifestyles and dietary habits and presented reasonable weight control behaviors. Compared to those without distortion, the overestimated group had greater interest in weight control ($P$ = 0.003) and dissatisfaction with their body weights ($P$ = 0.011), presented unhealthy reasons to lose weight ($P$ = 0.026), and had higher scores for "feeling sad when comparing own body with others" ($P$ = 0.000) and for "easily getting annoyed and tired" ($P$ = 0.037), even though they had similar obesity indices. More subjects from the overestimation group ($P$ = 0.006) chose drama/movies as their favorite TV programs, suggesting a possible role for the media in body image distortion. These findings suggest that body image distortion can lead preadolescents to develop stress about obesity and unhealthy dieting practices, despite similar obesity indices to those without distorted body images. These results emphasize the importance of having an undistorted body image.

• Child Health Nursing Research
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.48-55
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the status of caffeine-containing energy drink consumption among Korean nursing students and to identify associated psychological factors. Methods: In total, 187 Korean nursing students participated in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to identify participants' general characteristics and psychosocial factors (self-esteem, academic stress, depression, and college adjustment) associated with energy drink consumption. Data were analyzed with SPSS using descriptive statistics, the $x^2$ test, the t-test, and logistic regression. Results: More than two-thirds (73.3%) of the participants had consumed energy drinks. Among the investigated psychological factors, depression appeared to most strongly influence energy drink consumption behaviors in this population. Conclusion: The consumption of caffeine-containing energy drinks was found to be common among nursing students preparing to become health care professionals; depressed nursing students were more likely to have consumed energy drinks than non-depressed students. Nursing educators should emphasize the early detection of unhealthy beverage consumption habits and provide appropriate education to enhance healthy behaviors in future health care professionals.