• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.242-252
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors influencing depressive symptoms in public and private sector employees. Methods: Survey data on 23,602 workers who had worked in the public or private sector were obtained from the 2014 Korean Working Condition Survey (KWCS). Symptoms of depression were measured using the WHO-5 Well-being Index. Data were analyzed using a $x^2$ test, t-test, and multivariate stepwise logistic regression to determine the factors affecting the symptoms of depression. Results: First, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 41.1 % in public sector employees and 43.4 % in private sector employees. Second, the factors commonly affecting depressive symptoms in public and private sector employees were residence area, cognitive demands, development opportunities, social support from colleagues, social support from supervisors, social community at work, job rewards, and work-family conflict. In addition, age, company size, atypical work, ergonomic risks, quantitative demands, emotional demands, influence, and job insecurity were found to be predictors of depressive symptoms unique to private sector employees. Conclusion: Mental health programs including the employee assistance program (EAP) should be developed and implemented after considering the risk factors affecting depressive symptoms.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2023

Background: Southeast Asia has many people who work in the agriculture sector. Not many stakeholders pay special attention to the health of farmers, even though they are exposed to various types of hazards. One of the most common health complaints among farmers is related to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). This study aims to assess the prevalence of WMSDs and factors associated with them among farmers in Southeast Asia. Methods: A literature search on PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and EBSCO was conducted. Articles were included if they studied ergonomic problems among farmers from 11 countries in the Southeast Asia region and were published during 2015-2022. The Critical Appraisal Skills Program was used to evaluate the quality of the articles. The search process and retrieval process reflected PRISMA's recommendation. Result: There were 14 studies found from 3 countries that had published articles in PubMed and ScienceDirect, including Thailand [8], Indonesia [4], and Malaysia [2]. The prevalence of WMSDs in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia was 78,31%, 81,27%, and 88,39%, respectively. Common factors associated with WMSDs include age, sex, smoking habits, drinking alcohol habits, working period (years), type of work, awkward position, non-ergonomic equipment, repetitive movements, and lifting heavy loads. Conclusion: The prevalence of WMSDs among farmers in Southeast Asia is considerably high. Effective intervention is essential for reducing the prevalence and protecting workers' health and well-being.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.13-33
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• 1999

The aim of this study was to investigate fatigue scores, physical complaints, farmer's syndrome and to find out its risk factors among farmers. The questionnaire survey was conducted to 177 vinyl house workers and 213 farmers who lived in Chongyang gun of Chungnam province from February 24 to March 15, 1998. The obtained main results were followings; 1. The fatigue scores were not significantly different between vinyl house workers and farmers. The fatigue scores were higher in female group, lower education group, shorter sleep hours group(under 8 hours), nonsmoker, nondrinker group than otherwise groups. There was not statistically significant difference between the mean fatigue scores and age, eating habit and body mass index. Duration of farming years in vinyl house and farming area and number of farming workers in farmers family showed a slight relationship with the fatigue score. 2. Health scores were not different between vinyl house workers and farmers. The health states was poorer in female group, lower education group, shorter sleep hours group(under 8 hours), nonsmoker group, and nondrinker group than otherwise groups by health scores. Health scores were not related with age, eating habit and body mass index. 3. The proportion of farmer's syndrome was 49.1% in vinyl house workers and 52.1% in farmers. That was higher in female than in male and the higher proportion was found in the lower education group of vinyl house workers and farmers. The proportion of farmer's syndrome was higher in the group of smoker, alcohol drinkers and over or under weight in vinyl house workers, but did not differ in those of farmers. 4. By multiple logistic regression, sex and sleep hours were risk factors affecting to farmer's syndrome. Odds ration for female group was 2.53 (reference group was male) and that for over 8 sleep hours group was 0.74 (reference group was under 8 sleep hours group). 5. The chief complaints by CMI were "I am difficult to work due to aching the back and the limbs", "I feel prickle pain in the limbs", "I sometimes have a twinge in the limbs", "I am not quite well as having a pain in the limbs", "I feel weaker grasping power than before" in both of vinyl house workers and farmers. Vinyl house workers more frequently pointed out skin darkening, skin disease and hemorrhoids than farmers. 6. According to correspondence analysis, skin disease of vinyl house workers was related to vinyl house farmers and digestive and general symptom was associated with male and endocrinological and muscular symptom was associated with female in vinyl house workers. And it revealed that farmer's syndrome was highly related with female and farmers relatively. By the above results, the fatigue scores, perceive health and farmer's syndrome did not much differ in two groups, but aged female farmers should be considered as female farmers represented higher fatigue score, farmers syndrome and poorer perceive health than male farmers in addition to farmer's syndrome was increased with ageing process. Also feeble but distinguished symptoms which might be due to working environment were observed especially in vinyl house workers and that should be considered and investigated continuously.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.1 s.41
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• pp.74-85
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• 1993

To measure the serum succinyl trialanine p-nitroanilide hydrolytic activity as new index of liver function in workers exposed to organic solvents, this study conducted 114 workers in department of shoe-making of shoes factories. The results obtained from this study were as follows : 1. The mean values of serum GOT, GPT, ${\gamma}GT$ in whole workers were $22{\pm}12.32,\;20{\pm}9.05,\;28{\pm}21.35IU/l$, respectively and the mean value of serum STN hydrolytic activity was $0.08{\pm}0.05$. 2. The serum STN hydrolytic activity was significantly higher for male (p<0.05) and there was no difference among the groups of age. 3. There was no difference in the groups by working hours but significant difference in persons who worked over 3 years or were exposed to toluene over 100ppm (p<0.05). 4. The correlation of the exposed dose of toluene and serum GOT, GPT, ${\gamma}GT$ and serum STN hydrolytic activity were statistically significant (r=0.027-0.518). 5. The exposed dose of toluene was most explainable variable and statistically significant among the factors affecting serum STN hydrolytic activity (p<0.05).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.13-26
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• 1995

An outbreak of dermatosis occurred in a livestock fodder factory at Kyongju in May 1994. Authors conducted a questionnaire survey on 60 workers in the factory and a dermatologist examined their skin lesion. Authors also collected mites and identified them. The obtained results were summarized as follows; 1. Twenty-eight cases of dermatosis were identified with attack rate of 46.7%. Attack rate was not different by department, age, sex, educational level and employment duration. Attack rate was 67.5% in productive worker and 5.0% in clerical workers (p<0.01) but was not significantly different between departments among productive workers (p>0.05). 2. Three cases among 28 dermatosis cases and one subject among 32 non-cases had a history of same dermatosis last year. Only one of dermatosis cases had a history of dermatosis among family members. History of other skin lesion and allergy was very rare in both cases and non-cases. 3. Skin lesions of the cases were rice-sized erythematous rapules or vesicles with a central biting point. Onset date of dermatosis was between May 1 and June 10. Duration was from one day to more than 30 days. Skin lesion was most frequent at the back(75.0%), and also observed at the arms(64.3%), abdomen(60.7%), legs(57.1%), chest(32.1%) and neck (25.0%). Skin lesion was aggravated while workers are sweeping the floor(35.7%), working at the workplace(21.4%) and in bed at night(28.6%). 4. Total 1,637 mites were collected and identified into 3 suborder, 7 families and 17 species. Dermatophagoides farinae was most frequent md most of the species identified were blood sucking mites. Authors concluded that the. outbreak of dermatosis was brought about by mite-bites and grain beetle parasitizing Acarophenax tribolii was the most suspected species. Further studies to identify the specific species causing dermatosis and route of import are needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.479-487
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• 1995

The purposes of this study were to: 1) measure the levels of job satisfaction with five facets of a job: the work itself, promotion, pay, supervision and co-workers, 2) investigate the degree of job characteristics inventory which employees perceived, 3) investigate relationships between job characteristics and job satisfaction levels of the employees in hospital foodservice, 4) measure the levels of organizational commitment and investigate its relationships between job satisfaction and job characteristics, 5) investigate the relationships between job performance and job satisfaction, job characteristics of the employees in hospital foodservice. The questionnaire was developed based on modifying Job Descriptive Index developed by Smith, Kendall, Hulin and Job Characteristics Inventory developed by Sims, Szilagyi, Keller and Affective commitment Scale developed by Meyer and Allen. Subjects consisted of 76 employees in hospital foodservice. Data were analyzed for frequency, means, ANOVA, Duncan multiple range test, and pearson correlation using SAS PC Package. The results of this study were as follows. 1) Most of the respondents were 41 years up(39.5%) and married (92%). High school graduates were 59.2%. 10 years working experienced employees were 35%. 2) A majority of the respondents(44.7%) ranked work itself as the most important aspect. 3) They were the most satisfied with co-workers. 4) Satisfaction with work itself, wage, and supervision were found significantly related to age(p<0.05). 5) Task identify was the most prevalent job characteristics and then task identity. 6) Satisfaction with co-workers were found significantly related to job variety(p<0.05). Satisfaction with supervision and promotion were found significantly related to friendship(p<0.05). 7) Job satisfaction have not correlation with job performance. Satisfaction with supervision, co-workers were positively correlated with organizational commitment(p<0.01). 8) Job characteristics of dealing with others were positively correlated with job performance (p<0.05). Job characteristics of variety, autonomy, task identity were positively correlated with organizational commitment(p<0.05, p<0.01).

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the sanitation management of school foodstuffs and the sanitation knowledge of delivery company workers. A questionnaire that identified employee's food safety sanitation management, knowledge, and practices was developed based on a review of the literature. The subjects consisted of 201 delivery company workers from 38 delivery companies in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk area. The workers were 30-39 years of age (41.3%) with 1-3 years of working experience (30.8%). Approximately 62% of the respondents were educated and had 1-2 years of food safety experience, 52.7% of the respondents delivered foodstuffs to two schools in the morning. The total score for delivery company worker sanitation knowledge was 3.75/7.00, which was low. The total mean sanitary performance score for factory workers was 4.58/5.00. They indicated that the most difficult part of the operation is delivering on time. Temperature management was another difficulty. In order to secure the best quality of school food to be supplied safely, the thorough sanitation education must be conducted to the school dieticians and delivery company managers.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.355-363
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the double mediating effect of ego-resilience and impulsivity in the effects of smartphone addiction on depression among office workers. Research design, data and methodology : The subjects of this study were office workers working in four cities: Seoul, Daejeon, Chungnam, and Chungbuk Province, and the total number of respondents was 286. Descriptive statistics, difference test (t-test, ANOVA), correlation analysis, and double-mediated effect analysis were used for statistics. Results : The results of this study are as follows. First, as a result of the difference analysis, there was no difference in depression according to the general characteristics of the subjects of this study, such as gender, age, marital status, and salary. Second, as a result of correlation analysis, smartphone addiction showed a negative correlation with ego-resilience, and a positive correlation with impulsivity and depression. Also, ego-resilience showed negative correlation with impulsivity and depression. Impulsivity showed a positive correlation with depression. Third, as a result of dual mediating effect analysis, it was found that ego-resilience and impulsivity played double-mediated role between smartphone addiction and depression. Conclusions : Based on the results of this study, theoretical measures centered on ego-resilience were discussed and presented in order to positively induce the decrease in impulsivity and depression due to smartphone addiction among office workers.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.66-122
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• 2019

As the Korean economy grew, employment expanded steadily, with the number of economically active people increasing and the employment-to-population rate also increasing. However, the working age population started to decline in 2017, and the employment of women and young people has been sluggish. The proportion of non-salaried workers in Korea is much higher than in other OECD countries, and is also excessive, considering Korea's income levels. In addition, the proportion of non-regular workers and the proportion of workers employed at small companies are particularly high among salaried workers. In light of these characteristics of Korean employment, the urgent problems facing the employment structure can be summarized by the deepening dual structure of the labor market, the increase in youth unemployment, sluggish female employment figures, and an excessive share of self-employment. Overall, it is seen that labor market duality is the main structural factor of the employment problems in Korea. Therefore, in order to fundamentally address this employment problem, it is necessary to concentrate policy efforts on alleviating labor market duality.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.403-412
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• 2012

Purpose: This study is conducted to evaluate the job stressors for dental technicians in Ulsan city. Methods: The Korean standard job stressors assessment tool developed by Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) was used to compare the survey result with Korean reference value. The questionnaire on the social, demographic and job characteristics of dental technicians was also used to find the factors affecting to job stressors by using multiple linear regression analysis. Results: A total of 155 questionnaire was collected from 2010 to 2011. Among the eight fields of stressors, the physical environment (men 50.0, women; 58.3) and job demands (men 57.1, women 57.1) were higher than the median value of the Korean Workers. By multiple linear regression analysis, the significant factors to the physical environment were the satisfaction degree of indoor odor, number of employee, duty and working hours. In terms of the job demand, duty, working hours, age, and the satisfaction to the efficiency of space utilization were significantly associated to the score of job demand. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is necessary to manage appropriate workload, control indoor odor and design an efficient work space for prevention of job stress of dental technicians.