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Comparison of Major and Job Satisfaction of Students and Graduates in Dental Hygiene and Nursing (대전 일부 치위생학과와 간호학과 재학생 및 졸업생의 전공과 업무 만족도 비교)

  • Baek, Seong-Min;Song, Da-Hye;Park, Jin-Seul;Bae, Jeong-Yeon;Jeong, Won-Seok;Hwang, Soo-Jeong
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.378-385
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    • 2013
  • Although dental hygiene has haven a special domain of knowledge and its own business territory, people have misunderstandings about dental hygienists as nurses or nirses' aides in Korea. Inadequate knowledge could make negative results for university applicants to choose department of dental hygiene. This study was aimed to compare major and job satisfaction of students and graduates in dental hygiene and nursing for objective comparison and suggestion for dental hygiene. The subjects were 98 dental hygiene students, 113 nursing students, 53 dental hygienists, and 53 nurses by convenience sampling in Daejeon. The questionnaire consisted of satisfaction of college life, social identity, career path and job. ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc analysis was used with SPSS 20.0 program. Although dental hygiene students scored lower than nursing students in satisfaction of college life, social identity, career path and job, dental hygienists, nurse and dental hygiene students didn't have different satisfaction of job. Dental hygienists scored the lowest in relation with clinical work and major curriculum, and sexual discrimination. Nurses scored the lowest in working condition and salary. Dental hygienists and dental hygiene students had lower scores in information and advice of career path, entrance to graduate school, stable work, family's pride of my major, social position and so on. We suggested the community of dental hygiene should try to promote dental hygienists to public, the community of dentists should give the stable working condition, and the department of dental hygiene should improve the major curriculum to relate with clinical work.

A study on conflicts between different occupational categories of dental hygienists and nursing assistances in terms of relationships with dentist (치과의사와의 관계에서 치과위생사와 간호조무사의 직종 간 갈등 연구)

  • Moon, Hee-Jung;Kim, Young-Sun;Seong, Mi-Gyung
    • Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.9-19
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    • 2018
  • The purpose of this study was to examine the state of conflicts among dental health care workers. A survey was conducted on 266 dental hygienists and nursing assistants who worked in dental institutions from September 12 to November 13, 2017, and SPSS(statistical package for the social science) version 20.0 was employed to analyze the collected data. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. The most common reason of the dental hygienists for turnover was working hours and heavy workload(24.6%), followed by pay (22.6%), conflicts with dentists(16.0%) and conflicts with colleagues (11.3%). The most dominant reason of the nursing assistants for turnover was pay(31.1%), followed by working hours(24.4%), heavy workload(17.8%), conflicts with dentists(15.6%) and conflicts with colleagues(8.9%). 2. The largest reason for unsuccessful communication with dentists was that heavy workload reduced the opportunity to communicate well(54.5%). The second biggest reason was that they couldn't communicate well though they had the opportunity(24.0%), and the third greatest reason was that they tended to lag behind dentists in terms of professional knowledge(16.9%). 3. The biggest reason for unsuccessful communication among the dental health care workers was that they didn't have a lot of chances to communicate well on account of heavy workload(41.0%). The second largest reason was the differences in professional knowledge(24.9%), and the third greatest reason was that they couldn't communicate well though they had the chance(23.7%). 4. The most dominant reason for conflicts with dentists was the difference in power(24.0%), followed by poor communication skills(22.1%) and a lack of mutual respect(18.1%). But the opinions of the nursing assistants were different from those of the dental hygienists, as they cited poor communication skills as the most common reason, which was followed by the difference in power and a shortage of understanding of each other's work. 5. The most common reason for conflicts among the dental health care workers was a shortage of communication and communication skills(22.9%), and the second most dominant reasons were a lack of mutual respect and poor understanding of each other's work(17.5%), followed by a lack of mutual respect(17.2%). 6. As to the ways of resolving conflicts with dentists, the most common case was making some mutual concessions to compromise (28.9%), followed by delivering opinions through the staff meeting (23.9%), resolving conflicts by candidly exchanging opinions(15.8%), avoiding each other in moderation(11.7%) and following the opinions or assertions of dentists(1.3%). 7. Concerning the conflict resolution methods among the dental health care workers, the most prevalent way was making some mutual concessions to compromise(36.4%), followed by resolving conflicts by candidly exchanging opinions(23.0%) and conveying opinions through the staff meeting(18.5%). 8. Regarding communication among the dental health care workers, the dental hygienists(3.53±.729) considered themselves to be better at communicating than the nursing assistants(3.29±.745) did(p<0.05), and the dental hygienists(3.45±.809) who thought there was respectful treatment among workers who were different in occupational categories found themselves to be better than the nursing assistants(3.21±.952) who had the same thought did(p<0.05). As a result of analyzing whether frequent job-related meetings occurred among the workers whose occupational categories were different, the dental hygienists(3.05±.975) perceived that there were more frequent meetings than the nursing assistants(2.67±.955) did (p<0.01).

Consumer Awareness and Evaluation of Retailers' Social Responsibility: An Exploratory Approach into Ethical Purchase Behavior from a U.S Perspective (소비자인지도화령수상사회책임(消费者认知度和零售商社会责任): 종미국시각출발적도덕구매행위적탐색성연구(从美国视角出发的道德购买行为的探索性研究))

  • Lee, Min-Young;Jackson, Vanessa P.
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.49-58
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    • 2010
  • Corporate social responsibility has become a very important issue for researchers (Greenfield, 2004; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; McWilliams et al., 2006; Pearce & Doh 2005), and many consider it necessary for businesses to define their role in society and apply social and ethical standards to their businesses (Lichtenstein et al., 2004). As a result, a significant number of retailers have adopted CSR as a strategic tool to promote their businesses. To this end, this study sought to discover U.S. consumers' attitudes and behavior in ethical purchasing and consumption based on their subjective perception and evaluation of a retailer. The objectives of this study include: 1) determine the participants awareness of retailers corporate social responsibility; 2) assess how participants evaluate retailers corporate social responsibility; 3) examine whether participants evaluation process of retailers CSR influence their attitude toward the retailer; and 4) assess if participants attitude toward the retailers CSR influence their purchase behavior. This study does not focus on actual retailers' CSR performance because a consumer's decision making process is based on an individual assessment not an actual fact. This study examines US college students' awareness and evaluations of retailers' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Fifty six college students at a major Southeastern university participated in the study. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 26 years old. Content analysis was conducted with open coding and focused coding. Over 100 single-spaced pages of written responses were collected and analyzed. Two steps of coding (i.e., open coding and focused coding) were conducted (Esterberg, 2002). Coding results and analytic memos were used to understand participants' awareness of CSR and their ethical purchasing behavior supported through the selection and inclusion of direct quotes that were extracted from the written responses. Names used here are pseudonyms to protect confidentiality of participants. Participants were asked to write about retailers, their aware-ness of CSR issues, and to evaluate a retailer's CSR performance. A majority (n = 28) of respondents indicated their awareness of CSR but have not felt the need to act on this issue. Few (n=8) indicated that they are aware of this issue but not greatly concerned. Findings suggest that when college students evaluate retailers' CSR performance, they use three dimensions of CSR: employee support, community support, and environmental support. Employee treatment and support were found as an important criterion in evaluation of retailers' CSR. Respondents indicated that their good experience with a retailer as an employee made them have a positive perception and attitude toward the retailer. Regarding employee support four themes emerged: employee rewards and incentives based on performance, working environment, employee education and training program, and employee and family discounts. Well organized rewards and incentives were mentioned as an important attribute. The factors related to the working environment included: how well retailers follow the rules related to working hours, lunch time and breaks was also one of the most mentioned attributes. Regarding community support, three themes emerged: contributing a percentage of sales to the local community, financial contribution to charity organizations, and events for community support. Regarding environments, two themes emerged: recycling and selling organic or green products. It was mentioned in the responses that retailers are trying to do what they can to be environmentally friendly. One respondent mentioned that the company is creating stores that have an environmentally friendly design. Information about what the company does to help the environment can easily be found on the company’s website as well. Respondents have also noticed that the stores are starting to offer products that are organic and environmentally friendly. A retailer was also mentioned by a respondent in this category in reference to how the company uses eco-friendly cups and how they are helping to rebuild homes in New Orleans. The respondents noticed that a retailer offers reusable bags for their consumers to purchase. One respondent stated that a retailer uses its products to help the environment, through offering organic cotton. After thorough analysis of responses, we found that a participant's evaluation of a retailers' CSR influenced their attitudes towards retailers. However, there was a significant gap between attitudes and purchasing behavior. Although the participants had positive attitudes toward retailers CSR, the lack of funds and time influenced their purchase behavior. Overall, half (n=28) of the respondents mentioned that CSR performance affects their purchasing decisions making when shopping. Findings from this study provide support for retailers to consider their corporate social responsibility when developing their image with the consumer. This study implied that consumers evaluate retailers based on employee, community and environmental support. The evaluation, attitude and purchase behavior of consumers seem to be intertwined. That is, evaluation is based on the knowledge the consumer has of the retailers CSR. That knowledge may influence their attitude toward the retailer and thus influence their purchase behavior. Participants also indicated that having CSR makes them think highly of the retailer, but it does not influence their purchase behavior. Price and convenience seem to surpass the importance of CSR among the participants. Implications, recommendations for future research, and limitations of the study are also discussed.

A Research on Perception and Exposure to Hepatitis-B Virus of Dental Hygienists (치과위생사의 B형 간염에 대한 인지도와 노출에 대한 조사)

  • Kang, Eun-Ju;Kim, Jin;Choi, Mi-Hye
    • Journal of dental hygiene science
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.13-20
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    • 2007
  • This study is aimed at providing basic data for measures to prevent dental hygienists who are highly exposed to hepatitis-B virus due to their characteristic working conditions from being infected of it. In order to determine their perception and the extent of their exposure to the risk of infection with hepatitis-B virus, a survey was conducted with questionnaires distributed to 354 dental hygienists who are working at dental offices in Seoul. Gyeongi and Jeolla provincial areas. From the survey, following conclusions could be drawn: 1. Sixty three point seven to 100 percent of them are found to have been vaccinated against hepatitis-B virus as is generally expected from their working environment. 2. Their general characters are found to be statistically significant in terms of vaccinating point of time among those who have been vaccinated. Most respondents are either vaccinated one year or 5 years ago. The completion of 3 requested vaccinations lies in the level of 64.3%~100% depending on the general characters. By age, the best result comes from the age group of 25~29, followed by the groups older than 30 and 20-24 in order (p < 0.05). Formation of antibody belongs to the level of 45%~100% generally. But statistically significant of them is the extremely unhealthy state with 100%, followed by normal, generally healthy, very healthy and not healthy in sequence (p < 0.05). 3. In terms of family's clinical history, it is known that the older (p < 0.01), the more unhealthy (p < 0.01) and the married (p < 0.01), the more possibility of having anamnesis of hepatitis-B virus infection. 4. The level of knowledge about Hepatitis-B virus is shown to be in the extent of 4.39~5.01 out of maximum 8 points in general terms. 5. It is revealed that there are high chances for dental hygienists to get spattered with body matters of patients like blood or sputum on their faces in general characters (87.%~100%). 6. A high rate (75%~100%) of respondents has experienced being shot by needles. The older(p < 0.05) and the longer(p < 0.05) their career, the higher the rate becomes.

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A Study on Prevention of Accident in Korean Security Industry (경호산업의 재해예방에 관한 연구)

  • Cho, Han-Bong
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.2
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    • pp.259-289
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    • 1999
  • The Security Industry has dynamic working conditions. So this study intends to find the advisable direction for the reduction of accidents. To achieve the aim, the investigation of documents and the examinations of actual proofs have been done to figure the theoretical background and to see the basic knowledge of security industry. The questionnaire was composed of two question sheets to search real data and actual proofs, with making targets of pure security organization and personnel. The one consists of 9 questions to find the scale and extent of security organizations and the population and character of security personnel, and the other 25 questions in 3 major areas to analyze the causes, the frequency rates, the factors, and the condition of accidents. The period of survey was July 15th to October 15th in 1997 by mail/telephone/interview. The questionnaires were efficiently returned from 102 different organizations including the public security groups of Seoul Metropolitan Police Bureau and so on, with the information of 8,222 persons having worked for Korean Security Industry in 1996. So being based on the reality, some meaningful facts were found, and were compared with the national statistics of the Government. This study is made up of 5 chapters : in the 1st chapter the motivation, the object, the method, the direction and the limitation of the approach were presented ,in the 2nd chapter the theoretical background were inferred ; in the 3rd chapter the collected data of accidents in Korean Security Industry were analyzed and explained on the base of the questionnaires , in the 4th chapter the advisable facts connected with preventing accidents were mentioned ; in the last the conclusion were stated. With the replies of 102 different organizations including the information of 8,222 persons in 1996, the main facts found or analyzed through this study are as follows. Firstly, accident is an unpredictable and occasional event. It occurs to man and/or thing, but the frequency rate of accidents in Korean Government and other Institutes has been calculated and evaluated only in the point of the accident related with man. Secondly, the factors of accidents are firstly relevant to the way preventing accidents in Security Industry in Korea. However the frequency rate is academically calculated and evaluated by at once man(population) and hour(time). But the Government has done the rate only by man(population). This can be improper and inaccurate rates. Thirdly, the confused concept of security is used in Korean Government, academic society, corporation and so on. Therefore the detailed formation of the concept is needed for the development of Security Industry in Korea. Fourthly, security organizations can be classified into 'public security(public law enforcement)' and 'private security' according to its identification, and furthermore 'private security' can be divided into 'facilities-guard service', 'body-guard service', and 'patrol service' according to its major role. Fifthly, in the viewpoint of the number of both organization and population,'facilities-guard service' is centered in Korean 'private security'. According to the analyzed results of the questionnaires in this study, the frequency rate of accidents of Korean Security Industry is 0.43(%) totally in 1996 : 'facilities-guard service' 0.54(%), 'body-guard service' 0.12(%), and 'patrol service' 0.21(%) in 'private security', and 'public security' 0.20(%). With regard to the accident frequency rate of organization and population, 'facilities-guard service' is the highest. The accident frequency rate of population in 'facilities-guard service' organization ranges dispersively from 0.20(%) to 11.11(%). Sixthly, the accidented rate of workers having serviced for under one year is 57.6(%). This can mean that the main factor of accidents in Korean Security Industry is the lack of role-understanding and training/education. And another factor can be found on the time of accident occurrence. Many accidents have been occurred on the relaxed points like as just after lunch and morning rush-hour. Lastly, the major advisable facts related to preventing accidents are as follows : The workers who are over fifty years old in 'facilities-guard service' organization need to be educated for preventing accidents ; It is desirable that the training and education to prevent accidents should be practiced in the time of pre-service ; As the style of accidents and the age of the accidented are not same according to major service area('public security' and 'private security' : 'facilities-guard service', 'body-guard service', and 'patrol service'), the plans to prevent accidents must be different and various. However fracture and bruise are general accidents in Korean Security Industry ; Workers must care about traffic accident and violent fall ; It seems that the grouped working with other two persons will reduce accident occurrence possibility rather than individually single working.

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Employment Rate of Graduates of Agricultural Science Colleges in the Fields of Agro-industry (농학계열 대학 졸업생의 농산업 분야 취업률)

  • Kim, Jung Tae;Bae, Sung Eui
    • Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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    • v.21 no.4
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    • pp.1093-1124
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    • 2014
  • Studies on the role of agricultural science colleges are mostly divided into agricultural production, which is the primary function of agriculture, and other functions, which have recently begun to be emphasized as a result of social needs. With the green revolution and the aging of the farming population, there is a strong view that the role of agricultural science colleges should remain as it is. However, agriculture is expanding in terms of concept and content by converging with other industries not traditionally associated with agricultural production. Thus, the fields that now need to form part of agricultural science knowledge are becoming more detailed and expansive. The government's perception remains at the level of merely fostering farmers. This was evident in a survey on the employment rate, a factor used to evaluate colleges, in which the role of agricultural science colleges was limited to fostering farmers. Agro- industry fields, other than agriculturalists, include general industries in which the academic fields of agricultural science are combined with other academic fields. Thus, even when someone is employed in an industry that requires background knowledge of agricultural science, there is often a perception that he or she is employed in a field that is irrelevant to the major. This study examines the role of agricultural science colleges in agriculture and farm villages by focusing on the employment of graduates of these colleges within agro-industry. We categorize academic research on agricultural science into 16 fields, based on the medium level of the National Standard Science and Technology Classification Codes. Then, we categorize the employment fields into 168 fields, based on the small classification level of the inter-industry relations classification. Thus, we investigate 220 departments of 37 colleges, nationwide. Our findings show that the average employment rate of graduates of agricultural science colleges is 69.0%. Furthermore, 33.0% of all employees work in agro-industry fields that require background knowledge in agricultural science, which is one out of three job seekers. Then, 3.6% of employees work in business startups in agro-industry. The aforementioned government survey showed that only 0.1% of all college graduates in Korea were employed as agriculturalists in 2013. However, our results showed that 13.3% of graduates were working as agriculturalists, which is significantly different to the results of the government survey. These results confirm that agricultural science colleges contribute greatly to the employment of graduates, including farmers, agro-industry, and business startups in agro-industry fields.

The Clinical Aspects of Wild Plant Poisoning (야생식물 중독의 임상 양상)

  • Ok, Taek-Gun;Park,, Chan-Woo;Cho, Jun-Hwi;Cheon, Seung-Whan;Lee, Seung-Young;Kim,, Sung-Eun;Choi, Ki-Hoon;Bae, Ji-Hoon;Seo, Jeong-Yeul;Ahn, Hee-Cheol;Ahn, Moo-Eob;Cho, Byung-Ryul;Kim,, Yong-Hoon
    • Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.79-85
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    • 2005
  • Purpose: With the recent boom in 'eating healthy', many adults are interested in dieting to prevent future diseases. However only well trained experts can distinguish between what are edible vegetables and herbs from their poisonous look-alikes. In cases where a patient unknowingly ingests a poisonous herb, is caught off guard by the poisonous side effects that occur because of their lack of knowledge of what they have ingested. This paper will focus on the need to educate the public about the risks involved with ingesting wild vegetables and herbs and study the emergency diagnosis and treatment of poisoned patients that enter the emergency room. Method: This study was done in the spring of 2004 (from March to May) in the Kangwon Young-Seo districts of Korea. 15 subjects used in this study, entered the emergency room showing signs of toxic symptoms. Data was collected by examining subject's records. Additional data was collected by collaborating with physicians in the hospital that diagnosed and treated the subjects. Identifying the poisonous vegetable or herb is the first step to proper diagnosis and treatment. Subjects admitted to the emergency room, underwent a battery of tests: laboratory examination, ECG, radiological exam and etc. Results: The demographics of the study encompassed subjects with the average age of $50{\pm}19$ years old. There were 10 men and 5 women. Common symptoms of this study included; gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain and so on. In the case of Caltha palustris ingestion, additional symptoms were present; bradycardia and hypotension which lasted for a long time. While cases that ingested Scopolia parviflora had little effect on vital signs but manic episodes lasted for about three days. Veratrum patulum ingestion showed signs of bradycardia and hypotension but contrary to Caltha palustris recovery was shorten by treating with dopamine. However, dizziness, headache and paresthesia of the extremities continued for a long time. Finally Sium ninsi ingestion showed visual disturbance, paresthesia of the extremities, dizziness as their initial symptoms. Conclusion: The risks involved with ingesting wild plants without the proper knowledge can lead to serious side effects and steps need to be taken to educate the public. In addition, all emergency physicians need to have a working knowledge of the symptoms and signs associated with ingesting toxic wild plants and need to treat accordingly.

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Development and Effectiveness of the Primary Hospice Education Program for Nurses (간호사를 위한 호스피스 기초 교육 프로그램 및 효과)

  • In, Sook-Jin
    • 한국호스피스완화의료학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2004.07a
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    • pp.100-102
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    • 2004
  • Under the current medical system, a terminal patient and his/her family who are neglected inevitably face various aspects of crises including not only physical, but also psychological, social, economic, spiritual and legal problems. Nurses often look after many terminal patents with these types of complicated problems. Therefore, educating the nurses who will take care of such patents would greatly reduce stress so the patents end could their lives in peace and without losing their dignity. This research is a quasi experimental study of nonequivalent control group. A pretest-posttest design where a basic education program is developed for nurses, who frequently treat terminal patents, to understand the importance of the role of hospice and to apply their understandings to treat terminal lancer patents. A sample of the nurses were taken from those who were working in general wards at two general hospitals in Seoul during October, 2003${\sim}$December 2003. The study was composed of 46 experimental group and 43 control group. A basic hospice education program was developed by taking emphasized and overlapping parts from advanced practice hospice nurses education course, short-term education course, an extensive literature survey and by consulting three professionals as well. With the group of 5 professors with vast experiences in oncolgy, 5 nursing administrator, 3 nursing practitioner, the tentative first version of the program was developed and reviewed. Afterwards, by utilizing person to person interviews with 2 head nurses experienced with terminal patients, 1 nurse in charge of hospice, 1 nurse on the contents of the program, and a person to person rating on the educating medium by a nurse were performed. The final version of a basic education program was developed after the second revision. The hospice basic education program consists of introduction to hospice, hospice and commucation, management of pain for terminal cancer patients, physical management for terminal cancer patients, socio-psycological caring of terminal cancer patients and management of death and separation. Total education time was four hours organized into 50 minutes of instruction and 10 minutes of break. $Powerpoint^{(R)}$ software was used as the education medium. As research tools, "Knowledge on Hospice" was developed by the author after receiving a review from one expert. "Attitude of Hospice Nursing" was revised Kim(2001)'s attitude measuring tool which was based on Wang(1998), Kwon(1989), Park and Sung(1991)'s tool. "Liability on nursing terminal patients" was used as developed by Zarits(1980) and Mongomory(1985) translated by Lee(1985). For collecting data, preliminary investigation prior to 1 week of the hospice basic education program and post-investigations after 1 week and 4 weeks of the education were carried out for the nurses at a general ward who understood and agreed on the purpose of the program. Collected data were analyzed throughout t-test, $x^2-test$, Manova test and Bonferroni correction in $SAS^{(R)}$ program. The summary of the investigation is as follows: Hypothesis 1: "Educated experimental group would possess more knowledge on hospice compared to the un-educated control group" was supported after 1 (F=12.14, p=.00) and 4 (F=5.3, p=.02) weeks of education. Hypothesis 2: "Educated experimental group would take a positive attitude toward hospice nursing compared to the un-educated control group" was supported after 1(F=3.92, p=.05) and 4(F=5.05, p=.02) weeks of education. Hypothesis 3: "Educated experimental poop would feel less liability compared to the un-educated control group in nursing terminal cancer patients' was rejected. In this study, it was found that knowledge on hospice was significantly important. By applying hospice basic education programs to nurses, the education program helped nurses to take a positive attitude toward terminal patients. It was, however, seen that the education program had no effect on alleviating liability in nursing terminal patients. Therefore, it is expected that this educational program would help hospices and nurses at general wards to understand the concept and the role of hospice so that terminal patents, now neglected under current medical system, would be able to end their lives in peace.

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Thought Experiments: on the Working Imagination and its Limitation (사고실험 - 상상의 작용과 한도에 대해)

  • Hwang, Hee-sook
    • Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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    • v.146
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    • pp.307-328
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    • 2018
  • The use of thought experiments has a long history in many disciplines including science. In the field of philosophy, thought experiments have frequently appeared in the pre-existing literature on the contemporary Analytic Philosophy. A thought experiment refers to a synthetic environment where the designer of the experiment-with his or her intuition and imagination-tests common-sense knowledge. It can be understood as a conceptual tool for testing the validity of the common understanding of an issue or a phenomenon. However, we are not certain about the usefulness or efficacy of a thought experiment in knowledge production. The design of a thought experiment is meant to lure readers into believing as intended by the experiment itself. Thus, regardless of the purpose of a thought experiment, many readers who encounter the experiment could feel deceived. In this paper, to analyze the logic of thought experiments and to seek the source of uneasiness the readers and critics may feel about thought experiments, I draw lessons from three renowned thought-experiments: Thomson's 'ailing violinist', Putnam's 'brain in a vat', and Searle's 'Chinese room'. Imaginative thought experiments are usually constructed around a gap between the reality and the knowledge/information at hand. From the three experiments, several lessons can be learned. First, the evidence of the existence of a gap provided via thought experiments can serve as arguments for counterfactual situations. At the same time, the credibility and efficacy of the thought experiments can be damaged as soon as the thought-experiments are carried out with inappropriate and/or murky directions regarding the procedures of the experiment or the background of the study. According to D. R. Hofstadter and D. C. Dennett(1981), the 'knob setting' in a thought experiment can be altered in the middle of a simulation of the experimental condition, and then the implications of the thought experiment change altogether, indicating that an entirely different conclusion can be deduced from thought experiment. Lastly, some pre-suppositions and bias of the experiment designers play a considerable role in the validity and the chances of success of a thought experiment; thus, it is recommended that the experiment-designers refrain from exercising too much of their imagination in order to avoid contaminating the design of the experiment and/or wrongly accepting preconceived/misguided conclusions.

An Analysis of Consumers' Problematic Complaining Behaviors and Firms' Reactions (소비자의 악성불평행동 분석 및 기업의 대처행동 조사 연구)

  • Huh, Kyung-Ok
    • Journal of Families and Better Life
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    • v.30 no.6
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    • pp.167-181
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    • 2012
  • This study analyzed consumer's harsh complaining behaviors and firm's reactions toward consumers' harsh complaining behavior, and investigated the differences in the firms' reactions according to the characteristics of counselors and customer service centers. In addition, this study attempted to find a strategy and provide guidance regarding consumer's harsh complaining behaviors. The results of this study are discussed below. First, consumer's harsh complaining attitudes were expressed by crude language, violent language, threats, personal attacks, and claims of a high-ranking social position. Consumer's directive, complaining behaviors were repeated on the telephone, and threats of prosecution or disclosure to the public, exposure of habitual product returns, and requests for interviews with superiorsat the representative firm were made. Second, a firm typologies according to its reaction style toward a consumer's harsh complaining behaviors were as follows: Group 1, having a neutral attitude toward consumers and preparation thoroughly regarding their demands; Group 2, having a negative attitude toward consumers and some degree of preparation toward consumers' demands; and finally, Group 3, having a positive attitude toward consumers but offering insufficient reparation regarding consumers' demands. Third, female counselors, counselors having a certified counselor's license, and those much experience working in labor work were more likely to be in Group 3. Male counselors, part-time counselors, and those having experience of many years were more likely to be in Group 2. Group 1 were more likely to have large number of workers at customer service centers, male counselors, and to have large numbers of educational training programs related to the reactions of consumers in the form of dissatisfaction, complaints, how to offer compensation for injuries to consumers, and issues related to PL(product liability). In addition, Group 1 also had more firm level welfare policies related to hight stress levels of consumer counselors and extra types of support regarding harsh consumers. However, Group 2 members were more likely to provide excessive compensation and rewards to harsh consumers. Finally, to react to consumer's harsh complaint efficiently, it was suggested that firms should not treat consumers as harsh consumers, should react to consumers' complaints sincerely, and should take precautionary management efforts as regards consumer dissatisfaction based on better quality control of products. In addition, it was deemed necessary to formulate a management strategy to train competent consumer counselors with a high quality of counselor skill, having standardized and consistent reaction guidance toward consumer complaints and thorough knowledge of compensation rules for consumer injuries and subsequent guidance.