• Survey Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.95-121
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to measure Koreans' views on the life and death and to illuminate the structural relationship between their subscales. The subscales are composed of afterlife views, death anxiety, death concern, will of suicide inhibition. Data drawn from Korean General Social Survey(KGSS) collected in 2009 were analyzed. The findings show that favorable attitude towards afterlife has positive relationship with favorable attitude towards returning to this life. The favorable attitude towards returning to the present life has positive relationship with death anxiety while it has negative relationship with will of suicide inhibition. The favorable attitude towards afterlife has positive relationship with death concern and will of suicide inhibition. Social support and happiness have negative impact on death concern while they are positively associated with will of suicide inhibition. These findings indicate that all subscales of views on life and death are significantly related to themselves and are also correlated with socio-demographic factors, which means that we have to comprehensively look inside the views on the life and death in order to understand the increasing suicide among Koreans. Further studies need approaching Koreans' views on the life and death by using more validated tools to capture their holistics picture.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.31-82
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was development of a synthetic scale to measure young adults' views of life and death. Participants were 610 university students. The authors developed a View of Life and Death Scale including several subscales of afterlife views(belief in afterlife and retribution, belief in souls' effects and transmigration), meanings of death(liberation, nature, integration, collapse, impact, futility), death anxiety, death concern(death acceptance, death awareness) and life respect will(suicide inhibition, abortion inhibition, organ donation intention). The present study contributed to enhance our understanding of view of life and death in young adulthood. This study, therefore, could work as a stepping stone to investigate the structural relationship among elements included in views of life and death in young adulthood and to explore the consequences and determinants of personal view of life and death.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.241-256
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• 2009

This survey of children's perceptions and experiences of death was conducted with 118 6th-grade elementary school children in Seoul. Data consisted of responses to questionnaires in three categories : (1) perceptions of death, (2) views of afterlife, and (3) death-related experiences (life, education, and media). Results showed that children had negative emotions (61.8%) such as fear and anxiety about death. Children's attitudes about suicide were sympathetic (34.5%) as well as critical (53.7%). There was no relation between religion and view of afterlife. Finally, children experienced death more through mass media (TV, internet, etc.) than through life experience or death education. This study suggests the necessity for death education and warns of negative effects of media and games.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.109-123
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships between views on suicide, death, and life and lifetime suicidal attempts in the Korean context. Methods: Multiple logistic regression model was tested using data from Korean General Social Survey of 2009. We utilized the nationally representative survey data obtained via multistage stratified area probability sampling design from 1,599 respondents aged ${\geq}18$ years. Results: The proportion of lifetime suicidal attempts was 12.1% of entire sample in Korea. Some components of views on suicide and death influenced significantly on lifetime suicidal attempts after adjusting for demographic and health-related factors. The positive view on suicide(OR=0.76, 95% CI: 0.62-0.94), the naturalistic view on afterlife(OR=0.37, 95% CI: 0.67-0.99) and death concern(OR=0.67, 95% CI: 0.55-0.83) were risk factors of lifetime suicidal attempts. In contrast, the social responsibility view on suicide(OR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.00-1.37) and the transcendental view on afterlife(OR=1.25, 95% CI: 1.02-1.54) lowered the risk. Conclusions: Practical implications of the findings were discussed exploring policy evidences to screen high risk groups out and to reframe educational programs for suicide prevention. Strategic health messages need to be developed and transmitted for prevention of suicide.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.141-164
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• 2002

The present study examined the variations in personality variables according to different types for the Korean view of the afterlife, including 'extinction type', 'the other world-oriented transmigration type', 'heaven/hell type' and 'obscurity type'. The results may be summarized as follows: (1) 'the other world-oriented transmigration type' and 'heaven/hell type' showed significantly stronger belief in a just world than 'extinction type', (2) 'extinction type' and 'obscurity type' showed more external attribution for accidents than 'heaven/hell type', (3) there was no difference in unrealistic optimism levels, (4) depending upon the types for the view of the afterlife, not only preferred self-enhancing biases but also positive illusions which related to life satisfaction were different, (5) 'extinction type' showed stronger risk-taking tendency than 'heaven/hell type'. These results were explained in terms of features that belong to each afterlife view. Finally, we discussed the limitation of this study and the directions for future study.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.233-243
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the subjectivity of undergraduate students about well-dying. Method: Q-methodology, which is effective in scientifically measuring individual subjectivity, was used. The result of the Q-short of the 34 Q-statements by 42 participants was analyzed using the PQM program. Result: Four cognitive types of subjectivity about well-dying were identified and labeled as follows. Type 1: oriental and family-centered type, Type 2: Individual and fate-adapted type, Type 3: altruistic and afterlife-centered type, Type 4: self-leading and secularistic type. Conclusions: Undergraduate students have a well-dying concept which tends to be self-centered and secularistic. At the same times, they also have a well-dying concept which has a basically oriental view, that is, family-centered and fate-adapted views.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2008

Perpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of death between Korean and Chinese nursing students. And it will help develop curriculum for preparing death, the quality of hospice care, as well as nursing education and practice. Methods: Data was collected from 492 nursing students participated(248 Korean and 244 Chinese) by questionnaire designed for examining Death Orientation (Thorson & Powell, 1988). They were analyzed using Cronbach's Alpha coefficients, factor analysis, t-test, ANOVA and regression analysis (SPSS; win 12.0 version) Results: More than half of the Korean nursing students followed a religion (58.5%) while the majority of Chinese nursing students did not follow a religion (93.9%). In the view of the afterlife, nursing students in China had two views. 'I really don't know what happens after a person dies (30.3%)' and ‘There is no afterlife and death is the end (29.5%)’. On the other hand the Korean nursing students’ answer were, 'After dying, a person goes to heaven or hell (27.3%)' and 'I really don't know what happens after a person dies. (22.9%)' The study also found that the average of 25 items in Death Orientation is 2.36points of nursing students in Korea and 2.50points of nursing students in China. This means that the concern, anxiety and fear were of the middle level for the Chinese Students and were higher than Korean students (t=3.51, p=.000). In the low factor of death orientation, those in Korea had higher 'anxiety of burden to family' than those in China (t=-3.50, p=.001). The nursing students in China had higher 'anxiety of the unknown (t=4.96, p=.000)', 'fear of suffering (t=6.88, p=.000), 'fear of extinction body and life (t=5.20, p=.000), 'fear of lost self-control(t=2.12, p=.034)', and 'anxiety of future existence and nonexistence (t=2.33, p=.020)' than those in Korea. There was no statistically significant difference for the 'concern of body and fear of identity lost' category. The death orientation of Korean nursing students had statistically significant differences according to age (t=3.20, p=.002), religion (t=2.56, p=.011), and afterlife (F=4.64, p=.000). The contribution of Death Orientation had a statistically significant difference, the afterlife variable (0.735, p=0.001). The death orientation of Chinese nursing students did not have any statistically significant differences. Conclusion: In conclusion, there were differences in death orientation between Korean and Chinese nursing students. In particular, those who believed in afterlife showed acceptance of death. The results of this study suggest that nursing curricula should include education program on death and spiritual nursing. Additional studies are needed to establish death education in China with careful considerations on Chinese policies, cultures and social systems.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.611-632
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• 2012

Beckett's life-long struggling with death may be illuminated in terms of the Western tradition of thanatology as well as Philippe Ariès's anthropological classification of death. Among the Western tradition, Beckett's oeuvre incarnates memento mori, timor mori, nihilism, theatrum mundi, life as afterlife, and the transsubstantiation of the self. Among the five views of death Ariès suggests, Beckett appears to foreground the death of the self and the invisible dirty death. In a world devoid of transcendental Signified, Beckett's resident is "a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage." Our contemporary vision of death is dominated by the dirty death and timor mori resurrected from the cultural icon of danse macabre in the late Mediaeval age as vividly dramatized in W;t by Margaret Edson. Beckett stands in no man's land: Lucky complains of divine aphathia as well as scopes at the possibility of God's existence like Hamm. Beckett's way of getting out of the dilemma is laughing a mirthless and dianoetic laugher. To bourgeois class who shudder at the sight of Grim Death after forgettable years of indulgence and addiction to capitalist consumption, Beckett seems to preach, your life is a death-in-life, you are not born yet until you are baptized with existential awakening as Gregor Samsa in Kafka's Verwandlung, or Tolstoy in Confession.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.155-165
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• 2013

Koreans' traditional view on death has been much influenced by Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and shamanism since ancient times. Confucianism emphasizes the importance of the real life in this world and highly praises doing good deeds for the family and the community. It also praises people who are enlightened by education and self-discipline. Confucian scholars admit that death cannot be understood by rational thinking although it is unavoidable as a cosmic order. Taoism sees life as the same entity as death; Both are two different aspects of the same cosmos or the wholeness. However, the disciples of Taoism became much interested in a long life and well being that may be achieved by harmonizing with the cosmic order. Buddhism thinks that death and life are an "illusion". It says that people can be enlightened by recognizing the fact that "Nothing is born and nothing is dying in this world. Everything is the product of your mind occupied with false belief." However, secular Buddhists believe in the afterlife and metempsychosis of the soul. This belief is sometimes connected with the view of the traditional shamanism. Shamanism dichotomizes the world between "this world" and "that world". After death, the person's soul travels to "that world", where it may influence life of people who reside in "this world". And shamans who are spiritual beings living in "this world" mediate souls and living people. In conclusion, there are various views and beliefs regarding death, which are influenced by a number of religions and philosophies. They should be seriously considered when making a medical decision regarding the end of patients' life.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.50-57
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• 1999

Folk belief, which originated with the rise of human existence is a fundamental and comprehensive mode of living that reflects sociocultural conditions. Adherents of folk belief accept a certain thing to be true and real without scientific authority and absolute certainty. Taboo can be seen as a king of folk belief. The object of this study is to examine the taboos in relation to the manufacturing process and the quality of the shroud and to shrouding customs. I will also try to find out the meaning and significance in this. Through this task, I hope to contribute to the enhanced understanding of the cultural characteristics, the spiritual life, and the views on after life of the Korean people. In Korea, it is considered to be propitious to prepare the shroud on the intercalary month of the leap year , as it allows one to enjoy longevity healthy and sound. Moreover, as this belief gives credence and repose while preparing for the “final departure”, this custom is relatively well observed. From the taboo concerning leap months, we infer that death as viewed as a commencement of a new life, which reveals a positive view on afterlife. This can be seen as a return to the origin of anti-universal space in this “bonus” month of anti-universal time. Taboos on the manufacturing process of the shroud is related to the belief that it allows the deceased to go the nest world without any hesistation or disturbances. This symbolizes the immortality of the human soul: I. e. that the human spirit does not end in this world but continues on to the next. Taboos concerning the preparation process of the shroud as well as various other taboos are related to the belief that preparation for the shroud should be done in sincerity and secredness with a thoughtful consideration for the deceased. This can be perceived as an implication to sanctity for the dead.