• Title/Summary/Keyword: consumer health

Search Result 1,184, Processing Time 0.026 seconds

Utilization Patterns and Determinants of Oriental Medical Services : Focused on the Residents of Taegu City (한방의료의 이용행태 및 이용결정요인 분석 - 일부 대도시 지역주민을 중심으로 -)

  • Yoo Wang-Keun;Ryu Kyung-A
    • Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
    • /
    • v.4 no.2
    • /
    • pp.1-24
    • /
    • 2000
  • This study was conducted to examine utilization patterns and determinants of oriental medical services. Data were collected from 545 residents in Taegu city The results of this study are summarized as follows 1) 37.8% of subjects used oriental medical services in the past year. Especially, the female, the ages of 50 and 60 over, the single. low-educated. high-income class, white-collar class, medical insured tended to use more oriental medical services than another groups. 2) 46.7% of users of oriental medical services reported that number of visits in the past year was 2 - 5 times 37 1% of them was 1 times, and 4.5% over 10 times. 3) According to the reasons to choose the oriental medical facilities, most was 'on their own judgement'(48.8%) and 'by the advice of relatives and friends'(42.0%) Regarding to the objectives of using oriental medicine, 68.3% was 'treatment', 31.7% 'health counselling and promotion'. And among diseases of users, diseases of musculo-skeletal system was the highest(54.5%). 4) 57.9% of oriental medical services users had experience of utilizing western medicine on the same diseases. Among peoples with experiencing western medicine on the same diseases. 54.4% received oriental medical services 'in addition to western medicine', 45.6%'in place of western medicine 'And 41.2% of using both services reported that they had difficulty in deciding to choose the type of services -oriental medical services or western medicine-for their diseases. 37.3% of them answered that 'providing relevant information' was the most desirable measure to solve this problem, 27.3% 'establishment of effective referral system between oriental and western medical facilities '23.6% 'cooperative medical treatment systems in the same facilities', 11.8%'integration of oriental medicine into western medicine 5) According to the satisfaction level with each items of oriental medical services, the respondents had positive views on efficacy, kindness, and side-effects. They, however, had negative view on the cost of oriental medical services. 6) In regarding to the priority of improvement of oriental medical system,'expansion of insurance benefit package 'ranked first. 'expansion of insurance benefit Package 'ranked second, 'improvement of scientific methods and diagnostic technique 'third, and 'safety of herbal medicine' fourth in order. 7) The significant factors influencing the utilization of oriental medical services were kindness of oriental medical practitioners, efficacy , travel time, age To be brief, utilization rate of oriental medical services in urban area generally tends to be high. There, however, have been various barriers to limit oriental medical services, such as incomplete benefit package of oriental medical insurance and lack of coordination and referral system between oriental and western medical services, lack of scientific diagnostic procedures, high price etc . For the development of oriental medical services, Much attention to remove these limiting factors should be placed. In addition, kindness of oriental medical practitioners , which is expected to be more important factor in the consumer - focused health care environment than ever, should be kept high consistently. Since this study was conducted for specific residents of an urban city. further research including more sampling in different urban areas should be required to generalize the results of the study.

  • PDF

A Study of Pension Receipt Satisfaction According to the Preparation of the Living Cost for Aging: Focusing on Public Pensions (노후생활비 준비에 따른 연금 수급액의 만족도에 관한 연구: 공적연금을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Seung-Sin
    • Journal of Families and Better Life
    • /
    • v.30 no.2
    • /
    • pp.137-152
    • /
    • 2012
  • The graying of populations is emerging as an international issue around the world, and this is a problem that is rapidly advancing in Korea as well, signaling the need for financial preparations for the aged. For this purpose, various retirement pension systems are being employed as preparatory measures for the nation's elderly. Using data from 1474 people in the 2007 panel study of National Security for the Retired, the present work attempts to look at satisfaction rates with regard to public pension receipts for the national pension and special occupational pensions according to general characteristics and factors related to the preparation for an aging society. Satisfaction with retirement pension receipts according to the type of pension was high for special occupation retirement pensions, individual retirement pensions and the national retirement pension, in that order. Looking at satisfaction rates based on the general characteristics of pension recipients, the study revealed that for the national pension, satisfaction was highest for groups with above-average physical and psychological health, groups who think appropriate living expenses for the elderly are lower, groups in which a partner also earns income, and groups who had amply prepared for their expected living expenses in later life. Regarding special occupation retirement pensions, satisfaction was high for groups over the age of 70, groups with good psychological health, and groups sufficiently prepared for their living expenses in later expenses, compared to groups for which these factors did not apply. In terms of the relative influences impacting retirement pension recipient satisfaction, satisfaction with the national pension was highest when the primary source to cover elderly living expenses was a resource other than income earned by the recipient and their partner and/or income received from children. Concerning special occupation retirement pensions, satisfaction was highest among those whose education terminated before middle school, and for those in good physical health. Based on the above results, it is vital that plans exist for preparing sufficiently for the living expenses of the elderly and for facilitating the physical and psychological health of pension recipients. Plans are also necessary to, ensure that citizens are provided with easily accessible educational programs and activities regarding general installment savings and deposits, stocks and bonds, real estate investments, individual retirement pensions, private insurance, severance pay pensions, and public pensions.

Calibration of Portable Particulate Mattere-Monitoring Device using Web Query and Machine Learning

  • Loh, Byoung Gook;Choi, Gi Heung
    • Safety and Health at Work
    • /
    • v.10 no.4
    • /
    • pp.452-460
    • /
    • 2019
  • Background: Monitoring and control of PM2.5 are being recognized as key to address health issues attributed to PM2.5. Availability of low-cost PM2.5 sensors made it possible to introduce a number of portable PM2.5 monitors based on light scattering to the consumer market at an affordable price. Accuracy of light scatteringe-based PM2.5 monitors significantly depends on the method of calibration. Static calibration curve is used as the most popular calibration method for low-cost PM2.5 sensors particularly because of ease of application. Drawback in this approach is, however, the lack of accuracy. Methods: This study discussed the calibration of a low-cost PM2.5-monitoring device (PMD) to improve the accuracy and reliability for practical use. The proposed method is based on construction of the PM2.5 sensor network using Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol and web query of reference measurement data available at government-authorized PM monitoring station (GAMS) in the republic of Korea. Four machine learning (ML) algorithms such as support vector machine, k-nearest neighbors, random forest, and extreme gradient boosting were used as regression models to calibrate the PMD measurements of PM2.5. Performance of each ML algorithm was evaluated using stratified K-fold cross-validation, and a linear regression model was used as a reference. Results: Based on the performance of ML algorithms used, regression of the output of the PMD to PM2.5 concentrations data available from the GAMS through web query was effective. The extreme gradient boosting algorithm showed the best performance with a mean coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.78 and standard error of 5.0 ㎍/㎥, corresponding to 8% increase in R2 and 12% decrease in root mean square error in comparison with the linear regression model. Minimum 100 hours of calibration period was found required to calibrate the PMD to its full capacity. Calibration method proposed poses a limitation on the location of the PMD being in the vicinity of the GAMS. As the number of the PMD participating in the sensor network increases, however, calibrated PMDs can be used as reference devices to nearby PMDs that require calibration, forming a calibration chain through MQTT protocol. Conclusions: Calibration of a low-cost PMD, which is based on construction of PM2.5 sensor network using MQTT protocol and web query of reference measurement data available at a GAMS, significantly improves the accuracy and reliability of a PMD, thereby making practical use of the low-cost PMD possible.

Importance and performance of food and nutrition labeling for school adolescents in Seoul (서울 일부 지역 학교 청소년들의 식품/영양 라벨링에 대한 중요도-수행도 연구)

  • Yoon, Jeong-Yoon;Ha, Ae Hwa;Ju, Seyoung
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
    • /
    • v.50 no.4
    • /
    • pp.383-390
    • /
    • 2017
  • Purpose: This study investigated the importance and performance of food/nutrition labeling. The aim was to determine how important students consider food nutritional labeling, utilization of nutrition labels in daily life, and consumer satisfaction of current nutritional labeling. Methods: This study was conducted using a primary survey of students at one high school in Seoul. A total of 300 of 382 questionnaires were analyzed. Results: Regarding difference analysis of the importance-performance of food/nutrition labeling, importance showed higher scores than performance in all 10 attributes. According to the results of Importance and Performance Analysis (IPA), 'health, weight control and maintenance, proper dietary habits, and personal satisfaction' displayed both high importance and performance in the first quadrant. Importance of two factors (health and nutritional factor and effects of media and education) of the 10 attributes positively influenced overall satisfaction in the multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: To develop healthier food choices, it is necessary to educate adolescents about food/nutrition labeling and improve the food/nutrition labeling system.

A Study on the Importance of Contents in Middle-School Home-Economics (중학교 남.녀학생이 인식한 가정과 교육내용의 중요성에 관한 연구 - 전라북도 남.녀학생을 중심으로-)

  • 박일록
    • Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
    • /
    • v.10 no.2
    • /
    • pp.29-42
    • /
    • 1998
  • The purpose of this study was to identify the contents that students want to learn the most on Home-Economics. Participants were 710 middle school students(359 boys and 351 girls) from 9 schools located in 4 cities and 5 counties in CholaBukDo. The results are as follows: 1. Of 32 contents on Family life, boys were interested in 'the puberty', 'pregnancy and the ethics on sex', 'social needs', 'the importance of family relationship', and 'adolescents' physical development'. On the other hand, girls were more intered in 'pregnancy' and 'the ethics on sex', 'the puberty', 'development of career consciousness' and 'career preparation', 'the adolescents' physiolosical and physical development', and 'the importance of family relationship'. 2. Of 37 contents of Managing home resource and Consumer life subarea, boys showed their interests on 'environmental problems', 'environmental conservation', 'environmental pollution', 'management of time and work', 'knowledge', 'management of their abilities'. And girls were more interested in 'environmental conservation', 'environmental pollution', 'environmental problems', 'adolescents life', and 'management of time and work'. 3. Of 49 contents on Dietary life, boys were more interested in 'puberty and the development', 'importance of nutriment', 'nutrition and health' and 'smoking and the health'. However, girls were more interested in 'smoking and health', 'puberty and the development', 'the importance of nutriment', 'nutrition and health', 'a realistic plan to reduce the food-based environmental pollution'. 4. Of 40 contents on Clothing life subarea, while boys were interested in 'the suitable cloths on oneself', 'clothing design', 'regulation of temparature', physical protection' 'merchandising for ready-made clothing'. On the other hand, girls were mostly interested in 'the suitable cloths on oneself', and next 'the clothing design', 'merchandising for ready-made clothes','physical protection', and 'the appropriate posture and physical adornment'. 5. Of 18 contents on Residence life subarea, teachers emphasized the importance of ventilation for adjusting the room environment and students were more interested in the effective use of the residing space. In general, those middle school students in Cheolabukdo showed the biggest interest on 'Clothing life', 'Residence life' the second, 'Eating life' the third, 'Human development and Family relationship' the fourth, and Management of family resource and Consuming life' was their fifth interest. Such result was consistent with Ⅱ-Rok Park's previous research(1997). Since the participants for this study were sampled form 9 schools located in CheolaBukDo, it is not suitable to apply the results nationwide. The restricted sampling must be considered and further studies are needed to make comparisons among areas.

  • PDF

Public Service Good Health Advertising: Effects of Elaboration Likelihood and Construal Level on Consumer Attitudes (보건 관련 공익광고에서 정교화가능성과 해석수준이 광고태도에 미치는 영향)

  • Park, Jong-Chul;Kim, Kyung-Jin
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.12 no.6
    • /
    • pp.67-79
    • /
    • 2014
  • Purpose - This study aims to accomplish three major research goals. First, it strives to change consumers' focus from peripheral routes to a central route of public service advertising related to the good health policy, without problematic effects, by influencing consumers' knowledge or involvement. Second, this study examines the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and construal level theory (CLT). Specifically, we consider that the central route of ELM might correspond with the focal goal of CLT. Third, this study analyzes ELM through CLT. That is, ELM predicted that low involvement would take the peripheral route, and high involvement would take the central route. Research design, data, and methodology - This study consisted of three experiments. The first experiment had a 2×2 between-subject design. The subjects were university students and the research period was approximately one year. The first independent variable was the involvement of the overweight issue; this variable was measured and split by the median. The second independent variable was the temporal distance (near vs. distant future); this variable was manipulated. The second experiment also had a 2×2 between-subject design. The first variable was the involvement of cervical adenocarcinoma prevention, and was considered already manipulated by sex. Specifically, males had a low involvement of the disease, but females had high involvement. The second independent variable was priming (power vs. submissive). Power priming would induce abstract thinking, but submissive priming would take concrete processing. The third experiment had a 2×2×2 between-subject design. The first variable was cognitive depletion, and was manipulated by memorizing 9-digit numbers. The second and third independent variables were involvement and abstract thinking induction, such as prior experiments. Data were collected through questionnaires, and were analyzed by an SPSS program. Major hypotheses were tested by examining the interaction effects through ANOVA. Results - Major findings are as follows. First, even for low-involved consumers in the overweight category, distant future manipulation induced them to focus not on the peripheral route but on the central route of the public service advertisement. This result does not correspond to the typical ELM prediction. Second, under power priming, low-involved males of the cervical adenocarcinoma category focused on the peripheral route because of the induction to abstract thinking. This result replicated the first experiment, and confirmed the theoretical robustness. Third, high-involved females focused not on the central but on the peripheral route under the mixed condition of cognitive depletion and near future manipulation. Depletion consumed cognitive resources, and the processing mode of consumers changed from systematic to heuristic. Conclusions - ELM needs to be complemented through CLT in context of public service good health advertising. Specifically, the involvement of ELM may impact consumers' thinking mode (abstract vs. concrete), and the interaction effects may influence consumers' focus on advertising (central vs. peripheral route). This study's limitations were bounded subjects, limited stimuli, and somewhat weak external validity.

Proposal of GUI Guidelines to Improve the Usability of Mobile Healthcare for New Silver Generation (뉴실버세대의 모바일 헬스케어 사용성을 높이기 위한 GUI 가이드라인 제안)

  • Jo, Sung Bae;Lee, Jae Ick
    • Smart Media Journal
    • /
    • v.7 no.2
    • /
    • pp.60-70
    • /
    • 2018
  • Recently with the entrance to the aging society, the demand on health care services is being increased. However, there are still few GUI types of research considering the characteristics of new-silver generation progressively preparing for their golden(old) age. As the new-silver generation showed less reluctance to the information acquired through the Internet comparing to general seniors, but it is urgent to conduct researches about GUI of mobile healthcare services considering their physical, psychological and social characteristics. Hence, the purpose of this study was to propose some guidelines of GUI evaluation so that new-silver generation being emerged as main consumer group in future medical consumption could efficiently use mobile health care services. As the research methods, first, this study analyzed the characteristics of new-silver generation through reviewing literature and previous studies and understood the status quo of mobile health care services, and second, it analyzed the visual composition factors being preferred in each field of current mobile healthcare application and drew out a usability evaluation matrix of mobile GUI design appropriate for elderly people's characteristics. Third, with the drawn evaluation matrix, this study conducted the usability evaluation of 8 subjects in new-silver generation ranging from 57 years old to 65 years old through a heuristic way. This study expects that it would be contributed in increasing the GUI usability by proposing some guidelines for GUI being appropriated for new-silver generation user's characteristics, and thinks that researches about developing health-care mobile applications will be continued in future at the same time.

Factors Associated with the Quality of Life among Persons with Severe Mental Illness Living in Supported Housing (독립주거 거주 중증 정신장애인의 삶의 질에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Sung-eun
    • Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
    • /
    • no.36
    • /
    • pp.281-299
    • /
    • 2008
  • The objective of this study was to examine the association between personal, housing, program, and service characteristics and quality of life among persons with severe mental illness living in supported housing. A cross sectional survey of a random sample of 237 clients residing in supported housing in Philadelphia was used to assess the association between personal and environmental characteristics, and quality of life. Data were collected from structured interviews, administrative data, the 2000 U.S. Census data file and the Philadelphia police crime database. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify personal and environment characteristics that are associated with quality of life. Clients with diagnoses of schizophrenia, those with lower levels of psychiatric symptoms, those with higher levels of physical health status, and those with higher levels of perceived supportiveness with staff had higher levels of quality of life. Findings of this study suggested that clients' clinical characteristics and consumer staff relationships can be important variables for understanding quality of life among supported housing residents. Factors associated with quality of life identified in this study may help service providers design and plan services to promote quality of life and stable independent living in the community of supported housing residents.

Spatial and temporal trends in food security during the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia Pacific countries: India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam

  • Yunhee Kang;Indira Prihartono;Sanghyo Kim;Subin Kim;Soomin Lee;Randall Spadoni;John McCormack;Erica Wetzler
    • Nutrition Research and Practice
    • /
    • v.18 no.1
    • /
    • pp.149-164
    • /
    • 2024
  • BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The economic recession caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic disproportionately affected poor and vulnerable populations globally. Better uunderstanding of vulnerability to shocks in food supply and demand in the Asia Pacific region is needed. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Using secondary data from rapid assessment surveys during the pandemic response (n = 10,420 in mid-2020; n = 6,004 in mid-2021) in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, this study examined the risk factors for reported income reduction or job loss in mid-2021 and the temporal trend in food security status (household food availability, and market availability and affordability of essential items) from mid-2020 to mid-2021. RESULTS: The proportion of job loss/reduced household income was highest in India (60.4%) and lowest in Indonesia (39.0%). Urban residence (odds ratio [OR] range, 2.20-4.11; countries with significant results only), female respondents (OR range, 1.40-1.69), engagement in daily waged labor (OR range, 1.54-1.68), and running a small trade/business (OR range, 1.66-2.71) were significantly associated with income reduction or job loss in three out of 4 countries (all P < 0.05). Food stock availability increased significantly in 2021 compared to 2020 in all four countries (OR range, 1.91-4.45) (all P < 0.05). Availability of all essential items at markets increased in India (OR range, 1.45-3.99) but decreased for basic foods, hygiene items, and medicine in Vietnam (OR range, 0.81-0.86) in 2021 compared to 2020 (all P < 0.05). In 2021, the affordability of all essential items significantly improved in India (OR range, 1.18-3.49) while the affordability of rent, health care, and loans deteriorated in Indonesia (OR range, 0.23-0.71) when compared to 2020 (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term social protection programs need to be carefully designed and implemented to address food insecurity among vulnerable groups, considering each country's market conditions, consumer food purchasing behaviors, and financial support capacity.

Impact of a Brand Image Matching with the Advertising Model on Price Fairness Perceptions: Focus on Sports Advertising (브랜드 이미지와 광고모델의 일치성이 가격공정성 지각에 미치는 영향 : 스포츠 광고를 중심으로)

  • Hwang, Hee-Joong;Shin, Seung-Ho
    • Journal of Distribution Science
    • /
    • v.10 no.3
    • /
    • pp.43-50
    • /
    • 2012
  • This study sets out to examine how a brand image that matches the advertising model has a positive impact on brand attitude and price fairness perceptions. We reviewed the constructs on the basis of previous studies and each of the concepts has been redefined. One such concept, "image congruence," refers to the harmony, fitness, and matching quality of images. For example, how well celebrity advertising model is matches the brand image shows image congruence. Results are summarized as follows: First, the congruence of brand image and sports advertising model has no significant impact on brand attitude certainty and persistence. Second, the individual's brand attitude certainty and brand attitude persistence has a positive impact on the perceptions of price fairness. Third, the congruence of brand image and sports advertising model has a positive impact on the perceptions of price fairness. The first and the third results suggest that the positive impact on the price fairness perceptions is temporary but it has insignificant effects on the formation of brand attitude causing ongoing purchases. In other words, in order to influence consumers' long-term confidence on the brand, improving the quality of products or services has to precede promotional strategies such as advertising. When an advertising model is inappropriate for the brand image, consumers perceive product price changes as a negative issue in the short term. However, in the long term, attitude formation such as consumers' repurchase intentions and word of mouth will be not affected. The second result suggests that an already existing positive brand attitude can contribute more positively to change the perceptions of price fairness. In particular, attitude persistence has greater influence than attitude certainty on the price fairness. It suggests that persistence issues such as the trading period and the frequency of transactions must be managed and controlled because they are more important than the certainty issues such as strength of belief or trust. For example, when a commercial model for expensive sporting goods matches up with the brand image, consumer feels less pressure on the price changes. However, it does not determine the consumer's repeated purchases or sustainable transactions and it also has no absolute impact on the brand trust. In other words, consumer brand attitude should be recognized and approached as a routine strategy in view of the result that it is of great value as a causal variable in the process of consumer decision-making.

  • PDF