• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.69-80
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of Tai Chi on the muscle strength and flexibility. Method: 10 articles from Medline search of foreign journals(1981-2003) and 4 from Korean nursing journals (1981-2003) were surveyed. The research are analyzed according to research design, subjects, and dependent variables. Results: Research on Tai Chi Exercise increased rapidly in the 1990's. The experimental research design was more reported than the comparative design. The experimental design included; 21.4% one group pre-posttest design, 35.7% quasi-experimental design and 28.6% randomized design. Out of the subjects; 64.4% of papers were healthy older people, and 35.6% of papers were patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Style of Tai Chi was mostly used Yang or Sun form. Muscle strength was usually measured at lower extremity or grip strength. Classical Yang style or Long form was more effective to improve muscle strength. 75% of papers were significantly improvement in grip strength and 71.4% of papers in flexibility. Conclusion: To properly study the positive effects of Tai Chi exercise, it is suggested that meta analysis needs to be done to integrate the various results.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2001

Objectives : To analyze factors associated with elderly falls in a community dwelling, a comparatively important, but somewhat neglected, health mailer. Methods : Data came from personal interview surveys using a questionnaire of 552 people aged 65 or older living in a community. Socioeconomic, and health related characteristics were investigated as independent variables and experiences of falling in the previous year as the dependent variable. Results : 118(21.4%) of the elderly subjects experienced a fall in the previous year. 24 subjects experienced more than two falls, accounting for 20.3% of the elderly fall victims studied. Factors affecting the falls were families living together, level of daily activity, heart disease, and aconuresis;, therefore an elderly person who lives alone, lives independently, has heart disease, or suffers urinary incontinence had a demonstrated increased chance of failing. Conclusion : Groups at risk for luting included elderly persons living alone, living independently, suffering heart disease, or experiencing urinary incontinence. When an elderly fall prevention program is developed and implemented, these results should be considered.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 2023

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the connection between handwashing and toothbrushing, focusing on eating habits, and to verify whether eating habits can be used as an action cue for forming health habits. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using secondary data from the 2019 community health survey. The participants included 229,099 adults aged 19 years or older, representative of the South Korean people. We employed two dependent variables: one was washing hands, and the other was brushing teeth. Eating habits was a major independent variable. Socioeconomic variables, such as age, gender, income, occupation, economic activity, education, and residence were adjusted as confounders. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to calculate adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Most of the participants had good health behaviors: those who wash their hands and brush their teeth were each approximately 80%. Our finding indicated that brushing teeth and washing hands can be connected with eating habits. After adjusting for confounders, it was found that people who wash their hands before meals (compared to those who did not wash their hands before meals) had a higher toothbrushing rate after meals (i.e., socioeconomic status) (Adjusted Odds Ratio: 2.0, Confidence Intervals: 1.9 to 2.1). Conclusion: Those who practice either washing hands before meals or brushing teeth after meals were found to have a connection between washing hands and brushing teeth based on the results of practicing other health behaviors. This implies that eating habits can be connected as a behavior cue to promote health habits, such as washing hands before meals and brushing teeth after meals.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.74-90
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• 2021

Background: It is getting important to improve the oral health status of the elderly because oral health status may affect their health status of the whole body. In this respect, we aimed to explore the association of oral health status and behavior factors with self-rated health status by sex. Methods: Using the data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for health surveys and oral examinations (2016-2018), we analyzed a total of 3,070 people aged 65 or older (men: 1,329; women: 1,741). Our dependent variable, self-rated health status, was divided into two groups: not good (bad and very bad) and good (very good, good, and fair), whereas our independent variables of interest were oral health status and behavior factors. In addition to descriptive analysis and the Rao-Scott chi-square test, reflecting survey characteristics, we conducted hierarchical multivariable logistic regression analyses adjusted for socio-demographics and health status and behavior factors. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: The proportion of people having 'not good' self-rated health was 36.5% in women but 24.5% in men. In a model adjusted for all covariates, the self-rated health status showed significant association with the self-rated oral health status. For example, in men, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'poor' (odds ratio [OR], 5.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.34-12.03) self-rated oral health status and in those having 'fair' (OR, 4.03; 95% CI, 1.68-9.70) in comparison with those having 'good' self-rated oral health status. Dental status regarding speaking difficulty seemed to be very important in influencing self-rated health status. For instance, in women, compared to people having 'no discomfort' speaking difficulty, the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health was high in people having 'not bad' (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.14-2.24) and 'discomfort' (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.30-2.47) speaking difficulty. The covariates significantly associated with the risk of having 'not good' self-rated health were: physical activity, chronic disease, stress, and body mass index in both sexes; health insurance type and drinking only in men; and economic activity only in women. Conclusion: Oral health status and behavioral factors were associated with self-rated health status among the elderly, differently by sex. This suggests that public health policies toward better health in the elderly should take their oral health status and oral health behaviors into account in a sex-specific way.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.479-492
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• 2020

Background: As the prevalence of hypertension is increasing in Korea, the government is seeking policy actions to manage patients with hypertension more efficiently. In this paper, we aimed to identify factors associated with the use of medical care at hospitals among outpatients with hypertension. Methods: We analyzed a total of 15,040 cases of 3,877 outpatients with hypertension obtained from the Korea Medical Panel database from 2010 to 2016. The dependent variable was whether a patient with hypertension visited a hospital or not; and independent variables were the patient's various socio-demographic, health-related, and heath-status characteristics. We conducted a generalized linear mixed model analysis with logit link for all the cases and then conducted it stratified by gender. Results: As a result of a multivariable analysis, women were less likely than to visit at a hospital (odds ratio [OR], 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.32-0.61) and people aged 65 years and older than those aged less than 65 years (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.57-0.89). Residents in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam were more likely than those in than Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, and Jeju to visit a hospital (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.05-1.86). The likelihood of visiting a hospital was high in people belonging to a group of: the highest level of annual household income (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.30-2.29); Medical care aid recipients (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.34-2.83); people having three or more complex chronic diseases (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.19-2.11); people having diabetes (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.41-2.32); or people having ischemic heart disease or cerebrovascular disease (OR, 6.80; 95% CI, 5.28-8.76). Also, we found that factors associated with the use of medical care at hospitals among outpatients with hypertension differed between genders. Conclusion: A variety of factors seem to be associated with the use of medical care at hospitals among outpatients with hypertension. Future research needs to find a way to help patients with hypertension visit an appropriate medical institution between clinics and hospitals.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 2005

This study aims to explore the difference in life satisfaction and daily activities of elderly solitaries through a survey conducted from May to June 2004 to 152 who hare moi the criteria set forth for this study. Used for the survey were such tools as 11 items of questions concerning characters of the subjects, Life Satisfaction and Daily activities(K-ADL). The outcomes could be summarized as follows: 1. The majority of 152 subjects are females, aged $70{\sim}79$, living in the urban areas, non-educated with miscellaneous religions(including non-believers), jobless, self-dependent (or living expenses, without leisure, with disease, suffering from sickness despite of treatment and, thus not self-confident in health. 2. The Life Satisfaction and K-ADL of all subjects appear in general to be good with $20.03{\pm}9.74$ and $8.25{\pm}2.74$, respectively. 3. The difference in Life Satisfaction by characters of the subjects is found significantly high in those who are females, living in rural area, educated, with religions and jobs, have diseases treated and currently confident in health. 4. The difference in K-ADL by characters of the subjects is significantly high for those who are older than 80, Buddhists, jobless, affordable with living expenses by themselves, sick currently and not confident in health. Thus, it is thought vastly important to help the elderly solitaries to realize quality of life by social (including family) assistance, economic self-reliance and health promotion and prevention. Measures drawn from the analysis into issues of the elderly solitaries from various aspects may definitely contribute to avoiding and complimenting the causes of various issues relating to the elderly people and to assisting them to cope with the problems in the highly geriatric society to come.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.69-87
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors related to the willingness to have a child, parental age at first child's birth, and the planned number of children. The data came from the Korean General Social Survey from the Survey Research Center at Sung Kyun Kwan University. The sample data set included 488 men and women between the ages of 18 and 49. The major findings are as follows. First, gender, age, satisfaction with family relations, the value of marriage, the value of family succession, and willingness to increase spending on education significantly affected the willingness to have a child among unmarried and married participants without children. Second, among people willing to have a child, the factors that influenced parental age at first child's birth were gender, education, satisfaction with household economic condition, the value of marriage, and the willingness to increase spending on education. Third, across the sample, the planned number of children was decided by satisfaction of family relations, the value of childbirth, the value of marriage, and home ownership. Overall, the value of marriage was the factor most strongly associated with the three dependent variables. The more a person agree with living with their partner before marriage, the more willing they were to give birth, the younger they were when they became a parent, and the more children they planned to have. The higher satisfaction of family relations, the higher willingness to have a child, and the more children a participant planned to have. In addition, the more a participant was willing to increase spending on education, the higher their willingness was to have a child and the older they were when they became a parent.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.277-287
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• 2019

Background: Diabetes is known as one of the most important ambulatory care sensitive conditions. This study purposed to assess the status of continuity of care (COC) and diabetes-related avoidable hospitalizations (DRAHs) of a group of middle- and old-aged patients and to observe the relationship of the two elements by the two age groups. Methods: This study utilized the National Health Insurance Service's National Sample Cohort data and the subjects are diabetes patients of 45 and over, classified into two groups of 'middle-aged'(45-64 years) and 'old-aged'(${\geq}65years$) patients. The dependent variable was DRAHs, which was defined in accordance with the definition of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development "Health Care Quality Indicators" project. COC, as an independent variable, is measured by the COC index in this study. Two-part model (multi-variate and multi-level analyses) was utilized. Results: Factors associated with the status and the number of DRAHs differed by each age group. Meanwhile, the two-part model showed that higher COC was associated with a lower risk of preventable hospitalizations in both middle- and old-aged groups. Conclusion: Study findings can provide health policy insights and implications in order to strengthen the primary care system for further improvement of diabetes management, especially for middle- and old-aged groups.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.424-434
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• 2022

This study is to verify the mediating effect of self-esteem on the effect of the elderly's smart device use on life satisfaction. To this end, secondary data analysis was conducted using the Korea Media Panel Survey conducted by the Information and Communication Policy Institute in 2021. The responses of 3,211 people in their 60s or older who are the subjects of this study were utilized. For analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression analysis were performed using SPSS, and the Sobel test was conducted to verify mediating effects. As a result, smart device utilization averaged 2.13 points out of 5, indicating that the actual utilization level was less than half. The use of smart devices, an independent variable, had a positive effect on the dependent variable, life satisfaction. Self-esteem, which is a parameter, has been verified as a partial mediating effect in that smart device use affects life satisfaction. Based on the results of this study, various policy and practical measures were proposed to increase the smart device utilization rate of the elderly in Korea, improve self-esteem and life satisfaction, so that they can spend a happy old age.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-13
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of the disease duration on depression change in cancer survivors between the middle and old age groups. Methodology: To that end, we analyzed 275 patients using the Korea welfare panel survey from 2011 to 2016 jointly developed by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and Seoul National University. The duration of the elapsed and the experienced was measured as a independent variable. CES-D was used as a dependent variable. Frequency, paired t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression analysis were conducted using Stata 14.0 for statistical analysis. Findings: Studies have shown that as the duration of the elapsed and the experienced increases, people under 65 are 1.17 times and 1.84 times each more likely to be included in depression-increase group than in depression-reduction group. The group that has been maintaining economic activities continuously since 2011 was significantly less likely to belong to the depression-increase group than the group that did not have economic activities in 2016. For those aged 65 and older, there was no significant difference in the duration of the elapsed and the experienced. The higher the likelihood of low-income households being included in the family of depression was 2.58 times higher than for ordinary households. Practical Implications: It is suggested that close policy management of the employment and working environment of cancer survivors is necessary, as both cancer survivors of productive age as well as older cancer survivors are analyzed to be beneficial to depression management. In addition, a systematic management program related to the mental health of cancer survivors is believed to be necessary for normal social recovery in the future.