• 제목/요약/키워드: focus groups

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지난 10년간 응급실로 내원한 자해/자살 시도자의 양상 및 주요 수단으로서의 중독질환 변화 추이 분석(2011-2020) (Patterns of self-harm/suicide attempters who visited emergency department over the past 10 years and changes in poisoning as a major method (2011-2020))

  • 배규현;이성우;김수진;한갑수;송주현;이시진;박지환;송제준
    • 대한임상독성학회지
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    • 제21권2호
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    • pp.69-80
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    • 2023
  • Purpose: Suicide ranks among the top causes of death among youth in South Korea. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of suicidal individuals treated at emergency departments between 2011 and 2020. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from January 2011 to December 2020 in the Injury Surveillance Cohort, a prospective registry. Patients' sex, age, mortality, methods of self-harm, and previous suicide attempts were analyzed. The methods of self-harm were categorized into falls, asphyxiation, blunt injuries, penetrating injuries, poisoning, and others. Sub-groups with and without poisoning were compared. Results: The proportion of self-harm/suicide attempts increased from 2.3% (2011) to 5.0% (2020). The mortality rate decreased from 10.8% (2011) to 6.3% (2020). Poisoning was the most common method (61.7%). Mortality rates ranged from 42.0% for asphyxiation to 0.2% for blunt injuries. Individuals in their 20s showed a marked increase in suicide/self-harm attempts, especially in the last three years. A large proportion of decedents in their 70s or older (52.6%) used poisoning as a method of suicide. The percentage of individuals with two or more previous attempts rose from 7.1% (2011) to 19.7% (2020). The death rates by poisoning decreased from 7.7% (2011) to 2.5% (2020). Conclusion: Our findings underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions and suicide prevention policies. Managing and reducing suicide and self-harm in emergency settings will require a focus on poisoning, the 10-29 age group, and the elderly. This paper will be valuable for future policies aiming to reduce the societal burden of suicide and self-harm.

전문대학 교수들의 학생진로지도 경험 연구: 근거이론을 중심으로 (A qualitative study of community college professors' experiences in career guidance: a grounded theory approach)

  • 우영지;이지희
    • 한국심리학회지 : 코칭
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    • 제7권3호
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    • pp.1-26
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    • 2023
  • 본 연구는 전문대학 교수들이 전공과 학생들의 진로지도를 어떻게 경험하고 있는지 원인 및 현상, 맥락, 대처 등 관련한 주요한 구성요소를 발견하고, 패러다임 모형을 도출하여 그 경험을 구조적·심층적으로 이해하는 데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 전문대학 전공과 교수 총 23명을 대상으로 포커스 그룹 인터뷰를 진행하였고, 이 결과를 근거이론 방법론(Srauss & Corbin, 1998)을 적용하여 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 17개의 범주와 31개의 하위범주가 도출되었다. 전문대학 교수의 학생진로지도에 있어서 중심현상은 크게 두 범주로 학생진로지도의 고충 경험과 학생들과의 상호작용에 대한 태도 변화였다. 중심현상 발생의 원인에 해당하는 인과적 조건으로는 교수의 진로지도 전문성 부족, 학생의 진로지도 범위 및 요구수준, 진로지도에 대한 학생들의 태도의 세 가지 범주가 있었다. 중심현상을 만들어내는 특수한 상황이나 조건에 해당하는 맥락적 조건으로는 학생진로지도의 필요성, 학생진로지도의 과도한 부담과 시간부족, 학교차원의 학생진로지도 관련 소통 부족, 학생진로지도의 시스템 네 가지가 있었다. 이 외에도 작용·상호작용, 중재적 조건, 결과 등을 밝혀냈다. 본 연구는 전문대학 교수들이 실제로 진로지도의 과정에서 어떠한 경험을 하고, 어떤 어려움을 겪으며, 어떤 대처를 통해 어떠한 결과에 이르는지의 과정을 확인하였다. 이를 바탕으로 향후 전문대학 교수의 학생진로지도가 어떠한 방향으로 나아가 하며 어떠한 도움이나 지원이 필요할 것인지 이해하는데 기여할 것으로 기대한다.

Efficacy of Hyperthermic Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy in an In Vitro Model Using a Human Gastric Cancer AGS Cell Line and an Abdominal Cavity Model

  • Sa-Hong Min;Jieun Lee;Mira Yoo;Duyeong Hwang;Eunju Lee;So Hyun Kang;Kanghaeng Lee;Young Suk Park;Sang-Hoon Ahn;Yun-Suhk Suh;Do Joong Park;Hyung-Ho Kim
    • Journal of Gastric Cancer
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    • 제24권3호
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    • pp.246-256
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    • 2024
  • Purpose: Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) presents a major challenge in the treatment of late-stage, solid tumors, with traditional therapies limited by poor drug penetration. We evaluated a novel hyperthermic pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (HPIPAC) system using a human abdominal cavity model for its efficacy against AGS gastric cancer cells. Materials and Methods: A model simulating the human abdominal cavity and AGS gastric cancer cell line cultured dishes were used to assess the efficacy of the HPIPAC system. Cell viability was measured to evaluate the impact of HPIPAC under 6 different conditions: heat alone, PIPAC with paclitaxel (PTX), PTX alone, normal saline (NS) alone, heat with NS, and HPIPAC with PTX. Results: Results showed a significant reduction in cell viability with HPIPAC combined with PTX, indicating enhanced cytotoxic effects. Immediately after treatment, the average cell viability was 66.6%, which decreased to 49.2% after 48 hours and to a further 19.6% after 120 hours of incubation, demonstrating the sustained efficacy of the treatment. In contrast, control groups exhibited a recovery in cell viability; heat alone showed cell viability increasing from 90.8% to 94.4%, PIPAC with PTX from 82.7% to 89.7%, PTX only from 73.3% to 74.8%, NS only from 90.9% to 98.3%, and heat with NS from 74.4% to 84.7%. Conclusions: The HPIPAC system with PTX exhibits a promising approach in the treatment of PC in gastric cancer, significantly reducing cell viability. Despite certain limitations, this study highlights the system's potential to enhance treatment outcomes. Future efforts should focus on refining HPIPAC and validating its effectiveness in clinical settings.

챗봇 환경에서 데이터 시각화 인터랙션을 위한 자연어처리 모델 (Natural Language Processing Model for Data Visualization Interaction in Chatbot Environment)

  • 오상헌;허수진;김성희
    • 정보처리학회논문지:컴퓨터 및 통신 시스템
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    • 제9권11호
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    • pp.281-290
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    • 2020
  • 스마트폰의 보급으로 인해 개인화된 데이터를 활용하고자 하는 서비스들이 증가하고 있다. 특히, 헬스케어와 관련된 서비스들은 다양한 데이터를 다루며, 이를 효과적으로 보여주기 위해 데이터 시각화 기법을 활용하고 있다. 데이터 시각화 기법이 활용되면서 자연스럽게 시각화에서의 인터랙션 또한 함께 강조되고 있다. PC 환경에서 데이터 시각화에 대한 인터랙션은 마우스로 이루어지기 때문에, 데이터에 대한 필터링이 다양하게 제공되고 있다. 반면, 모바일 환경에서의 인터랙션은 화면의 크기가 작고, 인터랙션 가능 여부를 인지하기 어려워 버튼 터치 방식으로 앱에서 제공하는 제한된 시각화만을 제공받을 수 있다. 이러한 모바일 환경에서의 인터랙션 한계를 극복하기 위해, 챗봇과의 대화를 통해 데이터 시각화 인터랙션을 가능하게 하여 사용자들에게 개개인의 데이터를 다양한 시각화를 통해 확인할 수 있도록 하고자 한다. 이를 위해서는 사용자의 질의를 쿼리로 변환하여, 주기적으로 데이터를 축적하고 있는 데이터베이스에서 변환된 쿼리를 통해 결과 데이터를 불러올 수 있어야 한다. 자연어를 쿼리로 변환하는 연구는 현재 많이 이루어지고 있지만, 시각화를 기반으로 하여 사용자의 질의를 쿼리로 변환하는 연구에 대해서는 아직 이루어지지 않았다. 따라서, 본 논문에서는 사전에 데이터 시각화 기법이 정해진 상황에서의 쿼리 생성에 초점을 맞추고자 한다. 지원하는 인터랙션은 태스크 x-축 값에 대한 필터링 및 두 그룹 간 비교이다. 테스트 시나리오는 걸음 수에 대한 데이터를 활용하였으며, x-축 기간에 대한 필터링은 바 그래프, 두 그룹간 비교는 라인 그래프로 나타내었다. 시각화를 통해 요청한 정보를 제공받을 수 있는 자연어처리 모델을 개발하기 위해 1,000명을 대상으로 한 설문조사를 통해 약 15,800개의 학습 데이터를 수집하였다. 알고리즘 개발 및 성능 평가를 진행한 결과, 분류 모델에서는 약 89%, 쿼리 생성 모델에서는 약 99% 정확도를 보였다.

'의료법 제33조 제8항 관련 헌법재판소의 합헌결정'에 대한 평가 및 보완 입법 방향에 대하여 -헌법재판소 2019. 8. 29. 2014헌바212, 2014헌가15, 2015헌마561, 2016헌바21(병합) 결정의 내용 중 의료기관 복수 개설금지 제도의 당위성 및 필요성을 중심으로- (Concerning the Constitution Court's constitutional decision and the direction of supplemental legislation concerning Article 33 paragraph 8 of the Medical Service Act - With a focus on legitimacy of a system that prohibits multiple opening of medical instituion, in the content of 2014Hun-Ba212, August 29, 2019, 2014Hun-Ga15, 2015Hun-Ma561, 2016Hun-Ba21(amalgamation), Constitutional Court of Korea -)

  • 김준래
    • 의료법학
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    • 제20권3호
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    • pp.143-174
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    • 2019
  • 우리 헌법은, 국가로 하여금 국민의 건강을 보호할 의무를 지우고 있고, 이에 따라 구체화된 규범인 의료법은 의료기관 개설 등에 관한 사항을 상세히 규정하고 있는데, 그 내용 중 하나가 의료인의 의료기관 복수개설·운영 금지제도이다. 이에 대하여, 종래의 판례는 '다른 의사 명의로 추가 개설하는 의료기관에서 직접 의료행위 등을 하지 않는다면 여러 개의 의료기관을 개설·운영할 수 있다'라고 해석함으로써, 사실상 복수의 의료기관을 개설·운영할 수 있었다. 하지만 일부 의료인들이 다른 의료인의 면허로 의료기관을 여러 장소에 개설하고 이익을 극대화하기 위하여, 환자유인행위를 하거나 과잉진료 및 위임치료를 하는 등의 불법의료행위를 조장할 뿐만 아니라 국민의 건강권 등을 침해하는 현실적 문제가 발생하게 되었다. 이에 입법자는 의료법의 개정을 통해 의료인은 어떠한 명목으로도 둘 이상의 의료기관을 개설하거나 운영할 수 없도록 의료기관 개설제도를 정비하게 되었다. 이와 같은 개정 의료법 제33조 제8항이 위헌인지 여부에 대하여, 헌법소원과 위헌법률심판 제청이 되어 헌법재판소에서 오랜 기간 심층심리 끝에 최근 합헌결정이 선고되었다. 헌법재판소는, 보건의료는 상거래의 대상이 되어서는 아니 되고, 공공의료기관의 비중, 영리목적 환자유인, 과잉진료 등을 방지하기 위한 점을 감안하여 '목적의 정당성'을 인정하였다. 또한 의료인이 외부 자본에 종속될 우려가 있는 점, 의료기관 개설 명의인과 실제 운영자가 분리되는 것은 우려스러운 점, 인간의 신체와 생명이 수단이 되어서는 아니 된다는 점, 현재의 의료체계상 과잉진료 확인이 불가한 점 등을 고려해 볼 때 '침해의 최소성'도 인정하였다. 나아가 '법익 균형성' 등 기본권 제한의 원칙인 과잉금지원칙을 준수하여 합헌이라고 판단하였다. 이와 같이 헌법재판소가 우려하고 있는 영리추구, 과잉진료를 현실적으로 방지하기 위해서는 입법적 보완이 필요하다. 이와 관련하여 소비자단체는 입법의 필요성에 적극 찬성하고 있고, 보건의료 공급자 단체 또한 입법의 필요성에 공감하고 있다. 따라서 입법자는 헌법재판소의 이번 결정을 존중하고, 국민들의 입장을 반영하여 빠른 시일 내에 보완입법을 마련하길 기대한다.

간호센타 개발을 위한 건강증진 프로그램 요구사정 연구-유방자가검진 프로그램을 중심으로- (A Study on Need Assessment in Health Promotion Programs for Developing Nursing Centers - Breast Self Examination-)

  • 박인혜;강혜영;이정희;류현숙
    • 지역사회간호학회지
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    • 제11권1호
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    • pp.21-36
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    • 2000
  • The purpose of this study was to assess the needs of breast self examination education (BSEE) programs for developing nursing centers. A first, we reviewed the literature of activity and management-related factors of nursing centers: and, second. we used a questionnaire to discover the degree of knowledge, attitude, and practice on breast cancer, as well as an individual's intention to participate BSEE program. 1. Reviewing the literatures of nursing center activities. Nursing centers which were administered by a professional nurse are an ideal site for faculty and student practices. With the use of nursing models of health. professional nurses in nursing centers diagnose and treat human responses to potential and actual health problems and offer holistic, client-centered health service. In nursing centers professional nursing services include health education, health promotion, and health-related research. A nursing center is comprised of the advisory and exacutive commitee; the advisory commitee serves consultants and links community needs to the nursing center, while the director of the exacutive commitee identifies the potential resources to generate funds, support, and facilitate the activities of staffs in a nursing center. Nursing centers mobilize various financal resources for reimbursement of services from college and insurance companies, collect minimum service fees from the client, and further collect fees for providing programs to community groups, this also includes membership fees, and donations. The services provided by nursing centers focus on services related to primary prevention, health maintenance & health promotion, direct nursing care for acute & chronic diseases, and holistic care for actual and potential health problems. The client satisfaction for the services was high. Students also showed positive reponses for their clinical experiences and independent working conditions. 2. The degree of knowledge, attitudes, and practices for breast cancer. and an individual's intention to participate in the BSEE program. The subjects of this study were 308 females in K-city in the Republic of Korea. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The mean age of the respondents was 35.0 years old. Those who already participated in the BSEE were 64.9%, and those who had support and encouragement to practice BSE from significant others were 25.1 %. Clients intent to participate in the BSEE were 37.0%. The mean score of knowledge(2.4 out of 5 points) and practices(1.8 out of 5 points) for breast cancer were quite low, but the mean score of attitudes was relatively positive04.5 out of 20 point) for breast cancer. Those who already had BSEE showed significantly high scores in knowledge(t=6.48, p<0.01), attitudes (t=10.54, p<0.01). and practices(t=57.07, p<0.001) for breast cancer than those who had not participated in the BSEE. In all age groups no intention to participate in the BSEE was higher than who the intention to participate. These findings suggest some strategies should be developed to increase the awareness of breast cancer's early detection.

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유영국(劉永國)의 초기 구성주의: <랩소디>(1937)에 나타난 유토피아니즘 (Yoo Young-kuk's Early Constructivism: Utopianism in (1937))

  • 유영아
    • 미술이론과 현장
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    • 제9호
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    • pp.93-121
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    • 2010
  • This study is about Yoo Young-kuk's early works which show constructivism, especially focus on his debut painting, for the 7th Dokuritsu Bijutsu Kyokai(獨立美術協會, the Independent Fine Arts Association) in Tokyo in 1937. The work was painted 2 years after he had started his study in Japan in 1935. It was the first painting that applied Constructivism. played an important role for Constructivism to be a leading art in his abstraction. After this picture, Yoo was soon devoted to the principles of Constructivism-- Faktura(material), Tektonika (tectonics), Tekhnika(technique), space, construction-- in his painterly reliefs. This article examined why Yoo concentrated on Constructivism for , what the characteristics were, and what influences were on other works from 1935 to 1949. In addition, I investigated in which period was painted and how Constructivism was spread in 1930s and early 1940s in chapter 2. I scrutinized Rhapsody in chapter 3. When Yoo created Japan was under the Fifteen Years War(1931-1945), and a major discourse was the Japanese Spirit at that time. It was connected with construction of an ideal nation which the Japanese ultra-national fascism pursued. This ideological pursuit was intended to unite the Japanese people for total war system and to restore a national dignity which had been fallen down due to Manchurian Incident(1931). Thus, on the hand, Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai(國際文化振興, The Society for International Cultural Relations) and the Nippon Kosaku Bunka Renmei(日本工作文化連盟, Japanese Werkbund) were supported financially by the Japanese government. On the other hand, the government enacted regulations to opposing parties which would distract Japanese people's unification. As for the Japanese art world, the merge of art groups was carried out through remodeling of Teikoku Bijutsuin(帝國美術院, The Imperial Fine Arts Academy) in 1935. This brought out continuous dispute and disorder. Young artists who felt difficulty of entering an entry of Imperial Fine Arts Exhibition repeatedly grouped and disbanded for small art groups to build their standing, which they pursued Surrealism and Abstract art. Among them Constructivism was considered as the latest trend and was popular in craft, design, architecture as well as fine arts. In the year before he painted , Avant-garde theatres including Constructivism theatre were introduced in a feature article of September, 1936 in Atelier, which was dealing with mainly avant-garde arts. Books related with Constructivism were translated into Japanese, and Gestaltung Education had become active since the publication of A Compendium of Gestaltung Education("構成敎育大系"(1934)), Salvador Dali(1904-1989) was also introduced, so Surrealism was drawn more attention by young artists. reflected popular trends. Yoo analyzed the Japanese avant-gardists' archaic taste in the Independent Art Association that he submitted his painting to. And then he entitled 'Rhapsody' which derives from Ancient Greek's epic poetry and deliberately set up images in a scene. In chapter 3, I examined a theme which was planned carefully by sorting favorite images from the Japanese Surrealism. was a result that Yoo Young-kuk observed objectively the phenomenon that young artists dreamt of Utopia or longed for Nostalgia passively and lethargically under wars. And then he otherized himself from that circumstance. First of all, for he used the typical icons of Japanese Surrealism such as the horizon, flowing clouds, and vast plain that were considered stereotypes of Arcadia. He, however distinguished himself form those Japanese Surrealists. He made his own vision about Utopia by referring Lyubov Popova(1889-1924)'s stage design. His objective point of view was expressed by positive and dynamic images of structure and human's actions. Constructivism which was attempted in had an effect on other early constructive works, and the principles of Constructivism were sought hard in reliefs, paintings, and photos.

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유전자재조합 식품의 안전성에 대한 기본인식 조사 - 식품관련 전문가 그룹을 중심으로 - (Attitudes of Safety for the Food Developed by Gene-Recombination in Korea -Focus on the Specialist Group Related to Food-)

  • 김영찬;박경진;이홍석;김동연
    • 한국식품위생안전성학회지
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    • 제14권4호
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    • pp.397-407
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    • 1999
  • 유전자재조합 식품에 대한 기본인식을 조사하기 위하여 일반 소비자에 대한 설문조사에 선행하여, 1999년 1월 식품 관련 전문가 1,400명에게 우편설문을 발송하여, 이중 회수된 464명(33.1%)을 대상으로 인식정도, 수용도, 구매의사, 표시의향 등을 분석하였다. 유전자재조합식품에 대해 알고 있다고 응답한 사람이 응답자의 98.7%로 거의 대부분의 식품관련 전문가들은 알고 있는 것으로 조사되었으며, 학계에 종사하는 40대 이상 남성의 인식정도가 가장 높게 나타났다. 유전자재조합 기술의 필요성에 대해서는 91.3%가 필요하다고 응답해 유전자재조합 기술이 식품의 생산에 있어 매우 필요함을 지적하였다. 안전성과 관련하여 유전자재조합 식품의 잠재적 위험성의 존재에 대하여는 80.9%가 지적하였으나, 인식정도에 따라 상당히 다른 경향을 나타냈다. 즉, 인식정도가 낮을수록 잠재적 위험성에 대한 우려는 높게 나타났고, 반면 인식정도가 높을수록 잠재적 위험성에 대한 우려를 낮게 나타나는(p<0.01) 경향을 보여, 안전성과 관련해서는 인식정도가 상당히 중요한 요인으로 작용하고 있는 것으로 조사됐다. 유전자재조합 식품의 구매의사에 있어서는 68.4%가 구입의사를 나타내었으나, 이중“구입하되 자녀에게는 먹이지 않거나(17.9%)”,“가격이 저렴하면 구입(27.0%)”등 조건이 있는 경우가 44.9%였다. 유전자재조합 식품에 대한 구매의사도 잠재적위험성에 대한 결과와 유사한 경향을 나타냈는데, 즉 유전자재조합 식품에 대해 잘 알고 있을수록 구매하겠다는 비율이 더 높았고, 인식이 낮을수록 구매의사는 낮게 나타나(p<0.01) 유전자재조합 식품에 대한 인식정도가 구매의사에 있어서도 상당히 중요한 요인으로 작용하고 있는 것으로 조사됐다. 그밖에 표시에 대하여는 85.3%가 표시하여야 한다고 하였으며, 남성 보다 여성의 경우가 더 높게 나타났다(p<0.01). 유전자재조합식품과 관련하여 가장 보완되어야 할 분야로는‘식품안전관리’를 지적하였으며,“관련 제도 및 법규를 통한 정부의 규제”가 유전자재조합식품의 안전성과 관련하여 가장 시급한 부분이라고 지적하였다. 결론적으로 식품관련 전문가들은 유전자재조합 식품에 대한 안전성 등 잠재적위험성에 대해서 인식을 하고 있지만, 우려정도나 유전자재조합 식품에 대한 구매의사는 인식정도에 따라 크게 달라지는 것으로 나타났다.

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고객 보상프로그램의 효율적 구성에 관한 연구 (A Study on Efficiently Designing Customer Rewards Programs)

  • 김상철
    • 유통과학연구
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    • 제10권1호
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    • pp.5-10
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    • 2012
  • 본 연구는 보상프로그램의 구성에 관한 연구이다. 이를 위해 재무가치적 보상프로그램과 서비스 가치적 보상프로그램에 대한 관여수준별 선호도를 분석하였다. 또한 보상 프로그램의 평가모드(SE, JE)에 따라 선호도가 어떻게 달라지는지를 파악하였다. 실험결과 관여수준에 따라 보상프로그램에 대한 선호도는 일부 차이를 보이고 있으며 결합된 보상프로그램에 대한 선호도가 높게 나타나고 있었다. 여기서 특이한 점은 재무적 보상프로그램에 서비스 보상프로그램이 결합되는 경우에 고객들은 보상프로그램에 대해 보다 더 높은 선호도를 보이고 있어, 기존 재무보상 중심에서 벗어나 서비스 보상프로그램에 대한 관심을 제고시킬 필요가 있다. 이는 기존 기업들이 비용에 대한 부담을 갖고 있으면서도 비차별적이로 획일적인 보상프로그램을 진행하는 방식에서 새로운 보상프로그램을 구성하는 계기가 될 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

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소비자의 라이프스타일에 따른 서비스품질 지각 차이에 관한 연구 (A Study on the Consumer's Service Quality Perception Based on the Types of Life-style)

  • 박윤서;이승인;최인
    • 마케팅과학연구
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    • 제19권2호
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    • pp.53-67
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    • 2009
  • For the last decades, service quality has been studied as one of the most important tools for a service company to compete with the other companies. Based on these past researches, it has been agreed that the service quality is a basic and powerful tool to create the competitive advantage. Due to similar reason, many service marketing practitioners have been also focused on the service quality to retain the existing consumers and collect the new consumers. However, service quality is subjectively perceived by individual consumers. Consumer evaluation of service quality can be different from each other. Especially consumers with one life-style may evaluate the service quality differently from the consumers with the other life-styles. Therefore we need to know whether there are differences in service quality perception on the categories of life-style. Life-style refers to a distinctive mode of living in its aggregate and broadest sense. It embodies the patterns that were developed and emerged from the dynamics of living in a society. Since the concept of life-style and its relationship to marketing was introduced in 1963 by William Lazer, methods of measuring the life-style and their application have been developed. Life-style has been usually used to segment the marketplace because it offers marketers a unique and important view of the market. When Life-style is combined with clustering methods, life-style segmentation can generate identifiable whole persons rather than isolated fragment. Life-style segmentation begins with people instead of products and classifies them into different life-style types, each characterized by a unique style of living based on a wide range of activities, interests, and opinions(Plummer, 1974). In this study we applies the life-style segmentation based on the AIO(Activities, Interests, and Opinions) to the consumers of the large discount stores. In Korea, the large discount store market has entered into maturity stage so that the market differentiation strategy is becoming a more critical issue to the marketing practitioners. One of the most important tools to differentiate from the competitors in large discount store market is continuously to provide service of better quality than competitors. This study tries to find answers about the following questions: 1) How can we categorize the consumer life-styles in the large discount store? 2) What are the characteristics of the categorized groups? 3) Are there any differences in service quality perception among the consumers with different life-styles 4) Are there any differences in consumer behavior among them in the large discount store? For the purpose, we collected survey data from consumers and analyzed the data with the SPSS package where we had $X^2$-test, factor analysis, ANOVA, MANOVA, and cluster analysis. The survey was made during one month in the April of 2008. Among the collected 306 copies of questionnaires, 281 copies were chosen as the effective samples for empirical analysis except 25 copies with wrong responses. To identify the life-style patterns, we used the measures employed by Kim and Kwon(1999), where 44 items on a seven-point scale were used to measure factors of the life-style patterns. The Principal Component Method was used for factor extraction, and the VARIMAX orthogonal factor rotation was employed. The 7 items showing low factor loading were eliminated. The results of the factor analysis suggested that nine factors of the life-style patterns were identified as follows: 1) the equality-of-sexes and pursuit-of-independence tendency 2) self-management tendency 3) sociable tendency 4) self-display tendency 5) degree of a dilettante life 6) pursuit-of-information tendency 7) bargain hunter tendency 8) TV preference tendency 9) pursuit-of-leisure tendency. Next, after the K-means cluster analysis was performed with nine factors of the life-style patterns, the life-styles of the respondents were classified into four groups which are named as the 'progressive practicality-oriented group', 'positive success-oriented group', 'sociable ostentation-oriented group', 'stable conservation-oriented group'. The analysis results for usage behavior between the market segments showed statistically significant differences in the frequency of usage, duration time in the store, consumer satisfaction, and loyalty. Also, we tried to investigate whether the large discount store consumers differently perceive the quality of service based upon the types of life-style. To measure the service quality of large discount store, we adapted several measurement models measuring the service quality such as SERVPERF, BCP, R-SERVPERF, R-BCP. MANOVA and One-Way ANOVA were performed to confirm the difference in service quality perception based on the market segments. The results have also shown significant differences between life-style types in service quality perception. These findings show that the large discount store marketers should consider consumer life-style as one of the most important market segments for marketing and understand the difference in service quality perception between life-style types. Our findings give important implications to marketers of large discount stores as well as life-style researchers. First, this study showed there were significant differences in consumer's service quality perception and usage behavior between the types of life-style. It provides evidence that the life-style approach can be a important basis in segmenting the large discount store market and will make consumers perceive the service quality high. Second, most previous researches on service quality have been in aggregate level. However, our results imply that the future research on service quality have to focus on segment level.

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