• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6303-6309
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• 2015

Differences in socioeconomic status (SES) such as income levels may partly explain why breast cancer screening (BCS) disparities exist in countries where health care services are free or heavily subsidized. However, factors that contribute to such differences in SES among women living in well resourced Middle East countries are not fully understood. This quantitative study investigated factors that influence SES and BCS of Arab women. Understanding of such factors can be useful for the development of effective intervention strategies that aim to increase BCS uptake among Arab women. Using data from a cross-sectional survey among 1,063 Arabic-speaking women in Qatar, age 35+, additional data analysis was performed to determine the relationship between socioeconomic indicators such as income and other factors in relation to BCS activities. This study found that income is determined and influenced by education level, occupation, nationality, years of residence in the country, level of social activity, self-perceived health status, and living area. Financial stress, unemployment, and unfavorable social conditions may impede women's participation in BCS activities in well resourced Middle East countries.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2016

Background: This study was conducted to analyze the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of community on the food insecurity under the control of personal socioeconomic factors which may be influence to the food security. Methods: Food insecurity and individual socioeconomic characteristics were obtained from 2012 community health survey. Socioeconomic characteristics of communities were extracted from the data of Statistics Korea and local governments. Personal socioeconomic factors were sex, age, educational status, job, and monthly family income. Socioeconomic characteristics of communities were administrative district (urban vs. rural), senior population rate, degree of financial self reliance, degree of financial independence, portion of welfare budget, number of welfare facilities, and unemployment rate. We analysed the relationships between the food insecurity and socioeconomic characteristics of community using multi-level analysis under the control of personal characteristics. Results: On personal level age, sex, education status, and monthly family income were related with food insecurity. On community level administrative district (urban vs. rural), degree of financial independence, unemployment rate, and proportion of welfare budget among local general government accounts were related to individual food insecurity. Rural area, district with low levels of financial independence, low portion of welfare budget, and greater unemployment rate showed a higher level of food insecurity. Conclusion: To reduce the level of food insecurity in a community it is necessary to decrease the unemployment rate, in addition to providing support from the central government by increasing the proportion of the welfare budget so that both factors contribute to raising the degree of financial independence.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.98-106
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the relationships between the factors affecting health levels of the elderly in rural areas. Methods: Subjects were 257 elderly people residing in rural areas of six cities and Gangwon Province. Data was collected through questionnaires (demographic and socioeconomic status, social resources, health behaviors, physical environment, psychological tendency and general health levels) and was analyzed by using multiple regression and Sobel test. Results: The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the subjects exerted statistically significant influence on their social resources, health behaviors, physical environment, and psychological tendencies. The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, social resources, health behaviors, physical environment, and psychological tendencies, in turn, exerted a statistically significant influence on the health level. The social resources had mediating effects on the relationship between income, one of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and health level. The residential environments had mediating effects on the relationship between income and health level. The psychological tendency had mediating effects on the relationship between income and health level. Conclusion: This study suggests that income is an important factor affecting health level among rural elderly people. In addition, social resources, health behaviors, physical environment, and psychological tendencies among them also affect health level, so it is necessary to make strategies to improve these factors.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 2011

Objectives : Bell's palsy is the most common acute facial paralysis but its causes still unclear. At present, one of the most widely accepted cause is viral infections, and generally socioeconomic factors influence the viral infections. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of incidence of facial palsy with socioeconomic factors. Methods : Seventeen patients with a acute facial palsy, who volunteered and completed all of the assessment measures participated. Using data on 17 participants, we examined the independent contribution of education, income, and occupation to a risk factor of severe facial palsy. Severity of global facial impairment was assessed by the facial disability index (FDI), the house-brackmann facial nerve grading system, WHO quality of life - bref (WHOQOL-BREF) and visual analogue scale (VAS) about discomfort of life. Results : There was no correlation between severity of facial palsy and gender, marriage, education, or occupation. Age greater than 60 years (p<0.05), and low monthly income(p<0.05), poor self-rated health was associated with greater severity of idiopathic facial paralysis. Conclusions : The number of subjects with facial palsy in our study (n-17) was small, and therefore generalization to larger patient populations might be unwarranted. But according to the outcome, we suggest that socioeconomic factors, especially low monthly income influence severity of bell's palsy.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.821-832
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• 2021

Economic deprivation of households remains a significant economic issue in the world. Researchers have shown great concern in identifying crucial factors to enhance poor households' socio-economic performance. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a new conceptual framework to investigate the influence of different microfinance services on households' socioeconomic performance using moderated mediation analysis of various crucial factors. Focus-group interviews with managements of the microfinance institution, i.e. Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), and a systematic literature review were conducted for this purpose, and a new framework for the future study has been developed. The result from focus-group interviews and systematic literature review propose microfinance financial services, training programs, and business coaching as independent factors, whereas household socioeconomic performance as a dependent factor in the proposed model. Specifically, this study provides the direction to scholars to empirically test the direct relationship between financial services and household socioeconomic performance and the indirect relationship between training programs, business coaching, and household socioeconomic performance. Further, microfinance institutions' service efficiency is also included as a moderator that can strengthen microfinance services' effectiveness. The study also provides useful implications for policymakers, financial institutions, households, micro-enterprises, and researchers to better understand microfinance interventions and household economic mechanisms.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify any influence of socioeconomic status on smoking and smoking cessation in a situation where genetic factors are controlled. Methods: The sample for this study was 2502 members of the twins and families cohort who participated in the Korean Healthy Twins Study from 2005 to 2009. Groups of brothers or sisters, including twins and fraternal twins, were compared in terms of smoking and smoking cessation behaviors according to differences in socioeconomic status and gender. Results: In a situation with complete control of genetic factors, results showed that the daily smoking amount, cumulative smoking amount, and dependence on nicotine decreased with higher-status occupations, and the rate of smoking and amount of cumulative smoking decreased with higher levels of education. Regarding smoking cessation behavior, a higher level of education was associated with a lower smoking cessation rate, and no significant gender differences were found. Conclusions: Environmental factors had a stronger influence on smoking behavior than did genetic factors. Genetic factors had greater influence on smoking cessation than did environmental factors; however, this requires verification in further studies.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2023.05a
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• pp.177-177
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• 2023

The impacts of dams on transboundary flow are complex and challenging to project and manage, given the potential moderating influence of a broad range of anthropogenic and natural factors. This study presents a global meta-analysis of 168 studies that examines the effect magnitude of dams on downstream seasonal, annual flow, and hydrological extremes risk on 39 hotspot transboundary river basins. The study also evaluates the impact of 13 factors, such as climate, basin characteristics, dams' design and types, level of transboundary cooperation, and socioeconomic indicators, on the heterogeneity of outcomes. The findings reveal that moderators significantly influence the impact of dams on downstream flow, leading to considerable heterogeneity in outcomes. Transboundary cooperation emerges as the key factor that determines the severity of dams' effect on both dry and wet season's flows at a significance level of 0.01 to 0.05, respectively. Specifically, the presence of water-supply and irrigation dams has a significant (0.01) moderating effect on dry-season flow across basins with high transboundary cooperation. In contrast, for wet-season flow, the basin's vulnerability to climate extremes is associated with a large negative effect size. The various moderators have varying degrees of influence on the heterogeneity of outcomes, with the aridity index, population density, GDP, and risk level of hydro-political tension being the most significant factors for dry-season flow, and the risk level of hydro-political tension and basin vulnerability to climate extremes being the most significant for wet-season flow. The results suggest that transboundary cooperation is crucial for managing the impacts of dams on downstream flow, and that various other factors, such as climate, basin characteristics, and socioeconomic indicators, have significant moderating effects on the outcomes. Thus, context-specific approaches are necessary when predicting and managing the impacts of dams on transboundary flow.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.41-53
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• 2013

Objectives: As the size of elderly population living alone grows, socioeconomic diversity has also increased. This study examined if social risk factors of poor self-rated health were distinguishable between the low income elderly and their non-low income counterparts both living alone. Methods: The '2006 Elderly Health Interview Survey' conducted by D-gu in Seoul was utilized. We divided the elderly living alone into two groups depending on their economic status: low income and non-low income. Employing logistic regression, we analyzed the associations of poor self-rated health with socio-demographic factors, health-related factors, social support, the relations with children, social activities, welfare service use, and the perception of neighborhood safety. Results: Proportion of rating one's own health being poor was different between two populations. Social support was important for the self-rated health of the non-low income elderly, while welfare service use, the perception of neighborhood safety, and the relations with children were noticeable for the low income elderly. Conclusions: To better understand the health need of elderly population living alone, their heterogeneity in socioeconomic characteristics should be taken into account.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.371-378
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• 2006

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of childhood obesity, the association between the undesirable lifestyles and socioeconomic factors, the association between childhood obesity and various risk factors, including socioeconomic factors, and the agreement between the body mass index (BMI) classification and the body fat percentage. Methods: The study subjects were all the 5th grade students from all the elementary schools in Gunpo City, Kyunggi Province, South Korea (4043 children at 22 schools). The subjects were measured for their height, weight and percent body fat etc. and they were also surveyed by questionnaire from March 18th to April 25th, 2005. To determine whether the children were within normal limits or not, standardized BMIs for each age group were used. The data was analyzed by logistic regression analysis using SAS 9.0 version. Results: The prevalence of childhood obesity prevalence was 25.1 %. Boys had a higher prevalence of obesity (27.5%) than did the girls (22.5%). Children had tendencies of having undesirable lifestyles and getting obese if they had a lower socioeconomic status. The risk factors for childhood obesity were low paternal education (OR: 1.17, 95% CI : 0.97-1.42) and non-parental caregivers (OR: 1.34, 95% CI : 0.98-1.82). Other risk factors for childhood obesity were a high birth-weight, longer TV/computer-using time, a lower fruit-eating frequency, short sleeping hours and parental obesity. The agreement rate between the BMI classification and the body fat percentage was 93.1 %. Conclusions: This study showed the children had a higher prevalence of obesity: further, not only individual lifestyles, but also socioeconomic factors could influence childhood obesity. Childhood obesity was especially more problematic for children with a low socioeconomic status.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2006

Objectives: This study was performed to identify the socioeconomic factors, the psychosocial factors and the heath behavior factors that have an influence on abdominal obesity, as measured by using the waist circumference. Methods: Data was obtained from individuals aged above 20 years who had their waist circumference measured on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001, which was a cross-sectional health survey. Results: Regression analysis of the factors that affect abdominal obesity showed that the education level, income, smoking, duration of smoking, drinking consumption, frequency of exercises and sleeping were the associated factors for abdominal obesity. For men, the duration of smoking, education level, income and drinking consumption were the associated factors for abdominal obesity. For woman, the education level, income, duration of smoking, drinking consumption and frequency of exercise were the associated factors for abdominal obesity. Conclusions: Abdominal obesity is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality, and it is associated with chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Based on the findings, it is essential to modify heath behaviors for preventing abdominal obesity, which is a condition associated with the incidence of chronic disease.