• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.251-258
• /
• 2009

Purpose: The study aimed to compare characteristics associated with smoking and smoking cessation of those who had succeeded in smoking cessation. Methods: Data were collected from January to June, 2008. The subjects were 9,819 smokers who were registered at the smoking cessation clinic of public health centers in Incheon. Four characteristics (demographic, health promotion, smoking, smoking cessation) were compared between 6-week (short-term) and 6-month (long-term) success groups. Results: There was a significant difference between the 6-week and 6-month success groups for smoking cessation in demographic characteristics (gender, age, job, social security), health promotion (BMI, alcohol dependency, BP), smoking (first smoking age, smoking duration, expiration CO concentration, nicotine dependency), and smoking cessation (attempt to quit smoking, reason for smoking cessation, information source for registration). Conclusion: The group of short-term smoking cessation success was younger than the other. Also, short-term success group was of lower socioeconomic class than the other. The 6-month success group had a larger number of attempts to quit smoking. Therefore, smoking cessation policy should be focused more on younger people and those in lower socioeconomic status. These groups should be given advice on smoking cessation motives and more frequent counseling for smoking cessation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.11
• /
• pp.5741-5746
• /
• 2012

Aim: Although preoperative chemoradiatherapy (CRT) has proven its benefits in terms of decreased toxicity, there is still a considerable amount of cases that do not receive postoperative CRT. Oncologists at different geographic locations still need to know the long-term effects of this treatment in order to manage patients successfully. The current paper reports on long-term quality of life (QOL) and late side effects after adjuvant CRT in rectal cancer patients from 5 centers in Anatolia. Methods: Rectal cancer patients treated with postoperative CRT with minimum 1-year follow-up and were in complete remission, were evaluated according to RTOG and LENT-SOMA scales. They were also asked to complete Turkish version of EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and the CR-38 module. Each center participated with the required clinical data. Results: Two hundred and thirty patients with median age of 55 years participated and completed the study. Median follow-up time was 5 years. All patients received RT concomitant with chemotherapy. Common parameters that both increased functional health scales and yielded better symptom scores were long term interval after treatment and sphincter-saving surgery. In addition, surgery type and follow-up time were determined to be predictors of QOL scores and late toxicity grade. Conclusion: Postoperative CRT was found to have a great impact on the long term QOL and side effects in rectal cancer survivors. The factors that adversely affect these are abdominoperineal resection and shorter interval. The findings may encourage life-long follow-up and cooperation with patients, which should be mentioned during the initial counseling.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.4963-4968
• /
• 2014

Background: We evaluated whether providing health risk appraisal for Koreans (KHRA) in terms of 'health age' during smoking cessation program would effectively help smokers quit smoking or not. Materials and Methods: A total of 332 male smokers aged between 30-65 years old, registered for a smoking cessation program in a public health center in a city, were recruited and underwent a baseline survey from January 2010 to February 2011. They were then prospectively randomized to a conventional counseling group (n=165) or a KHRA group (n=167), and received conventional counseling or KHRA-based counseling for six months. Abstinence rates were identified through carbon monoxide measurement (at the $4^{th}$ and $24^{th}$ weeks) or urinary cotinine level (at the $12^th$ week). Results: The abstinence rate confirmed by exhaled carbon monoxide was significantly higher in the KHRA group (61.1%) than the control group (49.1%) at the $4^{th}$ week (absolute difference 12.0%, 95% CI: 1.4%-22.6%). However, there was no difference in abstinence rates between the two groups at the 12th and 24th weeks. The predicting factors of 24 week's smoking cessation success were age, older than 50 years old (OR 2.02, 95% CI: 1.16-3.52), lower Fagerstr$\ddot{o}$m Test for Nicotine Dependence score less than 4 (OR 1.84, 95% CI: 1.03-3.29), and higher Self Efficacy/Temptation score (OR 1.79, 95% CI: 1.05-3.06). Conclusions: Smoking cessation counseling with KHRA could be effective compared to conventional counseling in the short period of smoking cessation. Further study is needed to evaluate the long-term efficacy of KHRA in tobacco dependence treatment and to establish the indication and target population of this tool.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.10
• /
• pp.4973-4977
• /
• 2012

Introduction: Tobacco use is a global health care problem. Repetitive exposure to nicotine produces neuroadaptation resulting in nicotine dependence. Smoking is associated with a range of diseases, causing high levels of morbidity and mortality and is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, with more than 4.6 million smokers worldwide dying each year from smoking related illnesses. Stopping smoking has major health benefits. Quitting at any age provides both short and long term benefits. Materials and methods: 45 patients attending the outpatient department at the Oxford Dental College, Bangalore, were randomly allocated to three groups of interventions namely placebo, counseling and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Initially each one was assessed for carbon monoxide levels using a breath analyser (pico smokerlyser bedfont UK). They were followed up for six months and the carbon monoxide levels were again assessed using the same instrument. The paired t test was used to compare the results before and after the intervention. Results: The scores before the initiation of intervention and after treatment were compared and all three interventions were found to be statistically significant after six months. It was noticed that patients with very low or low dependence followed by high dependence had good response in the placebo group (68% and 47.6% respectively), in the counseling group maximum response was seen in the medium followed by the very low group (61% and 59% respectively), and maximum response was seen in very high followed by the very low group with NRT (78.7% and 60.5% respectively). Conclusion: The inference that can be drawn from the present study is that non-invasive, non pharmacological methods like placebo and counseling are effective in low to medium groups, and NRT is effective with higher nicotine dependence.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.263-276
• /
• 2020

Purpose: This paper systematically reviewed the effects of smoking cessation (SC) intervention among female smokers. Methods: A systematic search was performed targeting articles published on eight electronic databases, from January 1, 2010, to February 25, 2020. Nine studies were included in the systematic review. The risk of bias (RoB) tool was used to evaluate the quality of scientific evidence. Results: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed in all nine studies. Interventions were classified as exercise (n=4), cognitive behavioral counseling (n=2), motivational counseling (n=1), group counseling with self-help group (n=1), and pharmacotherapy (n=1). The SC rates were measured using a 7-days point prevalence abstinence in 55.6% of the studies. Exercise studies showed higher SC rates in the experimental groups than control groups after the intervention, but the differences were not significant. Other interventions were employed in two or fewer studies or did not conduct long-term follow-up, thus we were unable to examine effects of these interventions. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop SC programs for female smokers by carefully considering the characteristics of female smokers. Further research will be needed to confirm the effects of SC programs in certain subgroups among females. Also more experimental studies on SC intervention should be carried out with scientific rigor.

• Human Ecology Research
• /
• v.51 no.3
• /
• pp.275-284
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to provide useful insights into community-level support services for family caregivers in Korea by comparing them with the services in the United States. Similar to most developed countries, life expectancy has led to rapid population aging in Korea over the last several decades. However, despite increased social needs of long-term care for the elderly, many elderly Koreans are still dependent on their family for the long-term care. Yet, existing support programs for family caregivers are very limited. As a result, family caregivers often suffer from a lack of financial resources and emotional support. In this study, we comprehensively review the extensive literature, including relevant studies and documents of community-level support services for family caregivers of the elderly at home in Korea and the United States. One of the most important differences is that compared to Korea, diverse services based on the law of NFCSP to support the family caregivers, such as counseling, organization of support group, and educating have been available in the United States since 2000. Additionally, the legal definition of family caregivers in the United State is broader than that in Korea, where family caregivers are limited to those who are related by blood or marriage. Therefore, more caregivers are eligible for support programs and benefit from the programs in the United States. The findings of the study suggest that policy makers in Korea should legislate for diverse and comprehensive services for family caregivers. Further, it is necessary to define legal terms for family caregivers more broadly to extend beneficiaries of the programs.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.611-621
• /
• 2008

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a stress management program on Job Stress in culinary staff at a Hotel. Method: This was a quasi-experimental study using non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were 52 culinary staff members(head culinary. first culinary) working at a S hotel. (25 in the experimental group. 27 in the control group) The experimental group was provided with an individual counseling program for 12 weeks and 30 min/week. The control group was provided with booklets. Data were analyzed with SAS Program using repeated measures ANOVA. Results: The stress management program was effective to improve job stressors and especially to relax interpersonal conflict among the sub-factors of job stress based on the results mentioned above. Conclusion: This program was effective in reducing job stress. However. further studies are required to measure persistent and long-term effects through the application of the program. which is specifically designed for reduce to job stress. for over 12 weeks.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.167-174
• /
• 2021

This study examined the influences of participation in the free semester on school life satisfaction and interest in classes and whether the effect persisted longitudinally. The participants were students from middle schools located in large cities: 451 students in the experimental group and 466 students in the control group. Only the students of the experimental group participated in the free semester. The data were collected at the end of the free semester for three years, and the results are as follows. First, the school life satisfaction of students in the experimental group was significantly higher than those in the control group until the second year but not in the third year. Second, there was no difference in interest in the main subject classes between the experimental and control groups until the third year. Third, students' interest in art and sports classes in the experimental group was significantly higher than those in the control group until the second year but not in the third year. These findings suggest that long-term planning and management of the institution rather than short-term introduction is required for the continuous effects of the free semester.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.659-673
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of the 8-week telephone counseling hypertension self-management program provided through welfare center nurses and nursing student volunteers for hypertensive patients with physical disabilities and brain lesions who use the welfare centers for the disabled. A quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was implemented. From December 2019 to May 2020, data from 28 controls and 29 experimental groups who completed pre and post-investigation were analyzed using the SPSS program. As a result of the main study, after the intervention, the knowledge of hypertension, seriousness and sensitivity among the health beliefs, and quality of life EQ-VAS indicated significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. Therefore, efforts to improve self-care behaviors and quality of life by applying various self-care programs to hypertensive patients with the disabled which require long-term health care will be needed continuously.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.113-126
• /
• 2017

The purpose of the study was to find grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume reduction in the brain reward system among patients with alcohol dependency. This study investigated regional GM and WM in chronic alcoholic patients, focusing primarily on the reward system, including principal components of the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit as well as cortical areas with modulating and oversight functions. Sixteen abstinent long-term chronic alcoholic men and demographically matched 16 healthy control men participated in the study. Morphometric analysis was performed on magnetic resonance brain scans using voxel-based morphometry (VBM)-diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration through Exponentiated Liealgebra (DARTEL). We derived GM and WM volumes from total brain and cortical and subcortical reward-related structures. Morphometric analyses that revealed the total volume of GM and WM was reduced and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was increased in the alcohol group compared to control group. The pronounced volume reduction in the reward system was observed in the GM and WM of the nucleus accumbens (NAc), GM of the amygdala, GM and WM of the hippocampus, WM of the thalamus, GM and WM of the insula, GM of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), GM of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), GM of the cingulate cortex (CC), GM and WM of the parahippocampal gyrus in the alcohol group. We identified volume reductions in WM as well as GM of reward system in the patients with alcohol dependency. These structural deficits in the reward system elucidate underlying impairment in the emotional and cognitive processing in alcoholism.