• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2023

Objectives: Previous studies have reported that people with disabilities are more likely to be impoverished and affected by excessive medical costs than people without disabilities. Public transfer income (PTI) reduces financial strain in low-income households. This study examined the impact of PTI on catastrophic health expenditures (CHE), focusing on low-income households and households with Medical Aid beneficiaries that contained people with disabilities. Methods: We constructed a panel dataset by extracting data on registered households with disabilities from the Korea Welfare Panel Study 2012-2019. We then used a generalized estimating equation model to estimate the impacts of PTI on CHE. A subgroup analysis was carried out to assess the moderating effects of family income levels and health insurance types. Results: As PTI increased, the odds ratio (OR) of CHE in households that contained people with disabilities decreased significantly (OR, 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.89 to 0.94; p<0.001). In particular, PTI effectively reduced the likelihood of CHE for low-income households (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.81 to 0.89; p<0.001) and those who received medical benefits (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.89; p<0.001). Conclusions: This study highlights the positive effect of PTI on decreasing CHE. Household income and the health insurance type were significant effect modifiers, but economic barriers seemed to persist among low-income households with non-Medical Aid beneficiaries. Federal policies or programs should consider increasing the total amount of PTI targeting low-income households with disabilities that are not covered by the Medical Aid program.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.121-140
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to understand how the economic conditions and needs of single-parent families are different between single-mother and single-father families, and also how they are dependent on household composition. The data for this study were drawn from the 1st Korea Welfare Panel Study and analyzed by frequencies, means, ${\chi}^2$, t-test, F-test, and logistic regression with the STATA 9.1 program. The major findings are as follows: (1) Single-parent families are more likely to live in a three-generation household than married couple families. (2) The composition of a three-generation household of single-parent families is affected by sex, age, education, type of marital disruption, the type of employment of single parents and the age of the last-born child. (3) The income-to-needs ratio is not significantly different depending on the sex of the single parents and their household composition. However, material hardship is significantly low in three-generation household single-parent families. (4) There are differences between three-generation single-parent families and independent single-parent families in income sources: The ratio of public transfer to total incomes is higher in three-generation households than independent households, while the ratio of private transfer to total incomes is higher in independent households.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.159-187
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• 2010

The main purpose of this paper is to attempt an alternative measurement and analysis of poverty considering income as well as time in order to present an effective antipoverty policy. Based on Korea Welfare Panel Study (2005), the income poverty, time poverty, and double poverty of household in which householders were under 60 years were measured. Moreover this paper found that households experiencing the time poverty might be faced with additional income poverty because of the necessity to purchase care services in the market to compensate for the time. As a result of the analysis, income poverty rate is 9.5%, time poverty rate is 15.7%, and time-adjusted income poverty rate is 10.8%. And low-educated single parents with young children are more likely to experienced income as well as time poverty. Therefore, this paper proved that the 'welfare to work' policy without considering situations in household could be faced with the limit. Furthermore, this paper suggests that social welfare policy should aim at minimizing the tradeoffs among different works and activities, and then support to improve the quality of life.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.906-917
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• 2021

This study focused on real estate rental income, which is being interested as a means of preparing for old age in the age of low growth and aging. Rental income is seen to function as a safety net of society at a time when it is necessary to live a difficult old age due to the disconnection of income and the extension of the average life span. Therefore, this study conducted the following study on 1,025 households that own rental real estate nationwide. First, the relationship between the characteristics of the household of the rental real estate owner and the real estate rental income was analyzed, and second, it examined whether there is a difference in rental income between the group that engages in income activities other than rental income and the group that only has rental income without income activities. As a result of the analysis, among the demographic and sociological characteristics, gender and spouse were identified as significant variables in rental income. Among the economic characteristics, income and total debt were found to be significant variables. In the case of income activities, rental income was low, and rental income was high when the total debt was high. However, if interest rates rise and the economic recession is prolonged due to unpredictable causes, the owner may suffer from double-use. In preparation for this, it is necessary to review real estate policy alternatives such as easing the period of real estate holdings.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.59-73
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• 2019

This study examined the possible causes of nutritional inadequacy in Vietnamese immigrant women married to Korean husbands. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of 34 Vietnamese marriage immigrant women and 17 Korean spouses participating in or having experienced Nutrition Plus from four Community Health Centers in Seoul, Korea. The study results showed that the nutritional staus of the Vietnamese marriage immigrant women was affected by the unfamiliar Korean food (cultural factor), low household income (economical factor), difficulty in purchasing Vietnamese food (environmental factor), and low accessibility to nutrition support systems (social factor). The Korean husbands' nutritional status was affected by the unfamiliar Vietnamese food (cultural factor), low household income (economic factor), and irregular working conditions (social factors). Nutritional interventions as a public service to the community needs to be developed and applied. Suggestions are presented regarding the future efforts to better understand and meet the nutrition needs of intermarried couples to respond to their heterogeneous needs and deliver adequate nutrition service to ever increasing intermarried families.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2024

Objective: This study was conducted to provide basic data for the establishment of effective health policies for the unmet medical experience that may occur among the elderly depending on whether they live in a singleperson household or not. Methodology: This study used data from the 8th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2019-2020) and excluded cases with missing values in variables for the total number of respondent participants of 15,469. Finally, 2,850 subjects aged 65 or older were selected for final analysis. This study examined the relationship between experiences of unmet medical needs, attempting to confirm the relationship between single-person households and unmet medical needs through subgroup analysis considering gender, age, and household income. Results: According to the results, in the case of single-person households, the odds ratio (OR) for unmet medical needs was significantly higher at 1.60 times (95% CI: 1.16-2.21). Upon conducting subgroup analyses for gender, age, and household income quintiles, the OR was significantly higher at 2.24 times (95% CI: 1.14-4.41) for males and 1.48 times (95% CI: 1.02-2.14) for females, statistically significant in both cases. For individuals aged 65-69, the OR was significantly higher at 1.90 times (95% CI: 1.04-3.47), but for those aged 70-74 and over 75, it was not statistically significant. In the case of households with 'low' income, the OR was higher at 1.62 times (95% CI: 1.16-2.26), and for 'middle' income, it was significantly higher at 3.21 times (95% CI: 1.08-9.51). Conclusion: This study confirmed that the experience of unmet medical care is high among men who make up single-person households and low-income seniors. Therefore, this study suggests that policies to expand medical services and support welfare for single-person households should be established to resolve these problems, showing that health policies that take into account individual and regional characteristics are needed to improve medical accessibility for single-person households.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.103-121
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the entire world population in many ways. This study aimed to analyze the patterns of changes in eating, food purchasing and preparation, physical activity, and subjective health after COVID-19 outbreak by various sociodemographic factors and to understand the factors associated with changes in subjective health. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a representative sample from Seoul was used for the analysis. The data collection was conducted from September to October 2020. A total of 3,833 citizens aged more than 18 years old participated in the Seoul Food Survey. Descriptive statistics and generalized ordinal logistic regression models were used to understand the changes in health behaviors, health indicators, and subjective general health by various socioeconomic status. RESULTS: It was shown that the changes in household income, food expenditure, food consumption and physical activities differed significantly by age, education, occupation, income, weight, and food security status. Low-income and food-insecure households were affected more severely by the pandemic. Older age, household food insecurity, income reduction, increased home cooking and frequency of having instant foods, decreased physical activity and weight gain were significant factors explaining worse perceived health during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that focusing on older populations and low-income families with food insecurity should be prioritized during infectious disease outbreaks. In addition, the role of physical activities and instant food consumption in explaining perceived health should be investigated further in this prolonged battle with the pandemic situation.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 1995

Urben wage workers' education expenditure among different social classes from 1979 to 1993 has been compared. Eduction expenditure has increased much more than that of income resulting from income increase and government policy. Education expenditure gaps among social classes have showed to be an increasing trend although the ratio of education expense to the income has increased among low class families. Average income elasticity was 1.1 and this result showed that education expense was luxury good. Income elasticity of education expense among low class families have fluctuated more than any other classes resulting from construction business cycle and housing rent increase. Average Gini coefficient was 0.38 and turned out to be highest among 9 household expenditures, however it was in the trend of improvement from 81. But from 91 Gini Coefficient went up high again. Main reason for this increase was due to high social class families' eucation expenditure increase. Government's strong policies to enhance equality level of education opportunity and to support low class families are urged.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.167-203
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• 1992

The effects of regional health insurance on access to ambulatory care are examined in this paper. Access is measured as use-disability ratios. The data are collected in a household interview survey at Hwachon county before and after the introduction of regional health insurance. Before the introduction of regional health insurance, low-income class has less contacts with physicians than high-income class. This disparity in accessibility among economic classes is reduced with the health insurance coverage, but not removed, even after adjusting for health need.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.79-94
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• 2023

This study aims at identifying the characteristics of various income earning activities conducted by small family farms, so-called pluriactivity, in Korea, Traditionally small farm households have been regarded in Korea as those who have not only very limited economic capability, but also very low status in rural society. However, in Europe, since the 1990s, there have been some researches found out the role of small farms in socio-economic development of rural regions. These tended to conclude that such various economic activities of small farms' may contribute to the development of rural region. Introducing the concept of pluriactivity from the European studies, this study carried out surveys and interviews with 38 small farm household in Chungnam region in terms of the fundamental reasons for pluriactivity and the impact on rural economies. The analysis revealed the main reason of pluriactivity could be the lack of income for family. Nevertheless, this study also identified another important reason of pluriactivity that small farms' desire to live in rural areas may drive them to do the pluriactivity. It may mean that farming could not be the main option for them to live in rural areas. In addition, it was confirmed that this pluriactivity has a positive impact on rural areas, such as landscape management, job creation, and cultural provision. Along with this, it was confirmed that there is a difference in pluriactivity characteristics according to age. It then necessary concludes that the rural development policy must consider the characteristics of farm households when they provide the support for farming and non-farming activities.