• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1460-1467
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• 2004

Purpose. This study examined the predictive factors enabling access to children's oral health care at the level of financial barriers, beliefs, and the provider. Methods. In-depth interviews were conducted with 320 immigrant mothers of low-income families regarding their use of oral health services for children aged four to eight years old. Access to oral health care was measured with frequency of planned dental visits, continuity of care, and age at first visit to dentist. Results. The mother took her child to the dentist at a younger age if she received referrals to a dentist from pediatrician. Regular dental visits were significantly related to household income, provider availability on week-ends, and insurance coverage. The extended clinic hours in the evenings, and the belief in the importance of the child's regular dentist visits increased the likelihood of continuing care. The mothers perceiving a cost burden for the child's dental care were also less likely to return to the dentist. Conclusion. The available care delivery system, coordinated medical care, and health beliefs were among important predictors of the health service use. The study findings suggest need for culturally competent dental health interventions to enhance access to oral health care among particularly vulnerable populations such as low-income children in Korean communities.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.21-33
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• 2011

This paper aims to explore the characteristics of Bogeumjari Housing Program and its significance to housing policy, and propose an appropriate direction of future housing policy for low-income households without home ownership based on actual data on housing careers and preferences of the policy target households. Supply of Bogeumjary Housing is characterized by consolidation of existing housing program, housing support by income level, differentiation of eligible households, and housing subscription on-line. Bogeumjari Housing Program is meaningful in that it is a policy that resumed the supply of permanent housing, provides multi-tier support system by income level, and adjusts the imbalances in housing demand and supply. Despite their strong preferences for Bogeumjari Housing, their affordability is very low due to their low income levels and gloomy outlook for household finances. In this light, the government should pursue housing policies that include not only new housing constructions, but also efficient use of housing stocks, expansion of loans for first-time home buyers, and introduction of home mortgage and housing voucher.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.272-279
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• 2002

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze health service utilization, and its related factors in low income families who earned half of the average Korean household income. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive survey study in which a nationwide randomization sampling technique was used. The data were collected from July 12 to August 7, 1999, and the total sample size was 5,819 individuals, belonging to 1.753 households. Results: 1) In the utilization of health services for the last 3months, the pharmacy was the type of service that was the most utilized (32.0%), and the health center was the one that was the least utilized (10.3%). About 29% (29.2%) of the respondents could not utilize the health service at all. and 19.8% of the respondents terminated their medical treatments half way to completion because of financial difficulty (89.4%). 2) Analysis of the data using logistic regression showed that living with spouse, level of education, occupation, and income had statistically significant effects on health service utilization. Conclusion: The parameters of health care policies are equity and efficacy for health status, and the health service utilization by low income families. The conclusive resolution for these is the improvement of public health centers for an increased utilization rate of their services.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.7820-7830
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• 2015

Korean households' demand for food consumed away from home is on the steady increase. The ratio of eating-out expenditure of the household income, however, tends to decrease recently irrespective of income groups. This paper, therefore, aims to analyse the food-away-from-home expenditures of salary and wage earners' households by income decile group. The eating-out expenditure is modelled as a function of household income and then estimated using econometric methods such as regression, rolling regression, impulse response, and variance decomposition of forecast error. The regression results indicate that the higher the income decile group is, the lower the income elasticity of eating-out expenditure is, and the high income groups enjoy seasonal eating-out, the low groups do not. The coefficients of dynamic rolling regression are much smaller than those of static one, meaning that households tend to decrease the eating-out expenditure of their income. The impulse response analysis suggests that the eating-out expenditure increase of higher income groups lasts long relative to that of lower income groups. The variance decomposition, also, shows that household income plays much more important role in determining eating-out expenditure at the higher income groups than at the lower income groups.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.89-108
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• 2008

This study used Family Group Theraplay (Munns, 2005) to investigate the effects of enhancing interaction between child and mother on mitigating developmental risks for children growing up in low-income households. The subjects for the study were selected from among Community Child Care Centers and Community Welfare Centers in Seoul. The children were in the first, second, and third grades of elementary school. Eleven child-mother dyads participated in Family Group Theraplay once a week for a total of 12 45-minute sessions. The control group consisted of 9 child-mother dyads. The Family Group Theraplay program improved interaction between the children and their mothers and also reduced children's behavior problems and mothers' parenting stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.199-209
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• 2005

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of the 1997 economic crisis on Korean households' clothing expenditures at different incom levels. The raw data sets from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey of 1994, 1996, 198, and 2000 produced by the National Statistical Office were used. Based on their income data, subjects were divided into three groups: upper-income (upper 30%), low-income(lower 30%), and middle-income (the 40% in between). The main results are as follows : 1) the income, consumption expenditures (ConE) and clothing expenditures (CloE) of Korean households increased in 1996, decreased in 1998 and recovered in 2000. Although the proportion of ConE to income increased after the economic crisis, CloE/ConE decreased. Clothing expenditures displayed an asymmetric pattern over the economic crisis : the clothing expenditures decreased severely and quickly during the groups. 2) Compared to other household expenditures, clothing expenditure patterns were unique and of clothing categories, the propottion of expenditures for outwear decreased considerably compared to other categories after the economic crisis.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.107-112
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• 2022

Catastrophic healthcare expenditure refers to out-of-pocket spending for healthcare exceeding a certain proportion of a household's income and can lead to subsequent impoverishment. The aim of this study was to investigate the proportion of South Korean households that experienced catastrophic healthcare expenditure between 2006 and 2020 using available data from the National Survey of Tax and Benefit (NaSTaB), Korea Health Panel (KHP), and Households Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES). Trend test was used to analyze the proportion of household with catastrophic healthcare expenditure. In the NaSTaB 2020 data, households who experienced catastrophic health expenditure was 1.73%. Trend analysis was significant with the decreasing trend (annual percentage change [APC], -5.55; p<0.0001) in the proportion of households with the catastrophic health expenditure. Also, in the 2018 KHP and the 2016 HIES, households who experienced catastrophic health expenditure was 2.21% and 2.92% respectively. In contrast, the trend was significantly increased in the KHP (APC, 0.55; p<0.0001) and the HIES (APC, 1.43; p<0.0001). Therefore, the findings suggest the need to strengthen public health care financial support and monitor catastrophic healthcare expenditures, especially for low-income group.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.94-105
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between socioeconomic status and chewing discomfort and identify the role of food insecurity in the association's causal pathway in a representative sample of Korean elders. MATERIALS/METHODS: We conducted cross-sectional analyses of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2015) data for elders aged ≥ 65 years. Socioeconomic status indicators used included household income and education level. Chewing discomfort was assessed according to the self-reported presence of chewing problems. Food security was surveyed using a questionnaire based on the US Household Food Security Survey Module. RESULTS: The odds ratios of chewing discomfort in the 1st and 2nd income quartiles were 1.55 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15-2.10) and 1.40 (95% CI, 1.03-1.90), respectively, compared to participants in the highest income quartile. Participants with the lowest education level were 1.89 (95% CI, 1.30-2.75) times more likely to have chewing discomfort than those without chewing discomfort. After including food security in the final model, the logistic coefficients were attenuated in the income and education quartiles. CONCLUSIONS: Low socioeconomic status was associated with chewing discomfort. In addition, the results confirm that food insecurity can mediate the association between socioeconomic inequalities and chewing discomfort among the elderly.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.13-29
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• 2018

Currently, rural labor markets are undergoing a structural change in which the proportion of non-agricultural industries is increasing, instead of decreasing the proportion of agriculture. The purpose of this study is to propose policy for job creation in rural areas through analyzing the employment situation in Rural Korea in the context of this structural change. Using the Census of Agriculture, Farm Household Economy Survey, we analyzed the increase of low income farmers and self-employed farmers. We analyzed the changes of non-farm employment in rural areas using the Census on Establishment. The main results of the study are as follows. First, farms' pathways are very diverse by the levels of income from their own farming and other gainful activities. It is necessary to implement policies that take into account the development pathways of farm household. Second, most of the farms are in low-income and self-employment status. In order to increase their incomes, it is necessary to increase non-farm income earning policy. The rural non-farm economy is becoming increasingly important in rural Korea. The growth of the non-farm economy will be crucially important when it comes to creating new jobs in rural areas in rural Korea. Third, it is necessary to provide systematic support for rural entrepreneurship as a core policy for expanding jobs beyond agriculture. Rural entrepreneurship has the potential to drive innovations that can reduce poverty and create employment. Fourth, there is a need for measures to increase jobs in the welfare field, which is growing fastest in recent years. In the welfare field, we can find vigorous collective actions in some rural communities such as community business, cooperative movement and various community development activities. Those activities will help increase the employment of aged farmers and low-income farm household.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.115-130
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• 2013

This study reviews the current status of Korean first graders, their experience with early care and education (ECE) programs, and their participation in private and after-school education. The research also examines how school adjustment during the first grade is related to family income, types of ECE programs, and participation in private and after-school education. Using the first year data of the Korean Child and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) 2010, this study analyzes 752 first graders who attended only one of two types of ECE programs (child care centers or kindergartens), after which two 25% income extremes were examined. The analysis demonstrates that children from low-income households attended child care centers more often, while children from high-income households attended kindergartens more often. For both low-income and high-income groups, child care centers had a lower starting age and longer attendance periods than did kindergartens. High-income household children started attending ECE programs earlier, experienced more private and after-school education, and received a larger number of private and after-school educational lessons. For the second research purpose, children from low-income families showed better peer relations in school adjustment, while children attending child care centers showed better teacher relations than children attending kindergartens. Children with after-school education also exhibited better peer relations. These findings show the importance of government support for early learning, especially for low-income families and offer a foundation for developing private education polices for early childhood before and after school entry.