• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.148-155
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• 2018

Background and Purpose: Two conversion scales between the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) have been validated for Korean patients with Parkinson's disease. The aim of the present study was to validate these conversion scales for all patients with cognitive impairments regardless of dementia subtype. Methods: Medical records of 323 subjects who completed both MMSE and MoCA on the same day were retrospectively reviewed. Mean, median, and root mean squared error (RMSE) of the difference between true and equivalent MMSE scores were calculated. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between true and equivalent MMSE scores were also calculated. The validity of MoCA-MMSE conversion scales was evaluated according to educational level (low educated: ${\leq}6$ years; high educated: ${\geq}7$ years) and subtypes of cognitive impairment. Results: The difference between true and equivalent MMSE scores had a median value of 0, a mean value of 0.19 according to the van Steenoven scale, a mean value of 0.57 according to the Lawton scale, RMSE value of 2.2 according to the van Steenoven scale, and RMSE value of 0.42 according to the Lawton scale. Additionally, ICCs between true and equivalent MMSE scores were 0.92 and 0.90 on van Steenovan and Lawton conversion scales, respectively. These results were maintained in subgroup analyses. Conclusions: Findings of the present study suggest that both van Steenovan and Lawton MoCA-MMSE conversion scales are applicable to transforming MoCA scores into MMSE scores in patients with cognitive impairments regardless of dementia subtype or educational level.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.13-21
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting life satisfaction in patients with alcohol use disorder. Participants were recruited at outpatient treatment facilities in two cites. Data were collected from October 1 to December 30, 2016, using self-report questionnaires. Abstinence self-efficacy, family support, and life satisfaction were investigated. 152 patients with alcohol use disorder participated in this study. Mean score for life satisfaction was 3.24. Life satisfaction had a positive correlation with abstinence self-efficacy and family support. Factors affecting life satisfaction in these men were abstinence self-efficacy. Findings indicate that abstinence self-efficacy and perceived mental health satisfaction are important variables influencing life satisfaction in patients with alcohol use disorder. Development and provision of intervention programs to increase abstinence self-efficacy and perceived mental health satisfaction will help to increase life satisfaction in patients with alcohol use disorder.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2021

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal trajectories of life satisfaction, loneliness, and depression and to identify the factors that influence these trajectories in North Korean Defectors (NKD). Methods : NKD (n=300) who registered in the multi-regional adaptation center (Hana Center), within three years of settling in South Korea, were recruited into this study. Life satisfaction, loneliness, and depression were assessed with self-report questionnaires over a period of 4 years (7 waves of data). Latent growth modeling was conducted to assess the changes in life satisfaction, loneliness, and depression. Results : Findings from both unconditional and conditional models (with gender, South Korea settlement age, household income, marital status, and PTSD at wave 1) indicated a linear increase in loneliness and depression, and a linear decrease in life satisfaction over the 4-year period. In the conditional model, gender predicted the intercept of life satisfaction and depression. In addition, PTSD predicted the intercept of life satisfaction, loneliness, and depression and slope of depression. Conclusion : Our finding suggests that the mental health of NKD tends to deteriorate over time after settling in South Korea. Therefore, continuous support is necessary for their successful adaptation to the South Korean Society.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2021

Objectives: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) of mothers may negatively affect the mental health of their offspring. Little is known about the intergenerational effect of maternal ACE on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the offspring. This study investigated the impact of maternal ACEs on PTSD in the offspring. Methods: A total of 156 mothers with children aged 13-18 years completed the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) Predictive Scales to determine the presence of psychiatric disorders in their offspring. The subjects completed the ACE questionnaire and the Early Trauma Inventory Self-Report-Short Form. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between maternal ACEs and PTSD in the offspring. Results: Of the mothers, 23.7% had at least one ACE, and PTSD was reported in 21.8% of the offspring. The offspring of the mothers in the ACE group had a significantly higher rates of traumatic experiences and PTSD than the offspring of the mothers in the no ACE group. Maternal household dysfunction independently predicted offspring PTSD [odds ratio (OR)=3.008, p=0.05), and three or more maternal ACEs were significantly related to PTSD in the offspring (OR=10.613, p=0.025). Conclusion: Maternal ACEs have a significant impact on the risk of traumatic experiences and PTSD in the offspring. These findings suggest the presence of intergenerational transmissions by which maternal ACEs affect the mental health of the offspring.

• Mood & Emotion
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.128-136
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• 2014

Objectives : This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and their related factors among a group of medical students. Method : A total of 874 (529 male and 345 female) medical students were randomly selected to participate in a survey. Depressive symptoms, satisfaction with life, health behavior including alcohol use, stress, sleep disturbance and happiness were collected using self-reported questionnaires. Results : The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 10.8%. In stepwise multiple regression analysis, lower satisfaction of life, daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness, history of suicidal attempt, stress, sleep disturbance were found to be significant relating factors of depressive symptoms. In moderated regression analysis, the result showed that the impact of life stress were moderated by satisfaction of life on depressive symptoms, but the moderating effect of happiness was not significant. Conclusion : This study showed considerably high prevalence of depressive symptoms and BDI score in medical students. The findings suggest that early detection of depressive symptoms and intensive mental health promotion program is needed in order to improve medical student's mental health status.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2019

To prevent the musculoskeletal diseases from repeated dental treatment, the health status and subjective symptom according to the working environment of dental hygienists were examined in 185 Gyeongnam dental hygienists from October 01, 2017 to October 30. The health status of the study subjects (χ²=40.21, p<.001), the physical burden of work (χ²=47.68, p<.001) and the mental fatigue of work (χ²=66.98, p<.001) were significantly different according to working experience. The level of mental fatigue depended on the number of dental hygienists in the clinics (p=0.032). 94.1% of the subjects knew musculoskeletal diseases and there were significant differences according to working experience (χ²=77.85, p<.001), the numbers of patients in a day (χ²=41.08, p<.001) and daily standing time (χ²=6.96, p=.008). Currently, 73.0% of the dental hygienists have musculoskeletal diseases. There was a significant difference according to the number of patients (χ²=51.01, p<.001) and daily standing time (χ²=25.15, p<.001). The presence of injured parts due to musculoskeletal disorders showed a significant difference according to the numbers of patients (χ²=18.98, p<.001) and daily standing hours (χ²=33.20, p<.001). The musculoskeletal diseases examination of dental hygienists is needed based on subjective symptoms of musculoskeletal diseases and prevention and management of measures musculoskeletal diseases are required.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2023

Background and Purpose: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has been known as a screening test for detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) better than Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). However, in previous domestic studies, no significant difference was found in the discriminability between MoCA and MMSE. Researchers have suggested that this might be because older Koreans are less educated than older Westerners. This study was conducted to examine the effect of education on the discriminability of MoCA compared to the MMSE. Methods: Participants were 123 cognitively normal elderly, 118 with vascular MCI, 108 with amnestic MCI, 121 with vascular dementia, and 113 with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. The Korean-MoCA (K-MoCA) and Korean-MMSE (K-MMSE) were administered. Multiple regression analyses and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed. Results: In all participants, education significantly affected both K-MoCA and K-MMSE scores along with age. The effect of education was re-examined by subgroup analysis after dividing subjects according to the level of education. Effect of education on K-MoCA and K-MMSE was only shown in the group with <9 years of education. ROC curve analyses revealed that the discriminability of K-MoCA to differentiate between vascular MCI and normal elderly was significantly higher than that of K-MMSE. When re-examining subgroups divided by education level, however, this higher discriminability of K-MoCA disappeared in the group with <9 years of education. Conclusions: These results indicate no difference in discriminating cognitive deficits between K-MoCA and K-MMSE in Korean elderly with <9 years of education.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2024

Objective : The objective of this study is to create questionnaires for Social Capital (SCQ) and Built Environment (BEQ) that can be utilized as protective factors for mental health. Methods : A total of 426 adults aged 18 or older, residing in 'D' Metropolitan City in Korea, were included as subjects in this study. Data for subjective evaluation of social capital and built environment were collected through an online survey. Various statistical analyses, such as reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and correlation analysis between PHQ-9 and GAD-7, were conducted. Results : The Cronbach's α values for SCQ and BEQ were 0.94 and 0.90, respectively, indicating good reliability. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that SCQ consisted of 4 factors, explaining a total of 71.91%, while BEQ consisted of 4 factors, explaining a total of 62.18%. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that both questionnaires had a reasonable configuration, with TLI, CFI, and RMSEA values at an appropriate level. Additionally, both SCQ and BEQ showed negative correlations with depression and anxiety. Conclusion : This study has developed a tool for measuring social capital and the built environment in Korea. It also demonstrates the reliability and validity of this questionnaire. The use of this tool could greatly support preventive mental health interventions within the community.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.117-126
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• 2024

Background and Purpose: The Korean-Mini Mental State Examination, 2nd edition (K-MMSE~2) was recently released. This study aimed to determine whether the K-MMSE~2: Standard Version (K-MMSE~2:SV) had the same test characteristics as the K-MMSE. Methods: A total of 1,514 healthy community-based participants aged 19 to 90 years were administered the K-MMSE~2:SV Blue Form along with the language items from the K-MMSE. The item and test characteristics and test information for the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE were compared using Item Response Theory analysis. Results: Item discriminations for the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE were above the moderate range for all items except Recall. Most of the items on the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE had item category difficulty in the very easy or easy range. The test information curve (TIC) showed that the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE provide almost the same amount of information (27.86 vs. 28.44), with both tests providing the most information at an ability level of -1.57. The generalizability (G) coefficient for the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE was 0.99. Conclusions: These results indicate that the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE are equally optimal tests for screening for mild cognitive impairment and early dementia. Given that the amount of test information provided by the two tests was almost identical, the shapes of the TICs were very similar, and the G coefficient was close to 1, we can conclude that the K-MMSE and K-MMSE~2:SV are equivalent tests.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.101-128
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• 1999

A study on disease treated at oriental medical treatment facilities (OMTF) and patients' satisfaction levels was conducted in order to figure out why the patients visited oriental medical doctors and the level of satisfaction of the patients for the services offered to them by oriental medical doctors. This study was performed from March 2 through May 31, 1998 by interviewing 1.532 persons living in major and small cities in korea. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. The general characteristics of subjects. The highest portion of each part was, 66.9% female, persons in the age group of over 60's 22.7%, high school graduated 34.9%, house wife 30.8%, The married 65.0%, Buddhist 36.9%, maj or city residents 60.2%, company covered insurance benefiter 39.0% and etc. 2. 40.5% of subjects visited OMTF for skeletal and connective tissue diseases. 21.5% for digestive system diseases. 16.2% for respiratory system diseases. 13.3% for circulatory system diseases and 9.0% for neurological problems. 3. 42.7% of males visited OMTF for skeletal and connective tissue diseases, which were the highest and respiratory system disorders, digestive system disorders, circulatory system disorders and neurological diseases in order. 39.4% of females visited OMTF for skeletal and connective tissue disorders which were the highest and other conditions such as digestive system, circulatory, respiratory, and neurological disorders in order. 4. The males with circulatory system disorders were treated by herbal medicine, combination of herbal medicine and acupuncture, only in order. The females with the some conditions above were treated by combination of herbal medicine and herbal medical and acupuncture only in order. The males and females with respiratory system and digestive system diseases were treated by herbal medicine, combination of herbal medicine and acupuncture only in order. But the males and females with skeletal and connective tissue diseases were by acupuncture are the highest in order. 5. The females and persons in the age group of over 60' s and house wife. the not married, the unhealthy persons, residents living in small cities, the persons with high income by medical treatments frequency in circulatory system diseases are the highest. 6, The females, middle school graduated and the married, persons in the age group of over 60's, unemployed, sales and service industry workers, Buddhists, major city residents, the unhealthy persons, the persons with middle income by medical treatments frequency in respiratory system diseases are the highest. 7. The females, persons in the age group of over 60's, under graduated or elementary school graduated, the unemployed and house wife, the unmarried, Buddhists, major city residents, the unhealthy persons, the persons with low income by medical treatments frequency in digestive system diseases are the highest. 8. The males, major city residents, old ages, under graduated or elementary school graduated, go earn officials, people grown in small city, the persons who had health insurance policies, the persons with low income, the unhealthy persons by medical treatments frequency in skeletal and connective tissue disorders diseases. 9. 50.8% of the respondents said that the treatments at the OMTF were very effective. 47.7% of them said that the treatments were effective. The males, persons in the age group of 40's, high school graduates, official workes, the married, the persons who did not have religion, major city residents, the persons who had health insurance policies, the persons with high income and the healthy persons said that the treatment effects at OMTF were satisfactory. 10. The patients' satisfaction rate for OMTF on each disease is, 1st. Musculo-Skeletal system(most satisfied), 2nd. the pregnancy & delivery complications, 3rd. Eye & ophthalmics, 4th. Respiratory system, 5th. Mental & bodily disorder, 6th. Digestive system and etc. 11. The factors affect OMTF are age, satisfaction for OMTF, current disease, religion, efficiency of Oriental Medicine, health condition and etc. This explained power of variable were 39.0%. 12. The satisfied factors for OMTF is correlate to educational level, and economical variables.