• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.72-89
• /
• 2024

Depression is a common disorder among the elderly, significantly affecting their quality of life. Traditional dance interventions, although beneficial, have limitations in convenience, personalization, and retention. With the advent of digital technology, digital dance interventions have emerged as a potential solution to these limitations. This paper involves an extensive review of literature on digital dance interventions. Research databases were searched for studies that focus on the use of digital dance in treating depression among older adults. The review also includes analyses of the advancements in digital dance technology, its application in therapeutic settings, and the evaluation of its efficacy. The paper identifies three main challenges in the current digital dance intervention research: real-time dynamic assessment, multimodal dance generation, and improving compliance. Despite these challenges, digital dance interventions show promise in addressing the limitations of traditional dance therapy. The research suggests that the integration of human-computer interaction and personalized approaches in digital dance interventions could significantly improve outcomes in elderly patients with depression. Digital dance interventions represent a novel and promising approach to treating depression in older adults. Future research should focus on overcoming the identified challenges and enhancing the effectiveness of these interventions.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.59-70
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study is to develop a program that allows older women to provide voluntary services for child nursing facilities, making those women have more social participation, effectively their spare time and ultimately improve the quality of their life. Results of the study can be described as follows. First, social requests about the use of older women as volunteers for child nursing services were analyzed to show that most people working at child nursing facilities perceived lack in the number of child nursing teachers. Those people recognized the need of using older women as service volunteers for the facilities. They were very positive about such use. Second, it is recommendable that volunteers of child nursing service should be not too much older women, or below 65. Voluntary activities that those women participate include taking care of younger children, reading interesting stories for children, helping works of child homes, teaching manners and living attitudes, instructing dietary etiquettes and cooking. Voluntary service activities should be made 1 to 3 times a week, 1 to 2 hours a time, considering psychological and physical states of older people. Third, such older volunteers should be educated about 6 areas, 'the operation and management of child homes, 'practices', 'child health and safety', 'the quality of child nursing', 'child development and counseling' and 'voluntary service training'. Out of these six areas, 'child health and safety' and 'voluntary service training' are more required to be instructed. such training needs to focus on activities in which older women can actually engage as volunteers. Fourth, it is advisable that the recruitment and management of such volunteers are led by the city and that the development of training programs for voluntary service activities and education of the volunteers are referred to universities.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.38-47
• /
• 2015

Objectives: Controlling blood pressure is a key step in reducing cardiovascular mortality in older adults. Gender differences in patients' attitudes after disease diagnosis and their management of the disease have been identified. However, it is unclear whether gender differences exist in hypertension management among older adults. We hypothesized that gender differences would exist among factors associated with hypertension diagnosis and control among community-dwelling, older adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 653 Koreans aged ${\geq}60years$ who participated in the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Multiple logistic regression was used to compare several variables between undiagnosed and diagnosed hypertension, and between uncontrolled and controlled hypertension. Results: Diabetes was more prevalent in men and women who had uncontrolled hypertension than those with controlled hypertension or undiagnosed hypertension. High body mass index was significantly associated with uncontrolled hypertension only in men. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that in women, awareness of one's blood pressure level (odds ratio [OR], 2.86; p=0.003) and the number of blood pressure checkups over the previous year (OR, 1.06; p=0.011) might influence the likelihood of being diagnosed with hypertension. More highly educated women were more likely to have controlled hypertension than non-educated women (OR, 5.23; p=0.013). Conclusions: This study suggests that gender differences exist among factors associated with hypertension diagnosis and control in the study population of community-dwelling, older adults. Education-based health promotion strategies for hypertension control might be more effective in elderly women than in elderly men. Gender-specific approaches may be required to effectively control hypertension among older adults.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.305-314
• /
• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of and factors associated with long-term care (LTC) utilization under public long-term care insurance (LTCI) among end-of-life older adults in Korea. Methods: Using a 5% sample of older people aged 65 or older and their health and LTC insurance data, two-part model analyses were conducted. We compared LTC uses and their determinants during the last year of life among decedents in the year 2010 with those of survivors. We also compared the medical uses of the same sample with their LTC uses. Results: The end-of-life elderly were more likely to use LTC, and their expenditure on LTC was higher than their counterparts. Whether or not older people used LTC during their last year of life was significantly affected by age, sex, health insurance, household income, and living alone; however, LTC costs of the decedents were only affected by functional status, which may have been due to the reimbursement scheme of the current LTCI, which is mainly based on functional dependency level. For the survivors, having chronic diseases significantly increased the likelihood of LTC use, which was not the case for the decedents. End-of-life elderly with relatively low social economic status were more likely to use the LTC other than medical services, while the health conditions affected their medical uses most significantly. Conclusion: The study findings provide key information for predicting demand related to the increasing LTC needs of Korean older people at the end of life.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.18 no.8
• /
• pp.616-626
• /
• 2018

This study aimed to comprehensively assess the demographic characteristics, health behaviors, subjective health status, health-related restriction of life, and quality of life of male and female elderly aged 65 years older using data from the 2013-2015 Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS). The results showed that compared to the male elderly, the female elderly was less educated, did not have a spouse or had less household income, had poorer health behaviors, and had lower quality of life caused by restrictions in life. The female elderly had significantly lower quality of life than that of the male elderly. Various factors were found to affect quality of life in both sexes. The presence of spouse and BMI did not affect quality of life of men but did affect the quality of life of women. On the other hand, smoking affected the quality of life of men but not of women. Based on these results, more in-depth studies are needed on the female elderly, who have been reported to have lower health-related quality of life, and sex-specific services and programs that could more effectively improve the quality of life among the elderly should also be developed.

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.107-112
• /
• 1999

Diet quality index DQI) offers a new way of comparing eating habits across populations and across countries. Nutrients and food consumption data from 100 elderly Korean women aged 65 and older were collected in Seoul or Kyunggi-do, Korea by the 24 hour recall method. Diet quality index (DQI) was computed for 1049 elderly women (65 and older) from the 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII) in the US according to US dietary guidelines, and applied to the diet of elderly Korean women for purposes of comparison. A modified 16-point DQI awarded 2 points each for moderate consumption of fat ($\leq$ 30% energy), saturated fat ($\leq$ 10%), cholesterol ($\leq$ 300 mg/day), sodium ($\leq$ 2400 mg/day), and protein ($\leq$ 100% RDA), adequate intakes of carbohydrate ($\qeq$50% energy) and calcium ($\qeq$ 100% RDA), and plenty of fruits and vegetables ($\qeq$ 5 servings). Criteria were based on US dietary guidelines. Partial scores were given if subjects were close to meeting these cutoff points. Diets with $\leq$ 300 mg cholesterol/day were reported by 97% or the Korean sample and 82% of the American sample, while 90% of the Koreans and 42% of the Americans met the goal of $\leq$ 30% of energy from fat, and 98% of the Koreans and 47% of American met the recommendation of $\leq$ 10% of energy from saturated fat. In contrast, only 8% of the Korean sample met the sodium recommendation of $\leq$ 2400 mg sodium per day, whereas 54% of the American subjects met this goal. The mean DQI scores were 10.1 for the elderly American women and 11.3 for the elderly Korean women. Overall, the elderly Korean diet was more consistent with the US dietary guidelines than the elderly American diet.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.73-84
• /
• 2010

This study conducted a secondary analysis by using original data of performed by Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs to determine factors affecting doctor's diagnosed disease-related mental health for the elderly aged over 65 years living in Korea. The survey was conducted in 2007 and it evaluated finally 720 cases by excluding cases with no answer or a wrong answer. The results were as follows. The proportion of the elderly who stress cognition was influenced when subjects were female and older, lower subjective health condition and osteoporosis, showed statistically significant difference. The proportion of the elderly who experience depression was influenced when subjects were older, had not health insurance or medical care, and lower subjective health condition, showed statistically significant difference. The proportion of the elderly who have suicide thoughts was influenced when subjects were female and higher educational background, lower subjective health condition, COPD(Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and diabetes mellitus, showed statistically significant difference. We knew that the relationship between diseases and depression in the elderly influenced on the depression about most of the diseases. Particularly, Depression and suicide had a high correlation. The results suggest that it should be necessary to systematic management of diseases in the depression treatment of the Elderly in Korea.

• 한국사회정책
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.95-123
• /
• 2016

As Korean society grows rapidly older, a systematic analysis of the determinants of labor supply behavior among the elderly becomes a prerequisite for designing more effective senior employment policies and income security regime for the elderly. Literatures review shows that a majority of previous researches have been ignoring the problem of "endogenous predictor" especially when it comes to the estimation of the effects of the two key variables, education and non-labor income, on labor supply decisions among older people. They have failed to take into consideration the unobserved heterogeneities which might affect both labor supply decisions of the elderly and their levels of education and non-labor income, which means, according to some econometric literatures, that the estimated coefficients of the two predictors can be inconsistent. The paper tries to redress the endogeneity problem by employing a panel logit model with data from the 1st. to 4th. wave of the KLoSA(Korean Longitudinal Survey of Ageing) to estimate the effects of key predictors on the probability of getting jobs among older people(ages of 60 or older). Both a random effects and a fixed effects model reaffirms that non-labor income has a negative effect on the chances of being employed. And a random effects model shows that the effect of education is also negative, as has frequently been reported by previous studies. That means the effects of education and non-labor income on elderly employment remain negative after the effect of unobserved heterogeneities is controled for and the problem of endogenous predictors is redressed through an appropriate panel data analysis. These findings mean, in turn, that when Korean baby-boomers, who had acquired an unprecedentedly higher level of education and were expected to enjoy ever-larger amount of non-labor income than their preceding generations, retires in near future, their incentives to work will become much weaker and the lack of labor-force and the burden of financing increased public pension expenditure will become more troublesome. The paper concludes with recommending some policy initiatives helpful to solve these expected problems.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.53-61
• /
• 2020

Objective : The purpose of this study was to find out the stress of vascular conditions and leisure activities for the elderly and the effect of stress problems on the vascular conditions of the elderly. Methods : The study surveyed 172 elderly people, conducted a validity and reliability analysis to organize items of leisure activities, analyzed vascular conditions and stress for leisure activities, and conducted a regression analysis to analyze stress factors affecting the blood vessel conditions of the elderly. Results : First, there was a significant difference in comparing the average value of vascular conditions for leisure activities in the elderly (p=.012) and sports activity was the most stable in vascular conditions. Second, there was a significant difference in comparing the average value of stress for leisure activities of the elderly (p=.035) and rest and other activities were higher than other activities. Third, the effect of stress problems in older people on vascular conditions has been shown to be influenced by financial difficulties and health problems. Conclusion : Leisure activities in older people can act as a factor in changing the quality of life. Older adults can expect improvement of vascular conditions and reduction of stress through leisure activities, especially sports activities have a high relationship of vascular conditions, and rest and other activities have a high relationship with stress. As a result, this study confirmed the importance of selecting and continuing participation in leisure activities for the elderly.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.190-204
• /
• 2022

Background: In Korea, the population is rapidly aging, and the types of households for the elderly are also diversifying. The self-rated health of the elderly is a valuable health indicator that can comprehensively represent the overall quality of life along with physical, mental, and functional health. On the other hand, studies on the association between household type and self-rated health of the elderly are still insufficient. Thus, this study analyzed the association between household type and self-rated health by gender in Korean older adults. Methods: Using data from the analysis of the National Survey of Older Koreans 2017, 10,299 elderly people aged 65 and over were targeted. For the accuracy of the analysis data, 9,910 people were selected as the study sample by excluding proxy responses, those diagnosed with dementia, and non-response. And technical analysis, univariate analysis using the Rao-Scott chi-square test, and logical regression analysis involving survey characteristics were conducted by gender. Results: According to the adjusted model with all variables, in both men and women, the odds ratio of self-rated health 'bad' in 'couple (with ill spouse)' was significantly higher than 'couple (with spouse)'. It was 2.54 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.05-3.15) for men and 2.11 (95% CI, 1.70-2.62) for women. In addition, the odds ratio of self-rated health 'bad' in 'living with adult children' was 1.43 (95% CI, 1.09-1.87) for men and 1.42 (95% CI, 1.15-1.75) for women, which was more significant in women than men. Conclusion: This study states that there is an association between gender, household type, and self-rated health of the elderly, and the health of a spouse and cohabitation with children have a significant effect on self-rated health. As a result, in order to improve the health status of the elderly, health promotion and health care policies involving the characteristics of the elderly's gender and household type are needed.