• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.spc
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• pp.577-590
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out the suicidal ideation rate of the elderly including individual and regional factors by sex. Methods: This is secondary analysis study that combines the data of the 2017 Community Health Survey with the e-indicator data set of the National Statistical Office, and a descriptive correlation study. Statistical analysis used hierarchical logistic regression by SAS 9.4. Results: The 11.5% of the elderly had suicidal ideation within the last year, and 18.4% in Chungnam is the highest. Individual characteristics include females, older people, lower education levels, no job or housewife, no spouse, less than seven hours of sleep per day on the average, low subjective health, high subjective stress, and the worse their economic conditions, the more they had suicide ideation. Considering regional characteristics, suicidal ideation tended to increase significantly as the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people and the rate of obesity was lower, the rate of stress perception was higher, and the odds value was small. When both individual and regional factors were considered, the model conformity of the suicidal ideation improved (ICC=0.0814). Conclusion: In order to lower the suicidal rate of the elderly, it seems that both individual and community factors need to be comprehensively approached from the stage of suicidal ideation in the community.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.125-134
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• 2022

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish an association between grip strength and gait variability in the elderly. Methods: The participants in this experiment (n = 20) were aged 65 or older. Power grip and lateral pinch forces were obtained in grip strength tests, and spatiotemporal gait parameters were collected from IMU sensors during 6 min actual walking to test the gait of participants. The collected gait parameters were converted to coefficient of variation (CV) values. To confirm the association between grip strength and gait variability, a partial correlation analysis was conducted in which height, weight, and gait speed were input as controlling variables. Results: Grip power showed a significant negative correlation with the stride length CV (r = -0.52), and the lateral pinch force showed a significant negative correlation with the stance CV (r = -0.65) and swing CV (r = -0.63). Conclusion: This study reveals that gait variability decreases as grip strength increases, although height, weight, and gait speed were controlled. Thus, grip strength testing, a simple aging evaluation method, can help identify unstable gait in older adults at risk of falling, and grip strength can be utilized as a non-invasive measurement method for frailty management and prevention.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.207-221
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• 2016

In Korea, older pedestrian accounted for 57% of all pedestrian deaths although a ratio of older pedestrian accidents to total pedestrian accidents was only 25.9%. Though ageing population problem becomes more challenging for road safety, little is know about the behaviour of older pedestrian's behaviour. This study aimed to identify road crossing behaviour of older pedestrian at three-lane unsignalized crosswalks using video image analysis and to compare the behaviour of older pedestrian to younger one by indicators including approaching speed, the number of walking steps and other factors. The results showed that there was a difference of approaching time at kerb, waiting time at kerb, the number of glances at kerb, and the number of glances at crossing between two groups under the situation of car approaching to crosswalks. It also showed that older pedestrian usually spent 1.16 times more than younger pedestrian to walk across the crosswalk with only 84.4% of walking speed of younger pedestrian. The number of steps of older pedestrian for road crossing was 1.12 times higher with 90% shorter steps than younger pedestrian. It was concluded that older pedestrian usually decided to walk across in case of 1.67 times longer headway than younger pedestrian's decision. These results could be applied in road and facility design for better safety of older pedestrians.

• 한국노년학
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.583-600
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to explore qualitatively what kind of coping strategy the Korean older adults use when they are depressed and why. Participants were users, older than 60, of an elderly welfare center in Seoul, and answers of 34 respondents who experienced depression were included in the analysis. The collected data were analyzed through content analysis. The results of the analysis showed that strategies to cope with depression used by participants were composed of 6 domains and 11 sub-domains: health behavior (medical approach / exercise and diet), family and social contact (social interaction / going out and going on a trip / communication with family), Religious activities (Religious activities), lifelong education (hobbies / educational activities), productive activities (labor), health risk behaviors (drinking and gambling / resignation). The depression coping strategies of the older adults and their characteristics are as follows. First, older adults used diverse problem-focused coping strategies to cope with depression. Second, older adults considered various coping strategies together and used them simultaneously. Third, the facility space for older adults functions as a shelter. Fourth, although there were cases where medical approach was used, the intention to reuse was very low. Through this study, the following suggestions were made to help older adults cope with depression more successfully. First, access to various coping strategies should be promoted. Second, more places where older adults can spend their time comfortably need to be provided. Third, resistance to mental health care should be resolved.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.195-203
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the level of functional health literacy and its influence on perceived health status in Korean older adults. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Daegu, Kyungpook and Susan province. A total of 103 older adults aged 65 yr or older were interviewed in person between July 1 to August 30, 2007. Results: A high proportion of older adults were unable to read and understand written basic medical instructions. Only 40-50% were able to comprehend directions for taking medication four times a day or on an empty stomach. Only 11-38% were able to understand information regarding treatment procedure, informed consent, or educational material for elderly fall prevention. Individuals who were older, single, and had less education and income were more likely to have lower functional health literacy. After adjusting for sociodemographic variables, individuals with lower health literacy had poorly perceived health status. Conclusion: Many Korean older adults have a very low level of fuctional literacy. Low health literacy was independently associated with poorly perceived health status.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.208-219
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• 2015

Using 492 older people in Chuncheon, this study examines whether social support is associated with depression of older people. Findings show that stress is positively associated with depression. Social support is negatively related to depression of older people. Analysis on the sources of social support reveals that all of the supports from families, friends, and important others are negatively associated with depression of the elderly. However, buffering effects of social support is not confirmed. Depression of older people is also associated with gender, household type, economic activity participation, and chronic diseases. Based on the findings, this study provides suggestions to prevent depression of older people and future research agenda.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.771-780
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how older adults kept their health good at a doctorless farm village. Method: Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 32 participants who were over 65 years old and analyzed in terms of Strauss and Corbin's (1990) grounded theory methodology. Result: The Core Category of health care of older adults was identified as 'enduring physical changes by themselves'. The process of this could be divided into 4 stages: the stage of bearing, the stage of managing daily living activities, the stage of passively collecting information and the stage of minimally utilizing health care services. Older adults accepted the aging process positively but health sources limitation passively, so they managed daily living activities and used natural food for health. In addition, they collected information related to health care and used health care services minimally. Conclusion: We found that participants managed their health passively because of negative attitudes toward active health behaviors of older adults by themselves and the difficulty of access to health care services. Therefore, various community health services for older adults need to be developed to empower older adults in the community.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.451-463
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• 2022

Purpose: This study examined the reciprocal relationships between depression and income, and gender differences in these relationships among older adults in South Korea. Methods: Using 2015 to 2019 of the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS), we studied 6,070 older adults (2,394 men and 3,676 women) aged 60 years over in 2015. The generalized estimating equation was employed to explore the effect of an individual income on depression and the reverse causal link-that of depression on income. Results: The study found the reciprocal relationships between income and depression. Income has a significant impact on depression. Higher-income was linked to decreased risks of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scores among older adults (B = - 0.121, p < 0.001). Estimates of the reverse causal link show that higher CES-D scores were also linked to income reduction among Korean older adults (B = - 0.007, p < 0.001). In addition, we also observed gender differences in the impact of income on depression but not in the reverse causal link. Income has more detrimental to psychological consequence for older men (B = - 0.108, p < 0.001) than older women (B = - 0.057, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The finding implies that both psychological and social protection policies for the elderly are needed in view of gender perspective.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.19-33
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• 2000

For the purpose of disclosing the effects of progressive low intensity exercise on the activity of the elderly, questionnaire survey and physical fitness examination were performed on the subjects who were 65 years old or older. The subjects were assigned into two groups using paired matching on gender and age: experimental group (33 persons) and control groups (35 persons). The subjects in experimental group was put on the low intensity exercise program (exercising upper and lower limbs for 12 weeks using dumbbell and lead-packed weight). The results showed that the difference of physical and social behavior scores among activities before and after exercise were significantly higher in all variables of general characteristics, health habits and status, perception, and physical fitness. The findings of this research suggested that the progressive low intensity exercise improves the activities of the elderly, physical activity, self assessed activity, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, social behavior of the elderly be affected by general characteristics, health habits and status, perception, and physical fitness.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.93-107
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• 1999

Elderly population of Korea has been significantly increasing, therefore, social and economical influence of the elderly people has been increasing, too. Recently, research regarding elderly people is important because many elderly men take care of their appearance and clothing, and clothing plays an important role in everyday life. The purpose of this study is to investigate the clothing behavior of men aged 55 years and older who were residents of Seoul. The data were collected with a interview and self-administered questionnaire at various places. The importance of various factors on clothing behavior is different. 2. Age has a negative relationship with conformity, but a positive relationship with aesthetics and satisfaction of clothing. Allowance has a positive relationship with all clothing behaviors factors excepts conformity. 3. Life satisfaction has a positive relationship with education and allowance, also, life satisfaction of occupation group is higher than no occupation group is higher than no occupation group. 4. Appearance satisfaction has not a significant relationships with age, but, has a positive relationship with education. 5. There are positive relationships between not only life satisfaction and clothing behavior factors, but also appearance satisfaction and clothing behavior factors except conformity.