• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.215-227
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• 2010

Objectives : Jeon-Jeung(癲證) is one of negative symptoms from schizophrenia in Western medecine, which causes flattening of affect, emotional bluntness, and avolition. Compared with positive symptoms of schizophrenia, there is no established treatments that have been proved to be effective for negative symptoms, and since negative symptoms are chronically processed, they finally lead to devastate the mental health. Since Jeon-Jeung(癲證) is usually in set in adolescent period and tends to become chronic through life time, it is important to start getting treatments in early stage by being distinguished from other diseases, such as anxiety disorder. A patient in this case was affective blunting, general weakness, and delusion when sixteen years old. However, he refused to get Western medicine treatment and wanted oriental medicine treatment. Methods : The patient in this case had been suffered from severe stress from his family since he was young and had kept having irregular and unhealthy eating habits. Therefore, he diagnosed stagnant qi transforming into fire(氣鬱化火), heart blood deficiency(心血虛), and spleen-stomach deficiency cold(脾胃虛寒) and since then he had received several treatments including herbal treatment, acupumcture treatment, supportive therapy, and family therapy. These treatments were successful and reduced the level of symptoms. After discharged from the hospital, he had continued receiving outpatient treatment with his family for 8 months and his progress had been still observed after the discharge. Results : The symptoms of patient had been almost reduced and eliminated after he received 29days of admission treatment and the patient got better and better and now lives a normal life 8 months outpatient treatment. Conclusions : This result suggests that our oriental medical treatments and family treatments was effective on schizophrenia.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the scores of postpartum depression(PPD) on the first day, 1st week, and 6th week after the delivery and to explore their related factors before and after delivery in postpartum women. Methods: With a survey design, 293 postpartum women were recruited from a postpartum unit, Ilsin Christian hospital in Pusan via convenience sampling and were followed at 1st week and 6th week in the outpatient clinic. Results: Results showed that the scores of PPD(EPDS score) were low at postpartum 1st day, 1st week and 6th week but prevalence of PPD(EPDS ${\geq}13$)was 3.1%at 1st day, 8.2%at 1st week and 7.5%at 6th week, respectively. The pre-delivery factors were experience of depression, and the post-delivery factors were baby's sex(1st day), no caregiver for baby(1st week), and no help and concern for taking care of baby from husband and family(1st day and 6th week). The greater satisfaction with becoming a mother and her life, and greater maternal attachment were related to lower level of PPD at the three time points. Conclusion: Regular screening for postpartum depression and supportive and informative education is needed for postpartum women visiting the outpatient clinic for follow-up.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.66-77
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• 2009

This study aims to examine the effect of socioeconomic status (hereafter, SES) on healthcare utilization of the patients with rare and incurable diseases. Information of 2,973 patients who were self-employed insured and utilized healthcare service in 2007 was drawn from the National Health Insurance (hereafter, NHI) claim data. SES was set as four groups based on the monthly contribution. Outcome variable was the expense for outpatient and in-hospital services, which was log-transformed and square-rooted in oder to obtain normal distribution. Covariates included age, gender, residence and diagnosis. To examine the effects after controlling for covariates, we employed generalized estimating equation model, since patients with the same diagnosis are likely to have similar characteristics of demographics and healthcare utilization. Univariate statistics showed that lower SES was associated with less utilization of healthcare services. After controlling for covariates, a significantly smaller amount of money was expended for the lowest SES group compared to the highest one. Rural residence was associated with less utilization, except that residents in Seoul significantly more utilized outpatient services in tertiary hospitals. Considering that there is a subsidy program for the low income patients, such differences in healthcare utilization according to SES seems to result from the burden of out-of-pocket payments for uncovered services of the NHI.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.33-51
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• 2007

The disabled population is a vulnerable group, having very complex medical conditions, but little is known about differences in the level of access by type of disability. This study was performed to investigate the differences of health care utilization by the type of disability. The database was constructed from registry of the disabled and health insurance and medical aid claims data submitted to the Korea Health Insurance Cooperation during in the year 2003. The disability classified three groups according to the Disabled Welfare Act; physically disability with external dysfunction, physically disability with organic disease, and mentally disability. There were huge differences in health care utilization by the type of disability. For the inpatient care, those with a mental disability were more likely to utilize health care services in terms of average visit number of medical facilities and visit days per case, but the treatment amount per case was the highest in physically disabled with organic disease. For the outpatient care, those who the physically disabled with organic disease were more likely to utilize health care services in terms of average visit number of medical facilities, treatment amount per case, and the treatment days per case. Also, those who physically disabled with organic disease were more likely to utilize general hospital for both inpatient and outpatient care, and spent more out-of-pocket expenditure. As the number of persons with disabilities rises, the need to consider new approaches to protecting their health grows increasingly. Especially, Korean health care system should be refined to be more responsive to the needs of the type of disability.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.389-399
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was done to identify effects of a 12 weeks Tai Chi exercise and education intervention program on HbA1C, sexual function and IL-12 (Interleukin 12), IL-4 (Interleukin 4), TNF-${\alpha}$ (Tumor Necrosis Factor) for women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: The study had a nonequivalent control group pretest posttest design. The participants were 64 women with diabetes recruited from an outpatient clinic of a university hospital. The Tai Chi exercise and education intervention program was provided twice a week for 12 weeks for the 32 women in the experimental group. The 32 women in the control group were maintained on basic outpatient treatment. Outcome variables were HbA1C, sexual dysfunction scores, IL-4, IL-12 and TNF-${\alpha}$. Results: The experimental group showed significantly improved HbA1C (F=3.10, p=.004), and sexual function (F=3.78, p=.001) compared to the control group. Also for the experimental group TNF-${\alpha}$ (F=-2.69, p=.004) significantly increased compared to the control group. Conclusion: Results indicate that a Tai Chi exercise and education intervention program can be utilized effectively for women with type 2 diabetes.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.96-113
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• 1997

This study was performed to analyze of market segmentation of outpatient services on the based of consumption values. Self-reported questionnaires of six hospital outpatients 600 were analyzed by six consumption values categories: functional values, social values, emotional value, rarity value, situational values, health related values. The main results of this research is as following; 1. The consumption values were significantly different in that sociodemographic characteristics. Especially, the more older aged group, farmer and married people, the more they preferred to functional value, social value, emotional value and rarity value than younger aged group and unmarried people. But in the cases of situational vaue, younger aged people and white-callar workers recognized more positively. Also, housewives, married people and female recognized more positively than white-callar workers, unmarried people and male. 2. In the results of CHAID analysis, market of general hospital were analyzed by 9 categories and major market were groups who ignored or were unconcerned about newness/classiness and preferred to nearness to residence. The market of university hospital were analyzed by 8 categories and major market were groups who considered to reliability/social reputation importantly. The market of corporate hospitals were analyzed by 8 and major market were group who considered to classiness/newness importantly. Therefore, above results show that health care market can be divided to various market by demand and market segmentation is very important for marketing strategy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4515-4518
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• 2013

Background: This study was planned to investigate the personality traits of cancer patients in different treatment settings, and to correlate the demographics with the personality features. Materials and Methods: A total of 237 patients referred either to Marmara University School of Medicine (MUSM) Oncology Outpatient Unit or to the private office of the faculty between March 10th and April 22nd, 2010 were enrolled in the study. The Big Five Mini Test was used to evaluate the 40 personality traits of the patients. Results: The study group consisted of 98 males (41.35%) and 139 females (58.65%) with a mean age of 51. Out of the 237, 73.9% had an educational level beyond the junior high school, and 47.3% of all patients reported a positive family history for cancer. A significant difference in terms of reconcilability, extraversion, and responsibility was observed between patients admitting to the university outpatient clinic and the private office (p<0.05). Reconcilability and extraversion were found to differ between genders significantly (p<0.05). The description of the patients by him/herself or by relatives displayed a significant difference in terms of openness (p<0.05). Parameters such as educational level, family history of cancer, age and marital status showed no relevance to their characters. No discordance was observed between the self-analysis of the patient and the patient's relatives. Conclusions: Patients with cancer are typically highly reconcilable and responsible, moderately stable, open and extraverted.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1427-1430
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• 2015

Aim: To compare prevalence of anxiety in women with abnormal cervical cytology (Pap) undergoing colposcopy to that of women attending the outpatient clinic for check-up and to examine predicting factors. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional analytical study, 100 women with abnormal cervical cytology (abnormal Pap group) and 100 women who attended our outpatient clinic for check-up (control group) were recruited from June 2013 to January 2014. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was employed to determine anxiety in the participants with the score of ${\geq}11$ suggestive of clinically significant anxiety. The prevalence of anxiety and the mean HADS scores for anxiety were compared between the groups. For those with abnormal Pap, association between clinical factors and anxiety was assessed. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Median age was different between the groups, 44.0 years in the abnormal Pap group and 50.0 years in the control group (p=0.01). The proportion of participants who had more than one sexual partner was higher in the abnormal Pap group, 39.2% vs. 24.7% (p=0.03) and the prevalence of anxiety was significantly higher 14/100 (14.0%) vs. 3/100 (3.0%) (p < 0.01). The prevalence of depression was comparable between the groups. The mean HADS scores for anxiety and depression subscales were significantly higher in the abnormal Pap group, 6.6 vs. 4.8 (P < 0.01) and 3.9 vs. 3.1 (p=0.05), respectively. For the abnormal Pap group, no definite association between clinical factors and anxiety was demonstrated. Conclusions: The prevalence of anxiety in women with abnormal Pap awaiting colposcopy was significantly higher than that of normal controls. Special attention including thorough counselling, with use of information leaflets and psychological support, should be directed to these women.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.211-223
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• 2012

This study purposed to evaluate the influences of rival hospitals on the number of patients who visited the a study territory hospital. Spatial analysis technique was used to measure the impact of rival hospitals in study region. Selected hospitals were all medical school affiliated hospitals which were located in Daejeon metropolitan city and Chungchungnamdo. Patient data was collected from the claims data of the study hospital, and the number of inpatient and outpatients who visited the study hospital between January and June in 2008 were calculated on the smallest administrative district, Eup, Myeon, and Dong, in study region. To control the differences of regional characteristics among Eup, Myeon, Dong, socio-economic variables (total population, number of people aged over 65, number of basic livelihood security recipients, distance from the study hospital to the centroid point of each Eup, Myeon, Dong, number of business, and number of employees) were included in analysis model. These variables were collected from the annual year book of city as well as county located in study region. Cluster analysis classified the study region into three groups by using the difference of between th actual number of inpatient/outpatient and the predicted number of inpatient/outpatient in Eup, Myeon, and Dong. Most areas around the rivalry hospitals were categorized into same group. Multiple regression analysis indicated that areas around rivalry hospitals had statistically significantly negative relationship with the number of inpatients and outpatients who visited the study hospital. As the buffer size was increased from 5Km to 10Km, the standardized regression coefficients were decreased. These study results confirmed that rivalry hospitals in region had negative impacts on the performance of hospitals. It suggests that hospitals will require not only to select their location to minimize the effects of rivalry hospitals, but also to establish their strategy to cope with the rivalry's threats in their region.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.361-369
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze the present status of community health practitioner activities and efforts to improve the job performance. Method: This study employed descriptive exploratory design. The sample consisted of 1,892 community health practitioners which was 90 % of population of community health practitioners. The data was analyzed by using SPSS Windows 10.0. Result: The most popular activities of community health practitioners were women's health, chronic degenerative disease management, elderly health, and outpatient care of primary health care. The activities that community health practitioners want to strengthen were outpatient care, disease prevention, rehabilitation, health promotion, and counseling. The efforts to improve the job performance were consult to other health care professionals, discussion with patient and families to choose effective treatment options. Community health practitioners knew that they were exposed to malpractice and hould try to make many efforts to improve their performance. Conclusion: The roles and activities of community health practitioners should be changed to the shift of health care environment and systems.