• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권17호
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• pp.7789-7794
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• 2015

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a community-based health education and communication programme on reducing liver fluke infections caused by the consumption of uncooked fish among people in a high-risk area of Thailand. Materials and Methods: The study was quasi-experimental in nature, with three-stages. Stage 1 involved a situational and capacity analysis of designated communities in Khon Kaen province. This was followed by the development of a model for community-based health education and communication to prevent liver fluke infections among high-risk people, and, lastly, implementation and evaluation of the model were performed. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In total, 390 people were surveyed, and quasi-experimental and comparison groups, each with 90 people, were assessed between May 2011 and April 2012. Analysis was using statistical OR, 95 % CI, the Willcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test, the chi-square test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The findings showed that most respondents had a high level of knowledge and understanding of liver fluke disease (89.5%, 95% CI:86.0-92.4), and positive attitudes toward the prevention of the disease (94.4%, 95% CI:91.6-96.4). However, with regard to changes in consumption of uncooked fish, most respondents were still in the pre-contemplation phase (55.1%, 95% CI:50.0-60.1), followed by the contemplation phase, 22.6%. Furthermore, four factors were found to be associated with the consumption of uncooked fish - the consumption of alcohol (OR 4.16, 95% CI:1.79-9.65), gender (OR 3.17, 95% CI:1.53-6.54), smoking (OR 3.03, 95% CI:1.31-7.05), and age 40 years and above (OR 2.68, 95% CI:1.02-7.05). After nine months of the health education and communication programme using local media based on local wisdom, culture and persons, the results showed that, compared to the control group, members of the experimental group had a higher level of knowledge, a better attitude and lower levels of ill-advised consumption behaviour. Also, it was found that consumption of uncooked fish, by an assessment of the level of stage of change, was reduced. (p-value 0.002). Conclusions: The health education and communication programme developed as part of the study was effective in changing the consumption of uncooked fish. Therefore, this approach should be promoted in other high-risk areas in Thailand in the future.

• 유통과학연구
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.47-54
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• 2011

This paper presents exploratory research on consumer awareness and attitudesabout organic food, for which consumer demand continues to increase the paper also assesses consumers' organic food distribution channel preferences. By conducting a literature review, a case study has been carried out in order to glean customer behavior, market condition and typesof distribution channels, and development of specialty stores for organic foods. The early research indicates that consumer awareness and customer attitudes toward organic food are mostly positive however, organic food's high price, as well as a lack of organic food stores, cause a negative effect on consumers' purchase intention. Secondly, the U.S. organic food retail channel consists of such mainstream supermarket/grocery stores and leading natural and organic food supermarket chains as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Sunflower Farmers Market. For the current retail distribution of organic food in Korea, off-line stores are composed of direct management stores and franchise chains. Most of the organic food retail distribution operates through the Internet shopping mall, and are commonly located at retail distribution centers as multi-channel, shop-in-shop stores. Moreover, unlike in the U.S., association and consumers' cooperatives (Co-Ops), and such other member-direct retail stores as Hansallim, iCOOP, Nature Dream,and online shopping malls, are all active in Korea. Thirdly, as a result of an analysis of the present state of the organic food retail channel, as well as building a case for organic food specialty stores, the distinctive featuresand rapid growth of such unique organic food stores as Whole Foods Market, or Trader Joe's successful downsizing strategies, as well as Sunflower Farmers Market low-price approach, show steady industry growth. Moreover, as a result of a case studyof such domestic representative organic food specialty stores as "Olga" and "Chorokmaeul," a similar management style to the United States' "Whole Foods Market" and "Trader Joe's," respectively, can be seen. Similar to the U.S. market, Korean organic food markets should also implement active retail distribution opportunities, allowing consumers to select from various diverse and differentiated choices. In order to accomplish this goal, it is necessary to prepare such measures as sustaining reasonable prices, securing various suppliers for unique products,and improving consumer trust through advertisement strategies that are suitable for each company's branding processes.

• 마케팅과학연구
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.157-194
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• 2008

온라인 커뮤니티에 대한 연구는 학자들과 실무자들의 많은 관심을 받아온 분야이다. 과거 많은 연구자들이 온라인 커뮤니티를 통해 큰 상업적 성과를 거둘 수 있다고 했지만 현실은 그렇지 못하며, 마케팅 연구 분야에서도 상업적 성공을 이끄는 변수들에 대한 연구가 많이 이루어지지 못한 것이 사실이다. 이러한 점에서 본 연구는 온라인 커뮤니티 사이트들이 콘텐츠 관련 마케팅 노력을 통해 소비자들의 자아일치성을 높이고, 긍정적 체험을 유도하면서 커뮤니티 사이트 내에서 소비자 간 상호작용성 등을 높여 결국, 커뮤니티 사이트의 방문충성도 및 구매충성도를 실현시킬 수 있는 프레임 웍을 제시하였다. 연구결과 온라인 커뮤니티 사이트에서 소비자 간 상호작용성이 방문충성도 그리고 특히 구매충성도의 구축에 매우 중요한 요인으로 밝혀졌고, 온라인 커뮤니티 사이트에 대한 자아일치성 지각 및 긍정적인 소비자 체험 또한 소비자의 상호작용성, 방문충성도 그리고 커뮤니티에 대한 애정에 상당히 중요한 요인임을 알 수 있었다. 또한 이러한 매개변수에 주된 영향요소로서 콘텐츠 우수성, 사이트 생동감, 네비게이션용이성, 고객화 등의 콘텐츠 관련 마케팅 노력의 역할의 중요성을 강조하였다.

• 한국학교ㆍ지역보건교육학회지
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• 제4권
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• pp.117-139
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• 2003

The purpose of this research lies in presenting logical viability for the measures that curtail access to lewd Internet contents by middle school students amidst the reality in which lewd contents are circulated freely through the Internet, a medium that the middle school students find most easy to access. In order to establish right form of awareness towards sex, this research identified the ways they access the lewd Internet contents, their reaction after the exposure to those contents, their knowledge of sex, their concerns regarding sex and their accessibility to sexual activities in order to conduct a comparative analysis on the relationship between lewd Internet contents and their awareness of sex. First, realities of accessing lewd Internet contents and reactions according to the demographics of middle school students There isa significant difference in the experience of accessing lewd Internet contents in terms of gender. Mostly, male students tend to access the contents more. As for the way they access the lewd Internet contents, both male and female students replied that they access through spam mail of lewd nature. Thus, measures to address this problem are needed urgently. As to when they first accessed the lewd contents, most of the research subjects replied that they accessed either in elementary school period or in the early middle school period. This shows that most of the students got exposed to lewd contents even before they could establish positive, correct awareness of sex. Thus, there is a risk that they may formulate wrong kind of sexual awareness. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop measures through focused sex education. Students are divided into two groups according to the time they spend on the contents averagely: those who spend over one hour and those who spend less than an hour on the lewd contents. If the students spending longer hours are not to be checked and properly guided, it may lead to increasing cases of sexual delinquencies due to their wrongly formed awareness of sex. When the question of existence(non-existence) of guardian was addressed, students with both parents tend to access the lewd Internet contents in a more diverse manner and tend to access more compared to those students from single parent or no-parent families. Accordingly, guardians need to pay attention to how their children are using the Internet. Second, awareness of sex depending on the middle school students' demographics In case of sexual knowledge, middle school students shows relatively high level of knowledge. In particular, female students are found more knowledgeable than male students, and the students in upper years are more knowledgeable as well. As a result, this research recommends that the students in lower years should be guided with more basc and detailed information, while those in upper years need to be taught to form and express their own thoughts and attitudes and to build up independence on this matter. In case of worries about sex, both male and female students don't worry too much about it. However, male students are more concerned about sex than female students in a more diverse ways. As for the differences by academic year, concerns for sex increase, as students get older. Accordingly, sex education that helps establish sound perception of the opposite sex and that focuses on the etiquettes that one must adhere to at the presence of the opposite sex need to be conducted against middle school students. In case of accessibility to sex, male students manifest higher tendency than female students. As for the differences by academic year, those in the first and second years show higher accessibility than those in their third year. In general, younger students tend to be more open-minded toward sex. Accordingly, students in lower academic years need to undergo basic knowledge oriented sex education, whereas those in upper academic years need to undergo discussion centered sex education where they subject to questions regarding their attitude and opinion. Third, relationship between the reactions after the exposure to the lewd Internet contents and their awareness of sex As the frequency of contact with lewd Internet contents increases, awareness of sex increases as well. Thus, the lewd Internet contents contribute to the increase in students' concern for sex as well as increase in accessibility to sex, which eventually become barriers to students' establishment of a healthy perception of sex. Reactions to sex after the exposure to lewd Internet contents and awareness of sex indicate a significant correlation. However, negative correlation is manifested with knowledge of sex. Thus, it is possible to know that the greater access to lewd Internet contents does not necessarily translate into increase in knowledge of sex. However, the study showed there is a correlation between concerns for sex and the level of accessibility to sex. In more detail, the more reactions to the contents they show, the more concerns for sex they have and the more positively they take acceptability to sex. Moreover, it is necessary to develop necessary measures since textbooks today do not include measures needed to address the lewd Internet contents. Given the above findings, it is necessary to continue to complement structural measures in order to prevent easy access of lewd Internet contents by middle school students. Moreover, it is necessary to be considerate of the students so that they themselves can form a healthy Internet culture and grow up within positive framework for the sex education.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.