• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.28-38
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the prevalence of alcohol and cigarette use and assess its relationship with socio-environmental, psychological, violent and behavioral factors among a sample of high school students from Lima and Callao, Peru. Methods: We utilized the data from a cross-sectional study conducted by the Yonsei Global Health Center in collaboration with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Peru office in November 2016. The total sample size of this study was 1,477 students. For analysis, we used bivariate and multivariate logistic regression to calculate the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals. Results: The current prevalence of alcohol and cigarette use among adolescents was found to be 24.2% and 12.1%, respectively. Alcohol use was affected by age, friends' alcohol use, experience of physical fighting, and involvement in other risk behaviors (smoking, drug use, and sexual intercourse). Cigarette use was affected by perceived academic performance, friends' cigarette use, and involvement in other risk behaviors (drinking, drug use, and sexual intercourse). Furthermore, students who received affection from their parents and whose parents monitored their activities were less likely to report using both alcohol and cigarettes. Conclusion: Alcohol and cigarette use among Lima and Callao adolescents is affected by socio-environmental, violent and behavioral factors. Alcohol and cigarette use prevention initiatives should promote positive parenting practices, family togetherness, and a supportive school climate. In addition, it is needed to establish peer-led programs that promote behavioral changes in students and strengthen social relations without the presence of alcohol, cigarettes, and other harmful substances.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-61
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• 2007

Most previous research on safer sex and condom use has been mainly focused on individual's dispositional factors such as attitudes, perceived control, intention, and etc. However, a few researchers recently started to propose that condom use is not a matter of individual behavioral decision but a product of serious interactive negotiation processes and condom negotiation would be the proximal key-determinant of condom use behaviors. The present research categorized condom-negotiation strategies and preferences of Korean college students and examined relationship between the strategies and other sex-related concepts. 186 participants' strategies on a free-response questions of condom negotiation revealed 7 types of persuasion strategies for condom use; Pregnancy risk, responsibility, care for partner, withholding sex, sexual disease, direct request, and sexual satisfaction (in order of preference). 6 types of persuasion strategies for condom avoid were abstracted: Pregnancy free, Sexual satisfaction, responsibility, direct request, unfaith toward condom, and withholding sex (in order of preference). The effects of gender, sexual experience, and culture were found and discussed in their implications for sexual education,

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.105-122
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• 2009

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes (discrimination towards HIV/AIDS and lives with HIV infected persons) and HIV/AIDS related sexual behaviors among middle school and high school students in Seoul, Korea. Methods: The population of this study was junior and senior high school students in Seoul, Korea. Eight junior high schools and eight senior high schools were randomly selected from Seoul City. Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six responses from the sixteen schools were analyzed (fifty-nine were excluded). A self-administered questionnaire measuring socio-demographic variables, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, as well as discriminatory attitudes of HIV/AIDS was utilized. Results: The level of HIV/AIDS knowledge was low and the levels of discriminatory attitudes were high. The results indicated that students had considerable misconceptions about HIV transmission as well as stigmatizing attitudes towards HIV-infected people and their lives. The proportions of sexual intercourse were 1.3 % for middle school students and 7.7% for high school students. Only 30.7% of current sexually active subjects were to use condoms at the last step of sexual intercourse. The HIV/AIDS related risk-taking behavior were predicted by gender, school types, parents' marital status, reported academic performances, and attitudes towards to homosexuals. Conclusions: It is important to design HIV prevention strategies that improve in the knowledge of HIV transmission for adolescents in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.156-163
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• 2012

Objectives: It is necessary to examine groups carrying out sexually risky behavior because the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is high among them. In this study, the prevalence of STDs among homosexuals and sexbuying men in South Korea was investigated, along with their sexual risk factors. Methods: Men who have sex with men (MSMs, n=108) were recruited in Seoul and Busan by applying the time location sampling method, while sex-buying men (n=118) were recruited from a john school in Gyeonggi province, the suburbs of Seoul. Dependent variables included past or present infection with syphilis, Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and human immunodeficiency virus. Independent variables included health behavior, social support, sexual behavior, and safe sex. Results: It was found that when the MSMs were non-drunk while having sexual intercourse (odds ratio [OR], 0.132), they showed a higher STD infection rate when they had a higher number of anal sex partners (OR, 5.872), rarely used condoms (OR, 1.980), had lower self-efficacy (OR, 0.229), and were more anxious about becoming infected with an STD (OR, 3.723). However, the men who paid for sex showed high STD infections when they had more sex partners (OR, 2.286) and lower education levels (OR, 3.028). Conclusions: STD infections among the two groups were high when they were engaged with many sex partners and not having protected sex. In other words, there was a gap in risky sex behavior within such groups, which was significantly related to the possibility of developing an STD. Therefore, the preventive intervention against STDs for these groups needs to be expanded to include management of sex behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.138-148
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• 2001

The focus of the research was on identifying the risk factors that may result in unprepared intercourse among the adolescent from an ecological systems prospective. A survey questionnaire was conducted from September through December 1999 to 2326 youths, ages from 13-18 years old. After eliminating thirty respondents from Unwed Mother's Home we found that 8.8% of the remaining respondents had experienced sexual intercourse. Of those, 5% of the female and 13.4% of male adolescents has had sexual intercourse, showing 2.7 times more for the male sample population. Broken down to age groups, 3.2% of the thirteen years old group and 19.2% of the eighteen years old group had experienced intercourse, an almost six fold increase in the older age group. To find out the differences between those who had and not had experienced intercourse the group was then divided into two comparative groups by same sex and age variables. Findings from comparative analysis identified five ecological system risk factors among the youth sample that had intercourse；First, individual factor：adolescents who thought less of themselves or didn't consider their potentials, those more exposed other risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking, drugs, runaway and come in contact with pornography, those who thought they knew more about sex and etc. Second, family factor：those who thought family was less important, had less supportive family, higher or lower income family and etc. Third, peer factor：Both groups thought friends were important and had their support. The group with intercourse experience seems to be think that more peers are experiencing other risk behavior. Fourth, school factor：Those in the group who had experienced intercourse seems to think school is less important and with lower academic achievements. Fifth, community factor：There were no statistical significant differences found between the two groups. The overall results from this study implies that if we want to prevent our youths from having unprepared intercourse during adolescence the significance of having meaningful emerging self, family relationship and school experience is important. This study identified the risk factors leading to adolescent sexual intercourse but further research is necessary in finding out about their predictability.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2022

Background: Despite a growing number of investigations exploring the health problems in precarious workers, there is still a paucity of studies investigating workplace violence in workers with multi-party employment arrangements (WMPEAs). This study was aimed at comparing the prevalence of workplace violence between non-WMPEA and WMPEA. Methods: The 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey data were used. The study subjects were employees aged 20-74, with 26,239 non-WMPEA and 1,556 WMPEA. WMPEA included temporary agency workers and workers providing outsourced services. Workplace violence including verbal abuse, unwanted sexual attention, threats, and humiliating behaviors were used as outcome variables. The odds ratios of risk of workplace violence were calculated using multiple logistic regression. Results: The age-standardized prevalence of workplace violence was significantly higher among WMPEA. After adjusting for all covariates, the risk of workplace violence among WMPEA was still significant (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.5-2.2) compared with non-WMPEA. The odds ratio of workplace violence among female WMPEA was 1.99 (95% CI 1.53-2.59), which is higher than that of male WMPEA (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.18-1.96). Conclusion: We found that WMPEA were exposed to higher risk of workplace violence. Discrimination against WMPEA in the working environment and management policy need to be corrected. It is also necessary to identify the risk factors of workplace violence in WMPEA and to make efforts to prevent violence.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.281-299
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• 2003

Even though the rate of infection of HIV is very low compared to other countries, data show a steady rise in HIV infection rates among young people in South Korea. A peer education program was provided to prevent the incidence of AIDS in young people. The program used peer leaders to provide AIDS related information and counseling for middle school students. Peer leaders received special training in AIDS related education and counseling to assist their friends. Peer leaders worked with their mends in one-to-one or small group settings. A pretest-posttest control design (six months after intervention) was used to evaluate the effects of the peer education program for prevention of AIDS. A post-intervention survey found that do you mean six months after the program or after six months of programs of peer program activities, the experimental groups(groups with peer educators) showed better knowledge, more positive attitudes, and less sexual activity when compared to control groups of non-participants(groups without peer educators). Peer leaders showed significant gains in knowledge about HIV transmission, more positive attitudes and self-efficacy not to engage in high-risk behaviors. Peer education was an effective tool for increasing knowledge, improving attitudes and self-efficacy, and encouraging appropriate behavior change.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.249-266
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• 1996

AIDS and the spectrum of Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV) infections present a monumental challenge to the health of the Korean public. In response to this special challenge, I think public education and voluntary behavior changes are the most effective measures to fight the spread of the disease. Adolescents represent a critical risk group for prevention and intervention programming. Research indicates sexually active adolescents, homosexual contact, illicit drug use are an gradually increasing. These characteristically adolescent risk-taking behaviors suggest the need for schools and communities to mobilize intervention strategies. Schools are highly efficient ways to reach a majority of young people in Korea with HIV prevention programs. These programs include substantial attention to sexual and drug use behaviors with the long term objective of a multidimensional school health program. Information resulting from risk behavior surveillance activities and guidance on school health curricula is particularly useful. What is needed for adolescents is a revamping of education to give students the critical thinking and analytic skills that allow them to apply knowledge, make decisions, and think independently. The best HIV preventive education provides young people with opportunities to learn and practice just those skills. In the early stages of HIV education were focused solely on information. Providing information is easy but unfortunately, behavior change is not that simple to activate. Information must be combined with values exploration and skilly building, including responsible decision making, negotiation, refusal, and critical thinking skills. The same knowledge, attitudes and skills needed for effective HIV prevention also prevent or reduce other risks, including other sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and alcohol or other drug use. The role of other youth serving organizations in HIV prevention is also important: parental and youth involvement is needed; it's important to presidential and governament leadership is essential to prevention education; promote integrated adolescent programs, to enhance health and education sector collaboration; and of course, we need to expand research on adolescent health and engage the media in health promotion. Among these changes, a school-based systematic health education of AIDS is certainly one of the essentials.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2024

Objectives: The effectiveness and efficiency of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in reducing the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among men who have sex with men (MSM) relies on how widely it is adopted and adhered to, particularly among high-risk groups of MSM. The meta-analysis aimed to collect and analyze existing evidence on various factors related to PrEP adherence in MSM, including demographic characteristics, sexual behaviors, substance use, and psychosocial factors. Methods: The meta-analysis followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The search included articles published between January 2018 and December 2022, obtained from the PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus databases. The studies that were included in the analysis reported the proportion of MSM who demonstrated adherence to PrEP and underwent quality appraisal using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Of the 268 studies initially identified, only 12 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final meta-analysis. The findings indicated that education (odds ratio [OR], 1.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 2.40), number of sexual partners (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.31), engaging in sexual activities with an human immunodeficiency virus-positive partner (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.16 to 2.26), substance use (OR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.99), and lower levels of depression (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.82) were associated with higher rates of PrEP adherence among MSM. Conclusions: Despite these findings, further research is necessary to investigate PrEP adherence more comprehensively. The findings of this meta-analysis can be utilized to inform interventions aimed at improving PrEP adherence among MSM and provide directions for future research in this area.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.77-91
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• 2012

배경 및 목적: 성병 감염, 조기 성경험, 다수의 성관계 파트너 등과 같은 위험 성행동은 여성의 건강 전반을 위협하는 결과를 초래할 수 있다. 하지만, 이러한 심각성에 비하여, 미국의 청소년기 및 청년기 여성의 위험 성행동을 소수인종 집단별 특성을 고려한 연구는 부족한 실정이다. 그러므로 본 연구는 미국 소수인종 여성 청소년의 위험 성행동에 대한 실태를 조사하고자 한다. 방법: 본 연구는 2차 자료 분석의 결과물로써, 원자료인 미국의 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health)의 1기 (1995년)와 3기 (2001년)의 자료 중 여성 청소년의 자료를 바탕으로 분석되었다. 다양한 위험 성행동을 인종별로 분석함과 더불어 본 연구의 특징은 종단적 성병 감염 행태를 인종별로 분석한 점이다. 결과: 본 연구는 소수인종 여성의 위험 성행동에 관한 핵심적인 결과를 제시한다. 성병 감염, 조기 성경험, 다수의 성관계 파트너 등과 같은 위험 성행동의 분포는 흑인과 아시아계 여성이 타인종의 여성에 비하여 높은 위험해 쳐해 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 흑인 여성들은 전반적인 성행동을 망라하여 고위험군으로 분류되고 있다. 아시아계 여성 역시 고위험 군으로 분류되는데, 특히, 청소년기에 성병에 한번 감염된 경험이 있는 아시아계 여성은 가장 위험한 성병 감염 행태를 보이고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 결론: 본 연구의 결과는 소수인종 여성의 위험 성행동이 백인보다 전반적으로 높은 편으로 나타나지만, 적절한 보건의료 서비스에서는 소외되는 현실을 지적하고 있다. 이러한 인종별 성건강의 불균형 문제해소를 위하여 청소년들에게 인종적 특성과 서비스 접근성의 고려가 절실히 필요하다고 사료된다.