• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.181-209
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• 2018

This study aims to examine the relationship between physical environment and depression symptoms of middle-aged and older adults in metro city. To verify correlates of community environment and depression, mediating effect model structured by social capital and sense of coherence(SOC) were used. For the purpose, a survey was conducted aged 48 - 70 from the local community centers and senior welfare centers in Seoul, and the total collected cases were 331. After data cleaning, total 309 cases were used. The structured equation modeling applied to analyse the direct and indirect effects. The findings were followed : First, the community environment did not directly affect level of depression. Second, in the indirect effect analysis, social capital was not statistically significant, thus indirect effect was confirmed only through the SOC. To be specific, the higher the satisfaction of the physical environment increased SOC, and decreased the level of depression. The results of this study shed lights on practical interventions to promote mental health of the middle-aged and older adults those who are exposed to poor community environment.

• 한국노년학
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.547-566
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of social activities on healthy life expectancy (HLE) by gender difference. HLE implies an estimate of how long an individual can expect to live in full health or without disease and/or disability. Morbidity, mortality, and functional health status usually have been known as key variables. Many researchers have tried to investigate factors affecting HLE in countries level by performing comparative analyses. In micro level, there have been some studies about social factors affecting HLE in individual level. However, few studies are found focusing on the relationship between HLE and social activities. This study anlayzes 4,029 over 65 years of age from the first wave (2006) to the seventh wave (2018) of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA), which is a national panel data collected by Korea Employment Information Service. The data has been collected as a part of social and economic policies planning for Korean government. HLE was measured by life period without disease or disability. One of findings is that male older adults (76.9 yrs) show higher HLE in comparing to female group (75.3 yrs). Female group appeared to be more likely to have higher incidence rate and disorders. Another finding indicates that age, number of chronic diseases, and subjective health status affect HLE of both groups. Finally, regarding social activities, religion affiliated activities appear to significantly affect HLE of both groups. In case of male older adults, alumni or hometown gathering also appeared another activities affecting HLE. This study indicates that the effect of social activities types on HLE among older adults appears differently by gender. Further, unlikely of longer life expectancy among female older adults as known, HLE shows a reverse estimate, longer healthy life expectancy among male older adults. This finding may imply that later life of female older adults shows lower quality of life in comparing to that of male group, even if female life expectancy has been higher. This study encourages to develop more social activity programs for older adults in community level. Specifically, more attention is required to planning for programs targeting female older adults.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.37-50
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• 2024

The elderly customized care service, which began in 2020, aims to improve professionalism and service quality by introducing dedicated social workers for responsible management of living area performing institutions. Through inductive content analysis, this study attempted to examine the work adaptation process of dedicated social workers who are human resources performing the elderly customized care service system. As a result, 9 upper categories, 25 lower categories, and 56 conceptualizations were derived. This study attempted to provide basic policy data on the adaptation of dedicated social workers by exploring new policies and special work systems from the perspective of practitioners.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.69-97
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• 2012

This study has sought to analyze factors affecting work and work preference of older adults at national and individual level. A few theoretical hypotheses such as economic need versus job opportunity (or employability), attitude toward paid work, pull effect versus push effect were tested for citizens in eighteen OECD countries with International Social Survey dataset(2005) using multi-level analysis. Main findings are as follows. First, most older adults wanted to work regardless of the socio-economic status, which implies that non-work of older adults would be due to involuntary constraint rather than voluntary choice. Second, there existed class inequality in that the higher class tended to involve paid work more than the lower class did among 55-64 age group. Third, the push factor such as part-time employment ratio, rather than the generosity of social security, explained the work and retirement patterns better. In conclusion, at least from the comparative perspective, the main problem of older adults' work seems to be of labour demand rather than of labour supply, to be of labour market structure and work opportunity rather than of the pull factor.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.63-71
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• 2019

Purpose: This descriptive study investigated the mediating and moderating effects of fear of fall on the relationships between health belief on fall, fall-related knowledge and fall prevention behaviors among older adults Methods: We enrolled 229 older adults residing in a senior citizen hall and community welfare center, and investigated their health belief on fall, fall-related knowledge, fall prevention behavior, and fear of fall. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and t-test were used to analyze differences in variables. Pearson correlation and multiple regression were used to investigate mediating and moderating effects of the fear of fall on the relationships between health belief on fall, fall-related knowledge, and fall prevention behaviors. Results: The fear of fall significantly mediated the health belief on fall and fall prevention behaviors, but there was no significant mediation between knowledge of fall and fall prevention behaviors. The fear of fall did not have a moderating effect on the relationships between health belief on fall, knowledge of fall, and fall prevention behaviors. Conclusion: It is important to investigate and implement health belief on fall and fear of fall among older adults to improve their fall prevention behaviors.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.67 no.3
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• pp.181-201
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• 2015

This study conducted a longitudinal analysis to identify the impact of social capital on depression trajectories in later life. For data analysis, the Korean welfare panel data(2006-2012) was utilized and 4001 older adults aged 65 and older were included in the final sample. The results showed that social trust was significantly associated with depression scores at baseline but did not predicted the rate of change in depression over time. A higher level of reciprocity significantly predicted the faster decline in depression over time. For social participation through donation or volunteer, the percentage of participation was very low and it was not significantly related to depression trajectories. Finally as the satisfaction from social relationship becomes more positive, the rate of change in depression tended to decline faster over time. The results of this study indicates that in order to prevent or delay depression in later life, we should help older adults accumulate positive social capital such as social trust and reciprocity through active social interaction.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.137-149
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• 2020

Objectives: This study explored the community food environmental factors affecting food purchasing using a qualitative research methodology for the elderly as well as the various food environments under their socioeconomic diversity. Methods: For the qualitative data collection, this study interviewed 20 elderly people aged 65 years or more, who participated in a public health program or lunch services operated by the senior welfare center in Seoul. Five dimensions, such as availability, physical accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and accommodation suggested in previous studies, were used to identify the community food environmental factors. Results: The elderly participants showed overall similarities to the concepts derived from existing studies on the five dimensions of food accessibility environment. In addition, other important food accessibility environmental factors that were not present in previous studies, such as acceptability for a product of domestic origin, delivery service to home, and small-packaged food sales, were derived. On the other hand, the concept of some subjects differed depending on the household income and specifically for the physical accessibility concept. This showed that the close distance factor from a grocery store at home might not apply to older adults in low-income households in Korea. Conclusions: This study found that five dimensions of the food environment suggested by previous studies could also be applied to vulnerable older adults in Korea. On the other hand, the socioeconomic characteristics of individuals and households would affect the perspectives of their local food environments differently. The findings of this study could help in the development of tools for evaluating the community food environment.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.159-177
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• 2014

This study examines gender differentials in depression among Korean older adults. Using logistic regression and decomposition methods, this study analyzes factors that predict depression of a full sample and separate male/female samples, respectively. Further, this study decomposes factors that affect gender differentials in depression into two components: the distributions of individual variables and the returns to risk. This study finds the variables that separately predict depression by gender. For male, having a smaller social network is associated with depression; however for female, the number of falls is associated with depression. This study also finds that being married, having greater satisfaction with current financial situation, and having good physical health increases the gap between males' and females'depression. Married male have greater returns from marriage than females. If females had the same returns as male, then the gap would have decreased by about 40%.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.191-200
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of participation in leisure activities on the quality of life by comparing gender and household type. Methods: Data were drawn from the 2017 Korean Elderly Survey and the participants were 7,406 people who are 65 years and above. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS (version 18.0) statistical package. Results: The result of this study revealed that participation in leisure activities has a significant effect on the quality of life of In the case of older adults who are men and live with couple, voluntary activities have a significant effect on their quality of life, while for elderly women living alone, arts & cultural activities have a significant effect on their quality of life. Conclusions: Based on these results, we suggested some implications for supporting healthy leisure activities and improving the level of quality of life among aged people.

• Survey Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.47-76
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• 2017

This study has been done to understand the relationship between age norms and negative perception on older workers, and to find out moderating effect of recognition of employment welfare services in those relationships. And the purpose of this study is to suggest alternative ways to improve pessimistic perception on older workers, which is basal ageism. For this purpose, the survey has been conducted with 630 participants, who were 20 years old and over and lived in 15 different provinces. The collected data has been analysed by using SPSS Win 18.0. The results as followed: first, there were significant differences of negative perception on older workers among provinces(metropolitan areas, small towns, and rural areas); second, age norms significantly influenced on pessimistic perception on older workers; third, moderating effect of recognition of employment welfare services has been verified. These results suggest that it is necessary to promote people to take a flexible attitude toward older adults using media broadcasting and promotion of employment welfare services. Public and private cooperation should be needed to change people's negative perception on older workers. Lastly, programs, which are appropriated and tailored in specific provinces, improving awareness of older workers should be required.