• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.324-328
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• 2015

Background: Employee job satisfaction and its relationship with health and quality of life has been an issue of major concern over the past decades. Nurses experience difficult working conditions that affect their job satisfaction, health, and quality of life. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in three general hospitals and their respective health centers. Stratified random sampling by level of education was used, and 508 nurses and nursing assistants were included. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire, which included the Measure of Job Satisfaction, the 36-item Short Form Health Survey, as well as demographic details, education, and work conditions data, was used. Results: Greek nurses were found to be dissatisfied with their job according to the total score of the job satisfaction scale, although personal satisfaction and satisfaction with support had had higher scores. Their general health was reported as average, because of physical and mental health problems, low vitality, low energy, and increased physical pain. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that males and those wishing to stay in the job had higher physical and mental health. Increased job satisfaction was related to increased physical and mental health. Conclusion: Although Greek nurses are not satisfied with their work, those with high levels of job satisfaction had better health-related quality of life. The findings suggest that improvement of the work environment would contribute to a healthier and more satisfied nursing workforce.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.105-115
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• 2018

Purpose: To investigate the subjective health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Haenyo. Methods: Subjects were 100 elderly Haenyo in Jeju island who belonged to a fishing-village society. Main variables were activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental ADL (IADL), the HRQoL, subjective health, and depression. Subjective health and differences of HRQoL by variables were analyzed by t-test or ANOVA using IBM SPSS Statistics 23. Hierarchical multiple regression was executed to examine the effects of the major factors on the quality of life. Results: The mean age was 69.9 years, the mean period for diving career was 51.5 years, and work hours per month were 37.8. Comorbidity of diseases was 2.74, and the common health problems were osteoporosis and headache/dizziness. HRQoL was significantly different by age (F=4.52, p=.013), education (F=6.10, p=.003), muljil work years (F=3.93, p=.050), depression (t=-3.04, p=.030), subjective health state (F=30.62, p<.01), and degenerative arthritis (F=-2.38, p=.019). In the final model by hierarchical multiple regression, ADL/IADL (${\beta}=.41$, p<.001), depression (${\beta}=-.29$, p<.001), and subjective health (${\beta}=.43{\sim}.51$, p<.001) were significant and explained 63.5% of the total variance of HRQoL. Conclusion: Haenyo have specific health problems different from those of elderly women in general. ADL/IADL, depression and subjective health affected their HRQoL. It is clear that Haenyos' health problems need further study to improve their health.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.4
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• pp.48-57
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of the role and function of some industrial nurses and to characterize the factors affecting the performance of their activities. Thus the results could be used to suggest the direction in the performance of industrials nurses' activities effectively. During a period from January 10 to March 31, 1994, the data were collected from 87 industrial nurses, who were working as health managers in the plants, in Ulsan city and the vicinity in Kyungnam province, using a structured questionnaire. The results were as follows : 1. The general characteristics of industrial nurses in this study were 82.8% being 30 years old or less, 60.9%, being not married, and 93.1% having eduction levels above junior college. 2. With respect to general work conditions, 94.3% were working in a separate room provided for health care division, 40.2% working under the safety and health department, and 98.9% working as common-level staffs. And 60.9% were working less than 44 hours a week, 70.1% had work experiences less than 5 years, and 50.6% had annual incomes ranging 10 to 14 million wons. 3. As work conditions related to health care activities, 49.4% performed the activities not related to health care as always or occasionally, and 87.4% answered that occupational physicians were appointed in their plant and among them, however, only 6.9% worked on full-time basis and 52.8% perform little activities as occupational physicians. For a decision related to health care activity, 69.0% discussed the problems with the supervisors, and 19.5% made decisions by themselves. 4. As for attitude and perception to their activities as health managers, 66.7% moderately recognized the importance of health manager in the workplace, with 63.2% being satisfied their wages and treatment from the company, 57.5% being satisfied with their job positions and 51.7% having positive attitudes as being health managers. 5. The degree of performance at least in one of health related activities were very high in activities such as general medical care(100%), general health examination(98.0%) and specific health examination(100%), and relatively high in health education(72%), new employee health examination(60.9%), document handling(79.3%) and activity for work environment(70.1%). However, the performance rate was very low in preparing protective equipment (20.8%). 6. The levels of activities related to health care were significantly high when making decisions by themselves, when occupational physicians not being full-time, and when satisfying their job positions, and, on the other hand, significantly decreased as work hours increased. 7. In addition to some kinds of periodic education asked by all of the nurses, 89.7% wanted a specialized licensing system for industrial nurse, and 97.4% wanted to apply for the license test. As a conclusion, it is suggested that industrial nurses should be given more authority and placed in more self-controlled system to perform health care and other activities more efficiently, and the role and function of the occupational physician should be clearly distinguished from that of the industrial nurse as a health manager to avoid an unnecessary overlapping.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.1-13
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• 2013

This study is proposed to suggest the preventing methods for correctional officer's mental health problems. For this purpose, Delphi method was used and the study panel was composed of finally 10 people. Total Delphi process was performed for 4 times and six qualified researchers & skilled correctional officers participated in developing Delphi questionnaires. As the main results, major correctional officer's mental health problems are PTSD(post traumatic stress disorder), job stress, suicide witnessing, stress from violent accidents, and anger by related with their own work. All of these problems must need to be managed. Besides, the most effective preventing method for correctional officer's mental health problem is providing regular counsels & treatments with a psychiatrist or the fully qualified experts. The mental health promotion strategies for correctional officers must be settled for providing appropriate mental health services to them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.3 s.81
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• pp.39-44
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• 2007

Job stresses are realized as harmful factors affected workers' mental health. Job stresses can be defined as the physical and emotional responses that are occurred when the job requirements should be beyond the workers' abilities, followed with health problems and even work-related injuries. Job stresses could be resulted from the work environment and conditions related with workers' personality. This study is conducted to evaluate the job stresses for managers in the construction industry, by the questionaires which collected 302(75.5%) among 400 ones. The evaluation items are the levels of job stresses and stressors as well as the relationship between the variables. The controls should be recommended for physical and mental health.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.578-592
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of public officials working for the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) response in community health centers in South Korea. Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using data collected from three focus groups and two individual interviews. Results: The participants performed quarantine tasks in a poor working environment with several problems, such as significant workload, lack of manpower, and inappropriate compensation system. Participants experienced obstacles in performing quarantine works, which had the lack of the detailed quarantine guidelines, work support and cooperation system. Participants suffered from civil complaints. Participants endured sacrifices in their personal lives while partaking in COVID-19 response work without holidays, and subsequently experienced health problems. And also participants said that it was necessary to secure expertise and effective communication for infectious disease management. Conclusion: The study results suggest that policies are required that are aimed to improve the working environment and the recruitment of experts in infectious diseases. In addition, the job stress related to the COVID-19 response by public officials in community health centers must be evaluated, and the relation of their job stress to physical and mental problems, as well as psychosocial stress, must be examined.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the current management status and the policy issues of visiting nursing programs at public health center in urban area. Method: A questionnaire surveys was conducted on all public health nurses in 25 health centers in Seoul. Result: The major results were as follows: The characteristics of the visiting nurse showed that the average age was 41.1 years, and total nursing experience was 122 months. Their visiting nursing experience was only 30 months. The recipients of visiting nursing services consisted of 60.1% females, and 32.5% of the recipients were over 65 years. The major health problems of the recipients were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, arthritis and psychiatric problems. The visiting frequency was an average of 5.4 times per day, and 357 families were managed per visiting nurse. The major problems of visiting nursing programs were the shortages of visiting nurse manpower. The most important related policy issue was being in charge of a workload, which was not related to the visiting nursing services. Conclusion: By analyzing work for visiting nurses and identifying weak points, this research can present recommendations to be practically used as baseline data for establishing policy in relation to vitalizing visiting nursing programs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.502-516
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate occupational exposure to chemical and health status of foreign workers in Korea. Methods: The data were collected from survey of general characteristics, job-related characteristics, work environment-related characteristics of 180 foreign workers who have been working at manufacturing industries in Korea in 2022. The data were analyzed using Rex. Results: Among the 180 participants, men accounted for more than women by 71.7% (129 people). Most of them are Vietnamese or Filipino and most of them graduated from high school. 116 of all participants are exposed to chemicals at work. The most prevalence rate of subject's health problems were backache (61.0%), headache (53.9%), fatigue (68.0%). Controlling for age, the number of physical health problems experienced in the last year was associated with BMI (r=0.184, p=0.049), and the number of mental health problems experienced in the past year (r=0.056, p<0.001) and all showed significant positive (+) correlations. The number of chemical products handled under age control showed a significant negative (-) correlation with working hours (r=0.207, p=0.027) and BMI (r=0.214, p=0.022) and showed a significant positive (+) correlation. Conclusions: The results of this study provided the latest update on the health status of foreign workers in Korea. It is also the first survey to attempt to assess the exposure of foreign workers to chemicals.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• no.13
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• pp.96-101
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to examine the current office work environment and suggest the needs for improvement the quality and efficiency of work. To fulfill this task, information describing various environmental conditions was gathered from generally large offices in Pusan and Major cities in Kyoungnam. Data were collected on questionnaire's general information, lighting, air quality, temperature, health problems, noise and equipment arrangements, and the size fo workspace. The extent to which the attitudes and behaviors of workers were related to these environmental conditions was then examined and scrutinized. According to the development of office automation, the interest in improvement of office environment become increased. Workstation size, individual environmental control, health care, adequate storage space and noise control should be recognized as critical to the worker's environmental satisfactiov. Finally, based on the results of this study, a number ofrecommendations can be made for alleviating some of the problems that have been identified. Designers should be interested in knowing if their environments actually function in the manner in which they were intended.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2017

Background: The objective of this article is to make some analysis on the process of work and accidents occurring in slaughterhouses, evidenced in the Brazilian documentary film called Flesh and Bone. As such, it was necessary to discuss an alternative theoretical concept in relation to theories about health and safety at work. This alternative discussion focuses on the concepts of biopower and biopolitics. Methods: The use of audiovisual elements in research is not new, and there is already a branch of studies with methodological and epistemological variations. The Brazilian documentary Flesh and Bone was the basis for the research. The analysis of this documentary will be carried out from two complementary perspectives: "textual analysis" and "discourse analysis." Results: Flesh and Bone presents problems related to health and safety at work in slaughterhouses because of the constant exposure of workers to knives, saws, and other sharp instruments in the workplace. The results show that in favor of higher production levels, increased overseas market sales, and stricter quality controls, some manufacturers resort to various practices that often result in serious injuries, disposal, and health damages to workers. Conclusion: Flesh and Bone, by itself, makes this explicit in the form of denunciation based on the situation of these workers. What it does not make clear is that, in the context of biopolitics, the actions aimed at solving these problems or even reducing the negative impacts for this group of workers, are not efficient enough to change such practices.