PURPOSE: This study has aimed to examine the relationship among self-esteem, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and depression reported by hospitalized elderly patients with chronic diseases. METHODS: A descriptive correlation study by means of a self-report questionnaire or face-to-face interview was used to collect data from 119 elderly patients who were hospitalized in a General Hospital from January 5 to February 25, 2010. Their levels of depression was measured using Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale, self esteem using Jeon's, and activities of daily living using K-ADL. RESULTS: 80.7% of the subjects experienced depression. Depression correlates with self-esteem (r=-.67) and ADL (r=.45). The influencing factors on depression were self-esteem, ADL, subjective health status, and family support satisfaction (R2=.57), while self esteem in itself explained 45% of variance in depression. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate the importance of early detection of depression, which starts from the admission of patients and the continuing evaluation/management in daily life after discharge to ensure their well-being and quality of life. The development of program empowering self esteem, ADL and subjective health status with adequate family support during hospitalization and in daily life is indispensible.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Depression ; Dietary Sucrose ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Self Concept ; Statistics as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences of patients with a severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). METHODS: The data were collected through in-depth interviews of six patients suffering from severe COPD. The interviewed data were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim and checked for accuracy. The Giorgi method of phenomenology was used for analyzing data. RESULTS: Eight themes forming the, units of meaning, were: Repeated and Unpredictable Suffering of Dyspnea, Confidence Loss/Exhaustion Life due to non-efficient breathing, Gradually Deprived Liberty, Absolute Being to Sustaining my life, Source of Burden but Significant Person I am in the Family, Endless Tug-of-War-Capability/Endeavor to Breath, Longing for my Life, and Dead-end of breathing. CONCLUSION: The study results provide an in-depth understanding of life experiences of patients suffering from severe COPD. The findings will be useful to nurses caring for this population.
Dyspnea ; Freedom ; Humans ; Ice ; Life Change Events ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; Respiration ; Stress, Psychological

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the health status and reported resilience according to acculturation type among Chinese students in Korea. METHODS: The subjects were 386 Chinese students studying in three universities in Chungnam province. The data were collected by standardized questionnaires and SPSS/WIN 15.0 program was used to analyze the data with descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, and ANOVA. RESULTS: Subjects reported the following Acculturation type: integration (26.7%), assimilation (28.5%), separation (32.4%), and marginalization (12.4%). The reported resilience was significantly different according to economic status. The health status was significantly different according to religion and economic status. Acculturation type was significantly different according to age, educational level, length of stay, type of residency and economic status working style. The health status and resilience were significantly different according to acculturation type. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that integration of acculturation type is most useful to health status and resilience among Chinese students in Korea. Future studies need to examine acculturation type as coping strategy for foreign students' adaptation.
Acculturation ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Internship and Residency ; Korea ; Length of Stay ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship among life style, body composition and Bone Mineral Density (BMD) in community dwelling Korean adults. METHODS: Data were collected from 140 adults who participated in a health check-up program at community health departments in D city, Choong-chung providence. Subjects' life style was assessed with a structured interview survey. Body composition analyses were performed by the bioimpedence method and BMD was measured by peripheral dual energy X-ray absorptionmetry. RESULTS: Among the subjects, 39.3% showed normal BMD values, 50.7% were osteopenic and 10% were assessed as osteoporotic. BMD was significantly different by gender, age, education, economic status and BMI. Subjects who had three or more meals/day had higher BMD then who had less than three meals (t=-2.273, p=.026). BMD was not influenced by regular exercise, alcohol consumption, or smoking. In terms of body composition, there was a significant relationship between fat free mass and BMD (r=.172, p=.043). CONCLUSION: Implementing an osteoporosis prevention program would be warrented considering the significant proportion of osteopenic or osteoporotic subjects. Regular eating habit with three meals for adequate nutrition need to be emphasized to prevent further bone loss in this population. Among the body composition, fat free mass seem to be the mostly predicting factor for BMD.
Adult ; Alcohol Drinking ; Body Composition ; Bone Density ; Eating ; Humans ; Life Style ; Meals ; Osteoporosis ; Smoke ; Smoking

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the reported factors influencing fatigue of middle aged women. METHODS: Two hundred seven middle aged women between 40 and 59 years of age were recruited from five areas in Korea from March 1, 2010, to April 20, 2010. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaires. Data analysis was done using SPSS/WIN 15.0 program for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: The average score of fatigue was 2.34+/-0.40. There were significant differences in reported fatigue according to economic status and health status. The reported fatigue was significantly correlated with somatic attribution, psychological attribution, normalizing attribution, depression, marital adjustment, stress, and social support. The major factors that affect fatigue in middle aged women were stress, depression, and normalizing attribution, which explained 32.3% of fatigue. CONCLUSION: The findings can reduce the fatigue by controlling stress and depression. Additionally, this study can understand the attribution of fatigue in middle aged women. More studies are needed to identify other variables that influence on the fatigue of middle aged women.
Depression ; Fatigue ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; Statistics as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the sexual behavior, health risk related to reproductive health, and characteristics of sexual experience among college students in Korea. METHODS: Six thousands college students were selected through proportional quota sampling based on region, college, and gender. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to describe the data. RESULTS: Thirty eight percent (N=2,285) of the participants reported sexual intercourse. The mean age of first time sexual intercourse was 19.3 years old. Respondents reported the following health risks such as smoking, drinking, not exercising, no regular meal patterns, chronic disease status, and weight loss over 10 kg in the past three months showed significant differences by sexual intercourse experience (p<.01). Among those who had sexual intercourse experiences, 7.1% of them reported having a history of STDs and 11.6% reported a pregnancy or pregnancy of one's partner. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study reflect the current trends of sex behaviors among college students and correlations between health risks related to reproductive health and sexual intercourse experiences. Developing reproductive health education programs based on the findings and providing the programs to college students through a school nurse is suggested.
Chronic Disease ; Coitus ; Drinking ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Meals ; Pregnancy ; Reproductive Health ; Risk-Taking ; Sexual Behavior ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Weight Loss

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the Koryo Hand Acupuncture Therapy on middle-age women's obesity index. METHODS: A total of 38 middle-age women were assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The intervention group received Koryo Hand Acupuncture Therapy three times a week for ten weeks. The two sample t-test was used to compare the body mass index, fat mass, and waist-to-hip ratio between the intervention (n=18) and the control group (n=20). RESULTS: In both groups, body mass index did not change significantly following the intervention. The intervention group lost 1.00+/-1.10 kg of fat mass (p=.00) and the decrease was significant between the intervention and control group (p=.00). Both groups had increase in waist-to-hip ratio, however, the increase was only significant for the control group (p=.00). CONCLUSION: The application of Koryo Hand Acupuncture Therapy influenced the change of fat mass, but not clinically significant. It may be useful to repeat the study and to examine other factors that may have interfered with the effectiveness of the intervention. The use of Koryo hand acupuncture therapy should be further studied.
Acupuncture ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Anthropometry ; Body Mass Index ; Complementary Therapies ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Obesity ; Waist-Hip Ratio

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the predictors of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) among hospital nurses. METHODS: Participants in this study were 231 nurses from two hospitals. The self-reported questionnaire was used to assess the level of self-efficacy, social support and OCB. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression. RESULTS: The mean score of OCB was 4.82, self-efficacy was 4.65, and social support was 4.56. The OCB was statistically significant according to position (t=-1.97, p=.049). The OCB was positively correlated with self-efficacy (r=.558, p<.001) and social support (r=.245, p<.001). The self-efficacy and social support explained 33.0% of the variance for OCB. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that developing programs to improve self-efficacy and social support might be useful. Furthermore, more studies are needed to explore variables that influence nurses' Organizational Citizenship Behavior.
Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of psychosocial intervention on depression, hope and quality of life of home-based cancer patients. METHODS: The study design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected from September 21 to November 13, 2009. The subjects consisted of 81 cancer patients randomly selected who were registered at four public health center in Daegu, Korea. The 39 subjects in the experimental group received a psychosocial intervention and the 42 subjects in the control group received the usual nursing care. The weekly psychosocial Intervention protocol was comprised of health education, stress management, coping skill training and support (60 min) for eight weeks. Data were analyzed by using the SPSS/WIN 12.0 program. RESULTS: Depression (F=23.303, p<.001) scores in the experimental group were significantly less than that of the control group. Further, hope (F=58.842, p<.001) and quality of life (F=31.515, p<.001) scores were significantly higher than those reported by the control group. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the psychosocial intervention was an effective intervention in decreasing depression and increasing hope and quality of life of home-based cancer patients.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Depression ; Health Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing Care ; Public Health ; Quality of Life

PURPOSE: Health care professionals represent an immediately available resource to promote smoking cessation. However, the content in smoking cessation intervention courses in most institutions is insufficiently covered due to the limited number of class hours. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive tobacco cessation-web-based, multimedia, educational program for a range of medical professionals. METHODS: Based on Jung's Teaching and Learning Structure Plan Model, a development process was proposed comprising four stages: (1) analysis, (2) planning, (3) production, and (4) operation/evaluation. The effectiveness of the program was tested using quasi-experimental design, and the participants in experimental group were required to complete the program. Changes in the level of knowledge and attitude were measured. RESULTS: The educational program developed includes nine topics and 26 sub-topics. A total of 180 storyboards, 15 videos, and 27 pictures were made. After the education, the level of knowledge was significantly increased in the experimental group. CONCLUSION: This web-based program can be recommended as a potential medium for health care professionals to use in counseling smoking cessation. The study findings also indicated that the program may be either offered as a teaching aid or utilized concurrently with lectures for students studying health care-related topics.
Counseling ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Leadership ; Learning ; Lectures ; Multimedia ; Program Development ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Smoking Cessation ; Tobacco