PURPOSE: To understand the meaning of death seen by nursing students through collage art works. METHOD: The qualitative research method and the content analysis were used. The text were collage and related essays written by 42 senior nursing students about the impressions on death through collage art works. RESULT: Statements were classified into three categories and seventeen themes. The three categories include 'efinitions of death', 'feelings about the death', and 'attitudes about the death and the dying patients'. CONCLUSION: It is shown that participants recognize their position as nursing student, although they may not escape the fear of death, will learn to deal with death, and the dying in a suitably professional manner. In this respect, the study is considered to be helpful for the students in learning the knowledge and information which are needed for hospice nursing care more effectively.
Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing ; Humans ; Learning ; Nursing* ; Qualitative Research ; Students, Nursing* ; United Nations

OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted by the Association of Korean College of Nursing in order to survey and analyze the current state of clinical practicum for adult health nursing at four-year nursing college in Korea and to suggest improvements in the contents and methods of clinical practicum and its future direction. METHOD: Data were collected using a survey by mail from July to November 2004 using a structured questionnaire on the general state of clinical practicum for adult health nursing. The questionnaires were sent to 53 nursing colleges throughout the country, and 47 recovered questionnaires were analyzed. RESULTS: The number of credits for adult health nursing practicum was 7~10(average range), and various nursing fields were used in clinical practicum. The number of students per team was 5~6 at general wards and 3~4 at intensive care units. Students also experienced practicum during daytime and in the evening. Clinical practicum for adult health nursing was led by full-time professors and field practicum directors. In clinical practicum for adult health nursing, almost every college evaluated students' attitude, skills, leadership, etc. in various forms. CONCLUSIONS: It is urgent to develope a standardized evaluation tool for clinical practicum.
Adult* ; Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Korea* ; Leadership ; Nursing* ; Patients' Rooms ; Physician's Practice Patterns ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The study was to identify the relationship between the spiritual well-being, family support and depression in cancer patients. METHOD: Data were collected by questionnaires from 116 inpatients with cancer at one university hospital in J area using Spiritual Well-being Scale, Family Support Scale, and BDI. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS WIN 12.0 program. RESULT: 1) The mean scores of well-being, family support, and depression were 107.28, 41.14, and 16.79 respectively. 2) There were significant differences in the spiritual well-being by age, education, religion, and social group. There were significant differences in the family support by age, education, and number of admission. There were significant differences in the depression by occupation and social group. 3) Depression was significantly correlated with spiritual well-being, and family support. 4) The most signifiant predictor which influenced depression in cancer patients was spiritual well-being, followed by occupation, age, family support. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that providing spiritual nursing intervention and enhancing family support will effectively decrease depression in cancer patients.
Depression* ; Education ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Nursing ; Occupations ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine descriptors of dyspnea and clinical characteristics in patients with COPD at ED visit. METHOD: The study design was a descriptive survey, and 46 patients with COPD complaining of dyspnea were participated during their visits to the ED of C university hospital in G city, from October 1, 2004 to April 8, 2005. RESULT: The qualitative characteristics of dyspnea at the time of decision to the ED visit were short of breath (71.7%), tight (32.6%), hard to breathe (15.2%), smothering or suffocating (10.9%), gasping (8.7%), couldn't breathe (6.5%), constricted (2.2%), and hunger for air (2.2%). In the item of dyspnea checklists, My chest felt tight was the most common description among subjects. As the result of factor analysis of dyspnea checklists, the first factor was characterized rapid and shallow, the second was suffocating/smothering, the third was hunger for air, and the fourth was constricted. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that a checklist of dyspnea descriptors based on this findings would be utilized as a tool of initial and ongoing assessment for dyspneic patients with COPD in the ED after identifying the validity and reliability of the checklist.
Checklist ; Dyspnea* ; Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Hunger ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Subject Headings ; Thorax

PURPOSE: to determine the effects of hand acupuncture on IBS-affected college women's bowel symptoms and psychologic health by applying the therapy to them. METHOD: The researcher sampled the nursing student attending a college of nursing science in Seoul and checked if they were affected by IBS in reference to the Rome II Criteria. Students were classified into a experimental group(21 subjects) and a control group(19 subjects). Hand acupuncture was applied to the experimental group 8 rounds for 4 weeks; each round lasted 30 minutes. Data were collected for 8 weeks from October 11 to December 1, 2004. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 program. RESULT: After the therapy, frequency(p=.005), distress(p=.001) and disability (p=.000) associated IBS bowel symptom and anxiety were significantly lowered in the experimental group(p=.026). CONCLUSIONS: It was confirmed through this study that the hand acupuncture would be effective in relieving IBS bowel symptoms and anxiety.
Acupuncture* ; Anxiety ; Hand* ; Humans ; Nursing ; Seoul ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the relationship between family support, self-efficacy and self-care performance in patients with chronic illness. METHODS: The subjects were 100 in-and out-patients who were diagnosed with chronic illness at university hospital in Cheonan. The data analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS WIN 12.0. RESULTS: The level of family support, self-efficacy and self-care performance were high. The family support in patients with chronic illness indicated a significant positive correlation to self-care performance but no significant correlation to self-efficacy. The self-efficacy in patients with chronic illness indicated a significant positive correlation to self-care performance. Family support and self-efficacy account for 24.4% of variance of the self-care performance. The most significant predictor which influenced self-care performance in patients with chronic illness was family support. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that family support and self-efficacy are very important variables in explaining the self-care performance. Therefore, these variables should be considered in nursing intervention development and education.
Chronic Disease* ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Education ; Humans ; Nursing ; Outpatients ; Self Care* ; Self Efficacy

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to meta-analyze the effects of hardiness on health-related variables. METHOD: After review of 19 studies performed by Korean nurses, research variables, statistical data(r or F), and other methodological data were extracted and coded. Research variables were categorized under 5 groups such as health-related behavior, well-being, adaptation, stress, and support according to conceptual similarity. Using SAS program, 20 research variables and 34 effect sizes were calculated after eliminating heterogeneous data by Q-test, RESULTS: Effects of hardiness on whole research variables was .512 and ranged from .322 to .643 by categories. The greatest effect was obtained from well-being category, whereas the smallest effect from stress category. All effect sizes were statistically significant. But fail-safe numbers were small and failed to achieve reasonable tolerance level. CONCLUSION: Results of meta-analysis indicated that hardiness has a moderate effect on health-related variables. But for improving the reliability of the results by minimizing publication bias, the more hardiness studies should be done.
Nursing Research* ; Nursing* ; Publication Bias

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Korean lifestyle characteristics and health status and to identify the variables influencing health in Korea. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to explore the lifestyle characteristics and health status of 397 Korean adults. Correlational analysis calculated the correlation between lifestyle and health status. To examine the relationship among demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and health status we used the t-test and one-way ANOVA. Stepwise multiple regression was conducted to examine the significant predictors of general health among subjects. RESULTS: Positive correlations were seen between general health (GH) and the overall score and subscales of the Lifestyle. The stepwise regression model showed that vitality (VA), body pain (BP), nutrition, and occupation were significant variables influencing general health (GH). CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence regarding the lifestyle patterns and healthstatus among Koreans. When planning intervention strategies for this population, exercise and physical activity should be principal focus areas.
Adult* ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Style* ; Motor Activity ; Occupations ; Quality of Life*

PURPOSE: This study was designed to identify effects of self-esteem and health status on adaptation of elderly residents in facilities. METHODS: The sample consisted of 151 elderly residents. The data collected from January to April 2010 were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression. Using instruments were self-esteem scale (SES) (Rosenberg, 1965), Korean health status measure for the elderly (KoHSME) (Shin et al, 2002), and nursing home adaptation scale (Lee, 2007). RESULTS: The mean scores of self-esteem (2.90+/-0.71), health status (2.15+/-0.53) and adaptation (2.98+/-0.44) of elderly residents in facilities were above the average. Self-esteem was significantly varied according to religion, economic status and living expenses. Health status was significantly different according to age, disease and motivation of getting into the facilities. Adaptation was significantly different according to religion, satisfaction of facilities and decision maker of getting into the facilities. Significant correlations were found between self-esteem, health status and adaptation. Self-esteem and health status were influencing factors of adaptation (22.6%). CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that perceived self-esteem and health status may be requirements for promoting adaptation of elderly residents in facilities. These results could be utilized in the development of supportive programs for elderly adaptation.
Aged ; Humans ; Motivation ; Nursing Homes

PURPOSE: This study was designed to identify meaningful themes related to the recognition of lifestyle risk factors and barriers in seeking treatment following an acute event of first-time acute myocardial infarction. METHODS: A methodological mixed method of thematic content analysis and a quantitative analysis was used. The sample consisted of 120 male patients < 65 years of age who agreed to be in the study were interviewed using a semi-structured during 2008-2009. Data were analyzed according to the procedure of thematic content analysis and the meaningful themes were coded into SPSS data for quantitative analysis. RESULTS: Pre-hospital delay greater than three hours reported by 58.3% (n=70) of the sample and similarly 63.3% had no recognition about their symptoms as cardiac in origin. The mean number of risk factors was 3.9+/-1.8 out of 11 when lifestyle and psychosocial factors were included. From the interview data among the 70 patients delayed greater than three hours, thirty-five themes categorized into 12 main themes influenced the delayed decision which was identified according to personal-cognitive, socio-cultural, and contextual factors. CONCLUSION: Health care providers should consider these themes in designing individual interventions to make lifestyle changes and to facilitate more prompt decisions to seek care.
Health Personnel ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; Risk Factors