PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the levels of and relationships among health literacy, knowledge about diabetes, and self-care activities in the Korean low-income elderly with diabetes and to identify factors influencing the self-care activities of this vulnerable population. METHODS: This study surveyed a total of 151 low-income elderly patients with diabetes registered at 16 Visiting Health Care Services in B City, Korea. Health literacy was measured with the Newest Vital Sign. Diabetes knowledge was measured with the Diabetes Knowledge Test. The Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities Questionnaire was used to assess diabetes self-care activities. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify significant factors influencing diabetes self-care activities in these patients. RESULTS: In the regression model, diabetes knowledge (beta=.322, p<.001), exercise (beta=.337, p<.001), and experiences of diabetes education (beta=.241, p=.001) were significantly associated with increased diabetes self-care activities in low-income elderly patients with diabetes when gender, education, health literacy, and subjective health state were controlled. CONCLUSION: To improve diabetes self-care activities in the low-income elderly with diabetes, it is important to develop a customized program considering their knowledge, exercise, and diabetes education experience.
Aged ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Education ; Health Education ; Health Literacy* ; Humans ; Korea ; Self Care* ; Vital Signs ; Vulnerable Populations ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effects of foot reflexology on arthralgia, ankylosis, depression and sleep in community-dwelling elderly women with osteoarthritis. METHODS: The research adopted a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Participants were 47 elderly women: 22 in the experimental group and 25 in the control group. The experimental group received foot reflexology twice a week for 4 weeks. The results were analyzed using chi2-test, t-test, and ANCOVA with the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. RESULTS: The results showed that foot reflexology was statistically significantly effective in reducing arthralgia, ankylosis, and depression and in improving the quality of sleep as evidenced by differences between two groups. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicated that foot reflexology is an effective nursing intervention in reducing arthralgia, ankylosis, and depression, and improving the quality of sleep. Therefore, it is necessary to develop foot reflexology as an independent nursing intervention for elderly women with osteoarthritis in community.
Aged* ; Ankylosis* ; Arthralgia* ; Depression* ; Female ; Foot* ; Humans ; Massage* ; Nursing ; Osteoarthritis*

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to identify the prevalence and influencing factors of fecal incontinence, and to analyze the association between fecal incontinence and depression. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 233 women living in rural areas, and data were collected using questionnaires from February 24 to May 30, 2012. Fecal incontinence was measured with the Continence Grading Score, and depression with the Geriatric Depression Scale. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS through chi2-test, Fisher's exact test, t-test and ANOVA. RESULTS: Of the subjects, 16.7% had fecal incontinence. The prevalence of fecal incontinence was higher in older women (chi2=23.55, p<.001), those with vaginal delivery (chi2=4.81, p=.049), those with parity of 4 or more (chi2=13.47, p=.003), and those with urinary incontinence (chi2=26.36, p<.001). The level of depression was significantly higher in older women (F=19.27, p<.001), those with low academic qualification (F=18.17, p<.001), those with urinary incontinence (F=4.15, p=.043), and those with fecal incontinence (F=14.90, p<.001). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there should be supports by public health care for fecal incontinence prevention and care programs in order to promote the physical and emotional health of rural women.
Depression* ; Fecal Incontinence* ; Female ; Humans ; Parity ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Urinary Incontinence ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify the roles, duties and tasks of elementary health teachers. Required knowledge, skills, and worker behaviors were also examined. METHODS: Elementary health teachers' jobs were analyzed by DACUM workshop. First, the health teachers' roles and related jobs were described, and then the jobs were divided into duties and subordinate tasks. The identified roles, duties and tasks were reviewed and refined, and then were organized in a DACUM chart. DACUM committee members discussed not only general knowledge, skills and work behaviors but also future trends and concerns. RESULTS: The DACUM chart for elementary health teachers consisted of 8 duties and 52 tasks. Required knowledge, skills and worker behaviors were also listed. CONCLUSION: Elementary health teachers play roles as health manager, health care provider, and teacher in school. Their roles, duties and tasks are being changed. Thus, their jobs need to be redefined legally, politically, and institutionally.
Committee Membership ; Education ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Job Description ; School Health Services ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between anger expression and self-esteem in nursing college students. METHODS: A total of 297 subjects aged between 18 and 28 were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected from March 2 to 25, 2011 using a self-reporting questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS/WIN 15.0. RESULTS: Differences in anger expression according to general characteristics were as follows. There were significant differences in violent attitude depending on gender (t=3.003, p<.01). Violent actions differed significantly depending on year in school (F=3.279, p<.05) and whether there is a dual income families (t=-2.23, p<.05). There were significant differences in self-esteem depending on year in school (F=4.553, p<.01), school record (F=15.18, p<.001) and the economic status of the parents (F=4.878, p<.01). There were positive correlations between violent attitude and violent actions, except between violent actions and self-esteem. 10.3% of the variance in violent actions was explained by violent attitude, self-esteem and school in year and perceived acceptance. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study may be useful in understanding the anger expression of nursing college students and developing more specific programs to improve personality and self-control of the mind.
Aged ; Anger ; Humans ; Parents ; Self Concept ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study is exploratory research to check the survey instrument KDSQ-C used to measure cognition for agreement between the elderly and their caregivers. METHODS: Elderly persons from 170 families, who are aged over 65, have never been diagnosed with dementia, and who have caregivers in S City and K City were randomly selected by their nurses. A survey was conducted in the time from September to November, 2009 through personal interviews using a questionnaire. RESULTS: In terms of consistency among items, there was high consistency (0.813) in the responses regarding complex task competence for the statement 'it is hard to reach a destination alone with public transportation'. There was relatively low consistency (0.63) in the responses regard memory for the statement 'they forget an appointment'. When the subject elderly and caregiver live together, as when their children or spouses responded, consistency was greater than when the caregiver lived in a different home. CONCLUSION: KDSQ-C showed high agreement in measurement between the subject elderly and their caregivers, demonstrating that it can be used as a measurement scale for cognition which can be directly applied to the subject elderly.
Aged ; Caregivers ; Child ; Cognition ; Dementia ; Humans ; Memory ; Mental Competency ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spouses

PURPOSE: Medical Aid Beneficiaries were surveyed to identify differences in health behaviors, adherence to drug regimen, and quality of life between those people in the Designated Doctor System and those who are not. METHODS: A total of 1,327 study subjects were separated into three groups: those in the Designated Doctor System for 2 years, those in for 1 year, and those not in the system. RESULTS: After the introduction of the Designated Doctor System, 55.8% and 67.9%, respectively, of the subjects in the Designated Doctor System complained of inconvenience in relation to hospital use and the patient referral process. Also, the rate of emergency room use or hospitalization guided by the Designated Doctor System was only 8.7% and 6.5%, respectively. There were no significant differences in health behaviors and adherence to drug regimens between those in the Designated Doctor System and those who are not. CONCLUSION: This study was carried out early in the introduction of the system. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the positive and negative effects of the Designated Doctor System for a full reflection of its impact.
Emergencies ; Health Behavior ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Medicaid ; Medical Staff, Hospital ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Quality of Life ; Referral and Consultation

PURPOSE: In order to lower the infection rate and the reinfection rate of Clonorchiasis in high-risk areas, we performed and analyzed a case management on people with chlonorchisis. METHODS: The data was collected from April 2010 to March 2011. A community health practitioner was selected as a case manager based on our training program. The intervention group had 58 participants with three months of case management and the control group had 144 participants handled with traditional methods. RESULTS: The pre and post-test in the intervention group and the control group showed us improved knowledge of Clonorchiasis, attitudes and behavior toward eating freshwater fish. The results of post-test between the intervention group and the control group showed statistically significant differences in all categories, except a hand-washing category. However, one year after a case management, there was no significant difference in the failure rate of treatment. CONCLUSION: The case management was effective for people infected with Clornorchiasis near riverside areas; however, in order to lower the rates of reinfection and treatment failure, it is necessary to perform continuous monitoring and regular evaluations.
Case Management ; Clonorchiasis ; Eating ; Fresh Water ; Parasites ; Treatment Failure

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate trends in home-visit nursing care by agencies' characteristics under the national long-term care insurance system. METHODS: Cochran-Mantel-Haenzel tests were conducted, using data drawn from the nationwide long-term care insurance claim database of the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation from 2009 to 2011. RESULTS: The number of home-visit nursing care agencies has decreased continuously since 2009. There were also similar trends in the total amount of service provided by home-visit nursing care agencies, the number of recipients, the number of employees, and payments. This study showed that there were statistically significant differences in the trends in home-visit nursing care by agencies' characteristics. Despite the overall downward trend, there were some increases in the percentage of home-visit nursing care provided by agencies which were established by individuals, located in large cities, and which combined home-visit care with home-visit bathing. CONCLUSION: Home-visit nursing care agencies are responsible for providing community-based healthcare services. For past three years, however, they have not been utilized to their full potential. Understanding the trends in home-visit nursing care by agencies' characteristics is important to develop utilization strategies for home-visit nursing care.
Delivery of Health Care ; Home Nursing ; Insurance, Long-Term Care ; Long-Term Care ; National Health Programs ; Nursing Care

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the sexual maturation, body image, and self-esteem of Korean elementary school girls with symptoms of precocious puberty compared to those with no symptoms of precocious puberty. METHODS: The subjects were 309 girls of lower grades in elementary school. Tanner's Sexual Maturation Rating (SMR), Self Image Scale, and Self-esteem Scale were utilized to determine the presence of symptoms of precocious puberty, body image, and self esteem. Collected data were analyzed by Chi-square test, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA using the SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. RESULTS: The percentage of the girls with breast development was 14.9%. Breast development usually began in the third grade (56.5%). Of the subjects, 0.3% were experiencing menstruation. Breast development was related to grade, age, height, weight, and a cause of worry. There was a significant difference of body image between girls with breast development in the first grade and in the second grade. CONCLUSION: An effective intervention that can improve the self-image of children with symptoms of precocious puberty should be developed to prevent and treat physical and mental problems related to sexual maturation.
Body Image ; Breast ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Menstruation ; Puberty, Precocious ; Self Concept ; Sexual Maturation