PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to examine adolescents' knowledge and attitudes towards dementia and to provide basic data for educating about knowledge of dementia and strengthening positive attitudes towards dementia. METHODS: This study used a descriptive research design. The subjects were 502 middle and high school students. A questionnaire organized by 16 questions of knowledge and 10 questions of attitudes towards dementia was used. RESULTS: The subjects' knowledge level of dementia was low, and average score was 8.89+/-2.95. The questions with low rate of correct answer were "Dementia is caused by several dozens of diseases such as internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry, etc.", "In spite of the dementia, patients can enjoy their favorite things." The subjects' average score of attitudes towards dementia was 3.72+/-0.58. Questions of negative attitudes were "I don't want to be closed to patients of dementia.", "I watch information or prevention about dementia in mass communications media." The relationship between dementia-related knowledge and attitudes showed positive correlation. CONCLUSION: The result means the mediation is necessary for improving dementia-related knowledge and strengthening positive attitudes in adolescents. The education programs should be proceeded to provide adolescents with correct information about dementia.
Adolescent* ; Dementia ; Education ; Humans ; Internal Medicine ; Negotiating ; Neurology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Research Design

PURPOSE: The aims of this study was to identify factors associated with nutritional status after radical gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer at the post 1 month and the post 3-6 months independently. METHODS: Participants consisted of 107 patients at the post 1 month and 131 patients at the post 3-6 months after radical gastrectomy. Data were collected from October 1, 2013 to May 14, 2014 using a Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). RESULTS: Stepwise multiple regression showed that factors associated with nutritional status at 1 month after radical gastrectomy were age (beta=.55, p<.001), anxiety (beta=.25, p=.007), and depression (beta=.23, p=.017), which explained the 42.6% of total variance of nutritional status. However, factors associated with nutritional status at 3-6 months after radical gastrectomy were depression (beta=.41, p=.017), return to work (beta=.20, p<.001), and age (beta=.29, p=.024), which explained 27.1% of the total variance of nutritional status. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, oncology nurses should be sensitive to the risk group of aged, depressed, anxious and delayed return to work patients for nutritional status during the early recovery period after radical gastrectomy.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Gastrectomy* ; Humans ; Nutritional Status* ; Return to Work ; Stomach Neoplasms*

PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate the efficacy of low-dose radiation in reduction of thoracic vertebral metastases in patients with breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 109 patients who were treated for bone metastasis from breast cancer from June, 1988 to June, 1998 in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Seoul National University were included. Of the 109 patients, 40 patients had been previously treated by postoperative radiotherapy and 69 had not. Postoperative radiotherapy had been given using Co-60 teletherapy device in 30 patients or 6 MV linear accelerator in 10. Thoracic spines from 1 to 10 were usually irradiated except in 1 patient and cervical vertebrae 6 and/or 7 were partially included in 38 patients. A total of 50.4 Gy was given with 1.8 Gy fraction. Metastatic bone diseases were scored in 11 regions, i. e., skull, cervical spine, thoracic spine from 1 to 4, from 5 to 8, 9 and 10, 11 and 12, lumbar spine, pelvis, femur, ribs and others. RESULTS: In no postoperative parasternal irradiation group, lumbar vertebrae were the most common metastatic sites (55.1%) followed by pelvis (44.9%), ribs (40.6%), thoracic vertebrae 11 and 12 (37.7%), thoracic vertebrae between 5 and 8 (36.2%), thoracic vertebrae 9 and 10 (34.8%), and thoracic vertebrae between 1 and 4 (26.1%). In postoperative parasternal irradiation group, lumbar vertebrae and pelvis were also the most common sites of metastases (55.0% both) followed by ribs (37.5%), and thoracic vertebrae 11 and 12 (32.5%). But significant less metastases were seen at thoracic vertebrae from 1 to 10. CONCLUSION: We can find that there were significantly less bony metastases at thoracic vertebrae which had been previously irradiated postoperatively.
Bone Diseases ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cervical Vertebrae ; Female ; Femur ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Particle Accelerators ; Pelvis ; Radiation Oncology ; Radiotherapy* ; Ribs ; Seoul ; Skull ; Spine ; Thoracic Vertebrae

Purpose: : The demand for skilled critical care nurses and the significant impact of the practice-readiness gap underscore the need for educational programs bridging nursing education and clinical practice. This would ensure safe, high-quality patient care and a stable workforce. This study aimed to explore the educational needs of critical care nurses to develop an essential nursing education program for nursing students, addressing the practice-readiness gap they may encounter as new nurses. Methods: : The study espoused a qualitative approach by utilizing focus group interviews conducted in South Korea in April and May 2022. A total of 11 nurses participated in the study. Data were collected from three focus groups, each consisting of three to four nurses from intensive care units. Focus group interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire. Content analysis was performed on the interview data using thematic analysis. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the institutional review board. Results: : Nursing education programs in intensive care units should prioritize fundamental nursing competencies such as basic nursing and physical examinations. Participants’ critical care nursing education needs were categorized into four main themes: holistic nursing competency, advancement of practical education, skilled communication, and systematic critical care nursing education. Conclusion : The study’s findings provide valuable insights and guidelines for developing critical and intensive care nursing education programs tailored for nursing students.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to suggest the strategies for improvement of home-delivered meal services for the elderly, to identify reasons for recipients to get started with the services and to evaluate the attitude, acceptability and adaptation of recipients to the services from the perspective of life context. METHODS: The data was collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with eighteen low-income elderly recipients of home-delivered meals and analyzed using a qualitative research method. RESULTS: The results were deduced as four themes which comprised of long-term vulnerable socioeconomic contexts resulted in entry to the services, conflicting acceptability to the services, passive adaptation to taking the services, and positive practices to cope with supplement free meals or other services. The service participation was initiated because of a combination of prolonged, vulnerable socioeconomic contexts, including poverty and unexpected life events such as diseases, disability, living alone, aging and unemployment. With regard to taking the services, conflicting acceptability was observed: positive aspects including saving living cost and good quality of meals, and negative aspects including lack of a tailored service and feeling of stigma. Although the recipients needed an individualized service, they did not express their needs and demands for the services and they accepted the unavailability as an accustomed, prolonged vulnerable socioeconomic context. With regard to lack of tailored services, either self-solution such as modification of eating patterns or community-based network and services were used. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that a system to concretely identify recipients' attitude, acceptability and adaptation for home-delivered meal services should be developed in the establishment of a tailored nutrition support system for the low-income elderly.
Aged* ; Aging ; Eating ; Humans ; Meals* ; Poverty ; Qualitative Research ; Unemployment

PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate the cosmetic outcome of conservative treatment for early breast cancer and to analyze the factors influencing cosmetic outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From February 1992 through January 1997, 120 patients with early breast cancer were treated with conservative surgery and postoperative radiotherapy. The types of conservative surgery were quadrantectomy and axillary node dissection for 108 patients (90%) and lumpectomy or excisional biopsy for 10 patients (8.3%). Forty six patients (38%) received adjuvant chemotherapy (CMF or CAF). Cosmetic result evaluation was carried out between 16 and 74 months (median, 33 months) after surgery. The cosmetic results were classified into four categories, i.e., excellent, good, fair, and poor. The appearances of the patients' breasts were also analyzed for symmetry using the differences in distances from the sternal notch to right and left nipples. A logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent variables influencing the cosmetic outcome. RESULTS: Cosmetic score was excellent or good in 76% (91/120), fair in 19% (23/120) and poor in 5% (6/ 120) of the patients. Univariate analysis showed that tumor size (T1 versus T2) (p=0.04), axillary node status (N0 versus N1) (p=0.0002), extent of surgery (quadrantectomy versus lumpectomy or excisional biopsy) (p=0.02), axillary node irradiation (p=0.0005) and chemotherapy (p=0.0001) affected cosmetic score. Multivariate analysis revealed that extent of surgery (p=0.04) and chemotherapy (p=0.0002) were significant factors. For breast symmetry, univariate analysis confirmed exactly the same factors as above. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor size (p=0.003) and lymph node status (p=0.007) affected breast symmetry. CONCLUSION: Conservative surgery and postoperative radiotherapy resulted in excellent or good cosmetic outcome in a large portion of the patients. Better cosmetic results were achieved generally in the group of patients with smaller tumor size, without axillary node metastasis and treated with less extensive surgery without chemotherapy.
Biopsy ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Lymph Nodes ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Nipples ; Radiotherapy

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine health disparities between prisoners and the general population in Korea. METHODS: We sought to estimate the prevalence of 17 physical and mental diseases using the nationwide medication prescription dataset among the total population of prisoners (n=57,541) in Korea. Age- and sex- standardized prevalence ratios (SPRs) were estimated to compare the disease prevalence between the prisoners and the general population. The disease prevalence for the general population was calculated from the prescription dataset for a representative of the Korean population (n=926,246) from the 2013 Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. Furthermore, the prevalence of these diseases was compared between prisoners and a low-income segment of the general population (n=159,781). RESULTS: Compared to the general population, prisoners had higher prevalence of almost all physical and mental diseases, including hyperlipidemia (SPR, 20.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 19.43 to 20.94), pulmonary tuberculosis (SPR, 9.58; 95% CI, 7.91 to 11.50), diabetes (SPR, 6.13; 95% CI, 5.96 to 6.31), cancer (SPR, 2.36; 95% CI, 2.07 to 2.68), and depression (SPR, 46.73; 95% CI, 44.14 to 49.43). When compared with the low-income population segment, higher prevalence were still found among prisoners for most diseases, including pulmonary tuberculosis (SPR, 6.39; 95% CI, 5.27 to 7.67) and depression (SPR, 34.71; 95% CI, 32.79 to 36.72). CONCLUSIONS We found that prisoners were more likely to be unhealthy than the general population, even in comparison with a low-income segment of the general population in Korea.

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the awareness of work-related disease prevention of farmers.Method: As a research method, a qualitative focus group interview was conducted in 18 participants. Results: Prevention and management services for work-related diseases of farmers mostly are based on research from other fields and so are not highly effective because their content is not relevant to agricultural work. It has been suggested that such program designers be required to have some appropriate related knowledge, and that incentives and a certification system for participation in such education be established. To analyze work-related diseases of farmers, fields of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation should be created. They demanded the designation of hospitals and the actualization of compensation for farmers' safety insurance. The work-related diseases to address were include musculoskeletal diseases, pesticide poisoning-related diseases (cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease), psychiatric diseases such as depression, and allergic diseases. However, this must have been the result of the harmful factors they felt during agricultural work. And for farmer patients diagnosed with work-related diseases, it was said to strengthen farmer safety insurance. Conclusion In order to increase the safely and health effects of agricultural work, it is necessary to prevent and manage work-related diseases of farmers. Projects should be developed in consideration of cultural and economic barriers of farmers and the characteristics of the work.

Objective: This study aimed to provide basic data for preventing and managing sarcopenia by identifying the relationship between sarcopenia, malnutrition, and psychosocial factors among the elderly in the community. Methods: The study included 1,019 subjects aged 60 and over. “Possible sarcopenia” was defined by low handgrip strength with or without reduced physical performance. Nutrition was evaluated according to the mini nutrition assessment (MNA), and the psychosocial factors examined were self-efficacy, social isolation, fear of falling, and social capital (trust and participation). A logistic regression analysis was also performed on the relationship between risk of malnutrition, psychosocial factors, and sarcopenia. Results: MNA was significantly associated with social participation (OR = 1.747, p <0.001), fear of falling (OR = 2.905, p <0.001), and self-efficacy (high/low, OR = 0.654, p = 0.011). In model 3, which included both MNA and psychosocial factors, sarcopenia was significantly associated with MNA (OR = 2.529, p <0.001) and fear of falling (OR = 1.544, p = 0.045). Compared with the low self-efficacy group, the high group (OR = 0.589, p = 0.009) was significant. The factors related to possible sarcopenia include risk of malnutrition, fear of falls, and low self-efficacy. Conclusion It will be necessary to improve self-efficacy so that individuals feel they can do activities of daily living themselves and to reduce their fear of falling through muscle strength and balance exercises.Finally, it is also necessary to increase regular participation in community social activities.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine health disparities between prisoners and the general population in Korea. METHODS: We sought to estimate the prevalence of 17 physical and mental diseases using the nationwide medication prescription dataset among the total population of prisoners (n=57,541) in Korea. Age- and sex- standardized prevalence ratios (SPRs) were estimated to compare the disease prevalence between the prisoners and the general population. The disease prevalence for the general population was calculated from the prescription dataset for a representative of the Korean population (n=926,246) from the 2013 Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. Furthermore, the prevalence of these diseases was compared between prisoners and a low-income segment of the general population (n=159,781). RESULTS: Compared to the general population, prisoners had higher prevalence of almost all physical and mental diseases, including hyperlipidemia (SPR, 20.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 19.43 to 20.94), pulmonary tuberculosis (SPR, 9.58; 95% CI, 7.91 to 11.50), diabetes (SPR, 6.13; 95% CI, 5.96 to 6.31), cancer (SPR, 2.36; 95% CI, 2.07 to 2.68), and depression (SPR, 46.73; 95% CI, 44.14 to 49.43). When compared with the low-income population segment, higher prevalence were still found among prisoners for most diseases, including pulmonary tuberculosis (SPR, 6.39; 95% CI, 5.27 to 7.67) and depression (SPR, 34.71; 95% CI, 32.79 to 36.72). CONCLUSIONS We found that prisoners were more likely to be unhealthy than the general population, even in comparison with a low-income segment of the general population in Korea.