The purpose of this study was to provide more qualitative care in family nursing practice. The study was designed to investigate the degree of quality of life(QL) among the families. Data were collected from 99 families of cancer patients and 76 families of hospice patients. The ages of the subjects were 17 years and over at six hospitals affiliated to universities in Seoul, Chunchon, and Kyung Gi Province. The data were collected from August, 1996 to August, 1997. The instrument used for this study was the Quality of Life Scale, which were composed of six factors, developed by Ro, You, Ja. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, and Stepwise multiple regression. The results were as follow ; 1. The score of QL was higher in the families of cancer patients than the families of hospice patients but it was not significant. The score on QL Scale ranged from 73 to 218 with mean of 148. 16 in the families of cancer patients. In the families of hospice patients, the score ranged from 75 to 224, showing a mean of 140.58. Family relationships among six factors showed the highest score in both group. And it was significantly higher in the families of cancer patients than the families of hospice patients(t=2.07, P=0.039). 2. In the families of cancer patients, there were significant association between QL and marital status(F=5.11, P=0.003), economic state(F=4.09, P=0.020), occupation(F=2.92, P=0.012). In the families of hospice patients, there were significant association between QL and family member's age(F=2.52, p=0.029), marital status(F=3.57, P=0.018), economic state(F=6.07, P=0.004), education level(F=3.77, P=0.014). 3.Economic status accounted for 7% of QL, and admission frequency accounted for an additional 4% of QL in the families of cancer patients by means of stepwise multiple regression analysis. In the families of hospice patients, economic status accounted for 17% of QL, and diagnosis accounted for an additional 7% of QL. In conclusion, it was found that QL was higher in the families of cancer patients than the families of hospice patients, and family relationships showed the highest value in QL. These findings showed be considered in nursing practice.
Diagnosis ; Education ; Family Nursing ; Family Relations ; Gangwon-do ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Nursing ; Quality of Life* ; Seoul

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nursing needs among family members of cancer patients. A total of 101 family members participated in this study by rating the importance of 30 need statements using a four-point Likert-type scale. And the subjects recorded their needs in open question. The ages of the subjects were 17-73 years, at five university hospitals in Seoul, ChunChon, and Kyung Ge Province. The data were collected from October, 1996 to July, 1997. The instrument used for this study was the Family Needs Scale (FNS), which were composed of six factors, developed by this researcher. Content validity of the instrument was established through a review of the statements by a professor majoring in nursing and reliability by calculation of Cronbach's alpha with data of the respondents. The values of Cronbach's alpha was 0.91. Analysis of data was done by means of the SAS program using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, and Stepwise multiple regression. The results were as follows : 1. The scores on FNS ranged from 75 to 120 with a mean of 99.04. Needs to be informed on the patient's condition, treatment and nursing intervention among six factors showed the highest score, but Needs to be supported emotionally were the lowest score in the families of cancer patients. It was shown from open questions in the questionnaire that Need for the use of understandable terms and Need for the explanation about the patients condition, treatment and prognosis were also viewed as important to family members. The most frequent needs of the cancer patients' families was 'proper implimentation of treatment and nursing intervention for patients'. Besides, a number of family members responded that "kindness" was one of the essential attitudes to nurses. 2. In the subjects' relationship to their patient, 47.5% were the sons and daughters, while 37.5% were the wives and the 40-49 year category than in any other category. There was a significant relationship between the needs of the family and educational level (F=3.26, P=0.025). Educational level accounted for 9% of the needs of the family, and the patient's diagnosis accounted for an additional 8% of the needs of the family. The findings in this investigation suggested that the greatest number of needs of cancer patients' families were needs to be informed about the patient's condition, treatment and prognosis. This study provides information which supports the concept of the family as the client. Because nurses must meet the challenge of family-oriented practice in cancer nursing.
Diagnosis ; Gangwon-do ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Nuclear Family ; Nursing ; Oncology Nursing ; Prognosis ; Seoul ; Spouses ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of nurses' caring behaviors and to identify the factors influencing of nurses' caring behaviors. METHODS: The participants were 404 nurses who were caring the chronically sick elderly in five H university hospitals. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires on the importance of caring behaviors, nursing professional value and job satisfaction. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 16.0. RESULTS: The average score for importance of nurses' caring behaviors was 3.38 and the 'professional knowledge and skill' factor was the highest level. The mean score of nursing professional value was 7.53 and job satisfaction, 3.18. Importance of nurses' caring behaviors had a significant positive correlation with nursing professional value, job satisfaction, nurse's age and work experience among demographic variables. Two significant variables influencing importance of nurses' caring behaviors were nursing professional value and job satisfaction. But characteristics of nurses did not influence. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that importance of nurses' caring behaviors can be improved by intervening factors affecting this importance. Based on the findings of this study, further nursing practice and nursing research for nurses caring the sick elderly should be focused on their nursing professional value and job satisfaction.
Aged ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Nursing Care ; Nursing Research ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 8 weeks smoking cessation program(SCP) developed by researchers. METHOD: One group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The subjects were 88 male university students who consented to participate in the 8 weeks SCP. The SCP in this study consisted of a stop-smoking class, e-mail, SMS(short message service), cellular phone, internet cafe, displayed panel, and patch or acupuncture for quitting smoking. Korean version of questionnaire for nicotine dependency by Ahn et al.(2002), the smoking self-efficacy scale translated by Choi(1999) and subjects' opinion about the SCP were measured. The data were analyzed by using frequency, Chi-Square test, paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA with SPSS WIN 10.1 Program. RESULTS: 1) The rate of quitting smoking was 31.8% after 8 weeks SCP. 2) There was no significant decrease in the nicotine dependency score among smoking subjects after SCP. 3) There was a significant increase in self-efficacy after SCP. The mean score of self -efficacy in the quitting smoking group increased significantly, but did not significantly change in the smoking group. 4) The stop-smoking class was the most helpful among contents of the SCP. Contents of the SCP except for internet cafe were useful for quitting smoking in this study. CONCLUSION: The above results indicated that the 8 weeks SCP would be a helpful intervention to quit smoking for male university students.
Acupuncture ; Cellular Phone ; Electronic Mail ; Humans ; Internet ; Male* ; Nicotine* ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 8 weeks smoking cessation program(SCP) developed by researchers. METHOD: One group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The subjects were 88 male university students who consented to participate in the 8 weeks SCP. The SCP in this study consisted of a stop-smoking class, e-mail, SMS(short message service), cellular phone, internet cafe, displayed panel, and patch or acupuncture for quitting smoking. Korean version of questionnaire for nicotine dependency by Ahn et al.(2002), the smoking self-efficacy scale translated by Choi(1999) and subjects' opinion about the SCP were measured. The data were analyzed by using frequency, Chi-Square test, paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA with SPSS WIN 10.1 Program. RESULTS: 1) The rate of quitting smoking was 31.8% after 8 weeks SCP. 2) There was no significant decrease in the nicotine dependency score among smoking subjects after SCP. 3) There was a significant increase in self-efficacy after SCP. The mean score of self -efficacy in the quitting smoking group increased significantly, but did not significantly change in the smoking group. 4) The stop-smoking class was the most helpful among contents of the SCP. Contents of the SCP except for internet cafe were useful for quitting smoking in this study. CONCLUSION: The above results indicated that the 8 weeks SCP would be a helpful intervention to quit smoking for male university students.
Acupuncture ; Cellular Phone ; Electronic Mail ; Humans ; Internet ; Male* ; Nicotine* ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The ratio of the elderly population is rapidly growing due to socio-economic development and better medical services. As the average life-span of the Korean elderly becomes longer, the proportion of the elderly is increasing. Therefore, the elderly need to sustain a high quality of life. However, all these factors, such as sensory loss, decreased endurance, mobility limitation, and a loss of independence, act to diminish the quality of life among the elderly. It is necessary for elders to adapt themselves to aging, to maintain their physical functions and especially, it is important to keep their independence in activity of daily living and self care. Therefore, this study was designed to identify the degree of activity in daily living and exercise of a self-care agency and to investigate the relationship between activity of daily living and self-care agency. Also, this research aimed to contribute to nursing interventions that maintain and promote quality of life of the elderly and to enable themselves to live independently. The subject of this study were 160 elders, over age 65, who were sampled in C city. Data were collected by observation and questionnaires from May,1999 to December, 1999. The measurement tools were Barthel Index(1979), Lawton & Brody(1969) for activity of daily living and Kearney & Fleischer(1979) for self-care agency. Data were analyzed by SAS PC+ package and included descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Cronbach's alpha. The conclusions of this study are summarized as follows; 1. The mean of ADL and IADL was 96.09 and 16.38, respectively. The score described activity of daily living among the elders in C province as moderate. Particularly, in the items of IADL, the item of medication was the highest score. 2. The mean for exercise of self-care agency was 76.48, a moderate degree. 3. The degree of ADL and IADL according to demographic characteristics was significantly different statistically in pocket money, the presence of disease, perceived health status and in occupation, pocket money, family type, the presence of disease, and perceived health status, respectively. 4. The dagree of selt-care agency according to demographic characteristics was significantly different statistically in gender, education level, economic status, and pocket money. 5. There was a significant positive correlation between activity in daily living and self-care agency. Based on these results, further research is suggested to discover the variables influencing the activity of daily living and self-care agency to develop nursing strategies for improving self-care and activity of daily living among the elderly.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged* ; Aging ; Education ; Gangwon-do* ; Humans ; Mobility Limitation ; Nursing ; Occupations ; Quality of Life ; Self Care* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate life satisfaction(LS) and to assess the factors that influence LS in senior center elderly people. METHODS: The subjects were 253 elders who visited the Y city Senior Welfare Center between July 2006 and August 2006. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. The instruments were composed of Kang's Family Support Scale, Depression Scale by Sheikh & Yesavage, Laffery's Health Concept Scale, and LS scale by Choi. T-test, ANOVA, Duncan test, Pearson coefficients correlation and stepwise multiple regression were used to analyze the data using the SPSS Win 12.0 program. RESULTS: The LS level showed a maximum score of 38 with a mean score of 23.23. The mean scores for depression, health perception and family support were 5.52(maximum score, 15), 77.46(maximum score, 112), 43.45(maximum score, 55) respectively. The LS were significantly correlated with health perception, depression and family support. Depression was the most powerful predictor of and it accounted for 42.0% of the total variance in LS. A combination of significance of eudaimonistic health perception and satisfaction with pocket money accounted for 47.2% in LS. CONCLUSION: Depression and health perception were identified as affecting variables for the LS. Based upon these results, nurses should help the aged to enhance their LS.
Aged* ; Depression ; Humans ; Senior Centers ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate perception of good death among the community-dwelling elderly and identify factors related to the perception. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was carried out using a convenient sampling method (N=317). Data were analyzed by applying descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe's test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: Participants scored an average of 3.35 on a 4-point scale for the perception level of good death. They scored higher on the factor of personal control that other factors affecting the perception. Good death was positively correlated with family support (r=0.252). Family support (beta=0.287) and gender (beta=0.197) significantly influenced the elderly's perception of good death. These variables accounted for 10.2% of the total variance. CONCLUSION: The results show that family support is an important factor for the perception of good death among the elderly. Therefore, family support should be carefully considered to ensure good death for more senior citizens. Our findings can be utilized to support programs such as death education for the elderly.
Aged* ; Attitude to Death ; Education ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires

This study was done to analyze research trends and to suggest future directions for nursing research on the quality of life (QL) in Korea. The purposes of this study were to describe systematically 10 years of QL nursing, and to identify patterns of tools and significant variables on studies of QL. This article reviewed 71 nursing researches on QL between 1987 and 1996, by examining them according to the period of publication, research for a degree or not, research design, type of subjects, data collection methods, measurement instruments and range of reliabilities, type of nursing intervention, and association of QL and related variables. The findings of the analysis can be summarized as follows: 1. The number of studies related to QL increased from 1987 to 1994. But they have decreased since 1995. 48 of them(67.6%) identified surveys and correlational studies. 2. In all the titles of the studies, there were 7 types of concepts, including QL, quality satisfaction, life satisfaction, and well-being. Among them, QL was the most often used. 3. The subjects of 21 studies were healthy people. In 49 studies, patients had various illnesses. The majority of the patients were hemodialysis patients and cancer patients. Questionnaires were used for data collection in 58 studies. 56 studies were done for the thesis of a degree, while those in the remaining studies were not for degrees. 4. The research designs were various, except in the thesis for a doctorate. There were many more experimental studies(57.1%) done in the thesis for a doctorate. 5. The types of intervention were categorized as exercise(6), supportive care(3), reminiscence (2), relaxation(1), music(1), and hospice care(1). 6. As measurement tools, 14 types of tools relating to QL were used. 11 of them were composed of multiple dimensions. Among them, the QL Scale by You-Ja Ro(1988) was the most widely used in the studies. In the following, the Life Satisfaction Index by Jin Yun(1982), the Quality of life Scale of National Conference of Cancer nursing (1983), and the Life Satisfaction Index by Wood, Wylie and Sheafor(1969) were used. The reliabilities of the QL Scale were reported in 63 studies, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficients were over 0.7 in 60 cases. The quality of life scales included five dimensions; such as physical, psychological, social, economical, and spiritual dimensions. 7. There were two categories of factors influencing the quality of life: First, factors that cannot be changed by nursing intervention were; age, educational level, gender, marital status, income, employment status, occupation, number of family members, religion, and illness history. Second, factors that can be changed by nursing intervention were; physical activity, health status, the presence of complications, support, self-esteem, stress, self-efficacy, activities of daily life, physical strength, satifaction with life, and anxiety. Types of nursing intervention used to improve quality of life were; therapies in relaxation, exericse, reminiscence, and family support, social support, and hospice care. On the basis of the above findings, the following recommendations were made: 1. Further studies on the quality of life instruments of analysis are needed to provide an understanding of dimensions of life in detail. 2. A Meta-analysis needs to be conducted to identify intervention effects on the quality of life. 3. A tool development study is needed to measure the quality of life appropriately in different illnesses 4. More replicated analysis studies of QL are needed to prove the effect of variables on the QL.
Anxiety ; Data Collection ; Employment ; Hospice Care ; Hospices ; Humans ; Korea* ; Marital Status ; Motor Activity ; Nursing Research* ; Nursing* ; Occupations ; Oncology Nursing ; Publications ; Quality of Life* ; Relaxation ; Renal Dialysis ; Research Design ; Weights and Measures ; Wood ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare obesity-related quality of life according to obesity classification by BMI (body mass index) and self-assessment. METHODS: The participants were 286 female college students in J City. Data were obtained by measuring height, weight and BMI, and using a questionnaire for self-assessment of obesity, weight control, and quality of life. The quality of life was measured using 14 items of the Korean version of obesity-related quality of life (KOQOL). RESULTS: Thirty five percent of the students assessed themselves as overweight and obese despite their BMI <23m2/kg(false overweight). True overweight students with BMI > or =23m2/kg who perceived themselves as overweight and obese were 23%. The total KOQOL score between true and false overweight students showed no significant difference. True overweight students had a lower total KOQOL score including psychosocial, physical, daily living, sex related, and food-related domains than true normal weight students. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of life was not different between true and false overweight students. These results indicate that self-assessment about obesity affects the quality of life like as actual BMI in female college students. Therefore, it is necessary to care students who distort themselves as obese.
Body Mass Index ; Classification ; Female ; Humans ; Obesity ; Overweight* ; Quality of Life* ; Self-Assessment ; Surveys and Questionnaires