PURPOSE: This study was conducted to explore clinical nurses' experience of positive organizational culture in order to provide data for effective strategies of acquisition and retention of competent nurses. METHODS: In this qualitative study, interviews with four focus groups of four to six nurses, 19 in total, were held. Compositional factors in groups included clinical experience, age, work place, and position. Interviews proceeded until data were saturated. RESULTS: Fifteen sub-themes, categorized into six themes, emerged. Positive organizational culture themes included "Helping nurses to be organization members", "Allowing nurses to communicate with one another", "Helping nurses take an initiative to lead organization", "Having competent leader take charge of organization", "Enabling nurses to achieve organizational changes", and "Leading nurses to accomplish organizational performance." CONCLUSION: Results indicate that positive organizational culture is related to increases in occupational satisfaction and decreases in turnover through supportive organizational culture which makes it possible to reinvest expenses required for training new members to promoting quality growth in the organization and the prestige of professional nurses. In order to improve occupational satisfaction and sustained growth in nurses, it is necessary to provide nurses with positive work environments and require members to make active efforts leading to strategic changes.
Focus Groups ; Organizational Culture* ; Workplace

The purposes of this study were (1) to understand how customers trade off one attribute against another when they choose a pizza restaurant, (2) to compare the importance of individual attributes with their relative importance and (3) to compare customers' brand choice patterns with the prediction of pizza restaurant operators. Empirical data for this study were collected from the customers (n = 307) and operators (n = 273) of four famous pizza franchise restaurants in Korea, Pizza Hut, Mister Pizza, Domino's Pizza and Pizza Mall. The attributes and attribute levels for the hypothetical profiles were decided from the focus group discussion. A total of 16 profiles was selected from fractional factorial designs. The SPSS conjoint procedure was used to calculate utility scores and simulate profiles. The overall group statistics showed the relative importance of all attributes compared with one other. Taste was the most important attribute (32.48%) in choosing a pizza restaurant, followed by service (21.87%), atmosphere (17.23%), price (15.17%) and speed of delivery (13.26%). There was a difference between the customers' ratings of the importance of the individual attributes and the ranking of the same attributes' relative importance as derived from the conjoint analysis. The operators rated service (26.54%) as also being important, as well as taste (27.76%), in choosing a pizza restaurant. The rankings of relative importance for pizza taste, service and price were statistically different in the customers' and operators' data (p < .001, p < .01, p < .05). Operators who want to differentiate themselves from their competitors should make decisions based on an increased understanding of their customers' brand choice decision process and measure the hidden needs of their customers.
Atmosphere ; Focus Groups ; Korea ; Restaurants*

OBJECTIVE:This study was conducted to provide the fundamental information to prepare better strategies based on the experiences of occupational health care providers who are involved in the Government-funded subsidized occupational health programs for small scale industries. METHODS:The focus group methodology was used in this study.The data was collected using focus group interviews and analyzed in the framework of the Grounded theory method as mapped by Strauss and Corbin(1990). The subjects enrolled in this study included 20 occupational health care providers in the Government-funded subsidized occupational health program for the SSI;6 doctors and 14 nurses. RESULTS: We identified 69 concepts,28 sub-categories and 5 categories(Table 2).The categories were the Program's Goals, Various Services,Difficulties in Implement Services, Program Evaluation,and Suggestions for Alternative Plans. CONCLUSIONS: This program showed that autonomous health management ability has not changed although the possibility for small scale industries to start the health management arose by acknowledging the importance of the health management in the work-place. A successful program should provided a practical service that is planned by the characteristics and the requirements of the workers,a better service than the standard, more visiting times,and a trusting relationship among workers. The occupational health agency's quality and the health manager's specialty needs to be improved and the health manager's authority should be consolidated. An actively cooperative triangular relation among the Labor Department/KOSHA, service organizations, and the workplace is required.In addition,alternative plans were suggested.These included various programs for planning an autonomous service suitable for the quality of the workplaces,a model set-up suitable for the quality of the workplaces,and a role model set-up for the health manager.
Focus Groups* ; Occupational Health* ; Program Evaluation

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reality, status of clinical nurses' emotional labor and the relationship with physical discomfort, burnout, depression and social support. METHODS: A thousand three hundred sixteen clinical nurses from 42 hospitals nationwide participated in this study. Questionnaires were developed for evaluating the reality and status of emotional labor of clinical nurses after interviewing focus groups and reviewing literatures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Ninety eight percent of nurses had answered having emotional labor and they experienced 82 times per year, 9.6 times during last a month which means they experience it every other day. The one who provoke emotional labor were patients, guardians, physicians, supervisor, and colleagues in sequence. Eighty percent of nurses had intention to leave their jobs after experiencing emotional labor. They were doing more surface acting than deep acting of emotional labor. CONCLUSION: Clinical nurses in Korea experienced excessively high level of emotional labor and delayed responding to clients' requests due to lack of time for caring each patient was revealed as one of the main causes of emotional labor.
Depression ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Intention ; Korea

PURPOSE: The smoking rates among teenagers in Korea grow gradually since 1980s despite of the numerous programs for youth smoking prevention and cessation have been developed and implemented. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the processes of habituating to smoking among teenagers using the grounded theory methodology. METHOD: Qualitative data was collected via six focus group interviews. A total of 38 people, twelve teachers and 24 middle school students participated in this study. All focus group interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed according to the grounded theory methodology. RESULTS: The overriding theme of the elicited grounded theory was "stepping into a quagmire by a merest chance". The student participants began smoking by a simple chance. The contingent factors to starting smoking were "discord within the family", "family member's smoking", "schoolwork stresses", or "a rebellious spirit". The conditions of smoking included accessibility, going around in group, and the lack of discipline. "Stigmatizing", "involved in mob violence", and "making a poor academic record" coexisted as the covariance of the smoking habituation. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study illustrated the comprehensive and insightful picture of the phenomena under investigation. Nursing implications and further directions for research were discussed.
Adolescent* ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Products

PURPOSE: To date, no studies in the literature have examined student delivery of team-based learning (TBL) modules in the classroom. We aimed to assess student perceptions of a student-led TBL elective. METHODS: Third-year pharmacy students were assigned topics in teams and developed learning objectives, a 15-minute mini-lecture, and a TBL application exercise and presented them to student colleagues. Students completed a survey upon completion of the course and participated in a focus group discussion to share their views on learning. RESULTS: The majority of students (n=23/30) agreed that creating TBL modules enhanced their understanding of concepts, improved their self-directed learning skills (n=26/30), and improved their comprehension of TBL pedagogy (n=27/30). However, 60% disagreed with incorporating student-generated TBL modules into core curricular classes. Focus group data identified student-perceived barriers to success in the elective, in particular the development of TBL application exercises. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that students positively perceived student-led TBL as encouraging proactive learning from peer-to-peer teaching.
Comprehension ; Exercise ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Learning* ; Students, Pharmacy ; Teaching

PURPOSE: Simple instructional systems design (ISD) model is based on a fast development, usability test, and continuos feedback, which are necessary for educational program development in medical school. This study aims to figure out the usability of Simple ISD model for a medical ethics education program by describing a developmental details of each phase and its evaluation results. METHODS: Research has been conducted in two steps. First, while researchers participated in the program development by using Simple ISD model, we collected empirical data of each development activities. Second, the developed program was evaluated by students' web-based usability test, a 8-students' focus group interview and 5 faculty members' individual interviews in 4 domains; learning contents, instructional methods and strategies, achievement evaluation, and self-evaluation. RESULTS: Following the circular process of analysis, design, development, and usability test of Simple ISD model, a 10-week medical ethics program covering 9 instructional topics was developed. The average points of response on the developed medical ethics program in 2008 and 2009 are increased from 3.96 to 4.59 and 4.41, respectively. The prospects and limitations of the program are discussed. CONCLUSION: From a development study of the medical ethics program by using Simple ISD model, we could implement a more usable medical ethics program, and found 4 different usability of the Simple ISD model; the rapid development of educational program, program improvement by continuous feedback, faculty members' engagement in instructional design, and professional development of the faculty members.
Achievement ; Ethics, Medical ; Focus Groups ; Learning ; Program Development ; Schools, Medical

The purpose of this study was to understand barrier factors affecting nutrition education jobs and determining priorities according to frequency of occurrence of obstacles. Focus group interview (FGI) was conducted on 11 nutrition teachers, and the result are summarized by the phenomenological analysis method. The barriers of nutrition education consisted of three categories, seven themes, and 10 sub-themes. The three categories were divided into work burden, recognition of nutrition education, and limitations of the nutrition education environment. Recognition of nutrition education was further divided into internal recognition from nutrition teachers and individual and external recognition from students and staff. The results showed that the most frequent barrier experienced by nutrition teachers in the work burden category was heavy work loads of foodservice management, followed by irrational working environment. In addition, limitations of the nutrition education environment consisted of absence of standard curriculum and textbooks, inadequate education infrastructure, and inadequate class time. To improve this, it is necessary to reduce nutrition teacher's food service management and develop standard curriculum and educational materials for nutrition education.
Curriculum ; Education* ; Focus Groups ; Food Services ; Humans ; Methods

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions regarding the use of Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs) among young Korean women. METHOD: The study included 14 unmarried women aged 19 to 34 years (mean, 25 years). Data was collected by focus group interviews and an in-depth interview from July to November, 2005. Content analysis was conducted. RESULT: The four major themes that emerged were control of accessibility, safety concern, lack of knowledge and information, and ambivalence. Control of accessibility: Most of the participants stated a prescription is necessary although they might feel ashamed if they had to ask for an ECP. Safety concerns: Participants thought that taking an ECP would be harmful to their body. Lack of knowledge and information: Most of the participants felt that they did not know enough about ECPs and were willing to learn more. Ambivalence: The participants stated that they would take an ECP when needed and would recommend it to a friend although they were concerned about the risks of ECPs. CONCLUSION: The results from this study suggest the need for an educational and awareness program to empower women to be able to make informed decisions on ECPs when needed.
Contraception ; Emergencies* ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Friends ; Humans ; Prescriptions ; Single Person

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to understand the clinical instructors' role experience in college of nursing. METHODS: Two focus group interviews were held with a total of 12 clinical instructors. All interviews were recorded and transcribed as they were spoken, and the collected data were analyzed using content analysis of Downe-Wamboldt(1992). RESULTS: Three themes and six subthemes were extracted from the analysis: 1) Getting recognition of special roles as a clinical instructor: 'Recognizing the role of clinical instructor for guiding student's individual practice goals', 'Recognizing helping and supporting roles for student's successful clinical practice', 2) Having difficulty in performing the role of clinical practice instructor: 'Difficulty from the lack of knowledge and experience as a clinical practice instructor', 'Difficulty from the gap between current clinical practice and purpose of clinical nursing practice', 3) Making efforts to overcome the difficulties as a clinical instructor and accomplishing personal development: 'Making efforts to acquire personal knowledge and experience', 'Making a chance to reflect on and grow up oneself'. CONCLUSION: Clinical instructors take an important part of clinical nursing education. To improve the quality of clinical nursing education, it is needed role reestablishment and institutional support for clinical instructors on the basis of the understanding of instructors' experience.
Education, Nursing ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Qualitative Research