PURPOSE: This study compared climacteric symptoms, knowledge of menopause and menopausal management of middle aged women living in urban and rural areas. METHOD: The study subjects included 287 women aged 40-64 years in P city and G town. The instruments used in this study were a climacteric symptoms scale and knowledge of menopause and a menopausal management scale. Data was analyzed with SPSS Win 10.0. RESULT: The mean age of middle-aged women living in urban areas was 47.9 years and that of women in rural areas was 48.0 years. The mean score of the climacteric symptoms of middle-aged women living in urban and rural areas was 48.8 and 50.4 respectively, and was not significantly different. The mean score of the knowledge of menopause of middle-aged women living in urban areas was higher than that of women in rural areas (p=.017). In addition, the mean score of the menopausal management of middle-aged women living in rural areas was higher than that of women in urban areas. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that not only general characteristics but also living areas should be considered in developing nursing interventions to manage the climacteric symptoms of middle aged women.
Climacteric* ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause* ; Middle Aged* ; Nursing

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for improvement and enhancement of nursing education by investigating learning outcomes that apply to fundamentals of nursing and teaching methods used in classes. METHODS: Data were collected from 111 professors of fundamentals of nursing who responded to the self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using chi-square test. RESULTS: For learning outcomes in fundamentals of nursing the most frequent number of outcomes was two (35.2%), or three (32.4%). For learning outcomes in fundamentals of nursing practicum, the most frequent number of outcomes was two (32.4%), or three (31.6%). In fundamental nursing classes, teaching methods used most frequently were lectures (98.2%) and videos (60.4%), and in practice classes, demonstration (98.2) and open laboratory (90.9%). Constructivist teaching methods that were utilized in fundamental nursing were team-based learning (19.8%) and case-based learning (19.8%), and for practice classes, objective structured clinical examination (29.7%). In the cross analysis, 28.8% of the nursing professor used the constructivist teaching methods in fundamental nursing and in practice classes. CONCLUSION: There is a need to continue to improve teaching methods for new nurse-educators and professors and to discuss learning outcomes of fundamental nursing.
Education ; Education, Nursing ; Learning* ; Lectures ; Nursing* ; Teaching*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to assess the methodological quality of non-randomized studies published in the Journal of Korean Fundamentals of Nursing. METHODS: A search of non-randomized studies assessing intervention effects was conducted among all articles published in the Journal of Korean Fundamentals of Nursing between 2011 and 2013. Articles were assessed for quality using the Methodological Index for Non Randomized Studies (MINORS). For each index item, the frequency and percentage of articles meeting the criteria were calculated, along with mean scores by research method, publication year, and research topic. RESULTS: A total of 22 studies were included. The mean score for studies without control groups was 11.75 (range 0-16), and for those with control groups, 19.27 (range 0-24). Results show that improvement is needed on several items: "endpoints appropriate to the aim of the study," "unbiased assessment of the study endpoint," "follow-up period appropriate to the aim of the study," "loss to follow up less than 5%," and "contemporary groups." CONCLUSION: Although the quality of articles published in the Journal of Korean Fundamentals of Nursing has consistently increased, more emphasis should be placed on using rigorous research methods.
Follow-Up Studies ; Clinical Trial ; Nursing* ; Publications