Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the influence of workplace violence experience on depression among female caregivers in Korea. Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis of data from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). The study sample consisted of 484 female caregivers. IBM SPSS 25.0 was used for complex sample analysis, which considered sampling the weights of variables. Based on the survey questions, we used complex sample cross-tabulation and the complex sample general linear model (CSGLM). Results: About 10.1% of female caregivers experienced workplace violence. The factors influencing workplace violence experience on depression were organizational justice (p=.048) and illness (p=.004). However, in cases with no violence, the influencing factors were psychological work environment (p=.001), work environment satisfaction (p=.024), and work engagement (p=.004). Conclusion Caregivers are vulnerable to workplace violence. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate a policies such as organizational justice, work environment satisfaction, and work engagement to improve the working environment.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the influence of workplace violence experience on depression among female caregivers in Korea. Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis of data from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). The study sample consisted of 484 female caregivers. IBM SPSS 25.0 was used for complex sample analysis, which considered sampling the weights of variables. Based on the survey questions, we used complex sample cross-tabulation and the complex sample general linear model (CSGLM). Results: About 10.1% of female caregivers experienced workplace violence. The factors influencing workplace violence experience on depression were organizational justice (p=.048) and illness (p=.004). However, in cases with no violence, the influencing factors were psychological work environment (p=.001), work environment satisfaction (p=.024), and work engagement (p=.004). Conclusion Caregivers are vulnerable to workplace violence. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate a policies such as organizational justice, work environment satisfaction, and work engagement to improve the working environment.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the entire world population in many ways. This study aimed to analyze the patterns of changes in eating, food purchasing and preparation, physical activity, and subjective health after COVID-19 outbreak by various sociodemographic factors and to understand the factors associated with changes in subjective health. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a representative sample from Seoul was used for the analysis. The data collection was conducted from September to October 2020. A total of 3,833 citizens aged more than 18 years old participated in the Seoul Food Survey. Descriptive statistics and generalized ordinal logistic regression models were used to understand the changes in health behaviors, health indicators, and subjective general health by various socioeconomic status. RESULTS: It was shown that the changes in household income, food expenditure, food consumption and physical activities differed significantly by age, education, occupation, income, weight, and food security status. Low-income and food-insecure households were affected more severely by the pandemic. Older age, household food insecurity, income reduction, increased home cooking and frequency of having instant foods, decreased physical activity and weight gain were significant factors explaining worse perceived health during the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that focusing on older populations and low-income families with food insecurity should be prioritized during infectious disease outbreaks. In addition, the role of physical activities and instant food consumption in explaining perceived health should be investigated further in this prolonged battle with the pandemic situation.

Background and Objectives: Recently, the improvement of music perception abilities for emotional stability and high quality of life has become important for the hearing loss group. This study aimed to examine and compare the music perception abilities of the normal hearing (NH) and hearing amplification system (HAS) groups to find the needs and methods of music rehabilitation. Subjects and Methods: The data were collected from 15 NH adults (33.1±11.4 years) and 15 HAS adults (38.7±13.4 years), of whom eight wore cochlear implant [CI] systems and seven wore CI and hearing aid systems depending on pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre, emotional reaction, and harmony perception tests. A mismatch negativity test was also conducted, and attitudes toward and satisfaction with listening to music were measured. Results: The correction percentages for the NH and HAS groups were 94.0%±6.1% and 75.3%±23.2% in the pitch test; 94.0%±7.1% and 30.3%±25.9% in the melody test; 99.3%±1.8% and 94.0%± 7.6% in the rhythm test; 78.9%±41.8% and 64.4%±48.9% in the timbre test; 96.7%±10.4% and 81.7%±16.3% in the emotional reaction test; and 85.7%±14.1% and 58.4%±13.9% in the harmony test, respectively, showing statistical significance (p<0.05). For the mismatch negativity test, the area of the waveform was smaller in the HAS groups than in the NH groups, with 70 dB of stimulation showing no statistical significance. The response rates for satisfaction with listening to music were 80% and 93.3% for the NH and HAS groups, showing no statistical significance. Conclusions Although the HAS group showed lower music perception ability than the NH group overall, they showed a strong desire for music listening. Also, the HAS group revealed a higher degree of satisfaction even when listening to unfamiliar music played with unusual instruments. It is suggested that systematic and constant musical rehabilitation based on musical elements and different listening experiences will improve music perception qualities and abilities for HAS users.

Background and Objectives: In distracting listening conditions, individuals need to pay extra attention to selectively listen to the target sounds. To investigate the amount of listening effort required in reverberating and noisy backgrounds, a semantic mismatch was examined. Subjects and Methods: Electroencephalography was performed in 18 voluntary healthy participants using a 64-channel system to obtain N400 latencies. They were asked to listen to sounds and see letters in 2 reverberated×2 noisy paradigms (i.e., Q-0 ms, Q-2000 ms, 3 dB-0 ms, and 3 dB-2000 ms). With auditory-visual pairings, the participants were required to answer whether the auditory primes and letter targets did or did not match. Results: Q-0 ms revealed the shortest N400 latency, whereas the latency was significantly increased at 3 dB-2000 ms. Further, Q-2000 ms showed approximately a 47 ms delayed latency compared to 3 dB-0 ms. Interestingly, the presence of reverberation significantly increased N400 latencies. Under the distracting conditions, both noise and reverberation involved stronger frontal activation. Conclusions The current distracting listening conditions could interrupt the semantic mismatch processing in the brain. The presence of reverberation, specifically a 2000 ms delay, necessitates additional mental effort, as evidenced in the delayed N400 latency and the involvement of the frontal sources in this study.

BACKGROUND: The appropriate procedures and equipment for the pretransfusion test are fundamental to a safe blood transfusion. The present study aimed to assess the current status of procedures and equipment for pretransfusion tests at small- and medium-sized medical institutions, as well as to use this basic raw data to better manage blood transfusions at these institutions. METHODS: Offline and online questionnaire surveys were performed at institutions that used between 24 and 1,000 units of blood products in 2014. A total of 338 institutions participated, and the survey results were subsequently analyzed. RESULTS: Among 307 institutions where on-site ABO blood typing was performed, 15.0%, 2.1%, and 43.5% did not conduct ABO serum typing, RhD typing, and irregular antibody screening tests, respectively, and 12.8% only conducted the saline phase for crossmatching. Moreover, among 338 institutions, only 66.7% of blood banks had centrifuges, 84.5% had 37℃ incubators, 41.1% had slide view boxes; in addition, 66.1% and 18.6% had refrigerators and deep freezers, respectively, for blood storage. CONCLUSION: Certain small- and medium-sized institutions did not have the essential equipment required to operate as blood banks. Moreover, they also needed to improve their testing procedures. To address these issues, the initiation of systematic training programs and the employment of institutional strategies are necessary to enhance testing procedures and equipment, respectively.
Blood Banks ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; Blood Transfusion ; Education ; Employment ; Incubators ; Korea* ; Mass Screening

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii can cause devastating disease in the fetus and newborn infant. Serologic testing of pregnant women for Toxoplasma-specific antibodies can be used to identify those women at risk of transmitting Toxoplasma gondii infection. In Korea, despite a few reports on the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma (Toxo) antibody, the incidence of acute or chronic toxoplasma infection during pregnancy has not been well established. We performed a prospective screening for Toxoplasma antibodies to obtain a basic epidemiological data on the seroprevalence of acute and chronic toxoplasma infection. METHODS: During a 6-month period, 787 pregnant women at various weeks of gestation were enrolled in the prospective study. Toxo IgG and IgM antibodies were determined by the Abbott AxSYM Toxo IgG and IgM assays. Serum specimens showing positive results of both IgG and IgM antibodies were further tested using the Abbott ARCHITECT Toxo IgG Avidity test. RESULTS: The seropositivities of Toxo-specific IgG and IgM antibodies in this cohort were 2.3% (18/787) and 0.1% (1/787), respectively. No woman showed positive results for both Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies. One specimen showing IgG positive and IgM grayzone results was tested by Toxo IgG avidity test and a low avidity test result (9%) was obtained, suggesting a possible acute primary infection. CONCLUSIONS: This study was the first trial on the investigation of the seroprevalence of both IgG and IgM antibodies in Korea, and we found that the seroprevalence of the antibodies was lower than that previously reported.
Antibodies ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Prospective Studies ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Serologic Tests ; Toxoplasma ; Toxoplasmosis