PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the differences of pregnancy outcomes according to advanced-age pregnancy among Korean women in South Korea. METHODS: This study used nursing records of 242 women who gave birth at a single women's hospital in South Korea. Data consisted of maternal obstetric history, maternal body weight, gestational age, birth types, newborn's Apgar scores, and newborn's physical measures. Data were collected between June and December of 2015. Data were analyzed using mean, percentage, t-test, chi test, Fisher's exact test, and repeated general linear model. RESULTS: The differences of obstetric characteristics according to pregnancy at maternal age over 35 years were not significant. Maternal body weight was affected not by pregnancy at advanced maternal age (F=0.10, p=0.182) but by weight before pregnancy (F=35.56, p<0.001). Pregnancy outcome concerning newborn's Apgar scores and physical measure did not differ between mothers who were at an advanced age and those who were not. Planned pregnancies were more common at maternal age ≥35 than at age <35. Natural childbirth and cesarean section in mothers at maternal age ≥35 was lower than at age <35. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that maternal weight and pregnancy outcomes of newborns were not different according to pregnancy at advanced maternal age. Type of birth was more risky than natural in advanced age. Therefore, health care provider should pay attention to the planning process, pregnancy, and birth in women with advanced maternal age.
Body Weight ; Cesarean Section ; Family Planning Services ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea* ; Linear Models ; Maternal Age* ; Mothers ; Natural Childbirth ; Nursing Records ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome* ; Pregnancy* ; Weight Gain*

PURPOSE: To figure out the contribution of maternal age distribution to the preterm birth (PTB) rate of multiple births between 1997~98 and 2014~15. METHODS: Multiple birth certificate data of Korea Statistics were used for this analysis. There were 18,557 births in 1997~98 and 30,992 births in 2014~15. Kitagawa's decomposition method was used to examine the contribution of age-specific PTB rate and maternal age distribution of multiple births to overall increment of PTB rate in multiple births between 1997~98 and 2014~15. RESULTS: PTB rate of multiple births increased from 32.40 percent to 58.22 percent (odds ratio: 1.80, 95% confidence interval: 1.76~1.84) during 1997-2015. PTB rate of multiple births greatly increased for women aged 25~29 years (odds ratio: 2.09) during the same period. The rates increased 1.88 times for women aged ≤24 years, followed by women aged 30~34 years (OR: 1.65), women aged 35~39 years (1.54), and women aged ≥ 40 years (1.36). Most (78.7%) of the overall increment in PTB rate of multiple births was attributable to the increase in the dimension of women aged 30~34 years, and 49.9 percent for women aged 35~39 years. CONCLUSION: The total increment in the PTB rate of multiple births was explained by increase the proportion and the PTB rate of women aged 30~39 years. More research is needed to comprehend the contributing age factors to PTB rate of multiple births.
Age Factors ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Korea ; Maternal Age* ; Methods ; Multiple Birth Offspring* ; Parturition ; Premature Birth*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a structural model including relevant factors to identity the variables that affect school adjustment in juvenile delinquents. On the basis of a review of the literature on school adjustment of juvenile delinquents and on Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological model, a hypothetical model was developed by setting home environmental factors (e.g.,economic conditions, parent child communication, parenting attitudes, peer relationships, and academic stress) as exogenous variables, and personal factors (e.g., ego identity and psychological well-being) as endogenous variables. METHODS: Data were collected from January 29 to March 3, 2015 by a survey of 206 students attending junior high and high schools in City B. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS and Amos 22.0 software. RESULTS: The verification of the hypothetical model indicated a good fit for the model: χ²=0.009 df=13, χ²/df=2.161, GFI=0.97, AGFI=0.90, RMESA=0.07, CFI=0.98, TLI=0.95, and RMR=0.01. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that ego identity and parent-child communication do not directly affect school adjustment of juvenile delinquents but influence it depending on the psychological well-being of delinquents. High levels of psychological well-being, better economic conditions, better parent-child communication, and low academic stress were abserved to contribute to better school life. Therefore, to improve the school adjustment of juvenile delinquents, appropriate measures need to be taken and programs need to be designed for improving ego identity and parent-child communication, thus promoting psychological well-being.
Child ; Ego ; Humans ; Juvenile Delinquency ; Models, Structural ; Parenting ; Parents

PURPOSE: To improve the quality of the vaccination program, analyze the cause and identify the influencing factors for not being registered in the National Immunization Registry Information System even once. METHODS: We conducted one-on-one household visit interview surveys after, using a list supplemented with addresses from the Ministry of the Interior. We identified the basic respondent information, information on relevant children (those born in 2012), the reasons for omission from computerized vaccination registration, and the actual residence of the registered children. RESULTS: The total number of unvaccinated children born in 2012 was 1,870. The final contact result of the household surveys was 1,254 successful contacts, 51 refused to be interviewed, and 565 were not found. The reason for missed vaccination registration was 928 cases of long-term stay overseas, 241 cases of missing registration owing to intentional refusal of vaccination, and 57 cases of illness. A comparison of complete vaccination rates between non-registrants and those of computerized registrants revealed rates of 17.9% and 96.3% for the 3 doses hepatitis B vaccine, 14.9% and 95.6% for the 4doses DTaP vaccine, 16.1% and 97.4% for the 3 doses polio vaccine, and 3.9% and 92.5% for the 3 (or 2) doses Japanese encephalitis vaccine, respectively. CONCLUSION: Vaccination is the most effective national health policy and one of the most remarkable accomplishments in medical history. Through great effort, Korea has started to transcribe vaccination records since 2000, and the records are now reaching a considerable level. However, there is an unregistered population of around 0.3%. Several measures can be taken to improve the registration rate in the vaccination records, such as managing non-registrants through education and interviews, and sharing vaccination data with foreign countries. The non-registrant management plan should include periodically compiling a list of children who are not registered in the National Immunization Registry Information System, conducting of household visits using survey forms, and data analysis to establish appropriate measures.
Child* ; Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines ; Education ; Encephalitis, Japanese ; Family Characteristics ; Health Policy ; Hepatitis B Vaccines ; Humans ; Immunization* ; Information Systems* ; Korea ; Poliomyelitis ; Statistics as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vaccination*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experience of becoming a mother after child-birth of Chinese immigrant women in Korea. METHODS: Ten Chinese immigrant women were recruited from multi-cultural center in the metropolitan area. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interview from July 2015 to May in 2016. Interview was conducted until the data were theoretically saturated. Data analysis was performed simultaneously with the data collection, and the contents of the interview were analyzed according to the Corbin and Strauss' grounded theory method. RESULTS: In total, 36 concepts were produced through the analysis, and similar concepts were combined to derive 16 categories. Based on the relation between the categories, the core category is analysed as ‘becoming culture integrating mothers’. The attainment process from this procedural approach are described as cultural intimidated stage, cultural conflicting stage, cultural cooperating stage, cultural integrating stage. There are three types of ‘becoming cultural integrating mothers’, integrating type, conflicting type, and intimidated type. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, it is suggested to develop the nursing intervention program including cultural sensitive education and consultation program for helping becoming a mother in each type of the Chinese immigrant women in Korea. In addition, nurse or nursing student education program to enhance the cultural sensitivity is also needed.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Data Collection ; Education ; Emigrants and Immigrants* ; Female ; Grounded Theory* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Methods ; Mothers* ; Nursing ; Statistics as Topic ; Students, Nursing

The thalidomide tragedy in the 1960s has resulted in a perpetuation of a certain perception amongst physicians and pregnant women that the use of medication during pregnancy is a potential teratogen. Consequently, physicians hesitate in prescribing medication to pregnant women. In addition, pregnant women often refuse medication despite therapeutic necessity because of this existing perception. Recently there have been frequent adverse pregnancy outcomes related to the recurrence of chronic diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, following pregnancy in older women. And there are lots of unnecessary termination of pregnancy due to the of information of medication exposed to medication following over 50% of unintended pregnancy. In light of this, better dissemination of information regarding the safe usage of medication for pregnant women is required. This would not only be cost-effective in terms of medical expenditure, but also prove beneficial for the treatment of diseases. In addition, Korea needs to adapt to the increasing changes of the international information system regarding supporting the safe usage of medication during pregnancy. An example of this is shown by the recent changes to the labeling of medication by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The new labeling includes information on the risk of usage, rather than just an arbitrary alphabetic classification of B, C, D, or X. Furthermore, this information is limited in Korea because of the lack of research, which in turn is due to several limitations on ethics and methodology, as well as present regulations on the research of pregnant women. From this, we can learn that government support is critical for the establishment of research so that we can alter the perception that all medication is harmful to pregnant women.
Chronic Disease ; Classification ; Ethics ; Female ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Information Systems ; Korea ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Pregnant Women* ; Recurrence ; Social Control, Formal ; Thalidomide ; United States Food and Drug Administration

PURPOSE: This study was performed to develop the Fever Education Program (FEP) and evaluate its effects on the knowledge, attitudes, and nursing practice of pediatric nurses. METHODS: The quasi-experimental research strategy used a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design. Recruited participants were forty-seven nurses at two pediatric hospitals in G city. The research was conducted from September 1 to October 10, 2015. To test the effects of the FEP, the participants were divided into two groups, an experimental group (n=27) and a control group (n=20). Data were collected prior to and six weeks after the intervention using self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test, the χ²-test, t–test, Mann-Whitney U test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with the SPSS/WIN 19.0 program. RESULTS: Following the FEP intervention, no significant differences were found in nursing practice, but significant differences were found in knowledge (t=3.62, p=0.001) and attitudes (t=4.26, p=0.000) between the experimental group and the control group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that the FEP could provide an effective nursing intervention to improve knowledge and attitudes toward fever care in pediatric nurses.
Education* ; Fever* ; Hospitals, Pediatric ; Nursing* ; Polytetrafluoroethylene

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the effects of puerperium maternal anxiety, quality of marital relationship, and postpartum blues on late postpartum depression. METHODS: Participants were 130 postpartum women who delivered healthy babies, and answered self-administered questionnaires, such as Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS-K), Spielberger's State Anxiety Inventory, and Quality of Marital Relationships during the 1st week of delivery and 4–6 weeks postpartum. Data were analyzed using t–test, ANOVA, Spearman's rho correlation coefficient, and hierarchical stepwise multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: The point prevalence of postpartum depression (EPDS-K ≥10, cut-off score) was 23.1% at early postpartum and 16.9% at late postpartum. Predictors of late postpartum depression were early postpartum depression (β=0.86), the difference between early and late postpartum anxiety (β=0.19), and the difference between early and late Quality of Marital Relationships (β=−0.13) (F=70.52, p<0.001). The total vatiance explained was 76.5%. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that a maternal management system should be established at maternity hospitals to screen new mothers' depression and anxiety risks during the early postpartum stage.
Anxiety* ; Depression* ; Depression, Postpartum* ; Female ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Marriage* ; Postpartum Period* ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of oral self-care education on the oral mucositis and oral self-care performance in pediatric cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: We conducted the study using the nonequivalent control group and non-synchronized design, and invited pediatric cancer patients, admitted to a university hospital for chemotherapy, to participate in the study. Data collection was completed for the control group first and proceeded to the experimental group. The data were collected from September 24 to November 5, 2015. Twenty children were enrolled in the study and divided into two groups: experimental (n=10) and control (n=10) groups. The children in the experimental group, along with their parents, were provided with a 10-minute flash animation and a brochure, both explaining oral self-care practices. Children in the groups were evaluated for the status of oral mucositis and their ability to perform oral self-care before chemotherapy, as well as at 3, 7, 14, and 21 days after the administration of chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and repeated measures ANOVA were utilized to test the homogeneity of variance between the two groups and examine the effectiveness of the oral self-care education. RESULTS: Children in the experimental group showed significant improvement in oral self-care performance compared to the control group post oral self-care education. CONCLUSION: Promoting oral self-care practices is an important nursing intervention in the prevention of oral mucositis in pediatric cancer patients. Inclusion of advanced smart technology, such as the use of flash animation, to facilitate nursing intervention could enhance the effectiveness of the intervention in young cancer patients. Broader application of smart technology in patient education is warranted.
Child ; Data Collection ; Drug Therapy* ; Education* ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Mucositis ; Nursing ; Oral Hygiene ; Pamphlets ; Parents ; Patient Education as Topic ; Pediatric Nursing ; Self Care* ; Stomatitis*

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and its predictors in adolescents living in a multi-cultural family, with a focus on gender differences. METHODS: A total of 795 students attending junior high school or high school who lived in a multi-cultural family were enrolled in this study. The 11th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey was conducted in 2015. Data from this survey were collected and analyzed using SPSS program, with Rao-Scott chi-square test and complex samples multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of suicidal ideation in adolescents living in a multi-cultural family was 17.2% (14.1% in boys and 20.9% in girls). Happiness and depression were significant predictors of suicidal ideation in both boys and girls. However, the experience of violence was an additional significant predictor in boys, whereas economic status and sleep satisfaction were significant predictors affecting the prevalence of suicidal ideation in girls. CONCLUSION: This study found gender differences in the predictors of suicidal ideation in adolescents living in a multi-cultural family. The findings suggest that the development of suicide prevention programs for this population may require different approaches for girls and for boys. It is also suggested that educational programs are developed that address the variables identified.
Adolescent* ; Cultural Diversity ; Depression ; Female ; Happiness ; Humans ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Prevalence ; Risk-Taking ; Suicidal Ideation* ; Suicide ; Violence