Suffering is a human burden that may not be truly avoidable. In order to put that view in perspective we must examine suffering in a form as isolated from self-inflicted behavior as possible. The suffering of a child is one such example. The purpose of this study is to understand the meaning of suffering in the teenager and is to analyze difference of suffering in children and adult. The subjects of this study were 6 children (12year-17year) including in-patients and out-patients of a general hospital who were diagnosed as having cancer. The data was collected from October 10,1996 to April 15, 1997. Qualitative research methods of in-depth interview and participant observation were used for data collection. Data analysis progressed according to the fieldwork phases suggested by the Hybrid Model. According to the results of the study, the meaning of suffering in the teenager can be described as follows: Suffering is an inevitable experience of all human beings. When each child experiences pain and destroying child-adult relationship, suffering in which threaten one's personal integrity is perceived differently among each child depending on their personal inner factors, one's significant others, exterior circumstances and stimuli. Suffering brings severs and unendurable distress which accompany anguish, depression, anxiety and fear. This findings provide data for new insights of suffering. When caring for teenager who experience suffering, nurse need to consider the influence of suffering. Moreover, appropriate nursing interventions aimed at relieving suffering need to be developed.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Anxiety ; Child ; Data Collection ; Depression ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Nursing ; Outpatients ; Qualitative Research ; Statistics as Topic ; Stress, Psychological ; Child Health

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to detect the correlations and the main factors influencing depression, life satisfaction, burden, defenition of suffering, meaning of life, and suffering. METHOD: The samples were composed of 160 cancer patients who were or outpatients of four hospitals in Seoul. The reliability of the 6 instruments was tested with Cronbach's alpha which ranged from .62 to .90. The data was analyzed using a SAS program for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: The results were as follows: 1. The scores on the suffering scale ranged from 132 to 40 with a mean of 87.3 (SD 17.5). 2. There were significant correlations between all the predictive variables and even the amounts of suffering (r=.27-.84, p <.05). 3. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that depression was the main predictor of suffering, and accounted for 71.6% of the variance. In addition burden accounted for 4.6% of the variance in suffering. The two variables combined to account for 76.2% of the variance in suffering. CONCLUSION: In conclusion and depression, burden were identified as important variables in explaining the suffering of patients with cancer.
Depression ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Seoul

PURPOSE: This study explored and described the living spiritual experience and was attempted to gain an understanding of spirituality. This was done by eliciting participants' verbal descriptions of their experiences. METHOD: Data was obtained from in-depth interviews with one cancer patient, one pastor, and three missionaries after obtaining informed consent from each. Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Sandelowski's evaluation criteria for qualitative research, such as reliability, suitability and auditability, were also used to establish reliability and validity of this study. RESULT: The five major theme clusters that designated the essence of the spiritual experience, "spiritual awareness," "interconnectedness," "love," "transcendent energy," "purpose and meaning in life," emerged from the analysis. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that spirituality was activated by awareness through introspection and interconnectedness with a Supreme Being. The interconnectedness with a Supreme Being played an important role in harmonious relationships with others and self. It also resulted in revealing the other beneticial attributes of spirituality. Love, the core concept of the interconnectedness, worked as a transcendent energy. Also, the ability to see beyond reality and resulted in finding meaning in life and accomplishing well being.
Humans ; Informed Consent ; Love ; Missions and Missionaries ; Qualitative Research ; Reproducibility of Results ; Spirituality*

Purpose: This study aims to identify the perceived care needs of nurses as care providers and patients as care recipients for managing adverse effects that result from chemotherapy. Methods: This descriptive study used a mixed-methods design employed with convenience sampling. The instrument was a 25-item, 4-point Likert-scale questionnaire that focused on the care needs of patients with advanced cancer, completed by the patients and the nurses who care for them. The study also included an open-ended question.Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, and content analysis. Results: The total mean value of care needs was not significantly different between the patient and nurse groups (t=-1.67, p=.098). The results of one open-ended question analyzed using content analysis were identified in five categories: physical, psychological, spiritual, policy, and other. Conclusion This study suggested the multifaceted care needs for managing the adverse effects of chemotherapy among patients with advanced cancer at a long-term care hospital in Korea.

PURPOSE: The occurrence of traumatic aneurysm is rare in head injury, but this complication is important as it is a potentially treatable cause delayed onset of intracranial hemorrhage. Authors report one case of traumatic aneurysm involving A1 and A2 junction of anterior cerebral artery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A-28-year-old man with traffic accident was examined with brain CT & cerebral angiography. RESULTS: l) Brain CT:lnitial scan shows multiple skull fractures involving right frontal bones with subarachnoid hemorrhage and pneumocephalus. Follow-up scan shows intracerebral hemorrhage at bilateral frontal lobes. 2) Cerebral angiography:A traumatic aneurysm which is slowly filling and delayed emptying is noted at the junctional portion of A1 and A2 segment of the anterior cerebral artery. CONCLUSION: This report demonstrates radiologic findings of traumatic aneurysm at anterior cerebral artery with the brief review of the literatures.
Accidents, Traffic ; Aneurysm ; Anterior Cerebral Artery ; Brain ; Cerebral Angiography ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Frontal Bone ; Frontal Lobe ; Intracranial Aneurysm* ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Pneumocephalus ; Skull Fractures ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between self-esteem and meaning of life in higher grade elementary school students. METHODS: Four hundred eighty four elementary school students in their 4 ~ 6th-grade at S, G and C City were recruited by convenient sampling. Data were collected from August to October, 2008 using a self-reported questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS/WIN 12.0 program with mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Duncan's test, and Pearson's correlation. RESULTS: The average score of meaning of life was 3.07 +/- 0.38 and that of self-esteem was 3.43 +/- 0.62. There were significant differences in self-esteem according to variables region and religion, and in meaning of life scores according to variables region, grade, sex and religion. There was a significant positive correlation between self-esteem and meaning of life. CONCLUSION: Self-esteem and meaning of life should be considered as important factors for healthy development in the elementary school period. Self-esteem should be considered as a main content in developing programs for finding meaning of life for higher grade elementary school students.
Humans ; Religion and Sex ; Self Concept ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of study was to describe and evaluate the educational status regarding clinical practicum for child health nursing to facilitate student's clinical compliance for the bachelor's degree in Korea. Methods: The study was a descriptive study and included data from 40 institutions among the 53 university nursing programs in Korea(75.5% response rate). Data were collected using mailed semi structured questionnaires and content analysis was done. RESULTS: Findings show that most institutions have common learning objectives for the clinical practicum; neonatal care, high risk infant care, hospitalized child care, and advanced nursing practice. The mode for theoretical credits in child health nursing was 5 to 6 and 3 to 4 credits for clinical practice. The practice settings were prepared to provide diverse experiences, including childcare centers, and community centers with various learning activities. Evaluation for learning outcomes included faculty and instructors. It was pointed out that updating evaluation based on student and faculty feedback is important for a comprehensive practicum evaluation. Conclusions: Findings suggest that there is a -need for a generalized curriculum for clinical practicum and for the expanding role of advanced nursing practice-, a need for diverse clinical settings for practice, and effective guidance and learning activities. It is significantly noted that the attitude and teaching methodologies of clinical instructor's are highly important to effective clinical learning outcomes.
Child ; Child Health* ; Child* ; Child, Hospitalized ; Compliance ; Curriculum ; Educational Status ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Care ; Korea* ; Learning ; Nursing* ; Postal Service ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study is to identify the present situation of children's hospice and to find the developing strategies for child hospice system in Korea. METHOD: The data was collected from both literatures and the recent data provided by the government. The direction of future of children's hospice cared in Korea was predicted based on the literature analysis and the report and policy of government. RESULT: In Korea, the system of the child hospice is not processing. There are the importance differences between children and adult in that the characteristics and approach of the hospice care. All medical personnel and the people related to hospice care including children and their family should be recognized the necessity of the children's hospice care. The following strategies is needed for setting up the child hospice: the principles and standards, recognizing of the necessities, developing of educational program for the specialist and the systemic children's hospice program, and the organization of child hospice. CONCLUSION: Directions suggested from this study have the importance of child hospice to establish and develop well in Korea for both children with life-threatening disease and their families.
Adult ; Child ; Hospice Care* ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Specialization ; Child Health

OBJECTIVE: Because endometriosis is difficult to diagnose and has a high recurrence rate after treatment, a reliable serum marker of endometriosis is necessary. Therefore, the aim of this study is to measure the serum levels of CA125 and CA19-9 in patients with endometriosis before and after treatment and during recurrence, and to assess the usefulness of these levels in the diagnosis, clinical follow up and prediction of recurrence in endometriosis. METHODS: Eighty-eight patients who visited the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Ewha Mokdong Hospital from January 1994 to December 1998 and were diagnosed as endometriosis by laparoscopy or explo-laparotomy were enrolled as subjects. A retrospective analysis of serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels at 1 month before and 3 to 6 months after initiation of treatment was done. RESULTS: The serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels of endometriosis group(81.0+/-252.5, 36.6+/-53.4 ; mean+/-2SD, U/ml) before treatment was significantly higher than control group(11.6+/-12.8, 9.4+/-8.6)(p<0.05). Overall sensitivity rate for CA125, CA19-9 levels and both was 53.4%, 42.9% and 64.3% respectively. The sensitivity rate for endometriosis, stage 3 and 4(85.4%, 55.0%) was significantly higher than that, stage 1 and 2(p<0.05). The serum CA125 level in endometriosis group showed a significant increment according to stages(p<0.05) while the serum CA19-9 level showed an increasing trend(p=0.055) and both levels decreased significantly after treatment(p<0.05). The serum CA125 level was also higher at recurrence after treatment(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The serum CA125 and CA19-9 levels are a useful marker for diagnosing severity of disease, monitoring efficacy of treatment and predicting recurrence in endometriosis.
Biomarkers ; Diagnosis ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Obstetrics ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were: 1) To describe the level of awareness of patient safety culture and nursing care activities for patient safety and, 2) To identify factors affecting nursing care activities for patient safety among oncology nurses working at inpatient care units. METHODS: The study sample included 221 nurses working in oncology wards. After obtaining IRB approval, data collection was done with structured self-administered questionnaires, from September 13 to October 13, 2013. Data analysis was done using SPSS WIN 18.0. RESULTS: The mean score of awareness of patient safety culture was 3.46 and the mean score of nursing care activities for patient safety was 4.31 both on a scale of 5.0. Significant factors affecting nursing care activities for patient safety were the open attitude of the supervisor toward patient safety (beta=.19, p=.005) and the degree of patient safety within a ward perceived by the oncology ward nurses (beta=.23, p=.003). These factors explained 31% of the subjects' nursing care activities for patient safety (F=6.08, p<.001). CONCLUSION: To increase nursing care activities for patient safety in the oncology ward, a strategy such as an education program for increasing the awareness of patient safety is needed.
Data Collection ; Education ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Nursing Care* ; Oncology Nursing ; Patient Safety* ; Safety Management ; Statistics as Topic ; Surveys and Questionnaires