PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a comprehensive smoking cessation program for Korean adolescents. METHOD: The study design was quasi-experimental with one pre and three post-tests. The three posttests were done immediately after, three months later, and six months after the completion of the program. A total of 43 high school students who smoked participated in the study with 22 in the experimental group and 21 in the control group. The smoking cessation program consisted of 9 sessions with content on enhancement of self-efficacy, stress management, correction of distorted thoughts, consciousness raising, and assertiveness training. The study variables were urine cotinine levels, self-efficacy, stress, and stages of changed behavior. RESULTS: Urine cotinine levels significantly decreased in the experimental group after the program (F=3.02, p=.06) but significantly increased in the control group (F=6.32, p=.004). Self-efficacy and the degree of stress did not change in either group. The stages of smoking cessation behavior tended to change when compared with raw data for the experimental group. For most participants, the stages of change had been precontemplation and contemplation, but changed to action and maintenance stage among the experimental group. CONCLUSION: The program was effective in smoking cessation and influencing stages of change but did not change psychosocial factors such as self-efficacy and stress. It is suggested a program should be developed to change psychosocial variables on a long-term basis. It is also desirable to involve peers and families of adolescents who smoke when planning programs to enhance social support.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Adolescent Health Services/*organization & administration ; Adolescent Psychology ; Analysis of Variance ; Attitude to Health ; Cotinine/urine ; Educational Status ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Korea ; Longitudinal Studies ; Needs Assessment ; Patient Education as Topic/*organization & administration ; Personality Inventory ; Program Development ; Program Evaluation ; Questionnaires ; School Health Services/*organization & administration ; Self Efficacy ; Smoking/*prevention & control/psychology/urine ; Smoking Cessation/*methods/psychology ; Stress, Psychological/complications/psychology

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop an educational program to reduce negative attitudes toward persons with mental illness (PMIs) using online media and to test its effectiveness. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group with a pre-posttest was employed in this study. A total of 143 lay people were enrolled. The study variables were knowledge and attitudes about mental illness, and social distance. The four domains of attitudes were authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness and community mental health ideology. RESULTS: Phase 1: In an attempt to develop an educational program, the researcher conducted interviews with lay people and families of PMIs, and reviewed the pertinent literature. Three mental health professionals were consulted after developing the program. The program consisted of eight sessions. Phase 2: Community mental health ideology differed significantly between groups after the experiment. Knowledge tended to increase in the experimental group, while social restrictiveness showed a tendency to decrease. However, the changes were not significant in either case. Authoritarianism, benevolence, and social distance were not significantly different between groups. There was a significant difference in the pattern of change over time for both groups regarding authoritarianism, benevolence, and social restrictiveness. CONCLUSIONS: The program developed here was partially effective at changing negative attitudes. The online video program can be used by community mental health nurses to enhance general knowledge and help reduce stigma.
Authoritarianism ; Beneficence ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; Mental Health ; Social Distance

Objectives: We aimed to identify the factors related to depression and quality of life in patients with hypertension by using multilevel regression analysis. Methods: In 2019, 229 043 participants in the Korean Community Health Survey were selected as the study group. Individual factors were identified using data from the 2019 Community Health Survey. Regional factors were identified using data from the National Statistical Office of Korea. Multilevel regression analysis was conducted to find individual and local factors affecting depression and quality of life in patients with hypertension and to determine any associated interactions. Results: As individual factors in patients with hypertension, women, those with lower education-levels, recipients of basic livelihood benefits, and those with poor dietary conditions showed stronger associations with depression and quality of life. As regional factors and individual-level variables in patients with hypertension, lower gross regional personal income, fewer doctors at medical institutions, and lower rates of participation in volunteer activities presented stronger associations with depression and quality of life. In addition, the associations of depression with gross regional personal income, the number of doctors at medical institutions, and dietary conditions were significantly stronger in patients with hypertension than in patients without hypertension. The associations of gender and employment status with quality of life were also significantly greater. Conclusions Policy interventions are needed to adjust health behaviors, prevent depression, and improve quality of life for patients with hypertension, especially for those with the risk factors identified in this study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Drug abuse is one of the most serious problems among the Korean adolescents today and has been associated with delinquent behavior in adolescents. The number of adolescents who abuse drugs is increasing yearly. Solutions to the problem, however, have not been well developed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a drug use prevention program which was developed by researchers. The program was a modified DARE(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program for Korean adolescents. MEHTODS: This study used an experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 122 middle school students who were at one middle school located in Seoul. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire where 'knowledge and attitude about drug use', 'social skill', and 'self-esteem' were measured. The program had 12 sessions to improve knowledge and attitudes towards drugs, decision making skills, social resistance skills, management of stress and self-esteem of students. Teaching strategies for each session were varied : lectures, group discussion, role-playing, question-and-answer sessions and audiovisual materials. Paired t-test was used to analyze the differences between the pre- and post-test scores on knowledge of and attitudes towards drug use, social skills, and self-esteem. RESULTS: There were significant differences in knowledge and attitudes about drug use between pretest and post-test(p<.05), but no significant differences in social skill and self-esteem(p>.05). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the drug use prevention program was not effective in promoting social-skill and self-esteem of Korean adolescents. These findings might be due to the respondents being in the period of early adolescence(puberty) and not being good at group discussion. So, further study is needed to develop a drug use prevention program appropriate to students 9 and 10 years old, and to encourage small group discussion.
Adolescent* ; Child ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Lectures ; Seoul ; Street Drugs ; Substance-Related Disorders

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Drug abuse is one of the most serious problems among the Korean adolescents today and has been associated with delinquent behavior in adolescents. The number of adolescents who abuse drugs is increasing yearly. Solutions to the problem, however, have not been well developed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a drug use prevention program which was developed by researchers. The program was a modified DARE(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program for Korean adolescents. MEHTODS: This study used an experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design with a convenience sample of 122 middle school students who were at one middle school located in Seoul. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire where 'knowledge and attitude about drug use', 'social skill', and 'self-esteem' were measured. The program had 12 sessions to improve knowledge and attitudes towards drugs, decision making skills, social resistance skills, management of stress and self-esteem of students. Teaching strategies for each session were varied : lectures, group discussion, role-playing, question-and-answer sessions and audiovisual materials. Paired t-test was used to analyze the differences between the pre- and post-test scores on knowledge of and attitudes towards drug use, social skills, and self-esteem. RESULTS: There were significant differences in knowledge and attitudes about drug use between pretest and post-test(p<.05), but no significant differences in social skill and self-esteem(p>.05). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the drug use prevention program was not effective in promoting social-skill and self-esteem of Korean adolescents. These findings might be due to the respondents being in the period of early adolescence(puberty) and not being good at group discussion. So, further study is needed to develop a drug use prevention program appropriate to students 9 and 10 years old, and to encourage small group discussion.
Adolescent* ; Child ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Decision Making ; Humans ; Lectures ; Seoul ; Street Drugs ; Substance-Related Disorders

Deprivation indices have been widely used to evaluate neighborhood socioeconomic status and therefore examine individuals within their regional context. Although some studies on the development of deprivation indices were conducted in Korea, additional research is needed to construct a more valid and reliable deprivation index. Therefore, a new deprivation index, named the K index, was constructed using principal component analysis. This index was compared with the Carstairs, Townsend and Choi indices. A possible association between infant death and deprivation was explored using the K index. The K index had a higher correlation with the infant mortality rate than did the other three indices. The regional deprivation quintiles were unequally distributed throughout the country. Despite the overall trend of gradually decreasing infant mortality rates, inequalities in infant deaths according to the deprivation quintiles persisted and widened. Despite its significance, the regional deprivation variable had a smaller effect on infant deaths than did individual variables. The K index functions as a deprivation index, and we may use this index to estimate the regional socioeconomic status in Korea. We found that inequalities in infant deaths according to the time trend persisted. To reduce the health inequalities among infants in Korea, regional deprivation should be considered.
Adult ; Databases, Factual ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; *Infant Death ; Male ; Parents ; Poverty ; Principal Component Analysis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; *Social Class

OBJECTIVE: Schizophrenia seriously degrades the ability to function normally in those who suffer from this disease. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive online medication adherence enhancement program and to test its effectiveness among schizophrenia patients who live in community relatively neglected with few inputs or oversights from community mental health centers. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group with prepost test was employed during the study. Participants included fifty-two chronic schizophrenia patients, twentysix experimental, and a control group of twenty-six. The study variables were medication knowledge, perceived benefits, self efficacy, social support and medication compliance. RESULTS: There were significant differences between two groups in perceived benefits (F=5.67, p=0.02), self-efficacy (F=6.38, p=0.01), social support (F=14.63, p<0.001) but no significant differences in medication knowledge (F=0.82, p=0.37), and medication compliance (F=0.89, p=0.35) when the program was completed. However, medication knowledge in posttest I and posttest II which was taken after 3 months of the program were significantly increased in the experimental group (F=8.88, p<0.001). Medication adherence in posttest II was significantly increased in the experimental group (F=6.10, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The online medication adherence enhancement program for persons with schizophrenia was effective at increasing psychosocial variables such as perceived benefits, self efficacy, and social support. This program can be used for schizophrenic persons in community mental health centers, patients' homes, hospitals, and community centers.
Community Mental Health Centers ; Humans ; Medication Adherence ; Schizophrenia ; Self Efficacy

The relationship between social disparity and specific causes of infant mortality has rarely been studied. The present study analyzed infant mortality trends according to the causes of death and the inequalities in specific causes of infant mortality between different parental social classes. We analyzed 8,209,836 births from the Statistics Korea between 1995 and 2009. The trends of disparity for cause-specific infant mortality according to parental education and employment were examined using the Cox proportional hazard model for the birth-year intervals of 1995–1999, 2000–2004, and 2005–2009. Adjusted hazard ratios were calculated after adjusting for infants' gender, parents' age, maternal obstetrical history, gestational age, and birth weight. An increasing trend in social inequalities in all-cause infant mortality according to paternal education was evident. Social inequalities in infant mortality were greater for “Not classified symptoms, signs and findings” (International Classification of Diseases 10th revision [ICD-10]: R00–R99) and “Injury, poisoning and of external causes” (S00–T98), particularly for “Ill-defined and unspecified causes” (R990) and “Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)” (R950); and increased overtime for “Not classified symptoms, signs and findings” (R00–R99), “Injury, poisoning and of external causes” (S00–T98) and “Conditions in perinatal period” (P00–P96), particularly for “SIDS” (R950) and “Respiratory distress syndrome of newborns (RDS)” (P220). The specific causes of infant mortality, in particular the “Not classified causes” (R00–R99 coded deaths) should be investigated more thoroughly to reduce inequality in health.
Birth Weight ; Cause of Death ; Classification ; Cohort Studies* ; Education ; Employment ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Death ; Infant Mortality* ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea* ; Maternal Age ; Parents ; Parturition* ; Poisoning ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Social Class ; Socioeconomic Factors*

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to reveal the multiple factors that are related to the work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) of shipbuilding workers, and to elucidate the relationship between musculoskeletal symptoms and factors such as the change of working conditions, job stress and physical workload. METHODS: The study sample comprised 1,059 shipbuilding workers. A structured-questionnaire was used to assess the general characteristics, job stress, psychosocial well-being index (PWI), physical workload, change of working conditions and information concerning musculoskeletal symptoms. We estimated the relations of job stress, physical workload and intensity of labour to musculoskeletal symptoms using univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The symptom prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in any part of the body was 89.5% by 'criteria 1'in the order of back (58.6%) and shoulder (56.3%). After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, posture factor (Odds ratio [OR]=1.06, 95% confidence interval [ C I ] = 1 . 0 0~1.12), non-posture factor (OR=1.17, CI=1.05~1.31), Borg scale (OR=1.15, C I = 1 . 0 0~1.32), relative work intensity increase (OR=1.92, CI=1.08~3.41), labor flexibility increase (OR=2.04, CI=1.04~4.01), high job demand (OR=2.68, CI=1.48~4.88), and high risk stress group (OR=13.50, CI=3.15~57.97) were all found to be significantly associated with musculoskeletal disorders. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that WMSDs have multiple risk factors such as stress, physical workload and change of working conditions. High job demand, increased relative intensification of work and increased flexibility, especially such as subcontract, outsourcing and importing of contingent work, were very important factors associated with increasing WMSDs.
Logistic Models ; Outsourced Services ; Pliability ; Posture ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Shoulder

Interleukin-12 (IL-12), consisting of p35 and p40, plays important roles in linking innate and adaptive immunity. While p35 is constitutively expressed, IL-12 p40 gene expression is induced upon activation by Toll-like receptor ligands. Recently, with gene targeting technology, the cytokine IL-12 p40 reporter mouse has been developed to express the p40 gene linked via a viral IRES element with yellow fluorescence protein (YFP) fluorescent reporter. We investigated whether this novel system would be useful to reveal IL-12 p40-producing immune cells. We first investigated whether macrophages and dendritic cells from these mice faithfully reported p40 induction. Next, we tested if microglial cells, macrophages in the brain, could induce IL-12 p40. Finally we tested whether B cells could produce IL-12 p40 because there were very few reports for IL-12 production by B cells. Our results confirmed that macrophages and dendritic cells are main producer of IL-12 p40. Then, we found that microglial cells could produce IL-12 p40 upon stimulation with various TLR ligands. Finally we found that a subset of B cells could produce IL-12 p40 in TLR9-dependent manner. Taken all together, our system will be a valuable tool to identify the type of immune cells that produce IL-12 p40.
Adaptive Immunity ; Animals ; B-Lymphocytes ; Brain ; Corynebacterium ; Dendritic Cells ; Fluorescence ; Gene Expression ; Gene Targeting ; Interleukin-12 ; Ligands ; Macrophages ; Mice ; Microglia ; Toll-Like Receptors