The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing health promoting lifestyles in college women thus providing the basic data necessary to establish a health promoting program. The subjects of this study were 274 college women, living in Seoul, Chung-Buk, and Kangwon, during the period from May 10 to July 15, 2000. The instruments for this study were the health promoting lifestyles scale developed by Bak, Insuk(1995), the self efficacy scale by Sherer et al. (1982), the social support scale by Su, Moonja(1988), the self-esteem scale by Rosenberg(1965) and the perceived health status scale by Lawton et al.(1982). The results of this study are as follows; 1. The average score for health promoting lifestyles was 2.45 on a 4 point scale. The health promoting lifestyles categories 'harmony relationships' (3.04) and 'sanitary life'(3.02) revealed higher scores, whereas scores for 'healthy diet' (2.32), 'exercise & activity' (2.14) and 'professional health management' (1.48) were lower. 2. The mean score for self-efficacy, social support, self esteem and perceived health status was 3.38 (on a 5 point scale), 2.88 (on a 4 point scale), 2.98(on a 4 point scale) and 3.08(on a 5 point scale) respectively. 3. Health promoting lifestyles showed significant positive correlation with self efficacy, social support, self esteem and perceived health status. 4. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the most powerful predictor of health promoting lifestyle was self efficacy. Self efficacy, social support, and perceived health status have significant effects on health promoting lifestyles. These predictive variables of health promoting lifestyles explained 25% of variance. Finally, the result of this study will provide important factors for the development of a nursing intervention program for the promotion of healthy lifestyles in college women.
Female ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Life Style* ; Nursing ; Self Concept ; Self Efficacy ; Seoul

OBJECTIVES: Despite the importance of the protection of patients' health information in clinical settings, little is known about the awareness of this concept in nursing students due to the lack of a suitable measurement tool. Hence, this study attempted to redevelop the Patients' Health Information Protection Awareness Scale, and evaluate its construct validity and reliability for nursing students. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. Nursing students who were in their 3rd and 4th year were recruited from 10 universities in Korea to assess the construct validity, and 30 experts (27 nurses and 3 faculty members) participated in the content validation process. RESULTS: The content validity assessment indicated that 23 items were ideal. The assessment of construct validity using exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors: communication, management, and referrals. They together accounted for 54.1% of the variance in scale scores. The three-factor scale had good fit in the confirmatory factor analysis. Scale reliability was confirmed, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94 for all items. CONCLUSIONS: This study was the first attempt to redevelop the Patients' Health Information Protection Awareness Scale for student nurses. The 23-item scale was shown to be a reliable and valid tool. It facilitates the assessment of nursing students' awareness of patient information protection. Academic nursing programs and health organizations can use its scores to implement adequate education plans to safeguard information in nursing students.
Computer Security* ; Education ; Health Information Management ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Referral and Consultation ; Reproducibility of Results ; Students, Nursing

BACKGROUND: Differentiation of atypical pathogens is important for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). In this study, we compared sputum and nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) for use in detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP), Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CP), and Legionella pneumophila (LP), using Seeplex PneumoBacter ACE Detection Assay (PneumoBacter; Seegene). METHODS: Sputum and NPS specimens were collected from patients in 15 hospitals. DNA was extracted from sputum using QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (Qiagen) and from NPS using easyMAG (bioMerieux). Both types of specimens were evaluated by multiplex PCR using PneumoBacter. To determine the diagnostic performance of this assay, sputum samples were also tested using BD ProbeTec ET Atypical Pneumonia Assay (APA; Becton Dickinson). RESULTS: Among 217 sputum and NPS, 20 (9.2%), 2 (0.9%), and 0 sputum were positive for MP, LP, and CP, respectively, whereas 8 (3.7%) NPS were positive for MP. The sputum APA test yielded 186, 206, and 204 interpretable results for MP, LP, and CP, respectively. Of these, 21 (11.3%) were positive for MP, 2 (1.0%) were positive for LP, and 0 samples were positive for CP. Compared to APA, the sensitivity and specificity of the sputum assay for MP were 95.2% and 100.0%, respectively, whereas for the NPS assay, these were 38.1% and 93.9%. Sputum testing was more sensitive than NPS testing (P=0.002). For LP and CP diagnosis, PneumoBacter and APA tests agreed 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Specimen type is crucial and sputum is preferred over NPS for simultaneous detection of MP, LP, and CP using multiplex PCR in CAP.
Chlamydophila Infections/diagnosis ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae/*genetics/isolation & purification ; Community-Acquired Infections/*diagnosis ; DNA, Bacterial/analysis/isolation & purification ; Humans ; Legionella pneumophila/*genetics/isolation & purification ; Legionnaires' Disease/diagnosis ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae/*genetics/isolation & purification ; Nasopharynx/*microbiology ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma/diagnosis ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sputum/*microbiology

Lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA) is an inflammatory disease that primarily causes anogenital lesion in middle aged women. We present here a case of facial LSA with an asymptomatic, well-demarcated, whitish to bluish, atrophic patch in a linear pattern on the forehead of a 48-year-old woman. This case showed an atypical clinical presentation and it mimicked en coup de sabre, but the histopathologic results confirmed the diagnosis of LSA.
Female ; Forehead ; Humans ; Lichen Sclerosus et Atrophicus ; Lichens ; Middle Aged ; Scleroderma, Localized