To understand the possible hazards to health from the environmental pollution in Korea, the articles reported in 16 daily newspapers were collected and analyzed. From 1980 to 1991, ninety three cases were reported. Statistics show that, during the last 2 years, there has been a remarkable increases of health problems reported. The main sources of pollution were plants and the transportation facilities. Except the noise, the exact causative factors were, for the most part, not clearly described. Although many residents complained of neurological symptoms, the exact effects on health were not clearly investigated. The responses of the residents were diverse in the contents of the demand and the method of its pushing, however, the government did not show immediate and consistent counterplans.
Environmental Pollution ; Korea ; Newspapers* ; Noise ; Transportation ; Periodicals

The purpose of this study was to take the right direction and meet the requirements of newspaper function about child health through evaluation of child health information articles in newspapers. Data were collected 4 main daily newspaper by selecting child health information articles during 1 year from January 1 to December 31, 1998. The results of this study are as follows. The frequency according to health category, disease treatment(47.7%) topped followed by health maintenance?promotion(28.8%), growth?development(12.1%), disease prevention(11.4%). The frequency according to WHO international disease classification, infectious disease (23.6%) take most. In evaluation area of child health information, practical usage(3.78) topped followed by accuracy(3.68), comprehensiveness(3.64), clearness (3.48), concreteness(3.33).
Child ; Child* ; Classification ; Communicable Diseases ; Humans ; Newspapers* ; Child Health* ; Periodicals

The purpose of this study was to take the right direction and meet the requirements of newspaper function about child health through evaluation of child health information articles in newspapers. Data were collected 4 main daily newspaper by selecting child health information articles during 1 year from January 1 to December 31, 1998. The results of this study are as follows. The frequency according to health category, disease treatment(47.7%) topped followed by health maintenance?promotion(28.8%), growth?development(12.1%), disease prevention(11.4%). The frequency according to WHO international disease classification, infectious disease (23.6%) take most. In evaluation area of child health information, practical usage(3.78) topped followed by accuracy(3.68), comprehensiveness(3.64), clearness (3.48), concreteness(3.33).
Child ; Child* ; Classification ; Communicable Diseases ; Humans ; Newspapers* ; Child Health* ; Periodicals

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop an environmental education program using newspaper articles in education (NIE) and to evaluate changes in concern and practice for environmental protection after NIE. METHODS: The design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were university students in nursing, of which 31 were assigned to the experimental group and 43 to the control group. The education was carried out for 2 hr, once a week for 7 weeks. Data were analyzed with SPSS WIN 14 program, and included chi-square test, independent t-test, and repeated measure ANOVA. RESULTS: NIE showed significant differences in the changes of attitude toward environment (F=4.461, p=.036). CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that this NIE in environmental education was effective in changing students' attitudes toward the environment. Therefore this NIE is recommended for inclusion in education for university students in nursing.
Adult ; Attitude ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate ; *Environmental Pollution ; Humans ; *Newspapers ; Students, Nursing/psychology

BACKGROUND: There has been increasing concern about dermatological health information among the general population. Despite the substantial amount of dermatological articles in the mass media, little is known about their credibility. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the credibility of dermatological articles in free newspapers, one of the recently popular mass media. METHODS: Articles including dermatological information were selected from 5 free newspapers from July 2006 to February 2007. They were classified according to theme and type of consultant and were evaluated for their credibility. RESULTS: A total of 361 articles were identified. Articles about self skin care (26.6%) were most frequent, followed by cosmetic therapy (18.7%), acne (17.1%), hair (16.5%) and atopic dermatitis (6.3%). As the consultants, dermatologists (38.0%) were most common, followed by oriental medical doctors (21.5%), non-medical consultants doctors (13.3%) and other medical specialists (13.0%). There were also articles without consultant input (14.6%). Credibility assessment revealed that 213 (67.4%) articles were credible, but 91 (28.8%) were incredible and 12 (3.8%) could not be evaluated based on the dermatological references. While most of the information from dermatologists and other medical specialists were credible, those from the other types of consultants or without consultant input showed a much higher proportion of incredible information. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that there are many incredible dermatological articles in free newspapers, most of which are consulted from those other than dermatologists or other medical specialists. Therefore we suggest that dermatologists need to increase their public health role in the mass media.
Acne Vulgaris ; Consultants ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Hair ; Humans ; Mass Media ; Newspapers* ; Public Health ; Skin Care ; Specialization

OBJECTIVES: The mass media play a crucial role in risk communication regarding climate change. The aim of this study was to investigate the trend in journalistic reports on climate change in the daily newspapers of Korea. METHODS: We selected 9 daily newspapers in Korea, which according to the ABC Association, represented 77% of newspaper circulation, out of a total of 44 Korean daily newspapers. The collected articles were from 2009 to 2011. All of the articles were sorted into the following 8 categories: greenhouse gas, climate change conventions, sea level rise, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change synthesis reports, expected damage and effect, use of fossil fuels, global warming, and mitigation or adaptation. A chi-squared test was done on the articles, which were counted and classified into cause, effect, and measurement of climate change according to the newspaper's majority or minority ownership structure. RESULTS: From the 9 selected newspapers, the number of articles on climate change by month was greatest in December 2009. Generally, the articles vague about climate change (lack of precise data, negative or skeptical tone, and improper use of terminology) were much more common than the articles presenting accurate knowledge. A statistical difference was found based on ownership structure: the majority-owned newspapers addressed the cause of climate change, while the minority-owned newspapers referred more to climate change measurement. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation revealed that generally Korean daily newspapers did not deliver accurate information about climate change. The coverage of the newspapers showed significant differences according to the ownership structure.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; *Climate Change ; Global Warming ; Greenhouse Effect ; Humans ; Newspapers/*trends ; *Ownership ; Republic of Korea

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data in child health education or counselling through content analysis related to child health in newspaper articles. Data were collected 8 daily newspaper by selecting health articles from neonate to adolescent period during 1 year from January 1 to December 31 in 1998. The data were analyzed in the framework of content analysis method and the reliability degree was 98% by the method of Holsti. The results of this study are as follows. 1. The frequency according to health category, disease treatment(46.7%) topped followed by health maintenance . promotion(28.0%), disease prevention(14.7%), growth? development(10.6%). 2. The frequency according to season, summer(36. 4%) rank first. 3. The frequency according to WHO international disease classification, infectious disease(29.6%) take most. 4. According to child developmental age, similar frequency showed from infant to adolescent except neonate. 5. 201 themes, 43 category, 4 health categories were confirmed in the content analysis. 6. Health maintence . promotion occupy 28.0% of health category include 14 categories. 7. Growth . development include 6 category occupying 10.6% of the whole health category. 8. Disease prevention occupy 14.7%0 of health category and contain 6 categories. 9. Disease treatment take top of health category by the rate of 46.7% and contain 17 categories.
Adolescent ; Child ; Child Development ; Child Health* ; Child* ; Classification ; Education ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Newspapers* ; Seasons ; Periodicals

The association between celebrity suicide and subsequent increase in suicide rates among the general population has been suggested. Previous studies primarily focused on celebrity suicides in the 2000s. To better understand the association, this study examined the impacts of celebrity suicides on subsequent suicide rates using the data of Korean celebrity suicides between 1990 and 2010. Nine celebrity suicides were selected by an investigation of media reports of suicide deaths published in three major newspapers in Korea between 1990 and 2010. Suicide mortality data were obtained from the National Statistical Office of Korea. Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average models with intervention analysis were used to test the impacts of celebrity suicides, controlling for seasonality. Six of the 9 celebrity suicides had significant impacts on suicide rates both in the total population and in the same gender- or the same age-subgroups. The incident that occurred in the 1990s had no significant impact on the overall suicide rates, whereas the majority of the incidents in the 2000s had significant influences for 30 or 60 days following each incident. The influence of celebrity suicide was shown to reach its peak following the suicide death of a renowned actress in 2008. The findings may suggest a link between media coverage and the impact of celebrity suicide. Future studies should focus more on the underlying processes and confounding factors that may contribute to the impact of celebrity suicide on subsequent suicide rates.
Adult ; Aged ; *Famous Persons ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Newspapers as Topic ; Republic of Korea ; Suicide/psychology/*statistics & numerical data ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates whether Korean news media pay more attention to emerging diseases than chronic ones, and whether they closely follow the changes in the magnitude of health risks of chronic or well-known diseases. These two features are expected to appear as the result of surveillance function served by health journalism that should be the main source of the public's risk perception. METHODS: The number of stories published in 10 newspapers containing the words, 'SARS,' 'Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy,' 'Avian Influenza,' and 'Influenza A virus' was compared with the number of stories on chronic or well-known diseases. We also counted the annual number of stories, published in a 12-year period, containing following terms: 'cancer,' 'diabetes,' 'hypertension,' 'pneumonia,' and 'tuberculosis.' The number was compared with the actual mortality of each disease. RESULTS: Although cancer represented the primary cause of mortality, the newspapers covered key emerging diseases more than cancer or other well-known diseases. Also, media coverage of 'pneumonia' and 'tuberculosis' did not vary in accordance with changes in the mortality of each disease. However, the news media coverage did vary in accordance with the mortality of 'cancer,' 'diabetes,' and 'hypertension.' CONCLUSIONS: Korean health journalism was found to have both strong and weak points. The news media reduced the relative level of attention given to pneumonia and tuberculosis. Bearing in mind the major influence of news coverage on risk perception, health professionals need to be more proactive about helping to improve Korean health journalism.
*Access to Information ; Bibliometrics ; *Chronic Disease ; *Disease Outbreaks ; Humans ; *Journalism, Medical ; Newspapers ; Population Surveillance ; Public Health ; Republic of Korea ; *Risk Assessment

This study was conducted to obtain a basic information related to a more systematic safety education and measures against children's accidents by a descriptive survey with regard to accidents actually experienced by elementary schoolers, their perceived safety education activities and school facilities to their safety lives. The data was collected among 1,654 pupils, belonging to the 5th and 6th grades in Pusan from Nov. 20 to Dec. 1, 2000. The data was analyzed using SPSSWIN(7.5). The results were as follows ; 1. According to the perception by elementary schoolers, they received safety life instruction at school in most cases from teachers in charge of their own class (41.0%). Such safety education was provided often during formal classes(24.4%). Traffic guidance was given by parents, highest in frequency(67.3%). 2. Matters as most often treated during safety life instruction were safety knowledge or dangerous things(37.5%). A majority of notices of school safety instruction were presented sometimes(48.4%). Source of knowledge about safety lives included teacher (35.3%), parents(32.9%), TV and newspaper (29.9%). As a source of knowledge of emergency treatment, school nurses were accounted for 41.3% that was highest. 3.Among the 1,654 students, 91.8% experienced at least more than one case of safety accident. The most frequent type and cause of safety accident were wound(33.7%). and self-carelessness(38.4%) respectively. In most cases, the subject experienced such accident during a break time(32.2%) and at a playgrounds. Part of body as most often damaged by accidents were arms and legs, 25.4% higher than any other sides problem solving measures against the accident were taken by school nurse in most cases, 44.8% in percentage point. 4. Those students' perceived safety management of school facilities showed that they considered classroom facilities as most safe (61.6%), while playground facilities as least safe(42.8%). They also responded that the treatment of glass fragments or stones at playground is the most important item of safety management.
Arm ; Busan ; Education* ; Emergency Treatment ; Glass ; Humans ; Leg ; Newspapers ; Parents ; Problem Solving ; Pupil ; Safety Management ; Child Health ; Periodicals