INTRODUCTION: This study explored attitudes towards vasectomy and its acceptance as a method of contraception among clinical-year medical students, and determined the association between their demographic characteristics, and attitudes and acceptance. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among clinical-year medical students from a Malaysian private medical college using a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: There were 330 participants with a female preponderance and a mean age of 22.0 ± 1.1 years. The largest proportion of respondents were from Year 3. The vast majority were ethnically Malay (91.8%) and followed Islam (92.4%). Overall, 60.9% of participants had a positive attitude towards vasectomy and 76.0% showed good acceptance. Gender, academic year, ethnicity and religion variables were not associated with attitudes and acceptance (p > 0.05). A significantly higher proportion of male respondents thought that vasectomy was religiously forbidden and would give a bad impression. A significantly higher proportion of Year 5 students agreed to the statement 'I would recommend vasectomy to relatives, friends and people close to me' compared to Year 3 and 4 students. CONCLUSION Students' perception of vasectomy as a contraceptive method was encouraging. Our results suggest that their knowledge improved as medical training progressed, and attitudes evolved for the better irrespective of their traditional, cultural and religious beliefs - highlighting the importance of providing students with evidence-based learning about male sterilisation, which is more cost-effective and is associated with lower morbidity than female sterilisation. A qualitative study involving students from different ethnicities and religions would provide a better understanding of this subject.
Adult ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Contraception ; methods ; psychology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Malaysia ; Male ; Religion and Medicine ; Schools, Medical ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vasectomy ; psychology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and psycho-socio-spiritual characteristics in male patients with alcohol dependence. METHODS: The sample consisted of 109 men with alcohol dependence defined by DSM-IV criteria. We assessed QOL by the WHO QOL assessment instrument-BREF (WHOQOL) and SmithKline Beecham QOL (SBQOL). Sociodemographic and alcohol related data were collected, and 7 questionnaires were administered: MAST, BDI, STAI, Drinker Inventory of Consequences (DrInC), Scale of Social Support (SSS), Religious Beliefs and Behaviors (RBB) and Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWBS). The correlations between each QOL score and other variables were examined, and stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: The WHOQOL score positively correlated with education level, SSS (support) and RBB and negatively correlated with MAST, DrInC, BDI, STAI (trait) and SSS (conflict) scores. In stepwise regression analysis, the scores on the STAI and BDI contributed to the score on the WHOQOL. The SBQOL score correlated with the income level, and negatively correlated with BDI and STAI score. STAI score was a weak predictor of SBQOL score. CONCLUSION: The significant predictors of QOL in patients with alcohol dependence were psychological factors such as anxiety and depression.
Alcoholism* ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Education ; Humans ; Male* ; Psychology ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Religion

To evaluate the parental concerns for elementary school boys (7-12 yr) on the circumcision, a randomly selected cross-sectional survey was performed in each elementary school from 16 urban wards in Busan. We asked 10,861 parents to answer the questionnaires on the circumcision such as the benefits and fallbacks of circumcision, proper time and knowledge of the surgery, and neonatal circumcison. The overall response rate to the questionnaire was 38.9%. The overall circumcision rate of elementary school boys was 43.2%, which increased from 18.7% at 7 yr old to 64.8% at 12 yr old. The significant reason for and against circumcison was 'hygiene benefits (88.1%)' and 'unreliable medical benefits (38.5%)', respectively. 74.9% of parents thought that elementary school age is the optimal time of circumcision. Only 11.2% of boys were circumcised during neonatal period. The main reason for parents to oppose neonatal circumcision was 'their babies feel pain (35.8%)'. About 50% of parents thought that circumcision will prevent medical diseases. Besides the medical basis, the circumcision is emerging as a kind of social custom in Busan. For parents making the decisions on the circumcision of their boys, physician or health care providers should provide helpful and honest facts about circumcision.
Attitude to Health ; Child ; Circumcision/psychology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Culture ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Human ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parents/psychology* ; Questionnaires ; Random Allocation ; Religion ; Socioeconomic Factors

In this transcultural study of schizophrenic delusions among patients in Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei, we discovered that both the frequency and content of delusions differed among the three groups; and that these differences could perhaps be explained by varying sociocultural and political situations. Delusional themes that are sensitive to sociocultural or political situations include guilt, love/sex, religion, somatic damage, economy/business and politics. Delusions regarding longevity, love/sex, dysmorphophobia/dysosmophobia, religion or supernatural matters, and espionage/spy stories were most frequent in Seoul patients. Those in Taipei predominantly had delusions about possession, religion or supernatural matters, hypnotism, and mass media/computers. Shanghai patients often had delusions of poisons, being prickled by poisoned needles, their brain and viscera extracted and being a family member of political authorities.
Adult ; China/epidemiology ; Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Delusions/psychology ; Delusions/epidemiology* ; Female ; Human ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Middle Age ; Prevalence ; Religion ; Schizophrenia/epidemiology* ; Taiwan/epidemiology

Psychiatry is a branch of medicine which deals with the problem of mental health. Although psychiatric concept and treatment is not absent in traditional medicine in Korea, it was not regarded as an independent discipline of medicine. Modern psychiatry was introduced into Korea as modern Western medicine was introduced in 19th century. The American medical missionary Dr. Allen and Dr. Heron gave the first classification of mental diseases of Korean patients in their first year report of Jejoongwon hospital. The statistics are characterized by relatively high rate of hysteria patients among the patients with mental disorders. It was Dr. Mclaren who took the charge of the Psychiatric Department of Severance hospital, the successor of Jejoongwon hospital. As a psychiatrist, Dr. Mclaren had a deep interest in human nature and mind. His thinking on the subjects was based on his Christian faith and philosophy. He claimed that Christian faith plays an important role in curing mental diseases. And several medical students decided to become a psychiatrist under his influence. Among them is Dr. Lee Chung Chul who took the charge of the Department of Psychiatry after Mclaren. After graduation in 1927, Dr. Lee studied in Peking Union Medical College, Australia, and Japan. His main research interests were focused on the biological aspects of mental disorders, and he published several important papers on the subject. But his unexpected early resignation and subsequent expulsion of Dr. Mclaren from Korea by Japanese colonial government hindered further development of psychiatry in Severance Union Medical College until the Liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945. But some of their students specialized in psychiatry during the hard period of early 1940s and they played an important role in the development of modern psychiatry in Korea after the Liberation.
History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries/history ; Psychiatric Department, Hospital/*history ; Psychiatry/education/*history ; Religion and Psychology ; Schools, Medical/*history ; United States

PIP: This presentation focuses on the involvement of the Church in the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. The Church believes in the sacredness of life in every person and in a human dignity that needs to be respected. Therefore, people with AIDS should not be condemned, avoided, or rejected. The Church also points out the importance of HIV/AIDS awareness education in explaining the meaning of human sexuality in the context of marriage and religious teaching. Young people are also challenged to be faithful to their Christian valuesparticularly those of respect, sacrifice, discipline, and responsible sexual behavior. Due to the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS situation, both the Church and the government should take up the responsibility to prevent the spread of these diseases. Moreover, in addition to medical programs, Church-related organizations will continue to provide psychological, social, and economic support as well as counseling services.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome -psychology ; Endemic Diseases - prevention & ; control ; Mental Healing ; Papua New Guinea - epidemiology ; Religion and Medicine ; Self-Help Groups - organization & ; administration ; Stress, Psychological - prevention & ; control

We report the case of a 29-year-old mixed-race woman suffering from recurrent major depressive episodes, with suicidal ideation and risk, involving several inpatient admissions. A comorbid diagnosis of borderline personality disorder was also recorded in one of her previous inpatient admissions. During her last inpatient admission, a multidisciplinary case discussion and review of the patient's life highlighted several possible intercultural trigger factors that could have contributed to the exacerbation of her psychiatric illness. We emphasise the need to explore intercultural predisposing and precipitating factors for a more complete psychodynamic understanding of psychiatric illnesses among the multiracial population of Singapore. This also adds to the discussion on the management of such patients with the option of formal in-depth psychotherapy in adjunct to medication. This may prevent recurrent relapses, modify suicide intent and reduce the necessity for inpatient treatment, which will be cost-effective and result in efficacious treatment.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Borderline Personality Disorder ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Comorbidity ; Cultural Characteristics ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Ethnic Groups ; Female ; Humans ; Psychotherapy ; methods ; Race Relations ; Religion ; Risk ; Singapore ; Suicidal Ideation

Je Jung Won was the first modern-style Government hospital built by the Korean King Ko-Jong in April 1885, and it was the medical missionary Horace Newton Allen(1858~1932) who made one of the greatest contributions to the establishment of the hospital. Allen was an American missionary. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in theology in 1881, and completed one-yearcourse at Miami Medical College. In Korea and America he worked as a physician, a missionary, an American diplomatic minister to Korea and a Korean minister's secretary to America. While acting as a mediator between Korea and America, he knew and recorded the domestic and foreign situation of Korea during Gaehwagi(the civilized and enlightened age). Thus to study him is to understand Korea's Gaehwagi as well as to research American medical missionaries. During his stay in Korea(1884~1905), Allen steadily wrote diaries and letters about Korean politics, diplomacy, society, culture, and medicine. Thus his public/private record through diaries and letters(the quantity of these materials amounts to several thousands) supplements the Korean early modern era's historical record. However, until now these materials have received little scholarly attention from researchers except for a few historians of missionary work between Korea and America, or of Korean modern medicine. I intended to use these materials to suggest a new perspective on the study of Korean Gaehwagi. Allen, along with John W. Heron, who came to Seoul on June 21st 1885, treated about 10,460 Korean patients in the first year of the opening of JeJungWon. They made "the first annual report of the Korean Government Hospital". This report explained how Allen and Heron regarded and treated Korean patients. Allen's diaries, letters and other writings offer a realistic view of how the western people actually recognized the Korean people at that time. As a western doctor, Allen had an ambivalent attitude toward Korean medical concepts and systems. On the one hand, he thought that medical idea, some food and drug of Korean is valuable. He said that the native Korea faculty had some good ideas with regards to treatment. And he held Korean rice, ginseng, and so on in high regard. However, he did not rate Korean acupuncture and Korean traditional ointment at all. In addition, he sometimes cured Korean patients dangerously and with imprudence. The amputation of patients' body, no matter how little, must ask the permission of the patients themselves. Especially, the sense of Korean filial duty couldn't accept amputation of body at those times. The artificial change of body meant to hurt parents' body, because at those times Korean people thought that my body was my parent's possession. But Allen did it without enough explanation or persuasion. Moreover he didn't feel guilty for the behavior at all. Besides, he seemed to be proud of it in the above mention. Such careless or unethical behavior cannot be excused. On the other hand, he had made mistakes in treatment according to his record. He pulled out some healthy teeth of patients who had a bad toothache. But he didn't explain nor apologize the mistake. Besides, he refused treatment of patients until the hospital would be opened in order to push Korean government to prepare hospital quickly. Why or how did he do that? The first answer available to the question, he might be so confident of his medical knowledge and skill that he didn't feel the need to ask the patients' thought and will. However, as stated above, his medical study was just one year. And he worried about his inexperience of surgery. Thus the first assumption seems to be false. He wasn't confident of his medical knowledge. The fact that nevertheless Allen treated Korean patients at his will, is still blamable. The second assumption is that he regarded western modern medicine as the only correct and proper approach. He didn't have many experiences, but his west modern medicine made him proud of its achievement. After middle 19th century of modern times, Micheal Foucault said at The Birth of Clinics, western modern medicine believed itself scientific on the ground that west modern medicine could have pathology and surgery. Allen might also trust the scientific ability of western modern medicine. So he might think that he didn't need to explain 'modern and scientific' medicine of West to people in 'premodern and non-scientific' medicine of Korea. The third answer is his 'Orientalism'. He thought that Koreans were dirty, lazy, and barbarous and, therefore, he made a clear distinction between Caucasian and Korean. He set his affection on 'Cho-Seon' and made efforts to cure Korean patients and establish the first western Government hospital in Korea. However he, as a westerner, could not free himself from 'Orientalism' and 'Imperialism'. Thus, he might ride so roughshod Korean patients. In fact the 'Orientalism' was not only Allen's thought. Many western visitors thought Korean as an 'Orient'. The West regarded themselves as civilized and the East as uncivilized or barbarous, therefore the West thought that the East should be modernized with the help of the West. This thought rationalized their imperialism and colonialism toward the East. In addition, he seemed to have some ambition in politics and diplomatics. He wanted to be a high-ranking official, so his goal of his life was political or economical power rather than medical missionary.
Clinical Medicine/history ; Colonialism/history ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; History of Medicine ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Hospitals/history ; *Human Body ; Humans ; Politics ; *Recognition (Psychology) ; Religion and Medicine ; Republic of Korea ; United States

PURPOSE: Professional nursing ethics is a living, dynamic set of standards for nurses'professional moral behavior. Furthermore, in daily clinical nursing training, nursing students are constantly confronted with decisionmaking that is moral in nature. The aim of this study was to identify the perceived ethical attitudes in the clinical training process of senior nursing students using Q-methodology to offer basic strategies for nursing ethics education and thereby improve patients'care. METHODS: Q-methodology provides a scientific method for identifying perception structures that exist within certain individuals or groups. Thirty-seven participants in a university rated 38 selected Q-statements on a scale of 1-9. The collected data were analyzed using pc-QUNAL software. RESULTS: Principal component analysis identified 3 types of ethical attitudes in nursing students in Korea. The categories were labeled Sacred-life, Science-realistic and Humane-life. Sacred-life individuals think that a life belongs to an absolute power (God), not a man, and a human life is a high and noble thing. Science-realistic individuals disagreed that allowing an induced abortion or embryo (human) duplication is unethical behavior that provokes a trend, which takes the value of a life lightly; most of them took a utilitarian position with respect to ethical decisions. Humane-life individuals exhibit a tendency toward human-centered thought with respect to ethical attitudes. CONCLUSION: This study will be of interest to educators of students of nursing and hospital nursing administrators. Also, the findings may provide the basis for the development of more appropriate strategies to improve nursing ethics education programs.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Analysis of Variance ; *Attitude of Health Personnel/ethnology ; Clinical Competence/standards ; Decision Making ; *Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/ethics/standards ; *Ethics, Nursing/education ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humanism ; Humans ; Interprofessional Relations/ethics ; Korea ; Morals ; Needs Assessment ; Nursing Methodology Research/methods ; Patient Rights/ethics ; Philosophy, Nursing ; *Q-Sort ; Religion and Psychology ; Students, Nursing/*psychology ; Value of Life

The study aimed to assess the spiritual nursing care competencies of BSN students in Region 1 through the utilization of a descriptive-correlational research design involving the 424 Levels 2 - 4 BSN students and 125 clinical instructors from 14 selected higher education institutions. Data were gathered through questionnaires and were analyzed using frequency percentage, mean, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Findings revealed that the extent of the spiritual nursing care competencies of BSN students in Region 1 is moderate (spiritual nursing knowledge: x ̄ = 11.18; spiritual values: x ̄ = 3.77; and spiritual nursing skills: x ̄ = 2.76). There is a very weak positive, statistically significant correlation between the students' year level and spiritual values (r = 0.135, SD = 0.63, p < 0.01) and spiritual nursing skills (r = 0.153, SD = 0.62, p < 0.01). Furthermore, a very weak inverse significant relationship was revealed between the school category (r = -0.113, SD = 0.62, p < 0.05) and the level of accreditation (r = -0.101, SD = 0.62, p < 0.05) to their spiritual nursing skills. The BSN students in Region 1 are reasonably competent in rendering spiritual nursing care. Their year level, school category, and school accreditation are important factors to better spiritual nursing skills. As they advance in the year level, they are likely to assimilate spiritual values that are indispensable in delivering spiritual nursing care. However, amidst this favorable competence, clinical instructors still see the students as work in progress, capable of excelling. Thus, the utilization of the training module, which is an output of this endeavor, can help the nurse educators mold BSN students to advance their spiritual nursing care competence.
Spirituality