No abstract available.
Cryotherapy* ; Hot Temperature* ; Humans

BACKGROUND: Despite growing knowledge of the importance of the management of diet and physical activity in the prevention of obesity in adolescence, a better understanding of social psychological influences could assist efforts in family, school and community settings. METHODS: Among the 3,653 adolescents who were randomly selected from seven separate school districts in Busan, 2,938 (83.9%) completed the questionnaire. The students who agreed to participate in this study were given a questionnaire which included social support as the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, self-efficacy as the physical self-efficacy questionnaire, self-concept as the Song and Hattie Test, physical activity as a Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and eating habits as the Harris questionnaire. RESULTS: The support from parents, teachers, classmates, close friends and other people in the community predicted the level of adolescents' self-concept and physical activity, while only the support from teachers and other people in the community predicted adolescents' dietary self-efficacy. Adolescents' self-concept and physical activity self-efficacy significantly predicted the level of physical activity. Self-concept and dietary self-efficacy also predicted healthier eating habits. Only the support from close friends predicted adolescents' healthy eating habits. The support from parents, teachers, close friends, classmates and other people in the community predicted the level of physical activity through increasing the level of self- concept or physical activity self-concept. CONCLUSION: Although adolescents' behavior are ultimately individualized, they are formed through cognitive processes which are affected by social support. These social levels, therefore, should be supportive of adolescents' physical activity and healthier eating habits by providing frequent support and encouragement to establish positive self-concept and self-efficacy.
Adolescent ; Busan ; Child ; Diet ; Eating* ; Friends ; Humans ; Motor Activity* ; Music ; Parents ; Pediatric Obesity ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Despite growing knowledge of the importance of the management of diet and physical activity in the prevention of obesity in adolescence, a better understanding of social psychological influences could assist efforts in family, school and community settings. METHODS: Among the 3,653 adolescents who were randomly selected from seven separate school districts in Busan, 2,938 (83.9%) completed the questionnaire. The students who agreed to participate in this study were given a questionnaire which included social support as the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale, self-efficacy as the physical self-efficacy questionnaire, self-concept as the Song and Hattie Test, physical activity as a Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and eating habits as the Harris questionnaire. RESULTS: The support from parents, teachers, classmates, close friends and other people in the community predicted the level of adolescents' self-concept and physical activity, while only the support from teachers and other people in the community predicted adolescents' dietary self-efficacy. Adolescents' self-concept and physical activity self-efficacy significantly predicted the level of physical activity. Self-concept and dietary self-efficacy also predicted healthier eating habits. Only the support from close friends predicted adolescents' healthy eating habits. The support from parents, teachers, close friends, classmates and other people in the community predicted the level of physical activity through increasing the level of self- concept or physical activity self-concept. CONCLUSION: Although adolescents' behavior are ultimately individualized, they are formed through cognitive processes which are affected by social support. These social levels, therefore, should be supportive of adolescents' physical activity and healthier eating habits by providing frequent support and encouragement to establish positive self-concept and self-efficacy.
Adolescent ; Busan ; Child ; Diet ; Eating* ; Friends ; Humans ; Motor Activity* ; Music ; Parents ; Pediatric Obesity ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No abstract available.
Nervous System*

The recent announcement by the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) took many by surprise. According to the KEDI, unlike general literacy rate, reading literacy rate (38%) among Koreans which is an individual's ability to understand the information we face on daily base such as directions on prescribed medication ranked at the bottom of all Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries. If we accept it as it is, it raises serious questions about Koreans' abilities to read, comprehend, and process necessary information required of functioning properly in the society. Furthermore since the information we get in the medical settings is usually more difficult to understand than other basic information we face in our daily lives, it may be assumed that health illiteracy among Koreans could be much higher and that the ramifications of it would be very much costly. Despite this seriousness of the reading illiteracy among Koreans, to the best of our knowledge, no attempts have been made to address and determine the prevalence of health illiteracy and relate it to the public health educational issue. More specifically, the effectiveness of health education materials has never been analyzed in this regard for the improvement of health education in Korea. The purpose of this article is to introduce a new concept of health literacy to the Korean public by reviewing the existing studies in the West and encourage researchers in the public health education field to look at the concept of health literacy as one of the possible strategies to design and develop more effective health education campaigns in Korea.
Delivery of Health Care* ; Education ; Educational Status ; Health Education ; Health Literacy* ; Korea ; Prevalence ; Public Health

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to report the patient's opinion of the presence of medical students in ambulatory care, and to find out which factors were related with the outpatient's feelings and opinion. METHODS: The study subjects were 187 outpatients attended at three medical college hospitals in Busan. The subjects completed self-reported questionnaires about the patients' opinion of the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. These data were analyzed chi-square test. RESULTS: Among 187 people, 100 (53.4%) respondents answered with 'agree', 65 (34.8%) were 'no idea', and 22 (11.8%) were 'disagree' about the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. The patient's age, sex, educational level, and monthly income were not related significantly with the patient's opinion of the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. The factors related to subject's opinion were previous experience of medical students' inspection (p< 0.05), comfortableness of talking to doctor with medical students (p< 0.001), and previous recognizing the medical educational function of the medical college hospital (p< 0.005). CONCLUSION: Most outpatients have positive opinion for the presence of medical students in ambulatory care. But, because some outpatients have negative opinion toward the presence of medical students in ambulatory care, we need systemic consideration about them.
Ambulatory Care* ; Busan ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education, Medical ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Students, Medical*

BACKGROUND: Obesity is one of the health problems with high risk of metabolic and physiologic morbidity worldwide. Obesity increases cardiovascular disease risk and death as well as psychological and emotional health problems. Self-efficacy and physical self-efficacy are important evaluation tools for successful diet and exercise in obesity diet practice and it is directly associated with health behaviors. This study conducted to evaluate the effect of weight loss on self-efficacy and life quality. METHODS: The 39 adults who joined in weight control program in one public health center were recruited into this study. Quality of life, depression scale, anxiety scale, self-efficacy and physical self-efficacy were examined. Also physical performance ability and weight and lipid profile were examined. Statistical analysis obtained by SPSS. RESULTS: Quality of life and anxiety scale were significantly diminished in obese subjects than non-obese subjects. Quality of life was increased after weight control program in obese subjects. Physical self-efficacy was improved in weight reduction group with much more than 5% of initial weight. CONCLUSION: Weight reduction has positive impact on psychological aspects in obese subjects. Therefore, we should be more concerned about psychological and functional aspect of obese individuals during weight control treatment.
Adult ; Anxiety ; Body Weight ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Delivery of Health Care ; Depression ; Diet ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Obesity ; Public Health ; Quality of Life ; Self Efficacy ; Weight Loss

BACKGROUND: Life style has been shown to improve risk factors comprising the metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a prime candidate for lifestyle modification utilizing the tools of exercise, nutritional therapy and so on. Therefore, we examined the prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to health behaviors. METHODS: A total of 1,240 adults were recruited into this cross-sectional study. The subjects were examined on body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and lipid profile. Medical history was reviewed and daily calorie intake was examined by food frequency questionnaire. Six healthy behaviors, sleeping hours, smoking, drinking, exercise, calorie intake and body weight of subjects, were examined. Each healthy behaviors were categorized into three groups. Metabolic syndrome as diagnosed by ATP III criteria. RESULTS: The study subjects consisted of 57.1% men and 42.9% women. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 14.3%. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was lower in the group with good healthy behaviors. The subjects with more good healthy behaviors had a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome than those with less good healthy behaviors (0, 50.0%; 1, 41.0%; 2, 30.6%; 3, 13.8%; 4, 8.5%; 5, 5.3%; and 6, 4.3%). Relative to the subjects with high good health behavior score, those with low good health behavior score were at significantly increased risk of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio = 4.25, 95% CI 2.97-6.08). CONCLUSION: The subjects with much more good healthy behaviors had a substantially lower risk of being diagnosed with the metabolic syndrome compared to those with lesser good healthy behaviors. This finding suggests that lifestyle modification may be appropriate as the first-line intervention to metabolic syndrome.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Adult ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Drinking ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Life Style ; Male ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Waist Circumference ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: There are several reports that vitamin C is one of antioxidants and can be used to protect cardiovascular diseases. Inflammation plays a major role in atherosclerosis, and the measurement of inflammatory markers such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs- CRP) may provide methods for risk prediction and reveal independent risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of our study was to assess the correlation between vitamin C intake and plasma hs-CRP concentration. METHODS: The study subjects consisted of 2,012 individuals who underwent periodic health examination in a university hospital in Busan from June 2002 to January 2003. The subjects were questioned concerning their past medical history, alcohol intake, smoking status, physical activity. Body mass index, abdominal circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, lipid profile, general blood test, and hs-CRP were measured. The exclusive responsible dietitian evaluated the average calorie intake and vitamin C intake by food frequency questionnaire. To quantify the correlation between vitamin C intake and plasma hs-CRP concentration, Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman correlation coefficient were presented. RESULTS: The vitamin C index (r=-0.051, P<0.05) and the vitamin C intake per calorie intake (r=-0.075, P<0.01) showed a significant correlation with the plasma hs-CRP level. The vitamin C intake and the vitamin C intake per calorie intake were significantly correlated with the plasma hs-CRP level after adjusting for sex, age, body mass index and smoking status. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that there was a significant correlation between the vitamin C intake and the hs-CRP concentration. Therefore, inflammatory status is higher in a person who takes small amount of vitamin C than a person who takes it plentifully. The former is presumed to have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases thereafter.
Antioxidants ; Ascorbic Acid* ; Atherosclerosis ; Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Busan ; C-Reactive Protein* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Fasting ; Glucose ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Motor Activity ; Nutritionists ; Plasma* ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND: Recently, body composition analyzer has been used widely clinically. Various indirectly measured values of body are calculated without direct measuring. The abdominal circumference that is presented by such instrument may be used for diagnosing abdominal obesity, but the reliable evidence of the accuracy and the validity may be not be enough for application to general population. For this reason, the author investigated the usefulness of automatically produced abdominal circumference for diagnosing abdominal obesity. METHODS: The medical records of 5,555 outpatients who had undergone body composition analysis in a tertiary hospital was collected. The usefulness of the automatically presented abdominal circumference for diagnosing abdominal obesity among general population was investigated. RESULTS: There was a significant positive correlation between abdominal circumference measured by body composition analyzer and measuring tape in the normal, the overweight, and the obese groups of both gender. But, the results were the same only in females in the underweight group. The most significant difference between the two values were 4.8+/-5.0 cm in normal male group and -5.7+/-5.5 cm in female obese group. The difference of the male obese group was lesser than that of the overweight, the normal and the underweight groups. The difference of the male overweight group was lesser than that of the normal group. The difference of the female obese group was lesser than that of the overweight, the normal and the underweight groups. The sensitivity and specificity to detect abdominal obese person among the total subjects was 76.3% and 79.1%, respectively. The specificity was higher in all male and the normal female groups, wheras the sensitivity was higher in the obese and the overweight female groups. CONCLUSION: Physicians should confirm the accuracy of abdominal circumference, especially in normal males and obese female group, although the automatically presented value is convenient and reflects the manually measured one very well which is useful to diagnose abdominal obesity.
Body Composition* ; Body Mass Index* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Records ; Obesity, Abdominal ; Outpatients ; Overweight ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Thinness ; Waist Circumference