PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence risk-taking behavior in middle school students. METHODS: The participants in this study were 544 students from 4 middle schools in Seoul or Gyeonggi Province. From July 16, to September 9, 2008, data were collected using self-report questionnaires. Demographic, individual, socio-economic characteristics of risk-taking behavior were examined. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, zero-inflated negative binomial regression as count model using SAS 9.1 and Stata 10.0 program were used for the analysis. RESULTS: The score for risk-taking behavior of the middle school students tended to be low with thrill-seeking behavior being the highest. Risk-taking behavior was higher for boys and for students not living with parents. Stress coping ability, family risk factors, family functioning, peer's risk-taking behavior, and harmful environment were correlated with risk-taking behavior. On zero-inflated negative binomial regression analysis, the factor significantly influencing risk-taking behavior were self-esteem and for increased risk-taking behavior, family functioning, and peer's risk-taking behavior. CONCLUSION: A risk-taking behavior approach that considers developmental needs is useful in understanding the behavior of early adolescents. Development of effective guidance and interventions considering factors influencing risk-taking behavior as identified in this study is recommended.
Adolescent ; Analysis of Variance ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Parents ; Questionnaires ; Regression Analysis ; Risk Factors ; Risk-Taking* ; Seoul

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore status and level of communication ability, interpersonal relationships, anxiety, and depression in Korean soldiers and identify factors that influence depression. METHODS: A cross sectional study design was employed. The instruments were PCI (Primary Communication Inventory), RCS (Relationship Change Scale), STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), and CES-D (The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale). Data were collected from 961 soldiers from Gyeong-gi Province and analyzed using SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. RESULTS: The mean score for PCS, RCS were 87.0+/-11.43; and 98.8+/-14.17 respectfully and for STAI-I (state-anxiety), and STAI-II (trait-anxiety), 34.7+/-10.36; and 36.6+/-9.64 respectfully, and for CES-D, 11.2+/-7.0. Of the participants 22.2% were in the clinical group for depression. Major variables showing significant correlations were family intimacy, intimacy with friends or colleague, and inconvenience in not being able to use computer or internet. STAI-II, intimacy with friends or colleague, STAI-I accounted for 44.2double dagger of the variance in depression. CONCLUSION: The study results suggest that a systemic approach needed to relieve soldiers' anxiety and depression. Development of program for communication training, activities for leisure and interpersonal relationship during military life could contribute to lessening depression and anxiety in solder.
Anxiety* ; Communication* ; Depression* ; Friends ; Humans ; Internet ; Leisure Activities ; Military Personnel*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore level of moral distress, moral sensitivity, and ethical climate of nurses working in psychiatric wards and identify factors that influence moral distress. Also this study was done to describe the content of moral distress. METHODS: Data were collected through self-report questionnaires and focus group interviews. A survey was conducted with 108 psychiatric nurses and 8 volunteers were interviewed. Instruments used in this study were the Moral Distress Scale for Psychiatric Nurses, Korean version of the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire, and Ethical Climate Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 20.0 program and content analysis. RESULTS: The mean score for moral distress was 3.74 and for moral sensitivity, 4.67. The significant factors influencing moral distress were clinical career in psychiatric wards, moral sensitivity, personal profit and friendship. As a result of content analysis, 3 domain of moral distress were found: moral distress situations, responses in moral distress situations, factors to overcome moral distress and resources that enable ethical nursing. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that in the development of interventions to decrease moral distress for nurses working in psychiatric wards, factors identified as influencing moral distress and content of moral distress should be considered.
Climate* ; Focus Groups ; Friends ; Humans ; Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to establish a set of normative data values for saccade movements using videonystagmography and to evaluate the effects of manual correction on this data. METHODS: We examined 25 healthy subjects (9 men and 16 women). All tests were carried out by one well-instructed physician. Errors such as the wrong detection of the inflection point, missing movement, and prediction occurred during some tests. Thus, the same physician manually corrected the data by deleting error data from row results. RESULTS: We established a set of normative data for horizontal saccade movements (amplitude size 15 and 30 degrees) for mean peak velocity, latency, and accuracy. Manual correction only impacted latency and accuracy at 30 degrees horizontal, which is likely related to possible errors during the test. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides clinically useful videonystagmography-based normative data for clinicians regarding saccade movements in Korean individuals.
Adult ; Female ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Male ; Oculomotor Muscles/*physiology ; Photic Stimulation ; Reference Values ; Reproducibility of Results ; Saccades/*physiology ; Video Recording/*methods ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: To evaluate optic disc pallor using ImageJ in traumatic optic neuropathy (TON). METHODS: This study examined unilateral TON patients. The optic disc was divided into 4 quadrants (temporal, superior, nasal, and inferior), consistent with the quadrants on optical coherence tomography (OCT) retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness maps. Optic disc photography was performed and disc pallor was quantified using gray scale photographic images imported into ImageJ software. The correlation between optic disc pallor and RNFL thickness was examined in each quadrant. RESULTS: A total of 35 patients (31 male, 4 female) were enrolled in the study. The mean participant age was 34.8 +/- 15.0 years (range, 5 to 63 years). Overall RNFL thickness decreased in 6 patients, with thinning most often occurring in the inferior quadrant (28 of 35 eyes). There was a significant correlation between optic disc pallor and RNFL thickness (superior, rho = -0.358, p = 0.04; inferior, rho = -0.345, p = 0.04; nasal, rho = -0.417, p = 0.01; temporal, rho = -0.390, p = 0.02). The highest level of correspondence between disc pallor and RNFL thickness values outside of the normative 95th percentiles was 39.3% and occurred in the inferior quadrant. CONCLUSIONS: Optic disc pallor in TON was quantified with ImageJ and was significantly correlated with RNFL thickness abnormalities. Thus, ImageJ evaluations of disc pallor may be useful for evaluating RNFL thinning, as verified by OCT RNFL analyses.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Colorimetry/methods/standards ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted/*methods/standards ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Optic Atrophy/etiology/*pathology ; Optic Nerve Diseases/etiology/*pathology ; Optic Nerve Injuries/*pathology ; Photography/*methods/standards ; Reproducibility of Results ; Software ; Tomography, Optical Coherence/*methods/standards ; Trauma Severity Indices ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to: (a) develop a comprehensive communication course combined with a group program for improving communication skills; and (b) examine the effects of the comprehensive communication course on interpersonal communication, relationship change, self-esteem, and depression in nursing students. METHOD: The experimental group consisted of 82 nursing students, and the control group, 108 nursing students. Both groups each took communication courses from March to June, 2002 and 2003. A group program for improving communication skills was conducted for each 8 subgroups of the experimental group for 90 minutes once a week during the 6 weeks, while the existing communication lecture was conducted for the control group. Both groups were post-tested after the intervention for verifying the difference of variables between the two groups, and the experimental group was also pre-tested for verifying the difference between before and after the treatment. RESULT & CONCLUSION: Interpersonal communication score of the post-test in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group and the depression score of the post-test in the experimental group was significantly lower than in the control group. Interpersonal communication, relationship change and self-esteem scores were significantly increased and the depression score was significantly decreased in experimental group after the treatment. In conclusion, the comprehensive communication course that was developed in this study had positive effects on communication skills in nursing students.
Adolescent ; Adult ; *Communication ; *Education, Nursing ; Female ; Humans ; *Interpersonal Relations ; Male ; Nurse-Patient Relations

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships between Moral Sensitivity, Empathy and Perceived Ethical Climate for nurses working in national mental hospitals and to provide basic data for the development of interventions that enhance Moral Sensitivity and help psychiatric hospital nurses in Ethical Decision-making. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 182 psychiatric nurses working in the national mental hospitals. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires which included the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (MSQ), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS). RESULTS: The mean score for MSQ was 5.19, for IRI, 2.49, and for HECS, 3.73. There was a significant positive correlation between moral sensitivity and empathy (r=.24, p=.001), between moral sensitivity and perceived ethical climate (r=.17, p= .025) and between empathy and perceived ethical climate (r=.17, p=.025). CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that moral sensitivity can be enhanced by improving empathy, a personal factor, and ethical climate, an organization factor. Further identification of the relationship between moral sensitivity and personal and organizational factors will be useful in the development of interventions to enhance moral sensitivity of nurses working in psychiatric wards.
Climate* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Empathy* ; Hospitals, Psychiatric* ; Humans

PURPOSE: This study was done to develop and test a structural model for caregiving experience including caregiving satisfaction and caregiving strain in families providing care for family members with a mental disorder. METHODS: The Stress-appraisal-coping model was used as the conceptual framework and the structural equation model to confirm the path that explains what and how variables affect caregiving experience in these families. In this hypothesis model, exogenous variables were optimism, severity of illness and uncertainty. The endogenous variables were self efficacy, social support, caregiving satisfaction and caregiving strain. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. RESULTS: Optimism and caregiving self-efficacy had significant direct and indirect effects on caregiving satisfaction. Optimism, severity of illness and uncertainty had significant direct and indirect effects on caregiving strain. The modified path model explained effects of optimism on caregiving self-efficacy with social support in the path structure as a mediator. Also, there were direct and indirect effects of optimism and uncertainty on caregiving satisfaction with social support and caregiving self-efficacy in the path structure as a mediators. CONCLUSION: Results suggest the need to improve caregiving self-efficacy of these families, establish support systems such as a mental health professional support programs for caregiving self-efficacy. Optimism, severity of illness and uncertainty perceived by families need to be considered in the development of support programs in order to increase their effectiveness.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Caregivers/*psychology ; Family ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Disorders/*pathology ; Middle Aged ; Personal Satisfaction ; Self Efficacy ; Severity of Illness Index ; Social Support ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Uncertainty ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived functional health patterns and recovery in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, to explore the magnitude of relationship between of these variables and influencing factors such as self-esteem, insight, therapeutic relationship, and social support. METHODS: Participants were 160 individuals from 16 Community Mental Health Centers in Gyeonggi Province. Data were collected from April 10 to June, 12, 2010. Analysis was done using descriptive data, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and canonical correlation coefficients with the SAS 9.1 program. RESULTS: The mean score for perceived functional health of participants was below the normal range and the mean for recovery was above the middle range. Functional health and recovery were positively correlated with all components. The magnitude of relationship between functional health pattern, recovery and influencing factors were high in order of self-esteem, social support, insight, and therapeutic relationship. CONCLUSION: Functional health is strongly associated with recovery and useful in promoting recovery. Development of recovery oriented training programs for professionals and interventions considering factors influencing recovery and functional health as identified in this study is recommended.
Community Mental Health Centers ; Phenothiazines ; Reference Values ; Schizophrenia

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the mediation of self-efficacy in the relationship between anger and the functional health of homeless men in order to provide a basis for planning nursing interventions to improve the functional health of homeless persons. METHODS: The participants were 137 homeless men who lived in homeless shelters or visited one center serving free meals for homeless persons in Seoul. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires and analyzed with the SPSS-WIN 20.0 program. The instruments were the Functional Health Pattern Screening Assessment Tool (FHPAST), Self-efficacy Scale (SES), and State-trait Anger Expression Inventory-Korean version (STAXI-K). RESULTS: The mean score for functional health was 2.41. Overall self-efficacy was 70.82. state anger was 16.53, trait anger was 19.54, and anger expression was 25.31. There were signigicant correlations among the 3 variables, functional health, self-efficacy, and anger. Also, self-efficacy had a complete mediating effect in the relationship between anger and functional health. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, health management programs focusing on anger management and self-efficacy improvement are highly recommended to promote functional health in homeless persons.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Aged ; *Anger ; Cognition ; Expressed Emotion ; Health Status ; Homeless Persons/*psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Questionnaires ; *Self Efficacy ; Stress, Psychological