PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify and profile distinct subgroups of patients with hypertension based on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior regarding their medication and health lifestyle. METHOD: A descriptive-exploratory research design was employed. Two hundred and twenty-three patients with hypertension using W Public Health Center were randomly recruited on the basis of being over 30 of age. Upon the receipt of their written consents, direct interview with a structured questionnaire were conducted by a public health nurse. Descriptive statistics and chi2-test were utilized. RESULTS: Three subgroups were identified. Group I members had a low score on all three factors including knowledge, attitudes and behavior related to medication and health lifestyle. Group II members had a low score on one or two of the factors. Group III members had a high score on all three factors. The three subgroups were significantly associated with education level, economic status, non-smoking and non-drinking. CONCLUSIONS: Further research should be conducted to validate these findings and test tailored nursing intervention for patient compliance.
Education ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Life Style* ; Nurses, Public Health ; Nursing ; Patient Compliance ; Public Health ; Research Design ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a mentoring program for stress management among Korean adolescents and to assess the effects of the program. METHODS: The nonequivalent control group (CG) pretest-posttest design was used in this study. The mentoring intervention was delivered to 18 middle school students (males and females) but nothing was done to the control group consisting of 18 students. The mentoring intervention was conducted by seven nursing students who participated in the program as mentors using various methods such as individual meetings and group activities. The dependent variable was stress level. RESULTS: The program consisted of group and individual mentoring. At follow-up, although the mentees's satisfaction was high and they stated qualitatively positive experience, the difference of stress level between the two groups was not significant. CONCLUSION: If future mentoring programs reflect the limitation of the current program, they may have potential as developmentally appropriate interventions for stress management of adolescents, and enable nursing students to gain confidence in their professional capability.
Adolescent* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mentors* ; Students, Nursing

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify factors to predict of condom use for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among sex workers in a Korean community. The theoretical ground of this study was the Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior. METHOD: A descriptive, cross sectional and retrospective research design was employed in this study. A total of 100 sex workers who take a clinical check-up on STDs regularly at W Public Health Center were recruited by convenient sampling, and with consent to participate in this study. All of the measures were piloted, and the reliability of each scale ranged from 0.7 to 0.9. Data were analyzed using discriminating function analysis with SPSS-PC. RESULTS: Five independent measures (partner preference for using condoms, subjects desire to prevent STD, age, type of relationship and sexual self-determination) contributed significantly to the best discriminating function. The discriminating function analysis resulted in correct classification of 83.1% of the respondents into their corresponding groups. CONCLUSION: Condoms are a main means of STDs prevention. Risk-reduction interventions that enhance communication skills and intrinsic motivation will be effective in increasing condom use to prevent STDs among sex workers.
Classification ; Condoms* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Motivation ; Prostitution ; Public Health ; Research Design ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Workers* ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases*

PURPOSE: To describe the lived experience of nursing students when faced with clinical judgment in a nursing practicum at the hospital. METHODS: A descriptive research design was utilized. Participants were 79 students in the clinical practicum. Participant consent was obtained for ethical protection. Data were collected from August to December 2007 using a semi-structured questionnaire. Content analysis was utilized for data analysis. RESULTS: Two categories and 5 themes were extracted from the data for 'difficult' and 'easy' clinical judgments. For the student category, the two themes were 'knowledge' and 'skill', while the three themes for the clinical education environment category were, 'judgment of clinical symptoms and signs', 'differences between theory and practice' and 'human relationships'. For coping, 2 categories and 5 themes were extracted for the difficult clinical judgment situation, while one category and one theme were found for the easy clinical judgment situation. CONCLUSION: To develop students' clinical judgment, there is need to develop the method of clinical skills using simulation in clinical teaching. For future research, a study on factors affecting clinical judgment of nursing students in hospitals is needed.
Clinical Competence ; Humans ; Judgment ; Research Design ; Statistics as Topic ; Students, Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common chronic disease among elders, and it crucially requires self-management. This study aimed to qualitatively examine exercise experiences of elderly Medicaid beneficiaries with osteoarthritis receiving exercise intervention based on self-determination theory (SDT). Methods: Eight elders who received a community-based exercise intervention were interviewed three times. Using the interview transcriptions and field notes, researchers conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis based on SDT to explore the motivational process of exercise compliance. Results: Three meaningful profiles (non-compliant, intermitter, and compliant) were identified along with satisfaction with needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) that motivate exercise compliance based on SDT. Compliance of exercise is primarily initiated by external regulation and followed by the internalization process of recognizing and accepting the value of the behavior. Conclusions The concepts of SDT could be used to explore factors associated with motivation and gradual behavior change among elderly Medicaid beneficiaries with osteoarthritis. Autonomy, competence, relatedness, external regulation, and identified regulation control may be applied to establish a strategy that promotes behavior change by satisfying the psychological needs and internalizing the behavior of these elders.

Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common chronic disease among elders, and it crucially requires self-management. This study aimed to qualitatively examine exercise experiences of elderly Medicaid beneficiaries with osteoarthritis receiving exercise intervention based on self-determination theory (SDT). Methods: Eight elders who received a community-based exercise intervention were interviewed three times. Using the interview transcriptions and field notes, researchers conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis based on SDT to explore the motivational process of exercise compliance. Results: Three meaningful profiles (non-compliant, intermitter, and compliant) were identified along with satisfaction with needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) that motivate exercise compliance based on SDT. Compliance of exercise is primarily initiated by external regulation and followed by the internalization process of recognizing and accepting the value of the behavior. Conclusions The concepts of SDT could be used to explore factors associated with motivation and gradual behavior change among elderly Medicaid beneficiaries with osteoarthritis. Autonomy, competence, relatedness, external regulation, and identified regulation control may be applied to establish a strategy that promotes behavior change by satisfying the psychological needs and internalizing the behavior of these elders.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to test the effectiveness of an 8 session intervention program to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among at-risk prostitutes. METHOD: An experimental research design was employed. Subjects were 59 prostitutes (29 in the control group and 30 in the experimental group) who agreed to participate in this study. An STD Prevention Framework derived from Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior guided the overall intervention and the components. The intervention had 8 sessions with STD-prevention strategies and was led by Public Health Nurses. Analysis included change scores, chi2-test, and t-test. RESULT: The results revealed significant increase in feelings and skills of condom use, peer belief on condom use, condom use practice, and satisfaction with service at public health centers (PHC) on STDs knowledge and skills in the experimental group. However, newly contracted STDs were not significant statistically between groups. CONCLUSION: The 8 session STDs prevention program showed a effect on emotions, skills and behaviors of condom use even withthe limitation of methodological rigors because of subject-specific conditions. In the future, a capacity-building model based on collaborating networks among community-based organizations will be needed to develop in effective STDs prevention.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases/*nursing/prevention & control ; Risk Factors ; *Prostitution ; Humans ; Female ; *Counseling ; Condoms/*utilization ; Adult

PURPOSE: This study was done to analyze the effects of tele-care case management services using secondary data. METHODS: A descriptive research design was utilized, and the participants were 134 medical aid beneficiaries who were in either the high-risk group or the preventive group. Case management services were delivered by 8 care managers. Data were analyzed using PAWS Statistics 17 through descriptive statistics and paired t-test. RESULTS: After the case management intervention, the participants' health quality of life, self-care competency, and reasonable medical care utilization increased significantly for the high-risk group. However there were no significant changes in the preventive group. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the tele-care case management services were effective for high-risk medical aid beneficiaries. Further studies with controls for constitutional variables and a comparison group are required to validate the robustness of the effectiveness of the case management program in the present study.
Case Management* ; Medicaid ; Quality of Life ; Research Design ; Self Care

The purpose of this study was to analyze the appraising frame and the accreditation system of universities in both Korea and the United Sates, as well as developing a standard plan to appraise 4 year nursing education institutions in Korea. Research design of this study was descriptive comparative research. The results of the research can be divided into six fields, educational purposes, educational courses, students, faculty, facility equipments and administration finance in Korea. Then the results were further categorized into seven fields : mission and governance, faculty, students, curriculum and instruction, resources, educational effectiveness and integrity. Thus Korean appraising frames were suggested to have eight fields of standard. The fields are philosophy and purposes of educational institution, educational courses and instruction, students, faculty, facility equipments, adminstration finance, educational effectiveness and integrity.
Accreditation ; Curriculum ; Education, Nursing ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate* ; Humans ; Korea ; Missions and Missionaries ; Philosophy ; Research Design

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine characteristics of nursing science and identify expected outcomes from baccalaureate graduates, and to develop accreditation standards and criteria reflecting the characteristics of the nursing profession. METHODS: A methodological research design was utilized in this study. Related literature reviews and the nursing education program goals and objectives of the 99 nursing schools in Korea were analyzed. A cross-sectional survey research design was utilized to test the validity of the developed characteristics of the nursing profession and their accreditation criteria and standards. The face validity was from the advisory committee and public committee hearing. RESULTS: The characteristics of nursing science were defined with five concepts including humanity, scientific knowledge, professionalism, therapeutic relationship, and facilitating well-being. The expected outcomes from graduates were identified as providing holistic nursing, critical thinking, establishing professionalism and leadership, construction of a therapeutic relationship, and skilled nursing practice. Finally6 standards and 14 criteria reflecting the unique characteristics of the nursing profession were developed for accreditation. These proposed accreditation standards and criteria are a challenge to promote the quality of nursing science.
Accreditation/organization & administration/*standards ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Curriculum/standards ; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/organization & administration/*standards ; Humans ; Nursing Methodology Research ; Organizational Objectives