PURPOSE: Instead of a chaotic non circadian environmental approach, continuing regular day-night rhythm in neonatal nurseries may benefit the development of preterm infants. The purpose of this study was to define the effects of cycled lighting on circadian rhythms of premature infants. METHODS: The experimental group included 15 preterm infants, and the control group, 15 premature infants in the NICU of a general hospital in Seoul. All infants were between 32 and 37 weeks' postconceptional age. The experimental group infants were provided with cycled lighting before discharge. The incubator or bassinet cover of the experimental group was off between 7 AM and 7 PM, and was covered between 7 PM and 7 AM. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the NNNS score (p=.039), and some significant differences in the sleep-activity pattern between the experimental group and the control group, but distinct differences in sleep-activity patterns between the two groups could not be defined. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that cycled lighting can be helpful in the neurobehavioral development of preterm infants. By modifying the NICU environment to provide a more developmentally supportive milieu, nursing professionals can better meet the infants' physiologic and neurobehavioral needs.
Circadian Rhythm ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Incubators ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Light ; Lighting ; Nurseries ; Child Health

PURPOSE: This study was done to develop a cell phone addiction scale for Korean children. METHODS: The process included construction of a conceptual framework, generation of initial items, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, preliminary study, and extraction of final items. The participants were 268 children from grades 4 to 6 in two urban elementary schools. Construct validity, internal consistence reliability, and split-half reliability were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Nine items were categorized into 2 factors explaining 61.29% of total variance. The factors were labeled as obsessive compulsion (6 items) and dependency (3 items). Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 9 items was .87, and Spearman-Brown coefficient was .83. Scale scores identified children as high risk users, at risk users, or average users by standard scores. CONCLUSION: The above findings indicate that the cell phone addiction scale for children has good validity and reliability when used with Korean children.
Behavior, Addictive ; Cellular Phone ; Child ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Humans ; Reproducibility of Results ; Child Health

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to measure (the degree of) injury risk perception in preschool children. METHODS: The data were collected from child day care centers and kindergartens located in Seoul, and Gyeonggi and Kwangwon Province. A questionnaire consisted of 28 pictures was administered to 186 preschool children. RESULTS: The mean score for the injury risk perception was 21.83 (+/-3.89), and 77.98 converted into a 100-point scale. According to sub-categories, 'burn prevention' (.96+/-.13) was the highest, 'interpersonal safety' (.44+/-.31) was the lowest. There were significant differences in injury risk perception according to gender (t=-2.358, p=.019), age (t=-2.101, p=.037), experience of safety education (t=-3.719, p<.001), area of residence (t=-3.445, p=.001), injury experience (t=3.212, p=.002), and mother's occupation (t=-4.858, p<.001). The highest item in the percentage of correct answer item was 'making jump on the desk', the lowest item in the percentage of correct answer item was 'not wearing safety equipment when rollerblading'. CONCLUSION: Based on this study, studies should be continued to standardize the instrument. In addition, it is recommended that an injury prevention education program should be developed based on the results of this study to stimulate demand and interest.
Child ; Child Day Care Centers ; Child, Preschool ; Humans ; Occupations ; Child Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine the importance of health promotion behavior for infants and toddlers as perceived by mothers of children in early childhood, and graduate students in nursing and to provide information for health promotion in early childhood. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey research study. The participants were 91 mothers of children in early childhood, and 115 graduate students in nursing. RESULTS: The comparisons showed that graduate students in nursing reported higher perception of the importance health promotion behavior for infants and toddlers than did the mothers. In health promotion behavior, the highest score was in the category of safety. CONCLUSION: Providing information by nurses is necessary to promote health promotion behavior for mothers of children in early childhood. Therefore, it is important for healthcare professionals to develop effective programs for these mothers who want to promote good health promotion behavior in their children.
Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Infant ; Mothers ; Child Health

PURPOSE: This study was done to verify the reliability and validity of the Korean version of DMCI in Korean adolescents. METHODS: A methodological study design was used with Cronbach's alpha for reliability, and an exploratory factor analysis and contrasted groups approach for construct validity. DMCI was translated into Korean and tested with a sample of 406 adolescents in Korea. The data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, item correlation with total, principal component factor analysis, and t-test. RESULTS: The translated content of the DMCI was validated by nursing faculty members and translation equivalency was obtained. The Cronbach's alpha of the DMCI simplified with 18 items was .78. The factor analysis revealed three factors explaining 41.5% of total variance and the corresponding factors were self-observation (21.6%), self-judgement (11.4%), and self-confidence (8.6%). The mean score for the DMCI in the aggression group was significantly lower than the non-aggression group. CONCLUSION: Results of this study suggest that the Korean version of DMCI can used as a reliable and valid measure to assess decision making competency in Korean adolescents.
Adolescent ; Aggression ; Decision Making ; Faculty, Nursing ; Humans ; Korea ; Reproducibility of Results ; Child Health

PURPOSE: The main purposes of this study were to assess maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) of the expectant mothers of a fetus with a prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) and to identify factors associated with MFA. METHODS: The methodology was a cross sectional survey study using a self-administered questionnaire. Thirty pregnant women carrying a fetus with a prenatal diagnosis of CHD and 30 pregnant women with a normal fetus were enrolled in this study. The MFA Scale and PPS (The Prenatal Psychosocial Profile) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 Window version. Descriptive statistics, chi2-test and t-test were used to compare the two groups. The factors associated with MFA were identified by multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the two groups in MFA and social support from spouse was the only variable showing a significant difference. The model from the multiple regression analysis explained 33.8% of MFA for both groups. CONCLUSION: MFA of expectant mothers with a prenatal diagnosis of CHD and of mothers with a normal fetus were not significantly different. It is important that health care providers encourage expectant fathers to support the expectant mothers to increase MFA.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Fathers ; Female ; Fetus ; Health Personnel ; Heart ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Lifting ; Maternal-Fetal Relations ; Mothers ; Pregnant Women ; Prenatal Diagnosis ; Spouses ; Child Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The aim was to explore the relationship between health status/life style and prevalence of atopic dermatitis in adolescents. METHODS: Data from 1,743 adolescents (aged 13 to 18 years) derived from the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were analyzed using binary logistic regression and the classification and regression tree (CART) model. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of atopic dermatitis was 10.3%. Third quartile income class (OR=2.19, 95% CI=1.20-4.00), fair and unhealthy self-rated health (OR=1.49, 95% CI=1.06-2.11; OR= 2.73, 95% CI=1.64-4.55), past or current smoker (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.20-0.85; OR=0.44, 95% CI=0.21-0.92), and more than average stress (OR=1.43, 95% CI=1.03-1.99) were related with increased prevalence of atopic dermatitis. The high prevalence risk groups for atopic dermatitis were adolescents who perceived themselves to be healthy on self-rated health and had more than average stress and those who perceived themselves to be unhealthy and who never smoked. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that health status, smoking, and stress are associated with a prevalence risk for adolescent atopic dermatitis in different degrees. Therefore, for control of atopic dermatitis, various interventions for smoking and stress need to be reinforced for the high prevalence atopic dermatitis groups.
Adolescent ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Style ; Logistic Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Prevalence ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Child Health

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of structured nursing intervention for caregivers on maintenance of intravenous (IV) infusions in infants. METHODS: The structured nursing intervention was developed through the processes of interviews with nurses from pediatric wards. To identify the effects of the developed nursing intervention, a non-synchronized non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design study was conducted with caregivers from the pediatric ward from a hospital in Seoul. Of 100 admitted infants, 50 caregivers were assigned to the intervention group and received the structured nursing intervention for maintenance of intravenous infusions in infants. The others were assigned control group and received routine care. Data were collected on patient factors, IV insertion factors, treatments, and IV related complications. The form developed for the structured nursing intervention was used by staff nurses. RESULTS: Compared to the control group, IV insertion frequency in experimental group infants was significantly lower and IV related complications decreased (p<.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the structured nursing intervention for caregivers on maintenance of intravenous infusions may have effects on maintenance of intravenous infusions in infants, and decreasing IV related complications. This nursing intervention can be used to improve IV related problems of admitted infants.
Caregivers ; Humans ; Infant ; Infusions, Intravenous ; Child Health

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate health issues of children with disabilities attending daycare centers, and to identify the way of teachers' management on child health. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was performed with a convenience sampling of 127 teachers from 19 daycare centers for children with disabilities and 175 teachers from 17 general daycare centers. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data, and the data were analyzed using the SPSS 17.0 program. RESULTS: For the last one month, about 90% of the teachers working in daycare centers for children with disabilities had to care for sick children. When a child is sick, 50% of the teachers tended to contact with the parents of the child. The majority of the teachers caring for sick children experienced difficulties with no one available to give expert health care advice. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that there are many health issues in daycare centers for children with disabilities and therefore health professionals need to be available to the centers. Specifically, health management services and programs need to be developed and provided for children with disabilities.
Child ; Child Day Care Centers ; Delivery of Health Care ; Disabled Children ; Health Occupations ; Health Services ; Humans ; Parents ; Child Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze the post operative fasting period of neonates in the intensive care unit (ICU) after receiving open heart surgery in order to provide optimal nutrition support for these neonates. The variables included biochemical nutrition indexes (albumin, total lymphocyte count, total cholesterol) and patient outcomes (duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU stay, hospital stay, infectious complication). METHODS: The participants were 124 neonates in ICU after receiving open heart surgery, and the design of this study was to investigate their post operative fasting period retrospectively to analyze the biochemical nutrition indexes and patient outcomes according to post operative fasting period. RESULTS: The results for 4 groups according to post operative fasting period showed that the group with less 48 hours of fasting had the best biochemical nutrition indexes and patient outcomes, followed by the 48-72 hour group, the 72-144 hour group, and the over 144 hour group. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that for new born babies receiving open heart surgery, the period of fasting after the operation should be minimized and tube feeding should be started as soon as possible.
Enteral Nutrition ; Fasting ; Heart ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care Units ; Length of Stay ; Lymphocyte Count ; Nutrition Assessment ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies ; Thoracic Surgery ; Child Health