A Comparative Study about Risk Factors Influencing Suicide Ideation between Korean and Multicultural Adolescents

PURPOSE: In South Korea, suicide mortality has rapidly increased, so it has become a major public health concern. Multicultural adolescents are regarded as a high-risk group due to their situation. In this study, we compared the prevalence and risk factors of suicide ideation between Korean and multicultural adolescents. METHODS: Data from the eleventh Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2015), collected by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were statistically analyzed using the descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. The total participants were 63,376 in numbers. They were composed of 62,649 (98.9%) Korean and 727 (1.1%) multicultural adolescents. RESULTS: I found that the prevalence of suicide ideation was significantly higher among the multicultural adolescents (15.8%) compared with those of Korean (11.3%). The risk factors of suicide ideation in the Korean group were co-residence without family, poor perceived health status, depressive mood, high stress level, poor perceived happiness level, and experience of violence. Conversely, the risk factors of the multicultural group were smoking, depressive mood, and experience of violence. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that appropriate and practical prevention strategies should focus on psychological and environmental factors in order to prevent suicide ideation and reduce suicide behavior in Korean and multicultural adolescents.

A Comparative Study between American Public Health Nurse Core Competency and Community Health Nursing Practicum in a Province

PURPOSE: This study attempts to examine the extent to which competencies were identified in a Korean community nursing practice based on the 11 core competencies required by US health nurses. METHODS: This was a descriptive research study, and the subjects of this study were 11 students who were in a four-year nursing course. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire from October 19 to November 22, 2016. RESULTS: Core competencies in total were practiced in 60.0% to 98.5% of schools in Korea. Among these, competencies corresponding to the practice level of ‘high’ were identified as ‘communicating effectively with community nursing subjects and colleagues, and accepting various personal characteristics without criticism or prejudice’. On the other hand, competencies corresponding to the practice level of ‘low’ were identified as ‘to comply with social justice, public good, public health principles, and leadership in a community nursing practice’. CONCLUSION: This study can be used as a resource to categorize the competence of nursing students expected in the field of community nursing. Based on a careful review of core competencies with low practice, it is necessary to seek specific practical strategies to strengthen these competencies in the future.

Direction of the Community Health Nursing Practice Education Focusing on the Nursing Education Accreditation Criteria

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to seek the direction of community health nursing practice education focus on the nursing education accreditation criteria. METHODS: We collected data through e-mail survey to all of 202 Korean nursing baccalaureate education institute in April, 2016. The 93 professors teaching community health nursing was responded about their affiliated institute (response rate 46.0%). RESULTS: The Korean nursing graduates in Feb. 2016 was practiced 3.01 credits, 131.6 hours in community health nursing course. Community health nursing practice agency was public health center (98.9%), Public health center post (43.0%), Public health center branch (32.3%) in order. The possibility to achieve the course objectives up to national examination was recognised Public health center (3.4), Public health center post (3.3), Public health center branch and school (3.2) from 5 score likert scale. A lot of nursing education institute have difficulty in clinical placement in community health nursing practice agency that meet eligibility of preceptor and space gaining for only nursing students. CONCLUSION: The nursing education accreditation criteria in 3rd cycle have to be considered real community health nursing practice situation and newly emerging community health nursing fields.

Effects on Long-Term Care Hospital Staff Mixing Level after Implementing Differentiated Inpatient Nursing Fees by Staffing Grades / 간호행정학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine trends in number of nursing staff and skill mix. METHODS: Nursing staff and skill mix were measured using the number of nursing staff including nurse aids and registered nurses per bed. Descriptive and panel data regression analyses were conducted using data on long-term care hospitals which included yearly series data from 2006 to 2010 for 119 hospitals. RESULTS: The number of nursing staff per bed increased significantly but percentage of registered nurses decreased significantly from 2007 to 2010. The regression model explained this variation as much as 35% and 44%. CONCLUSION: The results showed that in long-term care hospitals there were more nurse aids employed instead of registered nurses after the implemention of differentiated inpatient nursing fees. Thus clarifying the job descriptions for nurses and nurse aids is needed and appropriate hospital incentive policies should be implemented.

Health Care Utilization in Women with Cervical Cancer and Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the health care utilization in Korean women with cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). METHODS: This is a retrospective study. Data were collected using the insurance coverage data-base of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010. Women who were treated for cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial were included in this study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: In 2006, women treated for cervical cancer and CIN were 27,109 and 18,794, respectively. The number constantly increased from 2006 to 2010. In particular, the prevalence among women with cervical cancer aged 80 years or over was found to increase. Claims for health care services increased. CONCLUSION: Even though new cases of cervical cancer in Korea is decreasing, the number of women being treated and the costs are constantly increasing. Cervical cancer patients are at an increased risk of negative health outcomes. Therefore, screening for cervical cancer should be enforced to promptly treat women with abnormal Pap tests and thus minimize the risks. Every effort should be made to increase awareness about the importance of Human Papilloma Vaccination and regular screening on a personal as well as community and governmental levels.

Effects of Violence Victimization on Mental Health of Children and Adolescents: Analysis of Mediating Effects of Self-concept

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to clarify mediating effects of self-concept on mental health of children and adolescents who fell victim to violence. METHODS: A survey was conducted on 4th, 5th, and 6th graders from 2 elementary schools and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students from 3 middle schools (n=2,391). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and AMOS. RESULTS: The mean scores of mental health and self-concept in the subjects were 4.5 and 184.9 respectively. The rate of poor mental health in students who had fallen victim to violence was more than twice as high as that in students who had never experienced it. The self-concept of students who experienced violence had a tendency to decline. Violence experience and self-concept accounted for 47.7%(43.0% for boys and 53.4% for girls) of the changes in mental health. The indirect mediating effects of self-concept were significant. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, the following is suggested. Schools should offer a self-concept improvement program for students with a distorted self-concept caused by falling victim to violence. It could help such adolescents have a positive self image and improve their mental health.

The Correlates of Influenza Vaccination among Korean Elderly Men and Women

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the rate of and factors associated with influenza vaccination in Korean elderly people. METHODS: For this retrospective cross-sectional study, we used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008. A total of 1,516 men and women aged 65 or above were included. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall rate of influenza vaccination in 2008 was 73.6%. The vaccination rate was lower in women (73.2%) than in men (74.2%; p<.001). It was lower in the elderly aged 80 and above, those living in metropolitan areas, smokers, those who did not receive regular health screening, those who had no history of hospitalization within one year, and those who had liver diseases than in the other groups. The rate of vaccination was higher in those with cancer. Logistic regression analysis revealed that for both men and women, the significant correlates associated with vaccination were demographic factors, chronic disease and health behavior. CONCLUSION: The influenza vaccination coverage needs to be improved. Efforts should be made to reach the elderly population with relatively low influenza vaccination rates and to increase awareness about the importance of vaccination at a personal and community level.

The Effects of Medical Staffing Level on Length of Stay / 간호행정학회지

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of medical staffing level as bed-to-medical staff ratio on patient outcomes as length of stay (LOS) among hospitals in Korea. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty one hospitals participated in the study between January and March 2008. Data for the study was requested by an electronic data interchange from the Health Insurance Review Agency in 2008. In data analysis, SPSS WIN 15.0 program was utilized for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression. RESULTS: The mean score for length of stay was 13.6 days. The mean of operating bed-to-nurse ratio was 7.93:1. The predicting factors for LOS were bed-to-nurse's aide ratio, bed-to doctor's ratio, severely ill patient rate, and hospital type. These factors explained 28.9% of the variance in patient outcomes. CONCLUSION: This study results indicate that the relationship between medical staffing level and patient outcomes is important in the improvement of the quality of patient care. Thus, improvements in the quality of the nurse practice environment could improve patient outcomes for hospitalized patients.

Effects of Lower Extremity Muscle Strengthening Exercise Using Elastic Resistance on Balance on Elderly Women

PURPOSE: The purpose of study was to test the effect of lower extremity muscle strengthening exercise using elastic resistance on balance on elderly women. METHODS: Twenty four women who were over 65 years old were randomly assigned to either the experimental group that received the exercise programme (n=12) or to the control group (n=12) that continued normal activities except programme. Exercises included the following 7 different activities; chair squat, knee flection, extension, hip flection, extension, calf muscle raise, ankle dorsiflection. All the participants were subject to 3 tests, including One-Leg Standing Test, Functional Reaching Test, and Up & Go Test. The measurements were made before the excercise, 4 and 8 weeks after the exercise. The data were analyzed by using the two way repeated ANOVA. RESULTS: The results were as follows; As compared with change of balance capacity between groups, a significant difference was shown in the up and go test (p.05) and FRT (p>.05). CONCLUSION: The lower extremity muscle strengthening exercise using elastic resistance for the elderly women had some positive effects on the balance. Therefore this intervention can be broadly applied to other elders for preventing falls.