The Effects of a Self-care Management Program for Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcers

PURPOSE: Diabetic foot ulcers are significant problems in diabetes mellitus and often result in lower extremity amputation. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a self-care management program on Korean patient's self-efficacy, self-care behavior, size of the wound, and wound related pain. METHODS: This study was a quasi-experimental study of pre-test and post-test design in a non-equivalent control group. The intervention strategies of the self-care management program consisted of individual intervention (education, practice and demonstration), computer animation, and face-to-face counseling. There were thirty seven patients, and 20 were assigned to the experimental group while the other 17 were assigned to the control group. The experimental group was given a self-care management program. The control group received information on diabetic mellitus care by means of a leaflet. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, a chi-square test, an independent t-test, and a Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: There were significant differences in self-care behavior and wound related pain. CONCLUSION: A Self-care program is an effective way to increase patient's self-care ability. This program is highly applicable to diabetic foot ulcer patients in various settings.

Correlation of Social Network Types on Health Status of Korean Elders

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the social network types of elders and to identify differences among latent classes by social network. METHODS: The data of 312 elders used in this study were collected from health, welfare, and other facilities and from elders living in the community. The interviews were conducted from July 16 to September 30, 2007 using a standard, structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, one way ANOVA with the SPSS 15.0 program and latent class analysis using Maximum Likelihood Latent Structure Analysis (MLLSA) program were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Using latent class analysis, social network types among older adults were identified as diverse for 58.0% of the sample, as family for 34.0%, and as isolated for 8.0%. The health status of respondents differed significantly by network type. Elders in diverse networks had significantly higher health status and elders in isolated networks had significantly lower physical health status on average than those in all other networks. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that these network types have important practical implications for health status of elders. Social service programs should focus on different groups based on social network type and promote social support and social integration.

Factors Influencing Children's Immunization

No abstract available.

The Effects of a Self-Management Program on Physical Function and Quality of Life of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of a Self-management program on physical function and quality of life of women with knee osteoarthritis. METHOD: The participants for this study, who had knee osteoarthritis, were recruited from an arthritis clinic, at a university hospital located in S city, Korea between February 16, 2004 and June 15, 2004. Seventeen subjects in the control group received no intervention and 18 subjects in for experimental group received an individual Self-management program. The self-management program consisted of dietary education and home-based exercise; walking and resistance exercise. The subjects performed this program 5 times per week during 8 weeks and recorded a diary for diet and exercise. In order to verify the effects of the Self-management program, physical function and Quality of life as a dependent variable were measured at three points in time: before, week4 and week8 after the interventions. RESULT: There were significant increases on physical function (F=5.08, p=.002) and significant interaction effects (F=7.42, p=.002) in the intervention group over the three measurement points in time. In addition, there were significant increases on quality of life (F=8.08, p=.002) and significant interaction effects (F=4.89, p=.016) in the intervention group over the three measurement points in time. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that a Self-management program can be used as an efficient nursing intervention for women with knee osteoarthritis.