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Objectives: COVID 19 and increasing unmet needs of health technology had accelerated an adoption of digital health globally and the major categories are mobile-health, health information technology, telemedicine. Digital health interventions have various benefit on clinical efficacy, quality of care and reducing healthcare costs. The objective of the study is to identify new reimbursement policy trend of digital health medical devices in South Korea. Method(s): Official announcements published in national bodies and supplementary secondary research were used to capture policies, frameworks and currently approved products since 2019. Result(s): With policy development, several digital health devices and AI software have been introduced as non-reimbursement by utilizing new Health Technology Assessment (nHTA) pathway including grace period of nHTA and innovative medical devices integrated assessment pathway. AI based cardiac arrest risk management software (DeepCARS) and electroceutical device for major depressive disorders (MINDD STIM) have been approved as non-reimbursement use for about 3 years. Two digital therapeutics for insomnia and AI software for diagnosis of cerebral infarction were approved as the first innovative medical devices under new integrated assessment system, and they could be treated in the market. In addition, there is remote patient monitoring (RPM) reimbursement service fee. Continuous glucose monitoring devices have been reimbursed for type 1 diabetes patients by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) since January 2019. Homecare RPM service for peritoneal dialysis patients with cloud platform (Sharesource) has been reimbursed since December 2019, and long-term continuous ECG monitoring service fee for wearable ECG monitoring devices (ATpatch, MEMO) became reimbursement since January 2022. Conclusion(s): Although Korean government has been developed guidelines for digital health actively, only few products had been reimbursed. To introduce new technologies for improved patient centric treatment, novel value-based assessment and new pricing guideline of digital health medical devices are quite required.Copyright © 2023
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The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the influence of mental workload and person-organization fit on turnover intention, using basic psychological needs frustration (BPNF) as the intervening variable in the hospital in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The sample of this study is vocational nurse in the hospital in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The sample is carried out through survey from 153 respondents, which is processed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method. This study finds that mental workload does not have direct influence on turnover intention, but it is mediated (full mediation) by need for competence frustration and need for relatedness frustration. Person-organization fit has a positive influence on need for autonomy frustration. However, person-organization fit does not have an influence on turnover intention, and basic psychological needs does not mediate the relationship of these variables. This study also found that the category of mental workload is quite low, person-organization fit is low, basic psychological needs frustration is quite low, and turnover intention is low. Nurse has the extrinsic motivation of identified regulation, thus hospital leaders should bring their motivation from identified regulation to intrinsic motivation, through internalization by establishing supportive work environment, namely Islamic spiritual workplace (ISW), with basic psychological needs supporting in each of its dimension. This study is expected to be a reference for practitioners in human resource management, especially regarding human resource retention function through the implementation of ISW. ISW contributes to lower mental workload, the increase of person-organization fit, establishment of basic psychological need satisfaction, as well as the decrease of basic psychological needs frustration and turnover intention.
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The study analyzed available literatures covering the organization of measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the healthcare systems of the Russian Federation and several foreign countries. For the comprehensive assessment of the specifics of organizing measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, countries were chosen based on geographical distances from China (the closest is Korea, and the most remote are the Great Britain and Haiti), maximum population on their continent (the United States is in North America, and Brazil in South America), and significant differences in the functioning of the healthcare systems. The peculiarities of organizing measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the considered countries were associated with a complex of political, financial, economic, demographic, and organizational factors, the individual combination of which determined the peculiarities of the development of the epidemic process in each specific case. Moreover, as a priority manifestation of the severity of these factors, the capabilities of the healthcare system, including the availability of services of medical workers, sufficient number of testing equipment, medical protection equipment, hospital beds, and other parameters, should be considered. The main role was played by global state strategies implemented in the healthcare systems of the analyzed countries at the pre-epidemic stage and, in most cases, aimed at optimizing the financial and economic provisions of state guarantees of medical care. The general criteria for the differential diagnosis of COVID-19 in the national recommendations of all the states considered were respiratory symptoms and general infectious intoxication. In addition, fever and respiratory symptoms were accepted as priority criteria for COVID-19 screening. © 2023 Vestnik Rossijskoj Voenno-Medicinskoj Akademii. All rights reserved.
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Background: Tobacco use is a leading cause of countless deaths and disabilities worldwide. An estimated 11 million Korean adults were still using tobacco in 2020, according to the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This review aims to explain the current trends in tobacco use, sales, cessation, and control policies in South Korea. Current Concepts: Heated tobacco products (HTPs), a hybrid between conventional and electronic cigarettes, were first launched in South Korea in June 2017. Advertisements stating that HTPs are odorless, tar-free, and less harmful to health have caused sales of HTPs to grow quickly over the past 5 years, such that they account for about 15% of the total tobacco market. According to national smoking rate statistics and tobacco sales trends, declines in current smoking rates have slowed and even risen in some groups, and declines in total tobacco sales have slowed but also risen again during the coronavirus 19 pandemic. In addition, the number of visitors to smoking cessation clinics decreased just after the advent of HTPs and social distancing policies triggered by the coronavirus. Nicotine replacement therapy can serve as a drug therapy for smoking cessation, or bupropion and varenicline can be prescribed. Korea's representative tobacco control policies include the tax increase policy, non-smoking area policy, cigarette pack warning picture policy, and support policy for visiting smoking cessation clinics. Discussion and Conclusion(s): There is a pressing need to reflect tobacco control policies in line with changes in tobacco user behaviors and tobacco company marketing strategies.Copyright © Korean Medical Association.
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This article critically examines South Korea and China's COVID-19 tracking apps by bridging surveillance studies with feminist technoscience's understanding of the "politics of care". Conducting critical readings of the apps and textual analysis of discursive materials, we demonstrate how the ideological, relational, and material practices of the apps strategically deployed "care" to normalize a particular form of pandemic technogovernance in these two countries. In the ideological dimension, media and state discourse utilized a combination of vilifying and nationalist rhetoric that framed one's acquiescence to surveillance as a demonstration of national belonging. Meanwhile, the apps also performed ambivalent roles in facilitating essential care services and mobilizing self-tracking activities, which contributed to the manufacturing of pseudonormality in these societies. In the end, we argue that the Chinese and South Korean governments managed to frame their aggressive surveillance infrastructure during COVID-19 as a form of paternalistic care by finessing the blurred boundaries between care and control. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Media & Society is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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Background: This study aimed to identify the incidence rate of post-coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) conditions in the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army and to investigate the trend of the incidence rate according to changes in dominant variants. Method(s): We used the results of a 19-item, self-completed survey of those who had recovered from COVID-19 in the ROK Army between March 24, 2020, and April 30, 2022. We used both descriptive and multiple logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with the incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions. Result(s): Among the total of 48,623 COVID-19 episodes in the ROK Army, the overall incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions was 32.9%. Based on the survey, the incidence of cough was the highest at 15.4%, followed by fatigue (15.1%) and sputum (13.8%). The delta variant had the highest incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions at 50.7%, whereas the omicron variant had the lowest at 19.7%. Concerning the type of post-COVID-19 condition, the neuropsychiatric symptoms had the highest incidence at 27.4% when the delta variant was dominant, and the respiratory symptoms were highest at 37.3% when the omicron variant was dominant. In the case of smell and taste symptoms, the incidence rate was high at 21.1% only when the delta variant was predominant. Conclusion(s): The overall incidence rate of post-COVID-19 conditions in the ROK Army was 32.9%. When the delta variant was dominant, the overall incidence as well as the proportion of neuropsychiatric symptoms were high. However, as the omicron variant became dominant, the overall incidence decreased, but the proportion of respiratory symptoms increased.Copyright © Korean Medical Association.
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Opportunities to participate in physical activities (PA) and fitness exercises in public and private facilities have been reduced or banned due to social distancing regulations during the height of the global pandemic. Though Korea has not experienced lockdown, several venues have been restricted to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Despite the limitations of PA engagement, people have found alternative activities by using online platforms to keep active and fit. Thus, this study focuses on analyzing fitness-related video titles from YouTube. By collecting data through text mining and conducting network analysis, it provides basic knowledge of the fitness trends from pre- and post-Covid-19. As a result, 'exercise' was found to have the highest tendency and had strong connections to keywords that indicated specific methods of working out to become fit, but it also had connections to trendy keywords such as 'hip-up' and 'body-profile' which reflect the fitness culture in Korea.
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Objectives: We would like to report a case in which a COVID-19 patient who was transferred to our hospital due to a lack of medical resources due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Daegu, South Korea, on February, 2020, underwent double lung transplantation after 110 days with VV-ECMO support and performed double lung re-transplantation 865 days after lung transplantation. Method(s): ECMO was performed on a total of 69 patients with COVID-19-related acute circulatory/ respiratory failure from February 2020 to December 2022. Among them, 16 patients were registered for lung transplantation, and 5 out of 16 registered patients performed lung transplants. One in five people who performed lung transplantation performed retransplantation on the 865thday after transplantation. Result(s): A 52-year-old female patient was transferred to our hospital, and VV-ECMO was performed the next day. The double lung transplantation was performed 112 days after hospitalization and was discharged 238 days after surgery. 668 days after lung transplantation, home O2 was applied as bronchitis obliterans syndrome, and her lung function deteriorated rapidly later, and re-transplantation was decided. In the patient;s HLA test, HLA class I cPRA% was 32% and HLA class II cPRA% was 100%. Desensitization was performed six times plasmapheresis with administrating Botezomib and immunoglobulin, and then re-transplantation was performed on the 865th day after lung transplantation. The patient has maintained her daily life without any special complications other than the occurrence of central DI after surgery. The pathological findings of the lung previously transplanted to the patient were acute rejection (ISHLT grade A2), chronic airway rejection (ISHLT grade C1, B0), and chronic vascular rejection (ISHLT grade D1). Conclusion(s): The long term result of patients who performed lung transplantation with COVID 19 related respiratory failure is still unknown. Therefore, even patients who have undergone long-term VV-ECMO support due to COVID 19 related respiratory failure are expected to achieve good results if lung transplantation is needed by carefully approaching and treating with a multidisciplinary approach.
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The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) policy, a representative biodefense policy, was legislated in the United States in 2001 based on lessons learned from Amerithrax, whereas Korea's EUA policy was based on lessons learned from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2015. Due to these divergent origins, the U.S. EUA's homeland security objectives were specialized to deal with highly pathogenic biological agents that could be exploited for bioterrorism, whereas the Korean EUA pursues disease containment purposes to strengthen mass-testing practices. During the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. EUA revealed limitations in its integration with public health surveillance, laboratory partnerships, and insurance systems, which hampered the rapid expansion of testing capacities. Thereafter, once the limitations of the EUA were circumvented, the testing capacity of the United States began to catch up with that of South Korea, and later skyrocketed after solving these issues. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] La política de autorización de uso de emergencia (EUA), una política representativa de biodefensa, se legisló en los Estados Unidos en 2001 en base a las lecciones aprendidas de Amerithrax, mientras que la política de EUA de Corea se basó en las lecciones aprendidas del brote del síndrome respiratorio de Oriente Medio (MERS) en 2015 Debido a estos orígenes divergentes, los objetivos de seguridad nacional de la EUA EUA se especializaron para tratar con agentes biológicos altamente patógenos que podrían explotarse para el bioterrorismo, mientras que la EUA coreana persigue propósitos de contención de enfermedades para fortalecer las prácticas de pruebas masivas. Durante la fase inicial de la pandemia de COVID-19, la EUA EUA reveló limitaciones en su integración con la vigilancia de la salud pública, las asociaciones de laboratorios y los sistemas de seguros, lo que obstaculizó la rápida expansión de las capacidades de prueba. A partir de entonces, una vez que se eludieron las limitaciones de la EUA, la capacidad de prueba de los Estados Unidos comenzó a alcanzar a la de Corea del Sur y luego se disparó después de resolver estos problemas. (Spanish) [ FROM AUTHOR] 美国在2001年根据炭疽攻击事件(Amerithrax)的经验教训制定了一项具有代表性的生物防卫政策，即紧急使用授权(EUA)政策，而韩国的EUA政策则基于2015年爆发的中东呼吸综合征(MERS)的经验教训。鉴于这些不同的起源，美国EUA的国土安全目标专门应对可能被用于生物恐怖主义的高致病性生物制剂，而韩国EUA则追求疾病遏制目的，以加强大规模检测实践。在2019冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行的早期阶段，美国EUA在与公共卫生监测、实验室合作伙伴关系和保险系统的整合方面存在局限性，这阻碍了检测能力的快速扩展。此后，当绕过EUA的限制后，美国的检测能力开始赶上韩国，并在解决这些问题后，检测能力直线上升。 (Chinese) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of World Affairs is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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Since the COVID-19 outbreak, family members have spent more time together at home. This study introduces the concept of "family distancing"—the efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to family members. We explore which demographic characteristics are associated with family distancing efforts and how the family distancing efforts are associated with family conflicts. Survey data were collected from adults (N = 324, M = 37 years;SD = 10.5 years;65.1% female) in Korea. We found that gender, education, marital status, physical health status, and number of family members who live together were significantly associated with family distancing efforts. In addition, lower compliance with the request for family distancing was significantly associated with a higher degree of negative emotions (i.e., anger), which in turn was associated with more family conflict. The findings highlight the potential importance of family distancing efforts to maintain health but also their potential to increase family conflict.
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This paper investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on shareholders' wealth during market downturn, focusing on the market crash caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermaths. We evaluate the relationship between firms' CSR and stock returns using a sample of 803 firms listed on the Korean stock market. The results of our study reveal that firms' pre-crisis CSR activities do not protect shareholders' wealth during the crisis;in fact, they negatively affected stock returns during the COVID-19 crisis. This finding is consistent across several robustness tests and challenges the prevailing notion that CSR is solely a philanthropic endeavor. This study suggests that firms need to reconsider their CSR approach in order to better align it with shareholders' interest.
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Purpose: This study aims to compare graduate student perspectives of online versus face-to-face (FTF) education during the pandemic at two different universities. One university, the "International University", was physically located in Korea but served an international base of students, and the other was a Jesuit, Catholic University in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: An online Qualtrics survey was used to gather student perceptions on a five-point Likert scale on individual and program factors. Chi-square analysis using the contingency coefficient as the nominal value was performed to uncover significant differences. Findings: Significant differences between the two groups existed on motivation, discipline, self-directed, independence, cost investment, preference, happiness, difficulty, student-to-student interaction and student-to-instructor interaction. This research has implications for instructors and administrators in identifying shortcomings and highlighting the uniqueness of different practices around the world. Originality/value: Previous studies on student perceptions have been performed. However, this study is original in the fact that it directly compares two different graduate student populations perspectives of online versus FTF during the pandemic.
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Information Technology (IT) governance has become one of the important topics for many higher education institutions to reform and upgrade their technology management, computer systems, and effectiveness in teaching and learning. Although many studies have indicated that the development of IT governance plans could offer benefits to higher education institutions, many higher education institutions and their senior leaders refuse to upgrade their IT systems. There are two purposes of this study. First, this study aims to investigate and understand the obstacles to proper IT governance in the South Korean university environment, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the study intends to understand university leaders' motivations and reasons for not wanting to enhance IT governance plans and IT development in their universities. The study collected qualitative data from two groups of participants at three South Korean universities, namely professionals in the IT department and senior leaders. The results of this study may provide a point of reference for IT department leaders, university administrators, and government leaders to understand the challenges and problems facing South Korean universities at the practical level. Although the study only focused on the opinions from the senior leaders, the outcomes of this study will fill the research and practical gaps in the fields, particularly the reasons why rural South Korean colleges and universities refuse the implementation of IT governance. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an extraordinary and unprecedented situation. In their efforts to end the pandemic, countries worldwide followed different approaches to combat the virus. Among these, China emerged as the prime example of an authoritarian model of virus management, whereas South Korea managed to slow down the pandemic with a liberal democratic approach. Although both were successful in pandemic management, China and South Korea have different and contrasting images in the international area. This study analyzes how China's and South Korea's pandemic management models and their international reception differ from each other. It claims that while both models were largely applauded domestically, in the international sphere, China, after early acclaim, ended up with a more negative and controversial image, whereas South Korea created a relatively more positively regarded model. Still, compared to the South Korean model, many more countries emulated and implemented the Chinese model worldwide. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Covid-19 pandemisi olağanüstü ve benzeri görülmemiş bir duruma neden olmuştur. Dünyanın dört bir yanındaki ülkeler, pandemiyi sona erdirmek için virüsle mücadelede farklı yaklaşımları takip etmiştir. Bunlar arasında Çin, otoriter virüs yönetimi modelinin başlıca örneği olurken, Güney Kore liberal demokratik bir yaklaşımla salgını yavaşlatmayı başarmıştır. Her iki ülke de salgın yönetimi konusunda başarılı olsalar da Çin ve Güney Kore, uluslararası alanda birbirinden farklı ve hatta birbirlerinin zıttı imajlara sahiptir. Bu çalışma, Çin ve Güney Kore'nin salgın yönetim modellerinin ve bu modellerin uluslararası alanda kabul edilme düzeylerinin birbirinden nasıl farklılaştığını incelemektedir. Çalışma, her iki modelin de ülke içinde büyük ölçüde desteklenirken, uluslararası alanda Çin'in erken dönemde beğeni topladıktan sonra daha olumsuz ve tartışmalı bir imaja sahip olduğunu, Güney Kore'nin ise nispeten daha olumlu değerlendirilen bir model geliştirdiğini savunmaktadır. Bununla birlikte Çin modeli, Güney Kore modeliyle karşılaştırıldığında dünya genelinde daha fazla sayıda ülke tarafından taklit edilerek uygulamaya konmuştur. (Turkish) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Pamukkale University Journal of Social Sciences Institute / Pamukkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi is the property of Pamukkale University, Social Sciences Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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In this article, we examine toxic masculinity, anti-feminist, anti-globalisation, and anti-military conscription positions in the narratives of what constitutes success and failure among young South Korean men during the COVID-19 pandemic. Misogynistic accounts attributed to the globalised effects of neoliberalism and its evolution through South Korean meritocratic competition, compounded by the social isolation of the pandemic, remain a puzzle psychologically, despite their toxic emotionality. We use the analytical framework of ressentiment to consolidate references to moral victimhood, indignation, a sense of destiny, powerlessness, and transvaluation, as components of a single emotional mechanism responsible for misogynistic accounts. In an empirical plausibility probe, we analyse qualitative surveys with young South Korean men and examine the content of the far-right social sharing site Ilbe (일베) which hosts conversations of young men about success and self-improvement. Our findings show envy, shame, and inefficacious anger transvaluated into to moral victimhood, misogynistic hatred, vindictiveness against women and feminists, and anti-globalisation stances. We discuss how the content of these narratives of success and failure in ressentiment relates to the electoral win of the right-wing People Power party in March 2022 which capitalised on anti-feminist grievances. We also consider the socio-political consequences of ressentiment narratives in the highly gendered and polarised South Korean society and expand the study of ressentiment outside the context of Western democracies where it has been most extensively elaborated. © 2023 by the authors.
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PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the short-term capital markets' reactions to the public announcement first local detection of novel corona virus (COVID 19) cases in 12 major Asian capital markets.Design/methodology/approachUsing the constant mean return model and the market model, an event study methodology has been implied to determine the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) of 10 pre and post-event trading days. The statistical significance of the data was assessed using both parametric and nonparametric test statistics.FindingsFirst discovery of local COVID 19 cases had a substantial impact on all 12 Asian markets on the event day, as shown by statistically significant negative average abnormal return (AAR) and cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR). The single factor ANOVA result has also demonstrated that there is no variability among 12 regional markets in terms of short-term market responses. Furthermore, there is little evidence that these major Asian stock market indices differ significantly from the FTSE All-World Index which might suggest possible spillover impact and co-integration among the major Asian capital markets. The study further discovers that market capitalization and liquidity did not have any significant impact on market reaction to announcement.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's contribution might have been compromised by the absence of socio-demographic, technical, financial and other significant policy factors from the analysis.Practical implicationsThese findings will be considerably helpful in tackling this unprecedented epidemic issue for personal and institutional investors, industrial and economic experts, government and policymakers in assessing the market in special circumstances, diversifying risk and developing financial and monetary policy proposals.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to examine the effects of local COVID 19 detection announcement on major Asian capital markets. This study will add to the literature by investigating unusual market returns generated by infectious illness outbreaks and the overall market efficiency and investors' behavioral pattern of major Asian capital markets.
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OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the association between depression and non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors among community-dwelling South Korean older adults. METHODS: We utilized the 2020 Korean Community Health Survey-a community-based nationwide survey. A score of 10 points or higher on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was defined as depression. Non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors was assessed on the following three behaviors: washing hands, wearing masks, and watching distance. We also included socio-demographic characteristics, health behaviors, and COVID-19-related characteristics as covariates. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed, and all statistical analyses were stratified by sex. RESULTS: The 70,693 participants included 29,736 men and 40,957 women. Notably, 2.3% of men and 4.2% of women had depression. Non-compliance with washing hands was significantly higher in men than women (1.3% vs. 0.9%), whereas no significant differences were observed in wearing masks and watching distance. The adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that depression was positively associated with non-compliance with washing hands and watching distance in both sexes. The association between depression and non-compliance with wearing masks was significant only in women. CONCLUSIONS: There was an association between depression and non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive behaviors in South Korean older adults. This signifies that health providers need to reduce depression to improve compliance with preventive behaviors in older adults.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Depression , Male , Female , Humans , Aged , Depression/epidemiology , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Sexual Behavior , Patient Compliance , Republic of Korea/epidemiologyABSTRACT
COVID-19 delivered distributional effects on the labour market. Therefore, policymakers concentrated on designing more efficient and effective fiscal supports to alleviate economic damages. To draw more specific pictures, this study estimates who faced harder impacts and how much they experienced economic difficulties in Korea using unconditional quantile regression and separating vulnerable sectors, such as face-to-face industries. The findings suggest that self-employed workers in the vulnerable industries at low-income percentiles presented the most severe damages. Second, self-employed workers in other sectors, temporary workers in the vulnerable industries, and low-income households also had serious impacts. Third, female workers, who have a primary child-care duty, experienced serious negative effects due to the regulation disparity between strict school closure measures and generous workplace restrictions. In this regard, financial supports should aim to target more damaged groups instead of universal benefits. Furthermore, it is also important to improve child-care services to mitigate gender inequality.
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The rate of child abuse has sharply increased worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the media's role in addressing child abuse cases is crucial, several international and formal organizations have established child abuse reporting guidelines. This study investigated how closely journalists follow reporting guidelines in addressing child abuse cases. Five major Korean presses and 189 articles from January 1, 2018, to January 31, 2021, were selected using the keyword "child abuse." Each article was analyzed using a guideline framework consisting of 13 items regarding the five principles of the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare and Central Child Protection Agency reporting guidelines. This study identified a radical growth in media reporting on child abuse cases in South Korea; almost 60% of the articles analyzed came from 2020 and 2021. More than 80% of the articles analyzed did not provide abuse resources, and 70% did not provide factual information. 57.1% of the articles instigated negative stereotypes, and about 30% explicitly mentioned certain family types in the headlines. Nearly 20% of the articles provided excessive details about the method used. Approximately 16% exposed victims' identities. Some articles (7.9%) also described victims as sharing responsibility for the abuse. This study indicates that the media reports of child abuse in South Korea did not follow the guidelines in many facets. The present study discusses the limitations of the current guidelines and suggests future directions for the news media in reporting on child abuse cases nationwide.
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Research has examined the detrimental effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on health and physical fitness in adolescents;however, studies comparing these parameters before and after the COVID-19 outbreak have been scarce. Therefore, this study investigated differences in perceived health status, perceived physical fitness, and participation in physical activity among adolescents in the Republic of Korea before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. We chose a sample of data from 2102 adolescents aged 14-19, collected as part of a national survey by the Republic of Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism from 2019 to 2021. We focused on five items from the survey related to health awareness and physical activity. Although perceived health status was lower in 2021 than in 2019 or 2020, there were no differences in perceived physical fitness during the three years of the study. Regular participation in physical activity was less common in 2020 than in 2019 or 2021. The proportion of adolescents reporting sufficient rest and sleep was lower in 2021 than in 2020. In addition, fewer adolescents reported eating regular meals and engaging in nutritional supplementation in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020. Rates of abstinence from alcohol and smoking cessation were higher in 2021 than in 2019 or 2020. For all three years, adolescents reported the following as the primary reasons for engaging in regular physical activity (in order): "maintenance of mental health", "maintenance of physical health", "help in daily life", and "reduction of medical expenses". In preparation for the post-COVID-19 era, these results highlight the need to prepare measures and countermeasures to promote health and physical activity among adolescents in the Republic of Korea.Copyright ©2023 The Author(s). Published by MRE Press.