[Effects of community-based case management program for clients with hypertension].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze effects of a community-based case management program for clients with hypertension living in the community. METHODS: The research design was a one group pre and post-test design with 30 participants with hypertension who agreed to participate in the 8-12 week case management program provided by case managers from the National Health Insurance Corporation in 2002. Data were collected three times, before and after the case management services, and 6 months later. Outcomes included changes in blood pressure, knowledge of hypertension and daily life practices, including alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise, and medication adherence. RESULTS: Repeated-measures ANOVA and post-hoc tests of means revealed significant differences before and after service for systolic blood pressure, daily life practices (monitoring body weight and BP, low salt and cholesterol and high vegetable diet, and stress-relief practices), and exercise. The goal for medication adherence was attained after service. Significant improvements from baseline to 6 months after service were observed in measures of salt and vegetables in diet. There were no significant differences on hypertension knowledge, alcohol consumption or smoking behavior between before service and after, and at 6 months. CONCLUSION: The findings provide preliminary evidence that case management intervention can have positive outcomes on BP control, daily life practices, exercise, and medication adherence for clients with hypertension. However, additional interventions are needed to sustain long-term effects.

[A study of factors that influence Internet addiction, smoking, and drinking in high school students].

PURPOSE: This study aimed at exploring relationships among Internet addiction, smoking, and drinking and examining the effect factors on Internet addiction, smoking and drinking. METHODS: By using stratified sampling, 1,529 participants representing high school students in the Kangwon province were selected. Data was analyzed by SPSS 12.0. using chi2, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression. RESULTS: One-fifth of the total participants were at the mild or moderate stage of Internet addiction. Regarding smoking, 22.7% of male subjects and 4.5% of female subjects were current smokers. Regarding drinking, the percentages of subjects who drank alcohol once or twice per month were 53.5% of male students and 40.7% of female students. Internet addiction positively correlated with depression, novelty seeking, harm avoidance and reward dependence, Internet addiction negatively correlated with persistence, self-directness, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence. Significant factors affecting Internet addiction were depression, gender, novelty seeking, and self-transcendence. Important factors influencing smoking were drinking, gender, school type, satisfaction with school, novelty seeking, and reward dependence. Significant factors affecting drinking were smoking, novelty seeking, school type and ages. CONCLUSION: This study shows the necessity of developing and implementing effective intervention programs in order to prevent adolescents from experiencing Internet addiction and health risk behaviors.

[A study on the general public understanding and utilization of Korean traditional medicine in colonial period].

During Colonial Period, Western Medicine was introduced, and due to the lean-to-one-side policy by the Japanese, Western Medicine became the mainstream medical science while Oriental Medicine was pushed to the outskirts. The general public in colonial period got help from medical profession after they tried something they could do at home when they got sick or injured. There were differences to get help from western or traditional medicine according to their economic status, living area, and educational status, the character of disease or injury, etc. In general, public made more use of traditional medicine than western medicine. Although the traditional medicine had better regional and economic approach, there was another important factor that made the general public prefer traditional medicine to western medicine. The general public had strong belief in the treatment of traditional medicine. There was no strong belief that western medicine was better in scientific ground and modern than oriental medicine. In spite of their general preference for traditional medicine, the general public had some conflict in everyday choice on medicine. The belief of relatives, personal experience, economic status, the character of the disease made the conflict possible. Sometime the general public chose both traditional and western medicine altogether.