Health service challenges at senior centres in an urban South Korean community: A mixed-method approach focusing on nurses' roles.

AIMS: We aim to identify challenges and recommendations for senior centre health services focusing on nurses' roles in an urban South Korean community. BACKGROUND: Senior centres can potentially provide easily accessible and cost-effective health services to older adults. It is essential to identify current challenges to improve health services. METHOD: This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Quantitative descriptive data were obtained from a survey of all nurses at senior centres in Seoul (n = 30). For the qualitative data, focus group interviews were conducted with various senior centre stakeholders (n = 15). RESULTS: Two main themes, discrepancy between services and needs and reform senior centres, were identified with six subthemes. CONCLUSIONS: Challenges identified included insufficient availability to meet health service needs, overlapping health services, and no legal clarification of nurses' roles. Recommendations to improve the senior centre health services include to focus on the centres' main goals, function as health and welfare hubs, establish legal guidelines, and provide adequate nurse staffing. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The senior centres need to hire more nurses and define nurses' occupational roles legally for the centres to serve as a hub connecting medical care and welfare.

Strategies for reducing hospital nurse turnover in South Korea: Nurses' perceptions and suggestions.

AIM: To explore the South Korean nurses' perspectives on the current hospital working conditions in order to identify causes of persistent high turnover rates among the nurses. BACKGROUND: High turnover rates of hospital nurses continue to pose a serious challenge to South Korean health care system despite the government's recent efforts to improve working conditions. Many studies in the past had examined factors related to the turnover and provided only a partial understanding of turnover predictors. However, nurses' perceptions on the current working conditions must be considered to explore possible causes of continued high turnover, to identify solutions and to improve working conditions by addressing nurses' concerns. METHOD: This study is a qualitative study using focus group interviews with 33 nurses from 11 South Korean hospitals. RESULTS: Three main themes and eight subthemes related to reducing hospital nurse turnover were identified. CONCLUSIONS: To address hospitals' nursing shortages in South Korea, it is important to address poor work environments. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: This study showed that more transformational policies should be developed and implemented to change working conditions by reducing excessive workloads and improve how nurses are treated and viewed so as to retain existing nurses and ease the nurse turnover rates.

Effects of Academic Motivation on Clinical Practice-Related Post-Traumatic Growth among Nursing Students in South Korea: Mediating Effect of Resilience.

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) refers to personal growth that occurs after experiencing challenges. For many nursing students, PTG could occur during their clinical practice. Academic motivation and resilience could help students to overcome these traumatic clinical experiences and possibly achieve PTG. This study examined the relationships between nursing students' academic motivation and resilience leading to post-traumatic growth. A total of 291 nursing students from three South Korean nursing colleges participated in this cross-sectional study. Self-report questionnaire data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, correlations, and hierarchical multiple linear regressions. Intrinsically motivated students' PTG scores were significantly higher compared to extrinsically motivated students (t = 4.62, p < 0.001). Resilience scores showed similar results (t = 3.81, p < 0.001). Significant total, direct, and indirect effects of academic motivation on resilience and PTG were found. In addition, resilience mediated 40.9% of the relationship between academic motivation and PTG. Nursing students with intrinsic academic motivation were more likely to achieve high PTG scores, and resilience mediated the relationship between academic motivation and PTG. It is suggested that the importance of academic motivation must be considered in the early stages of university-level nursing education to increase retention rates of nursing students.

Effects of School-Based Meditation Courses on Self-Reflection, Academic Attention, and Subjective Well-Being in South Korean Middle School Students.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of school-based meditation courses on middle school students' self-reflection, academic attention (ability to focus in classrooms), and subjective well-being. DESIGN AND METHODS: The research design was a nonequivalent group comparison (n = 163) with pretest and post-test. The experimental group (n = 81) was given an eight-week meditation course and the control group (n = 82) was given other elective courses such as calligraphy and reading. RESULTS: The experimental group showed significant increases in self-reflection (t = 2.536, p = .012) and academic attention (t = 2.767, p = .006), but subjective well-being did not increase significantly (t = 0.906, p = .367). Life satisfaction was the only subcomponent of subjective well-being that increased significantly (t = 2.438, p = .016); the other subjective well-being subcomponents did not show any significant changes. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reflection and academic attention significantly increased in middle school students after an eight-week meditation course. Even though changes in subjective well-being were not significant, one of its subcomponents (life satisfaction) did show significant improvement. Self-reflection and subjective well-being were shown to be influential factors for academic attention (48.5% of the variance explained). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study is meaningful in that it examined positive benefits of a meditation course in middle school students and explored the feasibility of such a course in a school system.

A Comparison Study: The Risk Factors in the Lifestyles of Thyroid Cancer Patients and Healthy Adults of South Korea.

BACKGROUND: In South Korea, there has been a rapid increase in thyroid cancer diagnoses, and the thyroid cancer incidence rate is the highest in the world. This study explored possible risk factors that may influence the development of thyroid cancer by comparing life habits of thyroid cancer patients and healthy adults. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to identify lifestyle and habit differences in thyroid cancer patients and healthy adults and to investigate risk factors that influence the development of thyroid cancer. METHODS: The study was designed as a retrospective comparison survey study of thyroid cancer patient group and healthy adult group. One hundred two thyroid cancer patients in a university hospital and 115 healthy adults were recruited for this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ test/t test, and logistic regression with SPSS program. RESULTS: Previous smoking history, lower physical activity level, higher stress, and unhealthy eating habits (consumption of instant food products) were shown to be risk factors in the development of thyroid cancer. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study comparing thyroid cancer patients and healthy adults, it is recommended to encourage an increase in physical activity, minimize both direct and indirect exposure to smoking, develop healthy eating habits of consuming more vegetables, and effectively manage stress levels. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Lifestyle preferences and habits may influence the development of thyroid cancer. It is imperative to identify and modify the risk factors in order to prevent thyroid cancer development.

The Effects of Mind Subtraction Meditation on Breast Cancer Survivors' Psychological and Spiritual Well-being and Sleep Quality: A Randomized Controlled Trial in South Korea.

BACKGROUND: Most breast cancer survivors experience psychological and spiritual distress, including depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and loss of meaningfulness in life. This distress can negatively impact physical health, quality of life, and quality of sleep. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare and examine the effectiveness of mind subtraction meditation (MSM) and a self-management education (SME) group on breast cancer survivors. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with South Korean female breast cancer survivors (stages I-III). Self-reported questionnaires were administered to both MSM group (n = 22) and SME group (n = 24) to measure psychological and spiritual well-being, as well as quality of sleep. RESULTS: Compared with the SME group, the MSM group reported a significant decrease in depression (P = .034), anxiety (P = .036), and perceived stress (P = .009) and an increase in quality of life (P < .001), satisfaction with life (P < .001), posttraumatic growth (P = .007), and quality of sleep (P = .010). CONCLUSIONS: Mind subtraction meditation may have positive therapeutic effects among breast cancer survivors. This meditation program may be useful to manage psychological and spiritual distress, as well as improve quality of life and sleep, in clinical settings among breast cancer survivors. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study demonstrated the clinical effectiveness and the feasibility of applying the MSM method to breast cancer survivors. The participants had a high attendance rate in the program, which speaks to the likelihood of the applicability of the meditation program on an outpatient basis.

The Effects of Mind Subtraction Meditation on Depression, Social Anxiety, Aggression, and Salivary Cortisol Levels of Elementary School Children in South Korea.

This study analyzed the effects of a school-based mind subtraction meditation program on depression, social anxiety, aggression, and salivary cortisol levels of 42 elementary school children in South Korea. The research design was a nonequivalent group comparison with pretest and post-test. The experimental group was given 8weeks of the meditation program. The results showed social anxiety, aggression, and salivary cortisol levels were significantly lowered in the experimental group. This demonstrated that the school-based mind subtraction meditation program could be effective in improving psychosocial and behavioral aspects of mental health in elementary school children.