[Analysis of trends and contents of nursing doctoral dissertations in Korea].

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify contents and trends of Korean nursing doctoral dissertations in terms of research methodology and theoretical characteristics. METHODS: The design of the study was descriptive study and a total of 1,089 quantitative studies completed between 1982 and 2010 were reviewed using the analytical framework developed by the researchers. RESULTS: The majority of studies utilized the experimental design (51.5%) and the others were survey design (38.8%) and methodological design (5.0%). Study subjects were shown as patients (45%), care givers (11.2%), ordinary persons (40.6%) and others (3.2%). There were growing trends in experimental design and patients as subjects. The prevailing data collection settings were hospitals (45.8%) and community (27.8%). The theoretical frameworks that studies were based on were the existing theories (37%) and a newly developed theoretical framework by a researcher (25.2%). a framework derived from other studies by the researcher (25.2%). Majority of studies (78.5%) employed a single theory as a theoretical framework. However, 31.8% of studies had no theoretical framework based on. CONCLUSION: Findings of this study provided the opportunities to shed new light on the current status of Korean doctoral dissertation and to deliberate on the future direction of nursing studies in Korea.

[A study on exercise behavior, exercise environment and social support of middle-aged women].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify exercise environments and social support associated with exercise behaviors in middle-aged women. METHOD: Subjects were 207 women aged between 41 and 59 yr in an urban community. The research instruments utilized in this study were exercise stages, exercise environments, exercise partners and social support scale. Subjects were given a self-report questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the SPSS Win program. RESULT: The subjects were in the stages of precontemplation (3.4%), contemplation (25.1%), preparation (40.6%), action (5.8%), and maintenance (25.1%). Subjects who engaged in regular exercise were 30.9%. The mean score of the exercise environment was 6.34. The mean score of social support was 21.28, and 65.7% of subjects had exercise partners. The score of the exercise environment was significantly associated with the exercise stage (p=.01). The number of exercise partners of regular exercise groups was significantly greater than that of non-regular exercise groups (p=.00). The score of social support of regular exercise groups was significantly greater than that of non-regular exercise groups (p=.00). The score of social support was significantly associated with the exercise stage (p=.00). CONCLUSION: Exercise environments and social support need to be considered in planning exercise programs to improve exercise behavior among middle-aged women.

Subjective and objective caregiver burden in Parkinson's disease.

PURPOSE: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor disabilities and increasing dependence on others for daily life activities with consequent impact on patients' and caregivers' quality of life. The aim of this study was to elucidate the burden on primary caregivers of patients with PD, and identify related factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Seventy-six primary caregivers of PD patients in a neurology outpatient clinic, Seoul, Korea completed structured questionnaires, of which 68 were analyzed. The structured self-report questionnaire included (1) demographic information on the caregivers, (2) information regarding the disease characteristics of the patients, and (3) the subjective and objective caregiver burdens as assessed on Montgomery, Gonyea, & Hooyman's scale. RESULTS: The mean age of the caregivers was 54.56 years, and spouses represented the largest proportion(47.0%). Caregivers of PD patients experienced high levels of burden (mean scores on the subjective and objective burdens were 45.22 and 34.90, respectively), which were comparable to the caregiver burdens in stroke, and higher than the caregiver burdens in general chronic disease. Older caregivers and spousal caregivers experienced significantly higher burdens (p=.004 and p=.019, respectively). A greater motor disability and higher modified Hoehn and Yahr grade were related to higher caregiver burden (p=.001 and p=.018, respectively). CONCLUSION: Caring for PD patients is associated with a high level of caregiver burden. Therefore, healthcare professionals should identify the burden of caregivers who look after PD patients and develop comprehensive management strategies both for patients and their caregivers.

[Mothers' experience of caregiving for their children with schizophrenia].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore Korean mothers' experiences of caregiving for their adult children with schizophrenia. METHOD: A iterative descriptive qualitative research design was used to understand and explain the caregiving experience from the perspective of mothers. The data were collected by individual in-depth interviews and one focus group interview from 11 mothers. The ages of the participants ranged from 50 to 60 years old and the ages of their sick children ranged from late 20s to early 40s. RESULTS: Three major themes were identified from qualitative thematic analysis: (a) "emotional debris from the disease," (b) "the disease that makes mothers dumb" (c) "space of rational reason." CONCLUSIONS: This study would provide health care professionals insights in establishing intervention for mothers by deeply understanding the process of recognition and acceptance of their children with schizophrenia.

[A study of factors influencing on health promoting lifestyle in the elderly--application of Pender's health promotion model].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing health promoting lifestyle in the elderly. METHOD: The subject of this study was 305 elderly person over the age of 60, living in rural and urban, Korea. For the analysis of collected data, descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variance and stepwise multiple regression were used for statistical analysis with SPSS statistical program. RESULTS: The average item score for the health promoting lifestyle was 2.46. The higher score on the subscale was nutrition(2.65). The lowest score on the subscale were physical activity(2.36) and stress management(2.36). General characteristics showing statistically significant difference in health promoting lifestyle were age, residential district, live together spouse, education, religion and pocket money in the elderly. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the most powerful predictor of health promoting lifestyle in the elderly was prior related behavior(R2=.554). A combination of prior related behavior, perceived benefits of action, perceived self-efficacy, commitment to a plan of action, and interpersonal influences accounted for 64.3% of the variance in health promoting lifestyle in the elderly. CONCLUSION: The factors influencing on health promoting lifestyle for elderly were prior related behavior, perceived benefits of action, perceived self-efficacy, commitment to a plan of action, and interpersonal influences.

[Comparison of nursing activities reflected in nursing notes and in-depth interviews of nurses in an acute hospital].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the nursing activities delineated by interview of nurses with those on nursing notes. METHOD: The participants of interview were 18 nurses working in medical and surgical units of a large hospital in Seoul. Each nurse was asked to choose one patient who demand most nursing care among her patients. The nurse was then interviewed to describe what her nursing activities for the patient was that day. The audio-taped interview was transcribed and the content was analyzed by researchers. Nursing notes of each nurses' patients were copied and the content analyzed by researchers. Finally, themes from the interview data and those from nursing notes were compared. RESULT: Activities related to emotional or psychological nursing, education for patient and families, and problem solving related to treatment or nursing procedure were most often omitted in nursing notes. Most of the documentation in nursing notes were related to physical condition of patients or physician's orders. Nurses described that they will do better recording if they were given less patient care responsibility, had better nursing knowledge, had better recording system, and received more training on nursing record. CONCLUSION: Nursing notes did not reflect nursing activities properly. Few independent nursing roles were documented in the nursing notes. Development of nursing education program and nursing record system is needed for improvement of nursing record.

[A field study of posttraumatic stress disorder in a community after Typhoon Rusa].

PURPOSE: In South Korea, as growing the need of psychological support in disaster situation psychological assessment on stress after disaster is important to find out the factors affecting coping, and to plan intervention in the community. METHOD: The volunteers of Korea Redcross who live around K city, and the research team visited all homes at Jirye town, one of the high-impact area, 4 month after the typhoon. One of the family members who is over 18 years old, answered the self-report questionnaire composed of disaster experience, damage, exposure to traumatic event, and posttraumatic stress with IES-K (Impact of Event Scale-korea) He also, described his family members symptom related to re-experiencing, hyper-arousal, and avoidance. Six hundreds households were surveyed. RESULT: The prevalence of moderate to severe PTSD symptom was 36% of the subjects. The severity of PTSD was affected by gender, economic status and affected by damaged property, physical injury, worsening existing disease, getting infectious disease, amount of experienced traumatic event before disaster, warning, taking shelter, and subjects revealed differences in somatization as severity of PTSD. According to the description, community members had re-experiencing, hyper-arousal and avoidance. CONCLUSION: At a rural area, South Korea, community members have suffered from psychological distress after disaster. So psychological interventions are required as affecting factors and also to plan for warning and shelter in disaster situation is needed for preventing PTSD.