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The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is consistently increasing among Korean adults and is reported to be particularly high among older adults in Korea. This paper reports the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and identifies the association between metabolic syndrome and physical activity in Korean older adults. Subjects of this study were 3653 older adults who participated in the fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during the years 2007-2009. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the study population was 46.84%. The prevalences of abdominal obesity, elevated fasting glucose, elevated triglycerides, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and elevated blood pressure were 39.51, 45.53, 39.55, 48.24, and 69.14%, respectively, in the study population. Compared to subjects who reported low levels of physical activity, the odds ratios of metabolic syndrome for those who were moderately active and highly active were 0.93 and 0.63, respectively. Nurses should develop metabolic syndrome management programs that are tailored to the needs of the targeted group and that include individually adapted physical activity programs to promote health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nursing handovers represent an important and complex form of communication in healthcare organizations that involve the exchange of patient‐related information between nurses. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to identify the intershift handover experiences among nurses working in small and medium‐sized hospitals. Focus‐group interviews were conducted with 30 nurses who directly participated in patient care in such hospitals in South Korea. The reporting of the study findings adhered to the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Under the main theme of "baton touch in a relay," 6 categories, 17 subcategories, and 45 codes (concepts) were derived. The six categories were "procedural rituals for shifts," "nonstandardized handover training," "inconsistent handover style," "stress due to handovers," "coping strategies for handovers," and "interruptions of handovers." Nurses in small and medium‐sized hospitals strive to improve the quality of handovers by preparing individual‐level coping strategies under difficult conditions. This indicates that standardized handover education strategies need to be developed for nurses that are suitable for the personnel systems of small and medium‐sized hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this cross‐sectional study was to examine factors associated with nurses' resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Data were collected in the latter half of 2020 from 904 nurses across Japan, Republic of Korea, Republic of Turkey, and the United States. The questionnaire included the Connor‐Davidson Resilience Scale 10, plus demographics and 20 questions about practice environment, workplace safety concerning infection control, COVID‐related experience, and organizational support. Fear of becoming infected, intention to leave nursing, and having had a positive COVID‐19 test were inversely associated with resilience (p < 0.05). Regression analysis indicated that U.S. nurses had significantly greater resilience than nurses in the other countries examined (p < 0.001). Nurses reporting organization support and those who participated in policy and procedure development had higher resilience scores (p < 0.01). Organizational support, involving nurses in policy development, and country of practice were found to be important resilience factors in our research, which aligns with other findings. Further research is recommended to determine the optimal practice environment to support nurse resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace cyberbullying has emerged as a new issue. This study aimed to explore individual and organizational factors that affect nurses' workplace cyberbullying in hospital settings. A multicenter, cross‐sectional study was conducted using a self‐report questionnaire. Three tertiary and 18 general hospitals were selected from one city in Korea. A total of 270 nurses with 6 months to 10 years of experience in the current department were enrolled. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors associated with cyberbullying. Workplace cyberbullying was affected by self‐labeled victimization due to face‐to‐face bullying, subjective health level, years of experience as a nurse (β = 0.148, p = 0.009), and relation‐oriented nursing organizational culture. Face‐to‐face bullying must be addressed to prevent workplace cyberbullying. It is important to assist nurses to maintain good health—considering that, new nurses with less than 1 year of experience are vulnerable to being victimized. Effective prevention strategies should be prepared to control workplace cyberbullying in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, we investigated the ecological factors that influence health‐promoting behaviors in children from low‐income families in South Korea using a descriptive correlational design. The participants included 297 elementary school students who used community childcare centers, 297 caregivers, and 68 teachers at the centers. Data were collected using a structured self‐report survey, and were subjected to a multi‐level regression analysis. The factors influencing the health‐promoting behaviors of children were as follows: self‐efficacy and self‐regulation as intrapersonal factors; caregivers’ parenting behavior and peer relationships as interpersonal factors; and the number of months since the centers’ establishment, teachers workloads, and centers’ perceived environments as institutional factors. The findings emphasize the need to create a healthy environment to promote the health of children from vulnerable groups, and that community‐based participatory research might be an effective strategy to address these environmental problems, and ultimately help reduce health disparities between children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational outcomes, such as knowledge, confidence in performance, ability in nursing practice, and satisfaction with learning methods in caring for children with croup, were compared between groups of students that received education through simulation combined with pre-education, simulation only, and pre-education only. In this quasi-experimental design, the educational intervention for the experimental group was the pre-education modality. Data from a convenience sample of 127 senior nursing students were drawn from three nursing schools in South Korea. There were significant differences in the mean scores of knowledge, confidence in performance, satisfaction with the learning method, and ability in nursing practice between the three groups. Pre-education with simulation significantly enhanced students' knowledge, confidence in performance, ability in nursing practice, and satisfaction with learning methods compared with pre-education or simulation alone. Simulation strategies should focus more on enhancing nursing students' learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, nursing interventions used by hospice nurses in Korea were identified and compared with core interventions selected by US end-of-life care nurses in order to determine similarities and differences between the two nations regarding such care. Data were collected from the electronic medical records of 353 hospice patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Korea over a period of two years. First, extracted narrative interventions were mapped onto the Nursing Interventions Classification for comparison with interventions selected by nurses in the USA. A total of 56,712 intervention statements were mapped onto 147 Nursing Interventions Classification interventions. Hospice nurses in Korea performed more nursing interventions in the physiological basic domain, compared to nurses in the USA. The most frequently-used interventions in Korea were related to patient pain management. Among 47 core Nursing Interventions Classification interventions used in the USA, only 18 were used by Korean nurses in this study. This study highlights cultural differences in hospice care nursing interventions between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]