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This paper re-examines the impacts an institutional arrangement may have on labour market outcomes such as the employment and unemployment rates. Based on the results from a generalized econometric model, the generosity of unemployment insurance benefits, organized labour and active labour market policy have effects on a labour market in line with previous findings. However, taxes on labour and the degree of employment protection are found to affect neither the employment rate nor the unemployment rate. Thus, some findings in this paper validate earlier findings, whereas others do not.

Household debt in Korea raises concerns about the resilience of the economy due to its size and quality. Against this backdrop, we investigate if household leverage matters for private consumption in adverse economic environments even without severe financial disruptions. We find that the balance sheet positions in terms of the leverage ratio may weaken consumption growth. We also find that the depressive effect of debt on consumption may differ across types of consumer spending and household characteristics. In particular, the effects of indebtedness have been much stronger in relation to durable goods expenditures than in other areas. In addition, debtors in highincome (wealth) groups have also shown downward adjustments in consumption even more so than low-income (wealth) groups. These findings imply that debtors’ precautionary behavior may serve as an important channel from leverage to consumer spending.

In many advanced countries, most outside directors are executives, active or retired, at other firms; in other words, executives from other companies make executive compensation decisions. This situation may hinder the board of directors (BOD) in their efforts to optimize executive compensation levels objectively. Using a panel data analysis of the S&P 1500 companies, we provide supplemental evidence of whether, and to what extent, the concurrent executive employment of outside directors distorts the executive pay decisions at a given company. An unbiased fixed-effect estimation confirms that a $1.00 increase in CEO pay at outside directors’ primary companies results in an approximate increase of $0.22 in CEO pay at the given company. From a policy perspective, this added agency problem — caused by the BOD and not by management— is noted as difficult to control; although a firm may establish board independence, the inherent concurrent employment of directors on a board continues to exist.

Financial soundness in the household sector matters for financial stability and for the real economy. The level of household debt in Korea raises concern about the financial soundness of the household sector due to its size, growth rate and quality. Against this backdrop, we assess the financial vulnerability of borrowers based on an analysis of credit bureau (CB) data, in which the actual credit activities of most individuals are recorded at a high frequency in Korea. We construct over-indebtedness indicators from the CB data and then assess the predictability of forthcoming defaults. Based on the over-indebtedness indicators, we show how borrowers are distributed in terms of over-indebtedness and how the over-indebted differ from average borrowers in terms of their characteristics. Furthermore, we show how the aggregate credit risk in the household sector would change under macroeconomic distress by analyzing how each borrower’s credit quality would be affected by adverse shocks. The findings of this paper may contribute to assessing household debt vulnerability and to enhancing regulatory and supervisory practices for financial stability.

This study aims to understand the long-run movement of volatility in Korean stock market by decomposing stock volatility into the long-lived and the short-lived components. In addition, I analyze how the low-frequency movement of stock market volatility is related to changes in macroeconomic conditions. The volatility decomposition is made based on the GARCH-MIDAS model, in which the long-lived volatility is constructed based on the combination of realized volatilities (RVs). The results show that the long-lived volatility contains information of up to 3~4 years of past RVs. In addition, the changes in the long-lived volatility can explain about two thirds of volatility changes in the Korean stock market from 1994 to 2009. Meanwhile, the low-frequency movement in the market volatility can be related to changes in macroeconomic conditions. The analysis shows that the stock market volatility appears to be countercyclical while showing a positive correlation with the inflation. In addition, the stock market volatility tends to rise as macroeconomic uncertainty increases. These results imply that macroeconomic policies aiming at economic stabilization could contribute to reduction in the stock market volatility.

In this paper, we test and estimate the stochastic non-fundamental trend in Korean stock market. For this, following Kim (2011), we exploit that the long-run equilibrium stock price may be decomposed into fundamental and stochastic non-fundamental trends (i.e., the sum of dividend innovations and a part that are orthogonal with the dividend innovations) by using the Beveridge-Nelson decomposition and projections. In this VAR construction, there is an error correction mechanism through which stock prices converge to their long-run equilibrium, which also contain the stated stochastic non-fundamental trend as well as fundamental trend. The estimation and test results using yearly data from the Korea (1976-2012) indicated that fluctuations in stock prices during that period can be explained mainly not by the stochastic non-fundamental trend but by the dividend trend. However, during some periods like after Seoul Olympic Games, we may observe the non-fundamental trend affected to the stock price variation.

Greenhouse gas emission policy in Korea and elsewhere is based on emissions projections, a key element of which is the projected path of structural change from high productivity growth to low productivity growth economic sectors given sector specific labor productivity growth, emissions abatement across sectors and population growth. Thus, it is important to model the source of the structural change to forecast emissions correctly. Using data for the Korean economy, this study constructs and quantitatively evaluates a model of structural change and green growth to generate policy implications for Korea and the international greenhouse gas debate.

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of social networks in finding jobs and estimates the value of job search network using the Korean Laber and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) dataset and utilizing the Difference-in-Difference Propensity Score Matching (PSM) methodology (Heckman et al., 1997). While the wide use of social networks in the Korean labor market is often perceived as ‘nepotism,’ this study confirms that social networks, by serving as an effective information transmitter between job search and recruitment, make a significant contribution to improving the adequacy of job matching in the domestic labor market. In order to verify the effectiveness of using social networks for getting jobs, this study looks into the cases of labor turnover using social networks and also not using it. In the aspect of individual satisfaction improvement relating to workplace and job duties, both cases of turnover turn out to experience an increased satisfaction by 2~3 points (on a 100-score scale). Meanwhile, as for the educational and technical adequacy improvement, no positive effects are found in the case of turnover without social networks, whereas the educational and technical adequacy improvement turns out to increase by 2.13 and 2.52 points, respectively, in the case of turnover using social networks. The effect of income increase through turnover using social networks registered 40,074 Korean won per month (as of 2010), which can be considered as the result from the improved educational and technical adequacy. Of all things being considered, the value of job search network per wage worker in the Korean society is estimated to be 18.72 million won in terms of life-cycle wage improvement, and 758.2 scores in terms of the improvement of working life satisfaction. Provided that the cash value of satisfaction score 1 is equivalent to ‘’ times 10,000 won, the aggregate value of job search network is estimated to be 18.72＋7.582 million won, which means the total amount of costs that a wage worker in the Korean society willingly pays to maintain and manage job networks for lifetime.

Despite continuous efforts of the government, youth joblessness in Korea has remained as a top policy priority. At this end, the study focuses on the causes of youth labor market problems and tries to seek for policy directions. While the previous research attempted to explain youth joblessness based on the labor demand and supply, this study follows a job search model which emphasizes a job matching process. A theoretical model and empirical results predict that a mean duration of unemployment could decrease if an implicit income of unemployment declines or a rate of job offer rises. From policy point of view, it is advisable to raise incentives for labor demand and to strengthen employment services because a policy to lower an implicit income of unemployment may not secure policy target efficiency.

We develop an identity choice model within the context of a stereotyping-cum-signaling framework. The model allows us to explore implications of the fact that, when individuals can choose identity, then the distribution of abilities within distinct identity groups becomes endogenous. This is significant because, when identity is exogenous and if the ability distributions within groups are the same, then inequality of group reputations in equilibrium can only arise if there is a positive feedback between group reputation and individual human capital investment activities (Arrow, 1973; Coate and Loury, 1993). Here we show that when group membership is endogenous then the logic of individuals’ identity choices leads there to be a positive selection of higher ability individuals into the group with a better reputation. This happens because those for whom human-capital-investment is less costly are also those who stand to gain more from joining the favored group. As a result, ability distributions within distinct groups can endogenously diverge, reinforcing incentive-feedbacks. We develop the theoretical framework that can examine the positive selection and the endogenous group formation. The model implies that inequality deriving from stereotyping of endogenously constructed social groups is at least as great as the inequality that can emerge between exogenously given groups.

The second part provides empirical evidence in support of the extension part of the model presented in the first part. Based on the endogenous growth framework as proposed by Romer(1990) and Rivera-Batiz and Romer(1991), the model explains how economic openness affects labor allocation between skilled and unskilled sectors. According to the model, economic openness can affect labor allocation through two channels; knowledge spillover and specialization. First, the openness promotes knowledge spillover and hence increases the productivity of workers in the skilled sectors. This makes the economy employs more workers in the skilled sector. On the other hand, the openness causes global specialization which leads more employment in the skilled sector for the developed countries but at the same time, leads less employment in the skilled sector for the developing countries since the developing countries have comparative advantages in the unskilled sector. The empirical results obtained using cross country panel data in this paper support these two effects of knowledge spillover and specialization.

This paper investigates the extent of global and regional integration in East Asia using stock price index as a measure of economic performance. We employ a structural VAR model to separate the underlying shocks into “global”, “regional” and “country-specific” shocks. The estimation results show that country-specific shocks still play a dominant role in East Asia although their role appears to have declined over time, especially after the 1997 financial crisis. Global and regional shocks are responsible for small but increasing shares of stock price fluctuations in all countries. The results indicate that the stock markets in East Asia remain dissimilar and are subject to asymmetric shocks in comparison to European countries.

In this paper, we claim the asymmetric response of asset returns on the past asset returns' signs may be explained from the market behavioral portfolio choice of investors. For this, we admit the anchor and adjustment mechanism of investors which partly explains the momentum in the asset prices. We also claim the prospect theory based on the risk aversions may simultaneously work with the anchor and adjustment effect, whenever the lagged asset return was positive and investors accrued the gain. To identify these effects empirically in a threshold autoregressive model, we suppose the risk aversions inducing the volatility effect is related with the past volatility of asset returns. In application of suggested method to Korean stock and real estate markets, we found these effect exist as expected.

We conduct a comprehensive risk analysis of household debt in Korea for the first time using the whole sample credit bureau (CB) data of 2.2 million individual debtors. After analysing debt service capacity profiles of debtor groups classified by the borrower characteristics such as income, age, occupation, credit scoring, and the type of creditor business companies, we investigate the impact of interest rate and income changes on debt service-to-income ratios (DTIs) and default rates of respective debtor groups. Empirical results indicate that debt service burdens are relatively high for low income wage earners, high income self-employed, low income capital and card loan holders, and high income mutual savings loan holders. We also find that debtors from multiple financial companies are particularly weak in their debt service capacity. The scenario analysis indicates that financial companies, with the current level of capital buffers, may be able to absorb negative consequences arising from the increase in DTIs and loan default rates if the interest rate and income changes remain modest. However, the negative consequences may fall disproportionately on non-bank financial companies such as capital, credit card, and mutual savings banks, whose debtors' DTIs are already high. We also find that the refinancing risk of household debt is relatively high in Korea as more than half of household mortgage debts are bullet loans. As the DTIs of mortgage loan holders are already high, under the current DTI regulation, mortgage loans may not be readily refinanced especially when the interest rate rises. Disruptions in mortgage loan refinancing may put downward pressure on housing prices, which may in turn magnify refinancing risk under the current loan-to-value (LTV) regulation. Overall our analysis suggests that, for more effective monitoring of household debt risk, it is necessary to combine existing surveillance schemes based on macro aggregate indicators with more comprehensive and detailed risk analyses based on micro individual data.

Objectives : This study was aimed at investigating live protection mechanism of Cultivated Ginseng and Cultivated Wild Ginseng of Korean and Chinese by inducing liver toxicity through and t-BHP in mice and evaluated serological findings. Methods : Experiment groups was categorized into untreated normal group, treated control group, and orally administered Cultivated Ginseng and Cultivated Wild Ginseng of Korean and Chinese experimental groups. At the termination of experiment, gross examination of the liver as well as Total bilirubin, AST, and ALT contents in the serum were evaluated. Results : 1. In the induced acute hepatotoxicity test, total bilirubin, AST and ALT didn't show significant differences between the control and experimental groups. 2. In the t-BHP induced acute hepatotoxicity test, total bilirubin, AST and ALT didn't show significant differences between the control and experimental groups. Conclusion : Taken together, Cultivated Ginseng and Cultivated Wild Ginseng of Korean and Chinese cannot be effectively used for recovering the liver functions in acute hepatotoxicity tests using and t-BHP. Further researches, for example treated long period, must be tried to verify the efficacies.

The success of fiscal decentralization depends on an effective intergovernmental transfer system. This paper focuses on the Local Share Tax(LST), the primary intergovernmental fiscal transfer in Korea. The LST, by law, aims to mitigate horizontal fiscal imbalance among the local governments. As an attempt to test the fiscal equity of the LST empirically, net fiscal benefits of each county are calculated based on a simple model. While the LST contributes to horizontal fiscal measured traditional inequality indices, a geographical pattern of net fiscal benefits is observed. From these findings, the role of LST on fiscal equity needs to be carefully re-examined.

The effects of Cervus elaphus aquapuncuture and Ginseng Radix aquapuncuture on the growth, protein efficiency ratio, contents of total protein, total cholesterol, and triglyceride in serum were studied for thirty four days. The results were summarized as follows. 1. Weight significantly increased in 0.3% Cervus elaphus aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci and in 0.2% Ginseng Radix aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci compared to normal saline aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci. 2. Protein efficiency ratio significantly increased in 0.2% and 0.3% of Cervus elaphus aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci and 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% of Ginseng Radix aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci compared to nonnal saline aquapuncture on Chunchu loci. 3. Total protein significantly increased in 0.2% and 0.3% of Cervus elaphus aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci compared to nonnal saline aqriapuncture On Chunchu loci. whereas it had a tendency to increase in 0.2% Ginseng Radix aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci compared to normal saline aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci. 4. Total cholesterol increased a little in 0.3% Cervus elaphus aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci compared to normal saline aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci. 5. Triglyceride significantly increased in 0.2% Ginseng Radix aqua puncture group on Chunchu loci compared to normal saline aquapuncture group on Chunchu loci. Significance was acknowledged in the effect by density difference of medicines. In the Cervus elaphus group, there was the most significant increase in density of 0.3% aquapuncture, whereas in Ginseng Radix group, there was the most significant increase in density of 0.2% aquapuncture. So setting up density of medicines is important and many various studies for clinical application are required.

Hemiplegic shoulder pain(HSP) is one of the most frequent and difficult problems affecting poststroke hemiplegic patients. Honeybee venom acupuncture therapy(BVAT) is known for its pain relieving effects in arthralgia. To evaluate the effectiveness of BVAT on HSP, 24 patients were sequential1y allocated into BVA T treatment group and control group and monitored for 4 weeks at time interval of initial(T0), 1 week(T1), 2 weeks(T2) and 4 weeks(T4). In treatment group, 1:10000 honeybee venom solution 0.2㎖ was injected into acupoint(s) following Deqi three times a week. Kyonu(LI15) was used in the first week. Thereafter Kyonu(LI15) and Nosu(SI10) were used. Visual analogue scale of pain severity showed significant decrease in treatment group compared to control group at T2 and T4 evaluation. Painless passive range of motion of shoulder external rotation showed significant increase in treatment group compared to control group at T4 evaluation. Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment of upper limb motor function and Modified Ashworth scale of the spasticity of upper limb showed no difference between two groups. BVAT showed as an effective therapy in HSP and further extensive clinical studies are expected.

Purpose: This study developed and tested a hypothetical model of health promotion behavior on migrant workers based on the Health Promotion Model and the Health Literacy Skills Framework., Methods: Data were collected from 298 migrant workers in 9 regions across the country from December 2020 to March 2021. The exogenous variables were e-health literacy, occupational stress, acculturation, and social support. The endogenous variables were perceived benefits of action, self-efficacy, and health promotion behavior. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 25.0, AMOS 20.0, and R-4.0.3 program., Results: The model fit was appropriate. Social support had the most significant direct impact on the health promotion behavior of migrant workers. Perceived benefits of action and self-efficacy played a mediating role in the relationship among e-health literacy, social support, and health promotion behavior. Based on multi-group analysis, the migrant worker group with less than 5 years of residency had a more statistically significant effect on the relationship between perceived benefits of action and health promotion behavior than those with over 5 years., Conclusion: Providing social support as a critical administrative strategy to enhance the health promotion behavior of migrant workers is necessary. Furthermore, when developing an intervention program utilizing the internal mechanism between social support and health promotion behavior, a self-efficacy-enhancing strategy is considered to be more effective. Additionally, educating migrant workers with short-term residence of less than 5 years about the benefits of health behaviors is essential., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (© 2024 Korean Society of Nursing Science.)

Ultrasound (US) is an essential diagnostic tool in almost every medical area. Therefore, abdominal US education for internal medicine residents was mandated by the Korean Association of Internal Medicine. However, US education for physicians has been conducted only in some university hospitals that directly perform abdominal US examinations in internal medicine, or some education is provided with the help of radiologists. US technology continues to become increasingly widespread, portable, and miniaturized. Furthermore, point-of-care US, i.e., US executed at the patient's bedside to obtain real-time objective information with diagnostic and clinical monitoring purposes or to guide invasive procedures, has been incorporated in many specialties. Despite the increasing role of US, there is no systemized abdominal US education program. Therefore, the authors are trying to develop a structured abdominal US education program through cooperation with related US organizations.

In children and adolescents, inguinal and scrotal diseases are relatively common, and imaging is very useful for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of these diseases. Therefore, it is important to understand the imaging findings of these diseases. In this article, we classify these diseases into small testes, cryptorchidism, patent processus vaginalis, acute scrotum pain, trauma, testicular tumors, and others and describe their characteristic findings., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyrights © 2022 The Korean Society of Radiology.)

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a chronic inflammatory condition involving multiple organs, including the salivary or lacrimal glands, orbit, pancreas, bile duct, liver, kidney, retroperitoneum, aorta, lung, and lymph nodes. It is histologically characterized by tissue infiltration with lymphocytes and IgG4-secreting plasma cells, storiform fibrosis, and obliterative phlebitis. In the thoracic involvement of IgG4-RD, mediastinal lymphadenopathy and perilymphangitic interstitial thickening of the lung are the most common findings. Peribronchovascular and septal thickening and paravertebral band-like soft tissue are characteristic findings of IgG4-RD. Other findings include pulmonary nodules or masses, ground-glass opacity, alveolar interstitial thickening, pleural effusion or thickening, mass in the chest wall or mediastinum, and arteritis involving the aorta and coronary artery. Radiologic differential diagnosis of various malignancies, infections, and inflammatory conditions is needed. In this review, we describe the imaging findings of IgG4-RD and the radiologic differential diagnoses in the thorax., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyrights © 2021 The Korean Society of Radiology.)

Because of the inherent complex anatomy and functional arrangement of the cranial nerves (CNs), neuroimaging of cranial neuropathy is challenging. With recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, the cause of cranial neuropathy can now be detected in many cases. As an active multidisciplinary team member of cranial neuropathy, it is essential for the neuroradiologist to be familiar with the detailed anatomy of the CNs on MRI. This review contains the basic MRI anatomy of CNs III-XII according to a segmental classification from the brain stem to the extracranial region. The optimal imaging options to best evaluate the specific segment of the CNs will also be discussed briefly., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyrights © 2020 The Korean Society of Radiology.)

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a scale to measure variables related to alcohol drinking prevention behavior in early elementary school, based on the theory of planned behavior., Methods: A scale was developed to measure variables related to alcohol drinking prevention behavior. Initial items for direct evaluation were constructed through a literature review, and those for belief-based indirect measure were generated through interviews with 30 second- and third-grade elementary school students. The collected data from 286 third-grade elementary school students were then subjected to item analysis, exploratory and confirmative factor analysis, criterion-related validity testing, and internal consistency assessment., Results: The final scale consisted of 35 items. Intention, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control explained 82.7% of the variance; behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs explained 65.6% of the variance; and evaluation of outcome, motivation to comply, and power of control beliefs explained 72.8% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the theoretical models had a satisfactory goodness of fit. Criterion-related validity was confirmed between the direct evaluation variables and the indirect measure variables (attitudes r=.64, p <.001; subjective norms r=.39, p <.001; perceived behavioral control r=.62, p <.001). Cronbach's a was .89 for the direct evaluation variables and .93 for the indirect measure variables., Conclusion: The scale developed in this study is valid and reliable. It could be used to measure and explain variables related to alcohol drinking prevention behavior in early elementary school., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (© 2020 Korean Society of Nursing Science.)

Purpose: This prospective study was conducted to determine the incidence and related characteristics of respiratory medical device-related pressure ulcers (MDRPU) in children admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU)., Methods: The participants were 184 children who were admitted to the PICU of P University Hospital from April 2016 to January 2017. Data were collected on the occurrence of respiratory MDRPU and characteristics regarding the application of respiratory medical devices., Results: Respiratory MDRPU occurred in 11.9% of participants (58.3%: stage I ulcers, 37.5%: mucosal ulcers). The devices associated with respiratory MDRPU were endotracheal tubes (54.2%), high-flow nasal cannulas (37.5%), and oximetry probes (8.3%). Respiratory MDRPU associated with an endotracheal tube were significant differences according to the site and strength of fixation, the use of a bite block and adhesive tape, skin dryness, and edema. In high-flow nasal cannulas, significant differences were found according to the site of fixation, immobility after fixation, and skin dryness., Conclusion: The occurrence of respiratory MDRPU is significantly affected by the method and strength of fixation, as well as skin dryness and edema. Therefore, appropriate consideration of these factors in nursing care can help prevent respiratory MDRPU., Competing Interests: No existing or potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported., (Copyright © 2019 Korean Academy of Child Health Nursing. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of emergency contraceptive pill on adolescent sexuality and contraceptive behaviors through a meta - analysis of intervention studies on advance provision of emergency contraceptives. This study aimed to provide objective data on the transition of general medicines to be discussed in relation to the reclassification of emergency contraceptive pills., Methods: Using electronic database, 1,820 studies written in Korean or English without limitation of the year were reviewed and for analysis, 5 studies were selected, in which emergency contraceptives were provided to adolescents., Results: The advance provision of emergency contraceptives has increased their use and shortened the time it takes to take contraceptive pills after unprotected sex. There was no change in the frequency of engaging in sexual intercourse and unprotected sex or in existing contraceptive behavior, pregnancy rates decreased, but there was no increase in sexually transmitted infection., Conclusion: The results of this study provide objective grounds for the reclassification of emergency contraceptive pills and propose effective interventional programs on contraceptive education, such as on efficacy and side effects of the contraceptive drug and its proper use among the youth who engage in sexual activity, to improve their reproductive health., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (© 2018 Korean Society of Nursing Science.)

Purpose: This study aimed to construct and test a hypothetical model of the quality of life of school-age children with asthma based on the health-related quality of life model by Wilson and Cleary., Methods: Data were collected from 205 pairs of pediatric outpatients diagnosed with asthma and their parents in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do from July 2016 to April 2017. The exogenous variables were asthma knowledge, number of accompanying allergic diseases, and social support. The endogenous variables were asthma self-efficacy, asthma symptom control, perceived health status, parental quality of life, and children's quality of life. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed., Results: Eighteen of the twenty-four hypotheses selected for the hypothetical model were attentive and supported statistically. Quality of life was explained by asthma self-efficacy, asthma symptom control, perceived health, parental quality of life, and asthma knowledge with 83.5%., Conclusion: Strategies for promoting self-efficacy and enforcing asthma knowledge will be helpful for the improvement of health-related quality of life with school-aged asthmatic children., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (© 2018 Korean Society of Nursing Science.)

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the impact of increasing the supply of newly licensed nurses on improving the hospital nurse staffing grades for the period of 2009~2014., Methods: Using public administrative data, we analyzed the effect of newly licensed nurses on staffing in 1,594 hospitals using Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) ordered logistic regression, and of supply variation on improving staffing grades in 1,042 hospitals using GEE logistic regression., Results: An increase of one newly licensed nurse per 100 beds in general units had significantly lower odds of improving staffing grades (grades 6~0 vs. 7) (odds ratio=0.95, p=.005). The supply of newly licensed nurses increased by 32% from 2009 to 2014, and proportion of hospitals whose staffing grade had improved, not changed, and worsened was 19.1%, 70.1%, and 10.8% respectively. Compared to 2009, the supply variation of newly licensed nurses in 2014 was not significantly related to the increased odds of improving staffing grades in the region (OR=1.02, p=.870)., Conclusion: To achieve a balance in the regional supply and demand for hospital nurses, compliance with nurse staffing legislation and revisions in the nursing fee differentiation policy are needed. Rather than relying on increasing nurse supply, retention policies for new graduate nurses are required to build and sustain competent nurse workforce in the future., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (© 2017 Korean Society of Nursing Science)

Purpose: This study aimed to identify and compare hospice care research topics between Korean and international nursing studies using text network analysis., Methods: The study was conducted in four steps: 1) collecting abstracts of relevant journal articles, 2) extracting and cleaning keywords (semantic morphemes) from the abstracts, 3) developing co-occurrence matrices and text-networks of keywords, and 4) analyzing network-related measures including degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and clustering using the NetMiner program. Abstracts from 347 Korean and 1,926 international studies for the period of 1998-2016 were analyzed., Results: Between Korean and international studies, six of the most important core keywords-"hospice," "patient," "death," "RNs," "care," and "family"-were common, whereas "cancer" from Korean studies and "palliative care" from international studies ranked more highly. Keywords such as "attitude," "spirituality," "life," "effect," and "meaning" for Korean studies and "communication," "treatment," "USA," and "doctor" for international studies uniquely emerged as core keywords in recent studies (2011~2016). Five subtopic groups each were identified from Korean and international studies. Two common subtopics were "hospice palliative care and volunteers" and "cancer patients.", Conclusion: For a better quality of hospice care in Korea, it is recommended that nursing researchers focus on study topics of patients with non-cancer disease, children and family, communication, and pain and symptom management., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (© 2017 Korean Society of Nursing Science)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of the program to promote drinking knowledge, attitudes, and coping behavior in preschool children., Methods: A quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was conducted. The participants were 123 five year old children from G city. They were assigned to the experimental group (n=77) or the control group (n=46). A pretest and posttest were conducted to measure main variables. For the experimental group, the drinking prevention program was given for 6 weeks. Data were analyzed using χ²-test, t-test, and ANCOVA., Results: After the intervention, preschool children in the experimental group reported significant differences in drinking knowledge (F=9.25, p=.003), drinking attitudes (F=19.57, p<.001), and coping behavior (F=16.38, p<.001) compared to preschool children in the control group., Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that a drinking prevention program for preschool children is effective in increasing drinking knowledge, attitudes, and coping behavior. This drinking prevention program is recommended as an effective intervention for preschool age children to postpone an early introduction to drinking.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of home care nursing services provided by community health nurses and to identify barriers to the services., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with three types of community health care nurses. Participants were 257 nurses, 46 of whom were hospital based home care nurses, 176 were community based visiting nurses, and 35 were long term care insurance based visiting nurses. A structured questionnaire on 7 domains of home care nursing services with a 4-point Likert scale was used to measure activities and barriers to care. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 21.0 program., Results: Hospital based home care nurses showed a high level of service performance activity in the domain of clinical laboratory tests, medications and injections, therapeutic nursing, and education. Community based visiting nurses had a high level of service performance in the reference domain. Long term care insurance based visiting nurses showed a high level of performance in the service domains of fundamental nursing and counseling., Conclusion: The results show that although health care service provided by the three types of community health nurse overlapped, the focus of the service is differentiated. Therefore, these results suggest that existing home care services will need to be utilized efficiently in the development of a new nursing care service for patients living in the community after hospital discharge.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of fluid management in hemodialysis patients by describing how they manage fluid intake and what affects fluid management., Methods: Purposive sampling yielded 11 patients who have received hemodialysis for one year or longer in one general hospital. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed using Giorgi's phenomenological method. Data collection and analysis were performed concurrently., Results: The findings regarding how hemodialysis patients manage fluid intake were classified into four constituents: 'recognizing the need for fluid control', 'observing the status of fluid accumulation', 'controlling fluid intake and output', 'getting used to fluid management'. The factors that affect fluid management of hemodialysis patients were revealed as 'willpower', 'change in the mindset', 'support system', and 'emotional state'., Conclusion: The study results show that hemodialysis patients manage fluid intake through food and exercise as well as interpersonal relationships. These findings suggest that strategies in the development of nursing interventions for hemodialysis patients should be directed at assisting them in familiarization with fluid management based on an understanding of their sociocultural contexts.

Purpose: This study analyzed the learning characteristics of primary care physicians that are necessary to develop proper educational support systems in continuing medical education., Methods: The research participants were 15 physicians with an average of 8 years of experience in primary care clinics. The data were collected through in-person interviews with each participant and analyzed by keyword coding, expert review, and content elaboration., Results: The learning styles of primary care physicians were classified as "reactive," "organized," and "exploratory," according to their problem-solving approaches in clinics. The types of learning interaction were "unilateral acquisition," "mutual exchange," and "organization participation." The primary motives of learning in clinics were the primary care physicians' recognition of accountability and the intrinsic enjoyment of learning itself., Conclusion: For continuous professional development--i.e., the self-directed learning of primary care physicians with problem-solving approaches--learning interactions in professional communities should be considered in continuing educational support systems.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess and identify gender differences in factors associated with prevalence, awareness, and treatment of osteoporosis., Methods: Data for 3,071 men and 3,635 women (age ≥ 50) from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008~2011 were included. Osteoporosis was defined by World Health Organization T-score criteria. Impact factors and odds ratios were analysed by gender using multivariate logistic regression., Results: Osteoporosis prevalence rates were 7.0% in men and 40.1% in women. Osteopenia rates were 45.5% and 46.0% respectively. Among respondents with osteoporosis, 7.6% men and 37.8% women were aware of their diagnosis. Also 5.7% men with osteoporosis and 22.8% women were treated. Higher prevalence was found among respondents who were older, at lower socioeconomic levels, with lower body mass index and shorter height in both genders, and among women with fracture history, and non-hormonal replacement therapy. Awareness and treatment rates for the risk groups were similar compared to the low risk controls for both genders. Fracture history increased awareness and treatment rates independently for both genders. Women with perceived poor health status and health screening had increased awareness and treatment rates, but not men., Conclusion: Results indicate that postmenopausal women have a higher prevalence of osteoporosis than men and awareness and treatment rates were higher than for men. Despite gender difference in prevalence, osteoporosis was underdiagnosed and undertreated for both genders. Specialized public education and routine health screenings according to gender could be effective strategies to increase osteoporosis awareness and treatment.

This paper aims to examine the preventive measures taken against the plague in colonial Korea, particularly as applied to the control of Chinese coolies in 1911, soon after the annexation. The Government General of Korea began preventive measures with a train quarantine in Shin'uiju and Incheon in response to the spread of the plague to the Southern Manchuria. Shin' uiju had become urbanized due the development of the transportation network, and the seaport of Incheon was the major hub for traffic with China. Examining the transportation routes for the entry and exit of Chinese to and from Korea makes clear the reason why the Korea Government General initiated preventive measures in mid-January, 1911. The Government General of Korea tried to block the entry of Chinese through the land border crossing with China and through ports of entry, primarily Incheon. During the implementation of the preventive measures, quarantine facilities were built, including a quarantine station and isolation facility in Incheon. It was also needed to investigate the population and residential locations of Chinese in Korea to prevent the spread of plague. A certificate of residence was issued to all Chinese in Korea, which they needed to carry when they travelled. The preventive measures against plague which broke out in Manchuria were removed gradually. However, there was no specific measures against Chinese coolies, those who had migrated from China to work in the spring in Korea. Still the Government General of Korea had doubt about an infection of the respiratory system. As a result, the labor market in colonial Korea underwent changes in this period. The Government General recruited Korean laborers, instead of Chinese coolies whose employment had been planned. This move explains the Government General's strong preventive measures against plague and uncertainty in the route of plague infection, which influenced subsequent regulations on the prohibition of Chinese coolies working on the public enterprise sites and the improvement of labor conditions for Korean laborers.

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore the impact of registered nurse/nurses' aid (RN/NA) staffing and turnover rate on inpatient health outcomes in long term care hospitals., Methods: A secondary analysis was done of national data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Services including evaluation of long term care hospitals in October-December 2010 and hospital general characteristics in July-September 2010. Final analysis of data from 610 hospitals included RN/NA staffing, turnover rate of nursing staff and 5 patient health outcome indicators., Results: Finding showed that, when variables of organization and community level were controlled, patients per RN was a significant indicator of decline in ADL for patients with dementia, and new pressure ulcer development in the high risk group and worsening of pressure ulcers. Patients per NA was a significant indicator for new pressure ulcer development in the low risk group. Turnover rate was not significant for any variable., Conclusion: To maintain and improve patient health outcomes of ADL and pressure ulcers, policies should be developed to increase the staffing level of RN. Studies are also needed to examine causal relation of NA staffing level, RN staffing level and patient health outcomes with consideration of the details of nursing practice.

Intestinal malrotation is a congenital disorder that results from the failure of normal bowel rotation and fixation during the 5th gestational week. The incidence of intestinal malrotation is <0.2%, but prompt diagnosis is important because this anomaly can cause midgut volvulus and lead to fatalities. Compared to infants presenting with acute symptoms, such as abdominal pain, vomiting, or diarrhea, adult patients complain of intermittent self-limited abdominal pain. We present a case of intestinal malrotation complicated by midgut volvulus improved with conservative care in a 70-year-old man. The diagnosis was suggested on the basis of imaging findings.