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Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a logotherapy program entitled 'Finding treasures in my mind' for early adolescents with cancer. Methods: A nonequivalent control group, non-synchronized design was conducted with a convenience sample of 22 early adolescents with cancer. The experimental group (n=12) participated in the 'Finding treasures in my mind' program which consisted of five-day sessions for one week. The control group (n=10) received the usual nursing care. The effects were measured using meaning of life (MOL) for early adolescents. The collected data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test, t-test, and content analysis. Results: There was a significant difference in MOL for early adolescents (t=3.20, p=.005) between the experimental and control groups. The main results of content analysis were having goals and hope, recovering health, returning to school life, and loving relationships with family. Conclusion: Logotherapy is effective in improving the meaning of life of early adolescents with cancer. This education program based on logotherapy can be used as an important nursing intervention in a cancer nursing care setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Korean views and attitudes towards disabled people are generally negative. Because of this, living with life-long disabilities in Korea means pain for oneself and one's family. Also family members think that the disability is detrimental to their social standing and try to hide the disabled person. Koreans believe that having disabilities is the result of the geomantic system of topography, used in choosing auspicious sites for graves and houses, sins committed in a previous existence, the fault of an ancestor, or a wicked ghost. Aim. The objective of the study was to provide an understanding of how adolescents with physical disabilities see meaning in their lives, with the ultimate aim of encouraging these adolescents to find their own values and meanings of life. Design. An inductive and descriptive study to understand the perspective of adolescents with physical disabilities. Methods. Eighty-eight adolescents with physical disabilities were interviewed in depth and content analysis was used for analyzing the data. Findings. Adolescents with physical disabilities in Korea experience meaning in their lives when society accepts their existential problems and allows them to live a normal life. This normality includes helping others (as a friend or as a volunteer) and creating opportunities to achieve their own goals in life. The main categories in the findings were ‘accomplishment’, ‘social adaptation’, ‘improvement of the quality of life’, ‘good deeds’, ‘sincerity’, ‘satisfaction’, ‘having a relationship’, ‘achievement of self’, ‘perception of one's own usefulness’, ‘rehabilitation’, and ‘gain recognition by others’. Conclusion. Adolescents with physical disabilities can understand the meaning of their lives when meaning is framed in the context of being a social issue, and when they are allowed to... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study describes the psychological responses of Korean participants with terminal cancer (stages III-IV) from time of diagnosis to death. Eighteen participants, ages 48 to 73, were interviewed at various phases of dying. Using analytic induction, three categories (nonacceptance, resignation, submission), characteristic patterns of responses over the course of illness and typical responses within categories were generated. Nonaccepters denied the possibility of death while struggling to live; their typical response was resistance. Resigners displayed sorrow, thoughts about their destiny, and growing acceptance of their fate. Their typical response was nonresistance. Submitters were shocked initially, searched for God's will, and prepared for death with hope. Their typical response was hopeful that God would care for them and their families. Participants' ages, physical pain, burden to family, and beliefs played important roles in the patterns of responses.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to obtain a clearer understanding of spirituality and examine the process of spirituality through defining the meaning and attributes of spirituality., Method: Concept analysis was done in the three phases, theoretical phase, fieldwork phase, and analytical phase suggested in the Hybrid Model. Five people participated in the fieldwork phase., Results: Spirituality is activated through self-awareness which occurs as spirit being activated through self-introspection, and through restoration of the relationship with Supreme Being. This interconnectedness with Supreme Being has an absolute impact on one's harmonious interconnectedness with self and neighbors, thus leads all the critical attributes of spirituality to be revealed. The core energy of this harmonious interconnectedness is love. When activated, it has a great impact on an individual as integrative energy, leads one to go beyond everyday experience as well as to have new perspectives, and to live a satisfactory life in every aspect., Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that promotion of connectedness is the most important element in spiritual nursing interventions. The results can also be used effectively in developing spirituality assessment scales and theory.

We aimed to determine whether mycoplasmas are present in Korean chronic gastritis, and to understand their roles in gastric cancer tumorigenesis, because mycoplasmas resemble Helicobacter pylori in terms of ammonia production and induction of inflammatory cytokines in immune and non-immune cells. The presence and identity of mycoplasmas were assessed by semi-nested PCR and sequencing, and the results were compared with pathologic data. Fifty-six samples collected from Korean chronic gastritis patients were used for this study. Twenty-three (41.1%) were positive for mycoplasmas. Eighteen sequenced samples contained a single human mycoplasma or two mycoplasmas, which were identified as Mycoplasma faucium (13/18), M. fermentans (3/18), M. orale (1/18), M. salivarium (2/18), and M. spermatophilum (1/18). Mycoplasma-infected chronic gastritis samples showed significantly more severe neutrophil infiltration than non-infected samples (P = 0.0135). Mycoplasma profiles in the oral cavity (M. salivarium is major) and stomach were different, and the presence of significant proinflammatory responses in mycoplasma-positive patients suggests that the mycoplasmas are not simply contaminants. Further studies are required to understand whether mycoplasmas play a role in gastric tumorigenesis.