PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare subjective symptoms of VDT between computer-addicted and non-addicted adolescents. METHOD A descriptive survey design was used and 646 students in one middle and two high schools were selected as participants. RESULT The VDT subjective symptoms and degree of severity differed according to whether the students were computer-addicted or not, and in all symptoms, general, musculoskeletal, eye and mental, the mean score for subjective symptoms was higher in the addicted group than in the non-addicted group. The score for VDT subjective symptoms was highest in the addicted group for girls and students who were not healthy. The most frequent physical symptom reported by students who visited the school health room for a health problem after using the computer was headache. The most frequent type of treatment at the school health room was treatment of the symptom. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that students must acquire correct habits in computer use and be careful not to be addicted to the computer in order to avoid VDT syndrome. For this, educational authorities should develop computer-related health education programs and start the programs from the lower grades of elementary school.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to describe quality of life (QOL) in Korean school-age children by identifying dimensions and attributes of QOL from the child's point of view. METHOD In-depth interviews with focus questions were used for the study. Twelve children, aged 10 to 13 years, were recruited from Seoul and rural areas. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed before content analysis. The data were analyzed for themes and attributes. The researchers read the data together and discussed their conclusions until a consensus was reached. RESULTS Eight dimensions, 57 subdimensions and 101atttributes were identified for QOL in school-age children. The eight dimensions of QOL were physical, social, emotional, learning, leisure, family, self-value, and material aspects. CONCLUSION The study results can be utilized in developing reliable instruments to measure quality of life specific to school-age children. It is proposed that a consistent and unified policy should be established by school, family, and community for the purpose of improving the QOL of school-age children.
PURPOSE This study was conducted to analyze the discourse of puberty in the early teenage girls. METHOD The participants were 24, 11-15years old girls who were interviewed in face-to-face using a semi-structured questionnaire. The interviews were done between October 29 and December 27 2003. Analysis of the qualitative data was done in 2 steps. RESULTS First, the theme of the girls' puberty discourse was identifying normality and consisted of 5 categories : i) defining puberty as experiencing changes, ii) acknowledging their own puberty connecting it with their definitions of puberty, iii) selectively excluding/recognizing the actual pubertal changes by seeing themselves as nonsexual and negative beings, iv) recognizing the pubertal changes as becoming women and making them not peculiar but normal, and v) sharing the knowledge and experience of change inactively and exclusively and resisting the dominant discourse. Three main discourse frames, marking off sexual/nonsexual, man/women, and major/minor were revealed in the second step of the analysis. They were intricately woven with each other and converged on sex. CONCLUSION The girls posited themselves as being asexual, unstable, and marginal. So there is a need to help them recognize their pubertal state as physical and mental paradigmatic changes and assure their pubertal changes as positive.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics and the related factors of attachment-oriented caretaking behavior in mothers who are breast-feeding their infants. METHOD The subjects were 155 mothers who participated in a healthy breast-feeding contest in the Busan area. The data were collected from September 24, 2003, and were analyzed using SPSS WIN 10.0. RESULTS The mothers were highly affirmative in their attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors (total mean 2.59+/-.502 of a possible score of 3). Among the attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors (10 items), the scores for 6 items were higher than the average score and 4 items were lower than the average score. There were significant differences in the attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors according to level of education (p<0.05), and planned duration of breast-feeding (p<0.001).
Mothers with university education who planned to breast-feed as long as the baby wanted had higher scores. CONCLUSIONS The above results suggest that nursing interventions which are individualized and practical are needed to encourage the attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors essential to breast-feeding mothers.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors affecting Self Care Behavior in Korean high school students. METHOD Data were collected from November 9 to December 28, 2003. The participants in this study were 293 students(134 boys, 159 girls), recruited from two High School located in Seoul. Data collection was conducted through the use of Questionnaire that was modified by the investigator. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression.
The SPSS win 10.0 program was used. RESULTS The mean of total item score the Self Care Behaviors scales was 3.37, which was slightly low. There was a significant correlation between Self Care Behavior, Hope, Social Support, and Self Care Agency(gamma= .30 ~ .65, p<.001). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that Self Care Agency was a predictor of Self Care Behavior and accounted for 28% of the variance. Self Care Agency account for 31% of the variance in Self Care Behavior in the high school girls. Self Care Agency and Hope accounted for 27% of the variance in Self Care Behavior in High school boys. CONCLUSION Self Care Agency accounted for variance in Self Care Behavior in these high school students. Therefore it is necessary to develop nursing interventions to increase Self Care Agency in high school students in order to increase the Self Care Behavior.
PURPOSE In order to identify the usability of inguinal temperature in a neonatal unit, this study was done to compare inguinal temperature of newborns with rectal, axillary, and tympanic temperatures. METHOD Fifty-one normal newborns admitted to the nursery of a university affiliated hospital participated in the study.
Tympanic temperatures were taken with a tympanic thermometer. Inguinal, rectal, and axillary temperatures were taken with glass mercury thermometers, and were recorded every 1 minute until the reading remained constant for 2 times. The data were analyzed using the SPSS program. RESULT The measurement time for inguinal temperatures in newborns was significantly longer than that for rectal temperatures, but was shorter than that for axillary temperatures. The mean temperature for the newborn's inguinal site was lower than for rectal, axillary, and tympanic temperatures (the lower side), but wasn't different from tympanic temperature (the upper side). The inguinal temperature was significantly correlated with rectal, axillary, and tympanic temperature. The inguinal temperature was not different according to general characteristics of the newborn. CONCLUSION These findings indicate that measurement of inguinal temperature is a useful alternative to rectal temperature.
PURPOSE S: The purposes of this study were to examine knowledge related to child abuse, attitudes toward child abuse, and intention to report child abuse and to identify the predictors of nurses' intention to report child abuse. METHOD A descriptive-correlational study was conducted.
Participants were 171 nurses who worked in the pediatric or emergency rooms in G city. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics, t-test or ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. RESULTS Nurses had a limited knowledge related to child abuse. Nurses had negative attitudes toward child discipline, were inclined to punish the abuser, and had positive attitudes about professional responsibility for reporting child abuse. Nurses perceived difficulty in the actual behavior of reporting child abuse. Nurses' intention to report child abuse was predicted by nurses' attitudes to professional responsibility for reporting child abuse. CONCLUSIONS Based on the findings of this study, educational programs need to be developed, implemented, and evaluated. The conclusion of this study is that supplementary education is needed for multidisciplinary decision making concerning the role of the nurses within the context of child abuse.Implications for nursing practice, education and research are discussed.
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an education program promoting safety knowledge and safety practice for mothers with infants. METHOD This education was provided at two public health centers in Kyunggi Province. A non-equivalent control group pretest-post test design was used, and the participants were 95 mothers in the experimental group, and 44 mothers in the control group. Data were collected using a questionnaire, and were analyzed with the SPSS program. RESULTS After the group education sessions on safety management at the public health centers, the mean scores for knowledge and practice of safety in the experimental group were significantly higher than that of mothers in the control group mothers. Also, after the safety education, mothers in the experimental group perceived a higher priority in safety in child care than they had before the education program. CONCLUSION The education for mothers with infants regarding the child safety was effective in promoting knowledge and practice of safety for infants.
PURPOSE The objective of this study was to provide an understanding of the difficulties for facing parents of children with terminal cancer. METHOD The design of this study was an inductive and descriptive study. Thirty-one parents of children with terminal cancer participated in-depth were interviewed s. C in depth and content analysis was used for analyzing the data. RESULTS The main categories in the findings were 'difficulties in coping', 'physical and psychological suffering of children', 'suffering of family', 'bereavement with children', 'economic problems', 'incurable situation', 'preparation of death', 'social isolation', 'coping after a child dies', 'spiritual problems', receiving active treatment', 'informing children of their condition', 'a sense of meaninglessness', 'emotional iunstability', and 'giving up hope'. CONCLUSION The main point identified from this result in this study was that parents who have a child with terminal cancer don't never give up the hope of recovery for their child even when the child is in by the terminal stage of their children, even though and they are unwillingly to prepare for their child's death. This is a unique characteristic in the attitude of the families' attitude in child hospice care and differs from that found in adult hospice care. This result can be used as an important guide for nurses to in assessing the parents' needs in the terminal care setting.
The problem of childhood obesity is accelerating throughout the world. Korea is no longer an exception to this problem.
The following topics are discussed in this review article: 1) the linkage between childhood obesity and adult obesity, which is often associated with metabolic diseases such as type2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers; 2) characteristics of childhood obesity; 3) measurement of obesity and its unique problem; 4) recent trends in interventions for childhood obesity. Lastly, the author points out that nurses are best suited for carrying out interventions to prevent obesity in childhood. As childhood obesity is a risk factor for persistence of obesity into adulthood, the need to consider the priority of prevention of obesity during childhood is emphasized in this review.