• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.215-222
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• 2009

Objectives : Vigorous physical activity is a well-known method to promote people s health. This research aims to investigate whether perceived neighborhood characteristics affect vigorous physical activity among adult Seoul residents (aged 19 to 64). Methods : Utilizing the 2005 Seoul Citizens Health Indicators Survey data, this study estimates the probability of vigorous physical activity. Particular attention is given to the effects of three perceived neighborhood characteristics satisfaction with relationship to the neighborhood, satisfaction with park and recreational facilities, and satisfaction with public security). Logistic regression models are analyzed separately by gender for the parameter estimation. Results : Vigorous physical activity is positively associated with three perceived neighborhood characteristics for women, while neither significant nor substantive association is found for men. Conclusions : As vigorous physical activity among Seoul citizens is differentially affected by perceived neighborhood characteristics and by gender, a different approach will be needed to increase vigorous physical activity of men and women in Seoul.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2018

Objectives: To identify the associations of characteristics of the neighborhood environment with substance abuse among clients receiving treatment for drug abuse in Thailand. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 1128 drug addicts from 28 neighborhoods who were receiving treatment at all 7 compulsory drug detention centers in Thailand. A trained interviewer conducted structured interviews with the subjects about substance use and the perceived neighborhood environment in their community. A multilevel logistic regression model was applied to estimate the effects of the neighborhood environment on substance use. Results: The majority of participants, 53.8% only used methamphetamine pills, 31.3% used other illicit drugs as well as methamphetamine pills, and 14.9% used an illicit drug other than methamphetamine. Three neighborhood characteristics were associated with substance use. A 1-unit increase in the perceived neighborhood cohesion score was associated with a 15% reduction in methamphetamine pill use and an 11% reduction of the use of both methamphetamine pills and another illicit drug. Conversely, a 1-unit increase in perceived neighborhood crime predicted 19 and 14% increases in the use of methamphetamine pills and the use of both methamphetamine pills and another illicit drug, respectively. In addition, a 1-unit increase in the scores for stigma surrounding addiction corresponded to a 25% increase of the use of methamphetamine pills and a 12% increase in the use of both methamphetamine pills and another illicit drug. Conclusions: Substance use among drug addicts was influenced by characteristics of the neighborhood environment. Therefore, prevention and intervention strategies should be designed based on a consideration of the impact of neighborhood context on substance use behaviors.

• Journal of Korea Planning Association
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.19-38
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of neighborhood sports activity facilities on the exercise time and subjective health level using the National Sport Participation Survey data(2013-2015) in Seoul, Korea. We conducted path analysis including exercise time, subjective health level and various environmental factors. From the survey data, we extracted individual's characteristics including subjective health and exercise time. In addition, we calculated physical environment variables of neighborhood units. The results of this study are as follow. First, most of moderating variables such as gender, age, income and job showed expected relationships with exercise time or subjective health level. Second, the perceived level regarding neighborhood sports facilities such as public sports facilities had a strong positive association with exercise time and subjective health level. Third, the area of public sports facility, neighborhood park and the number of schools had positive effects on the exercise time and subjective health level. Lastly, land use mix and the number of intersections showed a positive effects on exercise time. To sum up, the results indicated that public sports facility, neighborhood park and perceived environment on neighborhood sports facility are critical factors of residents' exercise time and subjective health level.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.475-486
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to propose a policy direction to improve the service of public bicycles in Seoul by identifying the physical characteristics that affect the satisfaction level in the Seoul Metropolitan Government's public bicycle use environment. To this end, a survey was conducted on users regarding their experiences using public bicycles in Seoul, and the responses of 567 people were analyzed. IPA analysis and ordinal logistic analysis were used. An analysis of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's public bicycle IPA showed that the satisfaction level was lower than that of importance in all categories. Among them, the most urgent need for improvement was the installation of bicycle roads, improved connectivity of bicycle roads, improved road management, classification of roads and bicycle roads, improved safety during night driving, and low satisfaction levels. Second, an analysis of the factors affecting the satisfaction in the public bicycle use environment showed that the model's explanatory power increased significantly from 0.062 to 0.437 after incorporating perceived variables, confirming that the perceived neighborhood environment characteristics are an important variable for determining the satisfaction level in the public bicycle use environment, among the perceived neighborhood environmental characteristics, accessibility, convenience, manageability.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2014

Urban Green space takes charge of the important role for the physical activity and promotion of health to the residents. Therefore, this study is trying to examine the relationship between the various characteristics of green space and green space usage for physical activity and health promotion. A questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain the information about patterns of green space usage and perceived neighborhood environments for the residents living in Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do(n=541). Geographic Information System(GIS) was used to construct spatial data about green space accessibility and physical neighborhood environments. A Multiple Linear Regression model was used to examine the association between the characteristics of green space and physical activity, perceived health status and BMI(Body Mass Index). The study results revealed that the residents' physical activities are positively and directly influenced by the number of available public parks and green spaces in the vicinity(${\leq}200m$). The frequency at which residents witness others exercising nearby or the perceived abundance of low-cost gym facilities also factor as positive influences. The closer to the park, the higher the number of parks and area of green spaces, the more comfortable the walk thereto and the denser the neighboring residential area distribution, the perceived health level was found to be the more positively influenced. Further, it was verified that BMI is correlated with the number of public parks and green spaces within 400 m of the resident's home as well as the safety of walkways, the density of neighboring residential areas, the ratio of road, and the density of crosswalk. The significant multiple regression models between the characteristics of green spaces and physical activities and perceived health level were extracted within the significance level of 10%. This study will contribute to provide better understanding the ways in which green space and neighborhood characteristics are associated with physical activity and health. The result of this research will be available in the landscape architecture plan aimed at improving the use of green space for physical activity and reducing obesity.

• Design Convergence Study
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.199-211
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• 2016

The study examined how age-friendly their living environments the aged perceived and it's significant difference depending on their characteristics. The subject were 96 old persons who aged more than 60 years and lived in Nagasaki city, Japan. They asked how far each neighborhood facility related to the aged was located from their houses, and the age-friendliness of walk way, traffic, multi-family houses for the aged, and interior space of their living houses. Data were collected by using one to one interview. Results were as follows: 1) Most neighborhood facilities related to the aged were located within a walking distance or 10 min. distance by bus from their houses. 2) Among 5 areas of living environments, while traffic, house interior, and pedestrians road were relatively age-friendly, the amount of multi-unit dwellings for the elderly and the usability of wheelchair users in house interior were not age-friendly. 3) Age and education level of the aged influenced on the age-friendliness of their living environments.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.161-172
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• 2011

Although the term royal floors is broadly used in high-rise housing, it is hard to find any clear scholarly definition of this term or any in-depth study exploring people's perceptions of it. This study reviewed ongoing discussions about concepts and definitions regarding royal floors, collected opinions from high-rise housing residents and realtors about the term, and compared the opinions of these two groups. First, the statistically analyzed results verified five main factors affecting people's perceptions of royal floors: locational characteristics (i.e., daylight, view, orientation), 2) price characteristics (i.e., premium, price increase level, number of houses on urgent sale), 3) best location of apartment building (i.e., location within a neighborhood, unit size), 4) architectural characteristics of apartment complex (i.e., size of complex, housing type, size options of units), and 5) personal characteristics of respondents (i.e., personal concepts of the meaning of housing, lifestyles). Results from the analysis showed that realtors perceived strong relationships between royal floors and 1) locational and 2) price characteristic factors, while residents perceived strong relationships between royal floors and personal preference as well as three factors from the five identified above: 1) locational, 2) price, and 4) architectural characteristics. Third, in defining royal floors in a building, the past rule of 1/4 is no longer effective. Instead, the rule of 1/n has become more prevalent (i.e., 1/6 to 1/8). Fourth, royal floors can be defined as the 15th to 25th floors in a 30-story high-rise housing structure based on the agreement of 50% of residents and 70% of realtors.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.37-47
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• 2014

This study aims to examine the usage of and satisfaction with neighborhood parks and university campuses and compare through the RPRS analysis of them to figure out how university campuses, as substitutive green spaces, play the role of curative environment for neighboring people. This study relied on two methods: a descriptive method of researching publications and related scholastic writings and an empirical study of researching how the park and campus has been utilized and researching whether the residents are satisfied with the currently existing space and the environment or not, and finally researching how the university campus open space as a curative environment impacts the satisfaction and utilization through reliability analysis. As a result, contribution of healing environment has a relatively high average contribution of 4 or more points, respectively. These results suggest that urban people think that a relationship between man and nature is very important in the overabundance of stress in modern society. It shows that neighborhoods are higher than university campuses in the explanatory of the Attention Restoration Theory, but the campus is higher than the neighborhood park in similarity of configuration. The result of RPRS analysis shows that the therapeutic qualities of the landscape may be very useful to evaluate a college campus open space in "the Revised Perceived Restoration Scale." The results showed that, in future studies, it will be a great help by widespread use of pre-evaluation of the characteristics of restorative environments in the planning, design and other works. To study the impact of the curative features on evaluating future research locations, the location should provide a variety of purposes and motives. At the same time, it should provide specific design ideas to design-related designers by using perceived restoration scale.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6499-6504
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• 2014

Health information-seeking behavior (HISB) is active need-fulfillment behavior whereby health information is obtained from diverse sources, such as the media, and has emerged as an important issue within the transforming medical environment and the rise of medical consumers. However, little is known about the factors that affect HISB and its associations, and the health outcome of HISB. The aim of this study was to examine individual and social contextual factors associated with HISB and to systematically review their effects on health status among post-treatment cancer patients. Individual determinants of HISB included demographic factors, psychosocial factors, perceived efficacy and norms, and health beliefs. Contextual determinants of HISB encompassed community characteristics, neighborhood social capital, and media advocacy. Improving through factors on these two levels, HISB raised individuals' self-care management skills and medical treatment compliance, and enhanced shared decision-making and medical treatment satisfaction. Moreover, because HISB can differ according to individuals' social contextual conditions, it can give rise to communication inequalities. Because these can ultimately lead to health disparities between groups, social interest in HISB and balanced HISB promotion strategies are necessary.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.47-53
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• 2013

Purpose - Six months have passed since the amendment of the SSM regulation law; however, as yet, there is no confirmed research or report on the effects of this amendment, which are indefinite. Further, there have been no attempts to study the effects of the SSM regulation law from the consumers' viewpoint, which is important because consumers are the main agents that are greatly influenced by the amendment law. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the consumers' attitude toward the SSM regulation law as well as the effects of the SSM regulation law on the changes in purchase behavior. Research design, data, and methodology - This study was initiated from four research problems that are linked to consumer reaction to the SSM regulation law. Research problem 1: What is the consumers' reaction (perception, attitude, and perceived fairness) to the SSM regulation law? Research problem 2: How do the consumers' reactions to the SSM regulation law differ by consumers' characteristics? Research problem 3: Could the SSM regulation law change a consumer's purchase behavior? Research problem 4: Is it necessary to amend the SSM regulation law? This study collected the data through the interview and survey of housewives for the purpose of solving the research problems. The interview was conducted as a pilot study for the field survey. We interviewed three housewives, who were: an employed housewife, a full-time homemaker, and a manager of a housewife club, respectively. We then conducted a field survey of 232 housewives who were housewife club members or elementary school parents in Chunghcheong-do. Results - We verified the reliability and validity of the data, and analyzed it to solve the research problems. The main findings of this study were as follows. First, consumers still have a positive attitude toward large discount chains and SSM, which has been the case since the law was introduced. Second, perceived risk of consumers associated with traditional markets and small neighborhood shops was low. Third, consumers think that amendments of the SSM regulation law are important, and they positively assess the satisfaction, necessity, and propriety of the law. Fourth, although the SSM regulation law caused inconvenience to consumers, this law did not have any influence on the usage frequency and the use-behavior of large discount chains. Finally, consumers reacted very negatively to the toughening up of the SSM regulation law. Conclusions - In short, consumers still have a positive attitude toward the SSM regulation law. However, this act did not have any influence on the use-behavior of large discount chains (General Super Market). Thus, policy making authorities require active communication and promotions to enhance the effect of the SSM regulation law. This study was of the nature of exploratory research, which did not focus on hypothesis testing, but on finding solutions to the research problems. Therefore, this study is no more than a simple data analysis. Future studies should attempt to investigate the actual effects of the SSM regulation law, on the basis of sufficient literature review and real sales data.