• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.1294-1303
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to develop a tool to assess the powerlessness and to measure the powerlessness of elderly. From the result of pre-test, twenty seven items were finally selected to survey the elderly's powerlessness. The questionnaires on the elderly's powerlessness were drafted so that such tool may be evaluated in accordance with the four point Likert Scale. The number of subjects is 1,150 with ages of 60 years or more and who live in a large city, a small and middle-sized city and a rural area. The subjects of the test and retest were 85 elderlies. Collected data were analyzed by utilizing SAS program with Cronbach's $\alpha$ and Pearson's correlation, factor analysis method and known group techniques, descriptive statics, t-test and ANOVA. The results from this study were summarized below:1. When the factor analysis method was applied for validity, the tool for powerlessness of elderly was separated into 5 factors: loss of self-confidence to deal with physical, emotional, social aspects of life; expulsion by others from meaningful human relate; perception that life is meaningless and time passes quickly; falling behind young people; being rejected by other people, having no influence on others. An application of the known group technique showed a significant difference with the result of the degree of elderly's powerlessness tools developed by the two groups, with illness and without. 2. In testing reliability, it was found that coefficient of test-retest was .9435(P<.0001) when the test-retest method was used as a test of stability, and that the alpha coefficient of internal consistency was .9141 over all items within the tool of elderly's powerlessness 3. In powerlessness of elderly, total mean is 2.8493. And in factor of powerlessness, the highest factor is falling behind young people (M=3.1713), the lowest factor is loss of self- confidence to deal with physical, emotional, social aspects of life(M=2.6080). 4. The results from the test for the degree of powerlessness, according to the subject's demographic variables, showed that there were significant differences between age, sex, marital status, educational level, religion, possession of house, job, monthly pocket money, health status, illness and a place of residence.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.107-117
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• 1993

This study was a clinical Quasi-experiment to examine the effects of the range of motion exercise on powerlessness and life satisfaction among the E-Institutionalized elderly in Pusan. The purpose was to test the effect of the range of motion exercises on powerlessness and life satis-faction, and to examine the correlation between powerlessness and life satisfaction. The subjects for this study were 54 elderly people, both were over 60 and residing at I-Institution in Pusan. The research samples of 54 elderly were divided into an experimental and control group by matching randomized assignment. The instruments for this study were the Assessment Tool of Powerlessness in the elderly developed by Miller, Life satisfaction developed by Yoon Jin, and the Active-Passive Range of Motion Exercise Program which was developed and utilized by Shin, Jae-Shin. The data were collected from December 15, 1990 to November 1991. The paired t-test, t-test and ANCOVA were used to test hypothesis I and II, related to the Effect of the Range of Motion Exercises to powerlessness and life satisfaction. To identify the relationship of the range of motion exercises to powerlessness and life satisfaction, path analysis was done through multiple regression. The interrelationship of the variables was analyzed using t-test paired t-test. The results of the three hypothesis can be summarized as follows : 1. Hypothesis I -the experimental group which participated in the Range of Motion Exercise gets lower powerlessness score than that of the control group-was accepted by t-test (t = -3.40, p = .001) but not accepted by ANCOVA (F = .1, p =.96). 2. Hypothesis II - the experimental group which participated in the Range of Motion Exercise gets a higher Life Satisfaction Score than that of the control group-was not supported by t-test(t = 1.01, p = .316) but was accepted by ANCOVA (F = 4.39, p = .006). 3. Hypothesis III - if the powerlessness Score becomes higher, the Life Satisfaction Score will be-come lower - was accepted by Pearson Correlation Coefficient (pre-exercise : r : -.34, p=.006), (post exercise : r = -.06, p=.32) . The relation-ship between the score of powerlessness and life satisfaction was negatively correlated. The results obtained clearly showed that the effects of the range of motion exercises on powerlessness and life satisfaction are beneficial to the elderly The relation between the scores of powerlessness and life satisfaction was negatively correlated and the range of motion exercise had a direct influence to powerlessness. Therefore, it is concluded that the relationship between powerlessness and life satis-faction was not a causal one. Also it is concluded that the range of motion exercises can be applied as a nursing intervention to reduce powerlessness and to improve life satisfaction in the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.601-609
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• 2001

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the degree of perceived powerlessness in hospitalized elderly patients of the medical and surgical unit. Method: The instrument for this study was the Powerlessness Behavioral Assessment Tool(Miller, 1983). The reliability of the instruments was .85. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA. Results: The results were as follows ; 1. The mean score of powerlessness was $35.02(SD={\pm}9.24)$ in a range of 19 to 64, and the mean of powerlessness was total 1.84. Among 4 subscales, the highest score was in the area of verbal response (M=1.98), and the lowest score for powerlessness was in the area of daily activities(M=1.74). In all items, 'verbal expression of fatalism' showed the highest score(M=2.78), and 'verbal expressions of giving up' showed the lowest score(M=1.38). 2. There were significant differences in the level of powerlessness according to hospitalization experience(t=-3.03, p=0.006), medical treatment experience(t=.291, p=.004). Especially, there was significant difference according to the hospitalization experience of the hospital in all sub- scales. Conclusion: Based on these conclusions, nursing education for patient's diseases and treatment can be used for proper nursing intervention in reducing the level of powerlessness of hospitalized elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.146-157
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to provide basic data necessary for the establishment of a nursing intervention program to relieve the powerlessness of elderly adults in nursing homes by investigating the degree of such powerlessness and factors affecting it. For the study, 353 elderly adults from S. A. D. J and Y free nursing homes located in Pusan were sampled as the subjects. The data were collected through direct interviews using a questionnaire survey and recorded by observation for a month from September 1. 1999. Data were analyzed using the statistical package SAS. The main results were as follows; 1. The mean score of the degree of perceived powerlessness of the subject were 30.4 point out of 64 point. 2. The level of powerlessness showed significant differences among the subjects in terms of educational background and monthly allowance both of which belong to socio-demographic characteristics. 3. Concerning the level of powerlessness based on health conditions. it showed significant differences in terms of the situation of common activity and the subjective perception of health condition. 4. Based on social support. the level of powerlessness was found significantly different in terms of close friends. 5. According to social activity. the level of powerlessness showed a significant difference in religious and leisure activities. In conclusion. it would be more effective in reducing powerlessness in elderly adults and in dealing with chronic diseases and physical discomfort. if we operated programs through which elderly adults can make friends and develop a nursing intervention program focusing on a variety of leisure activities.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.7-22
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• 2001

This study is a discriptive research to identify stress and powerlessness based on Korean hemodialysis patients' constitution. Research subject was 112 hemodialysis patients who are treatment processing in P university hospital and K hemodialysis hospital in S City, and the data were collected for 60 days from December 20, 1999 to January 30, 2000. The research tools used for the measurement of constitution was "QSCC II", the measurement of the stress was Jeon chi ja's "Scale of Hemodialysis patient's Stress"(1985), and the measurement of powerlessness was Kim joe ja's "Scale of Powerlessness"(1992). The reliability of the scale for stress is Cronbach's Alpha 0.8819 and that of powerlessness is Cronbach's Alpha 0.6993. Data analysis was performed using SPSSWin 9.0 software. We tested them with real number, percentage, average score, standard deviation, t-test, F-test(ANOVA), Pearson's Correlation Coefficient, and Multiple stepwise regression. The results of this study were as follows : 1. Hemodialysis patients' constitution were : Soyangin 38.4%, Taemin 34.8%, and Soeumin 26.8%. 2. The average score of the stress by hemodialysis patients were the mean $89.72{\pm}20.26$ points. The average score of powerlessness was the mean $34.19{\pm}6.46$ points, by hemodialysis patients. 3. The result of the Pearson Correlation showed no correlation between the score of stress and the score of powerlessness. 4. In their relationship between general characteristics and the score of stress : in marriage state, job(P=0.016, P=0.007) and In their relationship between general characteristics and the score of powerlessness : in age, marriage state, educational level, job(P=0.000, P=0.012, P=0.002, P=0.050) have statistically meaningful differences. 5. The factor affecting the powerlessness of hemodialysis patients was physical area of stress and its explanatory power was 18.5%.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.223-247
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• 1996

This study was done to provide information which would lead to nursing care of the elderly being more holistically through an understanding of the phenomena of powerlessness based on the lived experience of powerlessness by the elderly, the meaning the elderly give to such phenomena, and what essence of powerlessness is. The methodology used in this study was Max Van Manen's phenomenological method based on the philosophy of Merleu-Ponty and a concerted approach was realized through the 11 steps suggested in the Van Manen's method. Data collection was done from March 2, 1995 to December 30, 1995. The subjects for this study were four elderly persons who lived with their families and who were over 60 years of age. Data were collected about the lived experience of the elderly, this researcher's experience of powerlessness, the linguistic meaning of powerlessness, idioms of the word or a feeling of powerlessness, and descriptions of powerlessness in the elderly as they appeared in the literature, are works, and phenomenological literature. All data were used to provide insights into the phenomena of powerlessness. Data about the experience of powerlessness by the elderly were collected through open interviews, participation, and observation. In the analysis of the theme of this study, the aspects of the theme, powerlessness in the elderly were clarified, thereby abstracting and finding meaningful statements by the elderly about their feeling of powerlessness, and then those significant statements were expressed as linguistic transformations. The summarized findings from the study are as follows : 1. Five meanings of powerlessness in the elderly were defined. 〈weakness〉, 〈dependence〉, 〈frustration〉, 〈worthlessness〉 and 〈giving up〉. 2. 〈Weakness〉 means that the elderly experience, not only their aging but also, their becoming weak and the loss of physical function frequently caused by diseases. 〈Dependence〉 means that the elderly experience dependence without any influence from the surroundings and that elderly patients who are hospitalized lose their autonomy, follow entirely their doctor's prescriptions, use aid equipment and directions, and depend only on those things. 〈Frustration〉 means that the elderly experience the loss of their roles from the past, there by feeling that there is no work for them to do anymore and therefore feel unable to do anything. 〈Worthlessness〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of losing their social roles from the past, having no financial ability, thereby being a burden to their children or the people around them, and therefore regarding themselves useless. 〈Giving up〉 means that the elderly experience the feeling of closeness to death in the final stage of their lifetime, lose hope to be healed from their disease, and recognize the incontrollability of their own body. 3. From a general view of the meaning of the theme the powerlessness in the elderly-the most essential meaning of the theme is the 〈sense of loss〉. For the elderly are experiencing a sense of loss in the situation of being elderly and therefore being often hospitalized. Brief definitions of the five phenomena could be 〈weakness〉 meaning the loss of physical strength, 〈dependence〉 the loss of mentality caused by disease and hospitalization, 〈frustration〉 and 〈worthlessness〉 the loss of social performance caused by the loss of social functions from the past, and lastly 〈giving up〉 the loss of the controllability of such situations of aging and suffering disease. In light of the discussion above, it is understandable that the hospitalized elderly experience powerlessness not only as it related to their diseases but also to their normal aging, and this related to other characteristics of being elderly means that the 〈sense of loss〉 is the very essence of their powerlessness. 4. While most cases are of the normal elderly experiencing powerlessness in relation to their social network, cases of elderly who are hospitalized are of those experiencing powerlessness in relation to the loss of their physical desire. 5. The findings discussed above can serve as guidelines for nurses who take care of the ill elderly who are hospitalized and that can provide cues to appropriate nursing service, recognizing that the subjective experience of the objective age of the elderly is so important. Nurses can provide highly qualitative nursing service, based on their deep understanding of the suffering of the elderly due to feelings of powerlessness.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.151-166
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• 1999

The purposes of this study were to measure the degree of perceived uncertainty, social support & powerlessness, to examine the relationship between the perceived uncertainty, social support & powerlessness and then to find the predictors of powerlessness in mother's of handicapped children. The subjects of this study consist of 102 mothers of handicapped children, registered at rehabilitation & handicapped children school. Data was collected from September 1998 to March 1999. The tools used in this study were Mishel's the Parents' Perception of Uncertainty Scale (28 item, 4 likert scale), Miller's Powerlessness measurement Scale(28 itewt 4 likert scale) & Cohen's Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (40 items, 4 likert scale). Data was analyzed by t-test, ANOVA, Duncan comparison, Pearson Correlation coefficient & Stepwise multiple regression Results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. Mothers perceived their uncertainty to be slightly high(Mn 2.50). The degree of perceived uncertainty by the four components were followed as : lack of clarity(2.69), unpredictability(2.56), ambiguity(2.56) & lack of information(2.46). The degree of perceived uncertainty of the mothers of handicapped children revealed to be influenced significantly by age of children, admission experience, disability types of children. 2. The degree of mothers' powerlessness was measured to be slightly high(Mn 2.14). The degree of perceived powerlessness of the mothers with handicapped children revealed to be influenced significantly by age of children, duration of illness admission experience,8E marital status of the mothers. 3. Mothers perceived their social support to be slightly high(Mn 2.71). The degree of perceived social support revealed to be influenced significantly by sex of children, married state of mothers. 4. Mothers' uncertainty was related positively to the mothers' powerlessness(r=.33, p=.0008). And also mothers' powerlessness was related inversely to social support(r=-.50, p=.0001). But, mothers' uncertainty was not related to social support significantly. 5. To analyze the variables which affect powerlessness, stepwise regression was implemented. As a result, about 61% of the powerlessness were explained by social support, marital status of the mothers and perceived uncertainty. Based upon these results, it is recommended that the nurses, who are caring handicapped children and their families, provide various support programs for them to overcome their difficulties. Also programs which decrease the uncertainty & powerlessness used social support multidimensionally & individually are recommended to be developed.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2010

Purpose: This study investigated how powerlessness of nursing students influenced their clinical practice satisfaction and nursing image, and how clinical practice satisfaction mediates the relationship between powerlessness and nursing image. Methods: A descriptive research design was used. Data were collected from 107 junior nursing students. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 12.0. Results: Powerlessness and clinical practice satisfaction influenced nursing image. Clinical practice satisfaction provided complete mediation between powerlessness and nursing image. Conclusions: Nursing students need to reduce their powerlessness and increase clinical practice satisfaction to enhance their image of nursing.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.506-525
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• 1992

Older people, because of the psychological and physiological changes related to the aging process are more vulnerable to experiencing powerlessness than any other age group. This self destructive cycle of depression in older people related to the experience of continued and long term powerlessness can lead even to death. The purpose of this study was to measure powerlessness and resources to increase power in older people, and to measure the effectiveness of a psychological rehabilitation program for reducing powerlessness. The research methodology used was a two step process. In the first step, a survey was done of perceived powerlessness and power resources comparing four groups of elderly people ; those living at home, those in hospital, those living in nursing homes and those attending educational programs for the elderly. The total sample size was 236. In the second step, a psychological rehabilitation program was carried out, pre and post measurements were taken related to this program. The sample consisted of 29 residents in a nursing home. The results of the study are as follows : 1. Powerlessness was classified as cognitive, emotional, activity and learning. The lowest score for powerlessness was in the area of activity, that is the people in the sample felt more power concerning their activities. The highest score was in the area of cognition where they felt they had less power. 2. When the different groups of elderly were compared, it was found that the residents of the nursing home had the highest score on perceived powerlessness and the group who were living at home had the lowest score. 3. Among the general characteristics, the factors influencing the powerlessness score were age, sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the interaction effects among these factors, it was found that level of education and health status were factors influencing perceived powerlessness. The elderly with lower education and poorer health status had the higher scores for perceived powerlessness. 4. The power resources could be classified into the following areas : physical strength, emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge, motivation and belief system. Belief system was given the highest score among the power resources and energy, knowledge and motivation were given low scores. 5. The group participating in an educational program for the elderly had the highest score for power resources while the group made up of residents of a nursing home had the lowest score as well as the highest score for perceived powerlessness. 6. The factors influencing the power resource scores were sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the analysis of the interaction effect among the factors, it was found that sex, level of education and financial resources were the factors that influenced the power resource score, that is, women, those with a low level of education and those with poor financial resources reported a lower level of power resources. 7. There was a negative correlation between perceived powerlessness and power resources in the elderly in this study. Since power resources explainded 49% of the variance for powerlessness, it can be concluded that the power resources can be used to reduce powerlessness. 8. The psychological rehabilitation program was carried out with the nursing home residents over a period of five weeks. No statistically significant difference was found in the scores on powerlessness between the pre and post tests, but there was a slight decrease in the raw scores on the post test for emotional, activity and learning powerlessness. There was a statistically significant increase in the power resource scores for emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge and motivation in the post test as compared to the pre test. In conclusion, the study indicates that a psychological rehabilitation program for the elderly could be effective in increasing power resources and this in turn could lead to a decrease in perceived powerlessness.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.6685-6693
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• 2014

This study was designed to identify the relationships among powerlessness, self-esteem and depression in Korean-American immigrant elderly. The purpose was to provide baseline data for nursing intervention to improve their health. The results showed that depression was significantly correlated with self-esteem and powerlessness, self-esteem was also significantly correlated with powerlessness. Powerlessness was different from the level of education and health conditions. Self-esteem was significantly different to the frequency of family visits. Depression was significantly different from age. 50.0% of depression was explained by powerlessness and self-esteem. This suggests that a higher level of powerlessness and a lower level of self-esteem are associated with a higher the level of depression. In conclusion, to improve the psychological health of Korean-American immigrant elderly, it is crucial to consider age, the level of education and health conditions, and continually manage the levels of powerlessness and self-esteem.