• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.65-86
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• 1990

Living conditions of the rural elderly were assessed in terms of clothing behavior, health and nutritional status, housing and envioronmental condition, and psychological adjustment. The subjects were eighty individuals over sixty residing in the rural community of Iksan-kun, Chollabukdo. The interview method using questionnaires, direct measurement, and observation was used for this study. Data were compared with those obtained from a previous study of the elderly residing in an urban area. Clothing behavior showed that the elderly residing in the rural community were more concerned about plain and conservative design of clothes than their urban counterparts. Special protective clothes for cropdusting with agricultural chemicals had not been prepared. The following urgent needs were pointed out: development and supply of agricultural chemical protective clothing and development and education of appropriate washing and clothing care methods. The health status of the elderly was generally good, but poor eating habits were found more frequently in the rural elderly than among the urban dwellers. Several dietary nutrient intakes were insufficient. Contrasting the urban elderly with the rural group, it was found that the urban group lacked sufficient vitamin A and vitamin C and the urban women had insufficient calorie whereas the rural group was deficient in protein, vitamin A, calorie, and fat. A significant relationship was found between dietary nutrient intake and health index, food habit points, self recognized health status, meal satisfaction, and economic status. Urgent needs of the development of a nutrition education program for the elderly were pointed out. Most of elderly residing in the surveyed rural communities were living alone or with their spouse only, therefore only one room was used among the three or four available rooms. Most of the rural elderly were living either in a traditional Korean house built with differing floor levels or in a modified Korean style house. Minimal modernization had been made for kitchen facilities such as sink and gas range or for heating facilities with the briquette boiler. However, sanitary space such as lavatory and bathroom had not been remodeled. A housing welfare program for rural communities should be implemented at the national level. The comparison of psychological characteristics of the rural elderly with their city counterparts revealed that the rural elderly have a more stable psychological status and optimistic attitude than those living in a city. However, it was found that most of the elderly did not have any future plan. Community programs for the elderly including hobbies or leisure activities or education programs to generate close interpersonal relationships with their children should be developed and provided.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.75-82
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• 2015

The elderly rate in South Korea in 2015 is over 13.1%. Especially, the elderly rate in rural area is high. Senior community project in rural that is being promoted by the government. This study's purpose is to provide the reserch group-home for the elderly in Japan rural area. And this paper provided planning of group-home for the elderly in Korea rural area. For this study, respective 5senior housing of Korea and Japan were chosen as respresenting two nations, and every manager was interviewed on housing pattern. This study suggests the planning material as following. First, the effectiveness of the group-home are big. Especially, the elderly was far healthier. Design point is public space(living room, small living room, etc). Maybe, healthy group-home concept is that would be design by Korean traditional housing. Also important public space design is that would be inner courtyard-house, wood floor, Deachong, etc. Two group-homes will construct elderly welfare facilities in between. Otherwise that is need layout of a big public space. In the case of vacant house can used by considering of scale, structure, site condition. Closed school can used through so easy remodeling too. More often than not complex type(hospital, community heath center) was appeared in Japan rural area. In the case of Korea, recommend complex type in community health center and public building. In this case, considering communication, access, contact, group-home keeps on ground floor. In this paper, we hope to take a lesson from group-home planning source for the elderly in Korea rural area.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.228-244
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• 1998

The nutritional status of 362 elderly men and women in Chung-bud area was evaluated in terms of their nutrient intakes, biochemical and anthrophometric measurements by interviews with questionnaires from August to October 1996. Mean intake of all nutrients except ascorbic acid did not meet the RDA for this sample. Protein, vit A, reboflavin, calcium were the most likely to be deficient on the basis of propotions of elderly consuming less than 75% of the RDA. The subjects nutrient intake was significantly affected by gender, marital status, number of family, family composition, educational level, pocket money, and region. Men in rural areas and women over 75 in urban areas were the most vulnerable groups with nutritional deficiency. According to serum biochemical indices, mean level of cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, total protein, albumin and iron belonged to normal range but mean level of HDL showed below the normal range. More elderly men and women in urban areas showed a higher percentage of abormal level of cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL than those in rural areas. More elderly men and women in rural areas had abnormal levels of RBC, Hematocrit and hemoglobin compared to those in urban areas. Mean height and weight of elderly men was 161.4cm and 56.2Kg, respectively and 149.1cm and 50.5kg for women. The elderly in rural areas were taller than those in urban areas but had less weight, MAC, TSF, MAMC. Mean BMI of this sample belonged to normal range. However, the elderly in rural areas had a higher rate of underweight and lower for overweight than those in urban areas. The elderly in urban areas had higher blood pressure than those in rural areas.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.145-154
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• 2017

Objectives: This study used data of urban and rural elderly living alone to compare the general characteristics of the elderly who have had suicidal ideation, and to investigate the suicidal ideation of urban-rural elderly with varying degrees of emotional support status, health status, and health behavior. Methods and materials: The research participants included 2,750 elderly aged 65 or above, of which 1,487 were from dong unit and 1,263 were from eup myeon units according to the raw data of 2011 Survey on Elderly Status. All collected data were analyzed using cross tabulation of SPSSWIN(ver 21.0) program and multivariate logistic regression. Results: The results were as follows. First, the factors that influenced the suicidal ideation of urban and rural elderly living alone included degree of depression, experience of abuse, and nutritional management status. Second, the suicidal ideation of urban elderly living alone was affected by the emotional support of their children who live apart and their grandchildren. Third, the suicidal ideation of rural elderly living alone was affected by the emotional support of their kin (including siblings).

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1174-1182
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to compare the nutritional status and the immunocompetence of elderly women residing in urban and rural areas. Dietary food records and anthropometric measurements were used to evaluate the nutritional status of subjects. The immune function of subjects was assessed by total and differential white blood cell(WBC) counts. Total B and T Lymphocytes, and T cell subsets were quantified by flow-cytometer. Immunoglobulin G, A, and M concentrations were also measured as an index of humoral immunity. Elderly women in rural area showed a relatively lower dietary intake of total energy, protein, and iron than did urban elderly women. Total WBC, neutrophil counts, eosinophil counts, and the percentage of neutrophils among total leukocytes were significantly higher in urban elderly women than in rural women. Although the numbers of lymphocytes were not significantly different, the percentage of Lymphocytes among total leukocytes as greater in rural elderly women than in urban. Both groups did not show any significant differences in numbers of T cell subsets and NK cells. Immunoglobulin G, A, and M levels were not significantly different between the two groups, but the numbers of subjects placed under the deficient range of immunoglobulins were greater in rural than in urban elderly women. from the present study, it could be suggested that poor nutritional intake may selectively affect the number of immune cells, thereby influencing the immunocompetence of elderly women. (Korean J Nutrition 31(7) 1174-1182, 1998)

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.3-20
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was diagnosed to grasp the needs for the elderly-elderly care activity in rural areas. The research was conducted in questions and case studies in 7 farming villages. The major findings of this study as follows: First, the senior citizens in rural areas were not in good health, and the illnesses were revealed to be arthritis, high blood pressure, and diabetes. At the occurrence of an illness, they complained about the discomfort in doing daily life routines and expected eir spouses or offsprings to te care of them. Elders in the rural community responded that they had difficulty and financial problems in family maintenance. Leisure activities included watching TV, playing card/board games, or spending time without any specific activities. Second, recipients of elderly-elderly care expected to receive services from a woman in her 50s $1{\sim}2$ hours, once to twice a week. Third, the service providers wanted to be elderly-elderly care takers, hoping to work once a week for $2{\sim}3$ hours. They wanted the education for the elderly-elderly care to be once a week for 3 hours, with understanding the elderly, consultation, preventing senile dementia, and health as the contents.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was aimed to compare health promotion behaviors and safety consciousness for elderly women living alone in rural areas and elderly women in group homes, and then provide information for the development of safety awareness programs for elderly. Methods: The participants were 120 elderly women living alone in rural areas aged 65 or older and 120 elderly women living in group homes. The data collection was conducted during November 2020, and the collected data used the SPSS/WIN 25.0 program to verify frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, and independent t test. Results: There were significant differences of health promotion behaviors between elderly women living alone and elderly women in group homes (t=15.77, p<.001). In addition, there were significant differences of safety consciousness between elderly women living alone and elderly women in group homes (t=21.42, p<.001). Conclusion: Since the safety consciousness and health promotion behaviors of the elderly in group homes are significantly higher than that of the elderly living alone, various programs should be developed to improve the safety consciousness and health promotion behaviors in the elderly living alone. Based on local government' acts, continuous support and attention is needed that elderly women in group homes can maintain a healthy life.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.27-36
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• 2002

This paper examines the effects of children related variables on the life satisfaction of the rural elderly. Data for this study were based on a study of 203 elderly people residing in Kyungnam, Korea. Elderly male achieved higher scores in life satisfaction than their female counterparts. Demographic variables, except for subjective financial status, failed to account for the significant variance in life satisfaction. There were gender differences on the effects of children related variables on life satisfaction. Number of children was significantly associated with the life satisfaction of the male elderly. For the female elderly, affectional solidarity and associational solidarity were significant Predictors to their life satisfaction. Associational solidarity had the strongest effect on life satisfaction of both male and female elderly. The results from this study suggest the relative importance of children related variables to the rural elderly.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.374-384
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• 1998

This study was designed to investigate and compare levels of Instrumental Activities in Daily Living(IADL), Self-efficacy and Social support, and their relationships among the aged who lived in urban and rural areas. The subjects consisted of 239 persons (urban = 120, rural = 119), aged 65 over. Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires from July 20 to August 30, 1998, and analyzed by frequency, percentage, means, Pearson Correlation, t -test $X^2$-test and ANOVA, using an SAS program. The Results of this study were as follows. 1) The mean score of IADL was 2.06/5, the mean score of Self-efficacy was 49.61/100 and the mean score of Social support was 2.37/5. 2) Concerning house ownership, the group of urban elderly were significantly higher than rural elderly while in the handling of pocket money, the rural elderly were significantly higher than the urban elderly. 3) Concerning Self-efficacy, the group of urban elderly were significantly higher than rural elderly. 4) The IADL was significantly related to Self-efficacy and to Social support. 5) Concerning the demographic characteristics of the subjects, age, educational level, religion, living with a spouse, money and participation in social activities were significantly resated to the IADL scores, to Self-efficacy and to Social support.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.811-827
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors related to depression of female elderly living alone by region. Data for this study was based on the 2011 National Survey on Elderly. Total of 1,684(689 rural elderly, 995 urban) community samples of female elderly living alone participated in this study. Even though there was no difference of depression score by region, this study found that the effects of factors on depression were significantly different by region. Yearly income, subjective health, balanced exchange of emotional support and satisfaction with their children were significantly associated with depression of both rural and urban female elderly living alone. For rural female elderly living alone, average daily television viewing time, number of close friends and frequency of contact with friends/neighbors were significant predictors to their depression. In the case of urban female elderly living alone, exercise, frequency of message, email or telephone contact with friends/ neighbors and balanced exchange of economic support contributed significantly to the prediction of depression. Subjective health had the strongest effect on depression for both rural and urban female elderly living alone.