The study was designed to determine the discriminating ability of a Bayesian network (BN) for predicting risk for pressure ulcers.

Analysis was done using a retrospective cohort, nursing records representing 21,114 hospital days, 3,348 patients at risk for ulcers, admitted to the intensive care unit of a tertiary teaching hospital between January 2004 and January 2007. A BN model and two logistic regression (LR) versions, model-I and -II, were compared, varying the nature, number and quality of input variables. Classification competence and case coverage of the models were tested and compared using a threefold cross validation method.

Average incidence of ulcers was 6.12%. Of the two LR models, model-I demonstrated better indexes of statistical model fits. The BN model had a sensitivity of 81.95%, specificity of 75.63%, positive and negative predictive values of 35.62% and 96.22% respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) was 85.01% implying moderate to good overall performance, which was similar to LR model-I. However, regarding case coverage, the BN model was 100% compared to 15.88% of LR.

Discriminating ability of the BN model was found to be acceptable and case coverage proved to be excellent for clinical use.

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes on Index of Nausea, Vomiting, & Retching (INVR) during a cycle of chemotherapy.

Forty-three patients hospitalized for chemotherapy at C University Hospital during a period of 5 days from March to May, 2003 were examined. Scores of INVR were measured once a day. Anxiety, anorexia, fatigue, and sleep satisfaction were measured before chemotherapy. Data was analyzed by repeated measures of ANOVA.

The score of INVR increased over time during the days of hospitalization and showed a peak on the third day. The score was significantly higher on the third and consecutive cycles than on the first and second cycle. The score was significantly higher in patients in their forties and fifties rather than in their sixties. The score was higher in women than in men, and also increased as the sleep satisfaction decreased.

These results suggested that specific interventions for relief of nausea & vomiting were needed in middle age, women, the third chemotherapy cycle, and the third day after chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model to explain the transition state for Korean middle-aged women focusing on the transition concept.

A hypothetical model was constructed based on the transition model of Schumacher & Meleis(1994) and tested. Thehypothetical model consisted of 5 latent variables and 11 observed variables. Exogenous variables were demographic characteristics, obstetric characteristics, and health behavior. Endogenous variables were transition state and quality of life with 6 paths. The data from 221 middle-aged women selected by convenience was analyzed using covariance structure analysis.

The final model which was modified from the hypotheticalmodel improved to GFI=0.97, AGFI=0.94, NFI=0.94, and NNFI=0.95. The transition state was influenced directly by demographic characteristics, quality of life, and also indirectly by health behaviors. However, the influence of obstetric characteristics was not significant. The transition state was accountable for 68% of the variance by these factors.

These results suggest that enhancing health behaviors of the women are necessary to increase quality of life and it consequently contributes to improving the transition state. This model could be used to explain the health related vulnerability in these ages and to diagnosis individual women.

To identify the status of regular cervical cancer screening practices among middle-aged women, the associations between regular practice and research factors, and the predictive model and factors effecting such behavior was studied.

Two hundred women, aged 40 to 60, were selected by convenience in one urban area of Seoul. They were asked about their regular attendance for screening, knowledge of cancer and screening, health belief, health self-determination index and certain personal factors.

Approximately 54.5% of the women had periodic screening tests every 6 months to 2 years. Their knowledge of cervical cancer and health belief were at the medium level of each scale, but their health self-determination scores (HSDI) were low. Some influencing factors, and their cancer odds ratio were identified through univariate regression analysis. These variables were included in a predictive model, and this model proved to have enough fit and classification power (83.5%). In this model, the financial state, self-belief and self-determination scores were found to be significant.

Middle-age women's intrinsic motivation for healthy behavior was found to be low in those who felt to be in a poor financial state, had higher perceived barriers, lower perceived benefits and a lower prevalence of undergoing regular screening test.