The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that affect the psychological well-being in family caregivers of stroke patients.

The General Health Perception, short form 36, Health Survey Questionaire was used to measure health perception. The Caregiving Mastery Scale was used to assess the mastery, while the Psychological General Well-Being Index was used to examine the level of well-being.

Subjective health, caregiving mastery, patient's ADL and caregiving duration influenced on caregiver's psychological well-being. Subjective health had effect on psychological well-being both directly and indirectly. Caregiving duration and patient's ADL had indirect effect on psychological well-being through caregiving mastery.

It is need to develop a health program for the caregivers of stroke patient's and to provide nursing intervention to improve the caregiver's ability, thereby improving the well-being of the family caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a cognitive training program on neurocognitive task performance and activities of daily living (ADL) in patients who had a stroke.

The research design for this study was a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. Patients were assigned to the experimental (n=21) or control group (n=21). The experimental group received a 4-week cognitive training program and usual care (i.e., rehabilitation service), while the control was received usual care only. Cognitive function was measured with a standardized neurocognitive test battery and ADL was assessed at baseline and one and two months after completion of the intervention. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine changes in cognitive function and ADL over 2 months.

The interaction of group and time was significant indicating that the experimental group showed improvement in attention, visuospatial function, verbal memory, and executive function compared to the control group which had a sustained or gradual decrease in test performance. A significant group by time interaction in instrumental ADL was also found between the experimental group with gradual improvement and the control group showing no noticeable change.

Findings show that the cognitive training program developed in this study is beneficial in restoring cognitive function and improving ADL in patients following a stroke. Further study is needed to investigate the long-term relationship between cognitive training participation and cognitive improvement and effective functioning in daily living.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects on cognitive function, depression, and activities of daily living of Silver-Care-Robot Program for institutionalized elders.

This study was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 42 institutionalized elders (17 in the experimental group and 25 in the control group). The Silver-Care-Robot Program was provided as an intervention which was conducted twice a week for 5 weeks. The Silver-Care-Robot Program is an integrated entertainment program to help the mental, emotional, and physical health of elderly people. Pre-test was conducted on the two groups, and, in order to examine the effects of intervention, a post-test was conducted after 5 weeks.

There were significant differences in cognitive function and ADL (activities of daily living) between two groups after the program. But the difference in depression in the institutionalized elders was not statistically significant between the two groups.

The Silver-Care-Robot Program should be considered as a regular program for cognitive function and activities of daily living for institutionalized elders.

This study was conducted to examine activities of daily living (ADL) of older adults admitted to Korean long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), and to explore the patient and organizational factors that have an impact on the ADL of this population.

A secondary analysis of the Korean minimum data set (K-MDS) of patients (N=14,369) and of the profiles of LTCHs (N=358) from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service was done between January and July 2008. The outcome variable was ADL score 6 months after baseline assessment. Multi-level linear regression was employed to explore the patient and organizational factors that affected ADL scores.

Of the patients, 45.4% had a baseline ADL score of between 31 and 40, with a score of 40 indicating that the patient was entirely dependent for all items. None of the organizational characteristics were significantly associated with effects on the ADLs of older adults who had been in a LTHC for at least 6 months. However, patient characteristics, such as age, baseline ADL, frequency of physical therapy, urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, pressure ulcers, and having a tube or catheter, were significantly associated with ADL 6 months after baseline.

In order to maintain and improve the ADL of older adults in LTCHs, we should develop strategies to prevent urinary and fecal incontinence, pressure ulcers, unnecessary tubes or catheters, providing adequate physical therapy. Additional studies should include more detailed information regarding nursing staff, including RN hours for direct care, education level and turnover.

The purpose of this study was to identify from the International Classification of Functioning model, factors influencing quality of life in elderly persons and to describe the concrete pathway of influence and the power of each variable.

The sample included 334 elders who lived in 5 districts of D Metropolitan City. A structured questionnaire was used and the collected data were analyzed for fitness, using the AMOS 18.0 program.

This model was concise and extensive in predicting the quality of life of elders. The research verified the factors influencing quality of life for elders as direct factors such as activity of daily living (ADL) (β=.13, t=2.47), leisure activity (β=.55, t=5.04), social disengagement (β=-.25, t=-2.25), and depression (β=-.62, t=-10.86). Indirect factors including economic status (γ=.17, p=.009), type of residence (γ=.19, p=.004), ADL (γ=.12, p=.027) were important factors in predicting quality of life for elders. These variables explained 75.6% of variance in the prediction model.

The findings indicate a need for the nursing scientific community to develop intervention programs considering these variables to improve the quality of life for elders.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among quality of sleep, depression, late-life function and disability in community-dwelling older women with urinary incontinence.

A stratified random sampling method was conducted to recruit participants from May 10 to August 17, 2007. Data were collected by questionnaires, which were constructed to include lower urinary tract symptoms, quality of sleep, depression, and late-life function and disability in 128 community-dwelling older women.

The major findings of this study were as follow: 1) 56.3% of participants belonged to urinary incontinence group. 2) There were significant relationships between depression and sleep latency, sleep duration, daytime dysfunction, quality of sleep, function component, frequency dimension, and limitation dimension. 3) Depression was significantly associated with frequency dimension, limitation dimension in capability which explained 44% of variance in depression.

These results may contribute to a better understanding of sleep quality, depression, late-life function and disability in the community-dwelling older women with urinary incontinence. Therefore, health programs for prompting older women's health should be planned based on results of the study.

This study aimed to identify the relationships among physical symptoms, activities of daily living, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in community-dwelling older adults.

A stratified random sampling method was conducted to recruit participants from May 10 to August 17, 2007. Physical symptoms were measured using the Physical Health Questionnaire (PHQ), activities of daily living using the Late-Life Functional and Disability Instrument (LLFDI), and HRQoL using the Medical Outcomes Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) in 242 community-dwelling elderly Korean people.

The HRQoL correlates with the physical symptoms (r=-.31) and the function component (r=.59). Of the two disability parts of the LLFDI, the limitation dimension correlates higher (r=.57) with HRQoL than the frequency dimension (r=.42). The HRQoL is significantly associated with the function component, and disability limitation in capability which explained 44.4% of variance in physical health.

These results may contribute to a better understanding of physical symptoms, activities of daily living, and HRQoL in community-dwelling older adults. Therefore, health programs for prompting older adult's health should be planned based on results of the study.

The purpose of this study was to help families decrease and alleviate the burden on family care-givers taking care of elderly patients.

Data was collected by a questionnaire from 100 family members who were registered in the department of home health care nursing at 4 hospitals of H University Medical Center from September 20 to October 25, 2005. The collected data was analyzed using Mean and Standard Deviation, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, t-test and One-Way ANOVA with the Duncan's test, and Stepwise multiple regression.

The average burden on family care-givers of elderly patients with chronic diseases was 3.31. The social burden was the highest(M=3.68), the lowest was the emotional burden (M=2.95). In ADL of elderly patients with chronic diseases, all 10 questions showed an average point above 2.50. The dependency level of going up and down the stairs was the highest (M=2.88).

This research is necessary for the application of a plan in the social support system in order to reduce the burden on family care-givers who are taking care of elderly patients with a chronic disease.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the emotional state and related factors in patients with lymphedema.

The subjects of this study consisted of 95 patients with lymphedema at 8 hospitals in Busan and Seoul. Data was collected by a self-administered questionnaire between March 2001 to December 2001. Data was analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression using SPSS Win 12.0.

The mean score of the emotional state of the subjects was 3.06; of their physical symptoms, 1.84; of their Activities of Daily Living(ADLs), 2.30; and of their social activities, 3.67. The emotional states of lymphedema patients correlated with their physical symptoms, their ADLs, and their social activities. The Factor influencing the emotional state of the subjects was social activities.

These results suggest that a negative emotional state is very common in patients with lymphedema, to which appropriate attention should be given. Rehabilitation programs must be implemented to improve lymphedema patients' emotional state, physical symptoms, ADLs, and social activities.