The purpose of this study was to evaluate the premature infants' responses to infant massage (tactile and kinesthetic stimulation). These responses measured by weight, physiological (vagal tone, heart rate, oxygen saturation) and behavioral responses (behavioral states, motor activities, and behavioral distress).

This study was conducted using an equivalent control pretest-posttest design. The sample was divided into two groups of 13 infants with gestational age less than 36 weeks at birth, birth weight less than 2000g, and no congenital anomalies. The experimental group received the massage intervention twice daily for 10 days. The data were collected for 10 minutes prior to and 10 minutes after the massage.

The vagal tone was significantly higher after massage than before massage in the experimental group, while no change in the control group. The experimental group had significantly higher scores for awake state and motor activity than the control group. Significantly greater awake state, more fidgeting or crying, and increased motor activity were reported after massage than before massage.

The results of this study showed that massage therapy might enhance optimal physiological responses and behavioral organization of premature infants. Nursing staff in the NICU can use massage to promote the infant's capability to respond positively to his environment and to provide developmental support for healthy premature infants.

Study purpose were to describe growth patterns of premature infants in weight, length and head circumference from birth to 40th week of corrected ages (CA) and to explore factors affecting patterns.

A longitudinal descriptive study was conducted with 267 premature infants. They were categorized into 2 groups; GA group with measurements at birth and the CA group with measurements at CA, which was categorized into 3 groups (group 1-3) by WHO guideline for gestational age (GA) at birth.

GA group presented greater measures in all than CA group at same week of life. Among CA groups, group 3 showed the highest measurements, up to 37 weeks of life, though this disappeared at 38-40 weeks. Reversely, group 1 revealed the highest growth rates in all measures, followed by group 2 and group 3. Significant interaction was observed in all measures between week of life and any type of groups.

Higher measures in GA group, as well group 3 among CA groups, supported the superiority of intra-uterine environment overriding quality of regimen from NICU. Regardless of growth acceleration, smaller infants remain smaller, indicating that intra-uterine thrifty phenotype may continue at least up to the 40th week of CA.

The study was conducted to describe body shapes of school age children using the degree of obesity index (DOI) and body mass index obesity index classified by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (M-BOI) and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (S-BOI).

In this cross sectional descriptive study health screening data for school children collected in 2007 was used.

Data were analyzed for 2,193 4th-6th grade boys (52%) and girls who attended 4 schools in rural areas. DOI determined that only 44.3% of students had average weight. This proportion was much lower than the results of other methods (74.3-77.6%). All three methods defined girls (51.3-61.8%) as skinnier than boys. Skinny and average body shaped children classified by DOI and obese children classified by S-BOI were heavier and taller and presented higher degrees of obesity (DO) and BMI scores than by other methods. M-BOI and S-BOI presented statistically significant positive correlations with weight, height, DO and BMI, while DOI was not correlated with height.

BMI based body shape classifications provide a more rigorous classification of body shape which are favorable for school health professionals with limited resources and policy makers for internationally comparable references.

This study was done to investigate the effects of breast-feeding education and support services on rate of breast-feeding three and six months after birth, and the effect on infant's growth (weight, height, body mass index [BMI]). The experimental group which had both education and support services was compared with the control group which had only breast-feeding education.

This study was a quasi-experimental study with a time-series design. The participants were 39 mothers who were hospitalized for childbirth. Twenty mother were assigned to the experimental group and 19 mothers, to the control group. The breast feeding education was done during hospitalization, and support services were provided once a week after discharge for a month (a total 4 times) by a maternity ward nurse. Data regarding breastfeeding rate at one month after childbirth was collected by phone call; the breast-feeding rates at three and six months after childbirth were collected in a visit to the families. The child's weight and height were also measured during the visit.

The experimental group had a statistically significant higher rate for frequency of breast-feeding at one, three and six months after childbirth than the control group. However, there was no meaningful difference between the two groups for infant growth.

The results of this study suggest that breast-feeding education is helpful for a start, but support services are also necessary to sustain breast-feeding.

The purpose of this study was to identify congruence between self-perception and objective status of obesity according to %Fat, and to investigate health promotion lifestyle in college women.

The participants were a convenience sample of 392 college women who were eligible and agreed to participate in this study. Respondents were asked questions using a health promotion lifestyle profile and were evaluated for their body composition using InBody 3.0. The data were analyzed with SPSS 14.0 program, which was used for Chi square, ANOVA, and post-hoc comparison with Scheffe.

The major findings were as follows; 1) Overall, 41.8% of participants misclassified their perceived status of weight by %Fat standards and kappa was 0.329. 2) Two percent were underweight by BMI but overweight by %Fat and 39.0% normal weight by BMI but overweight by %Fat. 3) There were significant differences in health promotion lifestyle according to self-perception of body weight but there was no difference in health promotion lifestyle according to %Fat standards.

These findings suggest the necessity for development and application of tailored health promotion program based on self-perception of body weight and %Fat in order to reform incorrect body image and health behavior in college women.

This study was designed to examine the effects of a weight control program on body weight and the sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior in psychiatric inpatients.

A quasi-experimental design was used. Data were collected from March 1 to September 30, 2007. Female mentally ill patients in closing psychiatry ward of H University Hospital participated in the study (16 persons in the experimental group and 13 in the control group).

The weight control program including diet therapy, exercise, education and behavior modification therapy decreased the rate of weight gain in female mentally ill patients taking atypical antipsychotics, and effectively increased a sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior.

Weight control program had a positive effect as a nursing intervention to decrease obesity and to increase the sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior of psychiatric inpatients in psychiatric inpatients.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of a network program to prevent obesity and improve dietary habits for patients taking antipsychotics or antidepressants.

Thirty-seven patients in two hospitals were assigned to a control group (21 patients) or an intervention group (16 patients). The intervention group was evaluated to analyze the effect of the network program for six weeks after the program.

There was a difference in the rate of increased body weight between the control group and the intervention group. Notably, the body weight of both groups before the intervention was significantly increased. However, after the intervention the body weight of the intervention group rarely increased, whereas, the body weight of the control group was significantly increased as expected. There was an observed difference in diet between the control group and the intervention group. After the intervention, caloric intake per day of the intervention group decreased. Also, the duration of the meal of the intervention group after the intervention was longer than before.

The network program for preventing obesity and improving dietary habits of patients taking antipsychotics or antidepressants was effective. The study shows that a network program can be an important part of a nursing intervention in clinical practice.