This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a customized health promotion program (CHPP) on depression, cognitive functioning, and physical health of elderly women living alone in the community.

A randomized comparison of pre-and post-test design was used with 62 participants assigned to either an intervention (n=32 in seven clusters) or a control group (n=30 in seven clusters) in 14 areas of a town. The final sample included 30 intervention participants who completed the CHPP for 10 weeks, and 26 control participants. The intervention group participated in the CHPP weekly; they were provided with instructions about coping with their chronic illnesses, lifestyle modification, risk management, providing emotional support to each other, and floor-seated exercise, which they were encouraged to do three times a week in their homes.

Significant group differences were found in depression (U=48.50, p<.001), cognitive functioning (U=2.50, p<.001), left arm flexibility (U=251.50, p=.023), right arm flexibility (U=225.00, p=.007), static balance (U=237.00, p=.012), and gait ability (U=190.50, p=.004). However, there were no significant differences in bothgrip strength and muscle mass between the two groups.

The findings indicate that CHPP was overall effective at improving depression, cognitive functioning, and physical functioning of elderly women living alone, and could therefore be considered a positive program for community-dwelling elderly women living alone.

This study was to develop an aromatherapy hand massage program, and to evaluate the effects of lavender aromatherapy on cognitive function, emotion, and aggressive behavior of elderly with dementia of the Alzheimer's type.

The Research design was a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized quasiexperimental study. Lavender aromatherapy was administrated to experimental group I for 2 weeks, jojoba oil massage was administrated to experimental group II for 2 weeks, and no treatment was administrated to the control group for 2 weeks. Data was analyzed using the chi-square-test, ANOVA, repeated measures of ANCOVA and ANCOVA in the SPSS program package.

1. Experimental group I did not show significant differences in cognitive function in relation to the experimental group II and control group. 2. Experimental group I showed significant differences in emotion and aggressive behavior in relation to the experimental group II and control group.

A Lavender aromatherapy hand massage program is effective on emotions and aggressive behavior of elderly with dementia of the Alzheimer's type.

This investigation examined the effect of PBL on the meta-cognition, critical thinking, and problem solving process.

The research design was pre-posttest with a nonequivalent control group design. Scenarios for PBL sessions were developed on the basis of textbooks and patients' charts and tested for content validity. Seventy six nursing students who took a ‘Nursing Process’ course from two nursing schools participated in the experimental group and control group. The experimental group performed PBL during the semester. Meta-cognition and problem solving processes were assessed by questionnaires which were developed using pedagogics. Critical thinking was measured by the CCTST(California Critical Thinking Skill Test) Form 2000. The data was analyzed by repeated measure (pretest-posttest) MANOVA, and correlation analysis.

PBL improved the participants' meta-cognition and problem solving process but not critical thinking. The relationship between meta-cognition and the problem solving process was supported but the relationship between critical thinking and problem solving was not supported.

These results suggest that PBL has a positive effect on nursing students' educational outcomes. To improve the problem solving ability of nursing students, PBL should be applied to more subjects in the nursing curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to explore factors that influence care dependency of institutionalized patients with dementia.

This study utilized descriptive correlational design. The convenience sample was composed of 110 residents with dementia of two long-term care facilities in Korea. Stepwise multiple regression was used to identify significant factors influencing care dependency in patients with dementia. Care dependency was measured using the Care Dependency Scale, Korean version(CDS-K). Cognition was measured by the MMSE-K. Functional disability was measured by the PULSES Profile. Behavioral dysfunction was measured by the modified E-BEHAVE AD.

Care dependency was significantly influenced by cognition, functional disability, behavioral dysfunction, and duration of dementia. This regression model explained 61% of the variances in care dependency. Cognition explained 37% of the variances, and functional disability explained 21% of the variances.

Results of this study suggest that professional caregivers intervene more effectively in caring for their patients with dementia by recognizing the patients cognitive, functional, behavioral disability, and its periodic change. Individually, remaining abilities-focused intervention should be applied to enhance patient to be dependent and to prevent unnecessary independency.

The purpose of this study was to survey the prevalence rate of cognitive impairments and to identify the factors influencing cognitive impairment in the elderly in rural communities of Jeju Province..

590 elderly in 6 rural communities of Jeju Province were interviewed, using a questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic characteristics, health behavior, quality of life, and MMSE-K

Prevalence of cognitive impairment was 33.1% (39.1% of females, 16.76% of males). Prevalence of dementia was 12.4% (16.3% of females, 2.87% of males). Factors related to cognitive impairment were age, sex, education, standard of living, employment status, and subjective health state.

In community health care for the elderly, factors relating to cognitive impairment have to be considered. When planning community health care, priority should be given to the elderly; who need care but live alone; who lack social support; who have a low standard of living; who experience discomfort in the activities of daily living; who believe they are not in a good state of health; or whose life satisfaction is low.

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.

This study aimed to investigate factors affecting frailty by age groups among vulnerable elders in Korea.

In this secondary analysis, data were collected from records for 22,868 elders registered in the Visiting Health Management program of Public Health Centers in 2012. Health behaviors, clinically diagnosed disease, frailty, depression and cognitive condition were assessed. Data were analyzed using stepwise regression to determine the associated factors of frailty by age group.

Alcohol consumption, physical activity, number of diseases, DM, CVA, arthritis, urinary incontinence, depression and cognitive condition were found to be factors significantly associated with frailty among the elders aged 65~74 (F=135.66, p<.001). Alcohol consumption, physical activity, CVA, arthritis, urinary incontinence, depression and cognitive condition were found to be factors associated with frailty in the elders aged 75~84 (F=245.40, p<.001). Physical activity, CVA, arthritis, depression and cognitive condition were factors associated with frailty in the elders over 85 years of age (F=96.48, p<.001).

The findings show that frailty of elders and associated factors were different by age group, and common factors affecting frailty were physical activity, CVA, arthritis, depression and cognitive condition. Thus, these factors should be considered in the development of intervention program for care and prevention of frailty and program should be modified according to age group.

This study was designed to construct a model which explains drug misuse behaviors in community-dwelling older adults.

The design of this research is a cross-sectional study using structure equation modeling. The hypothetical model consisted of two types of variables: the exogenous variables of health status, cognitive ability, and negative emotion, and the endogenous variables of number of drugs, and drug misuse behaviors. The data collection was conducted from September 2 to September 21, 2013 through self-report questionnaires. Participants were 320 community-dwelling adults over the age of 65 living in J city. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0 program and Amos 18.0 program.

The results of the model fitness analysis were satisfied. The predictor variables for the hypothetical model explained 62.3% of variance regarding drug misuse behaviors. Drug misuse behaviors were directly affected by health status, cognitive ability, negative emotion and number of drugs and indirectly affected by health status, and negative emotion through number of drugs.

These findings indicate factors that should be used in developing effective nursing interventions for safe and proper drug use and the prevention of drug misuse behaviors in community-dwelling older adults.

The aim of this study was to identify the effect of an observation window (OW) at peripheral intravenous (IV) catheter sites on early detection of IV infiltration among hospitalized children.

This was a retrospective observational study with history control group design. Participants were children who had IV infiltration after peripheral catheterization when hospitalized from January to May, 2014 and January to May, 2015 at a children's hospital located in Yangsan city, Korea. The 193 patients, who were hospitalized from January to May, 2014 formed the control group and did not have OW, and the 167 patients, who were hospitalized from January to May, 2015 formed the window group and had OW. Data were analyzed using χ²-test, independent samples t-test and multiple logistic regression.

First stage IV infiltration was 39.5% for the window group and 25.9% for the control group, which was significantly different (p=.007). The likelihood of 2^nd stage and above IV infiltration decreased by 44% in the window group, which was significantly different (p=.014).

OW at the peripheral IV catheter site was found to be an effective measure in early recognition of IV infiltration. Considering the effect of OW, we recommend that nurses should make an OW with transparent dressing during stabilization of the IV catheter site in hospitalized children in clinical settings.

This study was conducted to synthesis the results of research on relationships of cognitive impairment with multi-dimensional correlates of rheumatic disease through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

For the study purpose, 23 studies were selected through a systematic process of searching the literature.

The study results showed that among general characteristics, age and education were the variables having a significant relationship with cognitive impairment. Among health risk factors, obesity appeared to have a significant positive relationship with cognitive impairment. For past history, diabetes and hypertension were shown to have a significant positive relationship with cognitive impairment. It was noted also that aPL, one of the physiological factor, had significant association with cognitive impairment. None of the medication related factors had a significant relationship with cognitive impairment. Results showed that among disease related factors, disease activity had the highest relationship with cognitive impairment. Depression, among psychological factors, was the only variable having a significant relationship with cognitive impairment.

The findings indicate that the variables strongly impacting on cognitive impairment in rheumatic disease are depression and disease activity.

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.

In this study a recreational combination gymnastics program was provided for women 75 years of age or older and the effects on physical fitness (grip strength, static balance, ability to do complex movement), depression, cognitive function and quality of life were examined.

A quasi-experimental study employing a nonequivalent control group, pre-post design was conducted. Participants included 53 women elders whose cognitive function was within the normal range. The women were assigned to an experimental group (27) or a control group (26). The intervention was conducted twice a week for a period of 12 weeks. Chi-square test, t-test, paired t-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for data analysis.

Following completion of the program, left grip strength (t=2.17, p=.035), right grip strength (t=2.04, p=.046), static balance (t=-2.18, p=.030), depression (z=-2.88, p=.004), cognitive function (t=3.96, p<.001), and quality of life (t=-3.19, p=.002) were significantly better in the experimental group.

Findings from this study indicate that recreational combination gymnastics programs are effective in enhancing physical fitness, cognitive function, and quality of life and in decreasing depression for female elders and could therefore be regarded as positive programs for promotion of physical and mental health for older women.

In this study a cognitive enhancement group training program of 10 sessions was provided for community-dwelling elders and the effects on cognitive function, depression and quality of life were tested.

A quasi-experimental study using a nonequivalent control group, pre-post design was used. The participants were 87 elders whose cognitive function was within the normal range. Of these elders, 45 were assigned to the experimental group and 42 to the control group. The intervention was conducted once a week for 10 weeks. Chi-square test, t-test, paired t-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyze the data.

After the program, the cognitive function (t=-2.85, p=.006), depression (z=2.82, p=.005) and quality of life (t=2.79, p=.007) of the experimental group was significantly better than those of the control group. Especially, immediate recall (z=2.45, p=.014) and concentration (z=2.58, p=.010) in the subcategory of cognitive function were significantly better than that of the control group.

The findings indicate that the cognitive enhancement group training program was effective in enhancing the cognitive function, depression and quality of life for elders and could therefore be considered as a positive program for emotional and cognitive support for community-dwelling elders.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects on the cognitive function, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), mood, social behaviors, and problematic behaviors of robot pet-assisted program for elderly people with dementia.

This study was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 32 elders with dementia. Seventeen were assigned to the experimental group and 15 to the control group. The intervention was conducted twice a week for 6 weeks.

1) After the program, cognitive function, ADL, and social behaviors did not show significant differences. 2) After the program, mood of experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group. 3) After the program, problematic behaviors of the experimental group were significantly more diminished than those of control group. 4) As a result of analyzing the response, robot pet-assisted program was effective such as inducing a positive emotional state and increasing communication and interaction.

The robot pet-assisted program was effective in changing the mood and diminishing problematic behaviors and had positive effects such as increasing communication and interaction for elders with dementia. Therefore, this program should be considered as a positive program for physical and emotional support for elders with dementia.

This study was to develop and evaluate a folk play program as a nursing intervention for the elderly with dementia.

First, a folk play program was developed through a careful study of literature review and field-work. Second, a nonequivalent control group pre-post test was designed. The subjects of the study were the elderly with dementia staying in nursing homes; 15 were in an experimental group adopting a folk play program developed through this study, 18 in the control group on a gymnastics and walking program which is generally used. The 40 min. intervention was conducted 5 times a week for 4 weeks.

The folk play program improved the cognition(t=6.12, p<.001) and ADL(t=2.92, p=.014) and diminished the frequency of problematic behaviors significantly(t=-6.39, p<.001). There was a significant difference of cognition, ADL, and problematic behaviors between the control and the experimental group before and after the experiment(t=3.38, p=.002; t=2.05, p=.046; t=-7.74, p<.001).

Compared with the gymnastics and walking program, the folk play program proved to be much more effective in the elderly with dementia in improving their cognition and ADL, as well as in diminishing their problematic behaviors. Therefore, a folk play program should be appliedas an effective and practical Korean nursing intervention for the elderly with dementia.