This study was done to provide an understanding of nursing in relation to the existential philosophy of the West and Buddhistic philosophy. It examined how human beings and death are interpreted and understood in existential philosophy as well as in Buddhistic philosophy. Then the study suggested that nursing should focus on helping the sufferer to find meaning and a sense of responsibility in his or her existence. When people have the opportunity to realize certain important but painful truths about their existence, they develop internal strength and control of their lives. Just as people learn to face their being, so can they come to terms with their non-being. According to the causal process in Buddhism, Human Being is not always annihilation of self. Therefore, birth, aging, disease and death go through the process of natural change and it is the appearance of human existence which is inherent in the health of every human being. To promote our health we must gain an insight about this phenomenon. This study viewed nurses' clients as (good friend) rather than (patient) which focuses on a disease-oriented concept. The concept of (good friend) views nurses' clients as active participants to create their life and as responsible persons in a constantly changing life. The study also examined the concept of recovery which means to come back to the previous healthy state and it suggested that the concept of recovery should be changed to (good change), because in existential philosophy, human beings are viewed as never going back to the past but moving on to the future by creating their existence. This study also suggested that nursing should help (good friend) enlighten their existence to be free from pain and death and to get control over their existence.
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between peer and parental factors and smoking behavior of adolescents in urban cities and to investigate whether there are gender differences.
A stratified and random cluster sampling design was used to obtain a cross-sectional sample of high school students in two urban cities. The sample consisted of 512 Korean adolescents (256 boys and 256 girls) aged 15 to 18 (mean age 16.7±.58). Self-reported questionnaire consisted of adolescent smoking behavior, peer smoking and alcohol use, parental smoking and alcohol use, father-mother-peer relationships and perceived social support from peers and parents. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the hypothesized model.
The findings showed that peer and parental factors accounted for 30.3% of the variance in adolescent smoking and peer smoking was most strongly associated with adolescent smoking behavior (OR=10.18). In addition, peer smoking (OR=4.71), peer alcohol use (OR=4.21), and peer relationships (OR=1.03) were significantly associated with boys' smoking behavior. In girls, peer smoking (OR=26.50) and parent smoking (OR=5.48) were significantly associated with smoking behavior.
Consistent with previous findings, peer smoking is a significant factor on adolescent smoking. Specifically, boys would be more influenced from peers than girls. Therefore, smoking prevention programs for adolescents might be focused on the social context such as, resisting to peer pressure and enhancing the self-efficacy to control.