This study aimed to introduce and elucidate changes in Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory and discuss its application to the field of nursing in South Korea.

The changes in grounded theory by Strauss and Corbin were examined through a literature review of grounded theory from its inception.

Strauss and Corbin acknowledged their philosophical backgrounds of symbolic interactionism and pragmatism; however, their methodology based on positivism overwhelmed their epistemology and ontology. This inconsistency has been represented by the coding paradigm and the premise of “emergent from the data.” In the revised version of Basics, Strauss and Corbin modified their theory to weaken the coding paradigm and strengthen the strategies for the development of substantive theory.

Strauss and Corbin's revised grounded theory did not fully address the inconsistency of their epistemology and ontology between their acknowledgement and methodology. However, these changes constitute a meaningful step toward resolving inconsistencies and highlight the development of substantive theory. This has implications for Korean nursing researchers who have utilized methodologies in grounded theory with dogmatic approaches; grounded theory, with its evolving nature, is not a finalized method and calls for open approaches for the development of a grounded theory that fits Korean nursing.

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of infant massage (auditory (mother's voice), tactile/kinesthetic (massage) and visual (eye to eye contact) stimulation) on weight and height of infant and mother-infant interaction with normal infants over a period of 4 weeks.

This study was designed as a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The experimental group infants (aged 2-6 months) participated in one of the infant massage programs at the health district center for 4 weeks. The control group (N=26) was paired with the experimental group (N=26) by matching the infant's age and sex. Infant weight, height, and mother-infant interaction were measured two times and recordings of the mother-infant interaction were done using the video equipment in a room at the health center for 10 minutes.

After 4 weeks of massage, there were no significant differences weight gain and height increase between the two groups. Comparison of the total scores for the mother-infant interaction between the two groups showed a significant difference (t=5.21, p=.000). There were also significant differences on maternal response (t=3.78, p=000), infant response (t=5.71, p=000) and dyadic response (t=4.05, p=000) in the mother-infant interaction between the two groups.

Overall, the results of this study reassure that infant massage facilitates the mother-infant interaction for infants and mothers who give massage to their baby.

The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of sensory stimulation program administered by primipara on the physical growth and mother-infant feeding interaction for the first 6 months of infancy.

Data were collected from December 1, 2001 to June 30, 2003. A total of 35 mothers and their infants were assigned to a control(n=17) and an experimental(n=18) group. Mothers in the experimental group received education related to sensory stimulation program and administered to their infants twice a day for 6 months. Both groups were measured the weight, length, head circumference and chest circumference of infants at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks, 18 weeks, and 22 weeks and the mother-infant feeding interaction at 6 weeks, 10 weeks through the home visiting.

Compared to the control group, the experimental group had significantly larger increases in head circumference for intervention period. In addition to, the experimental group showed significantly higher score in mother-infant interaction than control group.

These data suggested that sensory stimulation program administered by primipara may improve the physical growth of full term infant and mother-infant feeding interaction.

The influence of dietary composition on blood pressure is an important subject in healthcare. Interactions between antihypertensive drugs and diet (IBADD) is the most important factor in the management of hypertension. It is therefore essential to support healthcare providers' decision making role in active and continuous interaction control in hypertension management. The aim of this study was to implement an ontology-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) for IBADD management (IBADDM). We considered the concepts of antihypertensive drugs and foods, and focused on the interchangeability between the database and the CDSS when providing tailored information.

An ontology-based CDSS for IBADDM was implemented in eight phases: (1) determining the domain and scope of ontology, (2) reviewing existing ontology, (3) extracting and defining the concepts, (4) assigning relationships between concepts, (5) creating a conceptual map with CmapTools, (6) selecting upper ontology, (7) formally representing the ontology with Protégé (ver.4.3), (8) implementing an ontology-based CDSS as a JAVA prototype application.

We extracted 5,926 concepts, 15 properties, and formally represented them using Protégé. An ontology-based CDSS for IBADDM was implemented and the evaluation score was 4.60 out of 5.

We endeavored to map functions of a CDSS and implement an ontology-based CDSS for IBADDM.

This study was done to develop the self-report Mother-Preschool Child Interaction Scale (MPIS) for mothers of preschool children.

The scale was based on items derived from literature review and in-depth interviews. A methodological study was used to check reliability and validity and participants were 334 mothers of preschool children enrolled in kindergarten or nursery. Data were analyzed using principal component factor analysis for construct validity, t-test for contrasted group validity, Pearson correlation for criterion related validity and test-retest reliability and Cronbach's α for reliability.

In the final MPIS 34 items identified through factor analysis were included, 6 constructs were derived, and explanatory power was 64.2%. Items on the MPIS were verified through correlation with the interaction observation scale of Kim & Mahoney and MPIS. Results were significant as mothers in the normal group exhibited MPIS scores that were significantly higher than those of mothers in the depressed group. Reliability of MPIS was .96 and test-retest reliability was .92.

MPIS has the advantage of being easy to use, economical, and useful. Consequently, it is expected to be used as a screening tool for promptly and simply identifying the mother-preschool child interaction in diverse nursing practice and research.

The purpose of this study was to identify effective nurse interaction patterns with patients in the emergency department.

For this study, video technology was used to record complete conversations between the nurse and patient. The participants were 28 nurses and 63 patients in the emergency department at one university hospital located in Seoul. The data were collected from November, 2002 to April, 2003. The video recordings were observed for 4 hr for each case and coded using an adapted version of Roter's Interaction Analysis System (RIAS). The data were analyzed using cluster analysis to identify the patterns of nurse-patient interaction.

Cluster analysis revealed 4 distinct nurse interaction patterns; 1) "closed" characterized by orientation and negative talk, 2) "positive" characterized by positive affective talk, 3) "informative and directing" characterized by task-focused behavior including data gathering, and giving information about medical condition and treatment, 4) "facilitative" characterized by balance of psychosocial and biomedical topics. Patient satisfaction was highest in the facilitative interaction pattern.

The patient centered interaction pattern, balancing information exchange and psychosocial exchange are the most effective interactions in the emergency department, suggesting that effective interaction skill is a core clinical nursing intervention in acute care.