This study was aimed at exploring the current status of graduate programs for an advanced practice nurse(APN) to recommend future directions of APN education.

A total of 142 students enrolled in seven APN specialty programs, 67 professors who were involved in APN education, and nine nurse administrators participated in the study. Data was collected by questionnaires and focus group interviews.

The current definition of APN was found not to be specific enough to represent expected roles of APN in regards to knowledge, attitudes, roles, and skills. Standard curricula employed regardless of the area of APN specialty, lack of qualified clinical practice settings, as well as prepared instructors were found to be problematic.

The following needs to be addressed: 1. redefining of APN roles, 2. tailoring specialty areas of APN, 3. consolidating educational programs, and 4. ensuring APN role models and faculty. Suggesting a CNS role in Korean APN, areas of APN should be rearranged toclarify their roles and educational programs need to be further developed to meet the expectations and quality of APNs. It is necessary to ensure APN's employment in the health care system by laws and policies to perform advanced nursing roles.

This study aimed to identify variables influencing the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of adults with epilepsy in order to establish a structural model and design an intervention strategy to improve patients’ HRQoL.

The selected subjects were 212 patients with epilepsy aged between 18 and 70 years who were currently receiving treatment from hospital, general hospital, and clinic. They were surveyed using a structured questionnaire.

The goodness of fit measures of the final hypothetical model were as follows: c²/df=2.51, GFI=.91, AGFI=.90, CFI=.96, SRMR=.04, NFI=.93, and RMSEA=.08. The major variables influencing the HRQoL of adults with epilepsy were epilepsy self-efficacy, depression, social support, and side effects of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs), which were significant in the mentioned order, whereas the duration of AEDs use and perceived stigma did not show any effects. Six variables accounted for 75.6% of HRQoL. Variables having a direct and total effect on the HRQoL of adults with epilepsy were the side effects of AEDs, social support, epilepsy self-efficacy, and depression, and those with an indirect effect were the side effects of AEDs and social support.

It is necessary to accurately identify the side effects of AEDs in adults with epilepsy and accurately observe the physical changes caused by depression. In addition, it is imperative to establish an active and effective nursing intervention program to strengthen the self-efficacy of the patients and to improve their quality of life through social support provided by family members and medical professionals.

This study was done to develop a model which explains factors influencing health promotion behavior in women who immigrate to Korea for marriage, and to verify the appropriateness of the model.

The participants were 300 women who immigrate to Korea for marriage and settled in located in Jeonbuk Province, Korea. The data were collected with self-report questionnaires from October 10, 2007 through November 10, 2007. A total of 271 data sets were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 12.0 and Amos 7.0 version.

Immigrant women's social support, self-efficacy, perceived health status, acculturation, and perceived barrier had an impact on their health promotion behavior. Social support was the most influential factor. All of these variables together explained 49% of the variance in health promotion behavior in immigrant women married to Korean men.

In order to increase the health promotion behavior in immigrant women, intervention strategies to increase social support and self-efficacy for immigrant women should be developed.