The focus of the study was on the selection-optimization-compensation (SOC) strategy to predict successful aging mediated by dyspnea symptoms in older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The model was constructed based on the hypotheses that coping strategy and social support of the elders predict successful aging through the SOC strategies.

Participants were 218 outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease recruited for the study. Data collection was done from March 25 to September 11, 2015, and analyzed using SPSSWIN 22.0 and AMOS 21.0.

The hypothetical model appeared to be fit to the data. Seven of eight hypotheses selected for hypothetical model were statistically significant. The SOC strategy has only significant indirect effects through dyspnea symptoms on successful aging. Coping strategy, social support, SOC strategies and dyspnea symptoms explained 62% of variance in successful aging.

The SOC strategies with social support and dyspnea symptoms significantly explained successful aging among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nursing strategies should be focused on social support and coping strategies to optimize SOC strategies so that older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are able to manage dyspnea symptoms and eventually achieve successful aging.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of a pulmonary rehabilitation program for patients with COPD.

37 subjects, who had a FEV1/FVC below 70%, participated. 18 were assigned to the experimental group and 19 to the control group. The program consisted of individualized education program and exercise program for 6weeks, 3times a week. Data was collected through questionnaire surveys of general characteristics, anxiety and depression, blood tests for lactic acid and cardiopulmonary exercise tests, and also using bicycle ergometer, for exercise capacity. As for data analyses, paired and unpaired t-test and x²-test were adopted using an SPSS program.

The result revealed that the increase in VT, peak VO2, VEmax, HRmax and Wmax, at the maximal exercise, were significantly high in the experimental group. However, the anxiety and depression scores were not significantly high in the experimental group.

The pulmonary rehabilitation program was effective in increasing cardiopulmonary endurance in patients with COPD. Accordingly, we should seriously consider an individualized pulmonary rehabilitation program as a nursing intervention.

The objective of this study was the development and validation of a scale to measure the self-care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) in Korea.

Self-care scale was developed based on the self-care activities patients had to carry out in order to manage their COPD. The original scale contained 34 items rated along a five-point Likert scale and was reviewed by 18 professional nurses and 10 Korean patients with COPD for content validity. Subsequently, patients with COPD were asked to complete this 23-item scale and further tests were done with the 125 useable responses.

Factor analysis identified eight factors- “maintaining a clean air way”, “taking medication”, “support from family”, “preventing infection”, “managing symptoms”, “breathing exercising”, and “taking in nutrition”. The internal consistency of the total scale was Cronbach's alpha=0.7226. These eight factors explained 60.8% of total variance. There was correlation among Korean Self-Care Scale score, administration level, and knowledge level but there was no correlation to patients' satisfaction with medical services.

The 23 item questionnaire positively identified 8 areas defined important for COPD patients. Further studies are required to see how these can be integrated into patient education.

This study seeks to examine prevalence, risk factors, and quality of life of Korean adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

From the database of the Fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV-1, 2008), the researchers selected 1,458 adults over the age of 45. The original study was a population-based epidemiological survey of health and nutrition with a stratified multistage clustered probability design. Prevalence of COPD was computed on the basis of the sampling weight. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ² test, t-test and multiple logistic regression with the SPSS WIN 18.0 and SAS Ver. 9.1 program.

The prevalence of COPD was 18.0% among people older than 45 yr. The prevalence of current smokers was 19.7% in this population and 26.3% in individuals with COPD. Age, gender, education, and smoking levels were found to be risk factors for COPD. Significant difference in quality of life was founded between adults with COPD and the healthy controls.

The results of this study indicate that COPD is a highly prevalent disease in Korea. To reduce the prevalence of COPD and improve health-related quality of life in patients with COPD, nursing interventions must focus on prevention of risk factors.