This study examined the effects of group social support on the reduction of burden and increase in well-being of mothers of developmentally delayed children. The research used a one group pre-post experimental design. The independent variable in the experiment was group social support. Two series of 4-weekly meetings for group social support were conducted by the researcher with the intention of developing a self-help group. The dependent variables were burden and well-being. Well-being was operationalized as physical symptoms and quality of life. Thirty mothers of developmentally delayed infants from the rehabilitation center of a medical center participated in the study. Data were collected by interview and a self-administered questionnaire. The mean age of the subjects was 29.9 years. Changes of the dependent variables between pre and post tests were compared using the t-test. Even though there was a slight improvement in the scores for the dependent variables, they were not statistically significant. The items, "I resent my baby", "I feel angry about my interactions with my baby", "I feel guilty in my relationship with my baby" showed a significant decrease in burden score and were statistically significant. Symptoms of loneliness, constipation, anxiety, restlessness were less and feeling of happiness was greater after participation in the group social support, than on the pretest. The mothers showed emotional instability and frustrations during the group sessions but their reactions in general were positive. Emotional support, stress management and information provided were identified as the most valuable content of the sessions. However, participation was not active due to the mother's denial, delayed acceptance and/or avoidance of their infants' problems. It can be seen that group social support for the mothers with developmentally delayed children should be provided after infancy when the mothers have time to accept their children's conditions and are ready to receive support. The use of comprehensive instruments which measure burden in both families and mothers needs to be developed for future research.

The purpose of this study is to test the correlation between spiritual well-being and mental health of nursing students and to provide baseline data of nursing education for the christian college. The data was collected from 10th to 30th September. 2000. The subjects were 220 nursing students. The instruments used for the study were the spiritual well-being scale developed by Paloutzian & Ellison (1982) and Gou Seong Hee's mental health (1989). The data was analyzed by using SPSS/PC. The study results were as follows: 1. There were significant differences between the type of religion (F=27.22, p=0.000), abscence of faith (F=65.33, p=0.000), grade (F=6.76, p=0.000), effect of religion on life style (F=14.21, p=0.000) and spiritual well-being. 2. There were significant differences between grade (F=4.87, p=0.009), satisfaction of nursing (F=6.47, p=0.000) and mental health. 3. There was positively significant partial correlation between spiritual well-being and mental health (r=0.52, p=0.000). The higher spiritual well-being score and the higher mental health was supported. 4. The mean score on the spiritual well-being scale was 3.48+/-0.64. The mean score on the mental health scale was 3.67+/-0.54. Viewing that, The type of religion, abscence of faith, effect of religion on life style, and grade contributed significantly in spiritual well-being for nursing students.

This was a descriptive study clarifying the factors affecting family caregivers' sense of well-being. This study was conducted with 131 caregivers using structured self-reporting questionnaires and directly interviewing adult patients who had been under treatment in two general hospitals. The hospitals were located in M city from Aug. 10, 2000 until Sep. 2, 2000. The collected data were analyzed using SAS PC+ program, and the data were tested using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficient, and Stepwise Multiple Regression. The results of this study are as follows; 1) The variables affecting the caregivers' sense of burden were age (F=3.76, p=.0063), education level (F=4.67, p=.0015), monthly income (F=2.49, p=.0466), amount of assistance provided (F=4.19, p=.0037), and the relationship with patient before disease (F=9.49, p=.0001). 2) The variables affecting caregivers' sense of well-being were age (F=9.54, p=.0001), residing with patient (t=11.38, p=.0010), the period of caregiving (F=10.52, p= .0001), education level (F= 2.79, p=.0290), monthly income (F=3.04, p=.0196), and relationship with patient before disease (F= 10.51, p=.0001). Also, all of the variables which showed statistical significance. 3) In viewing the relationship between activities of daily living (ADL) and the senses of burden and well-being, a negative relation- ship between activities of daily living (ADL) and a sense of burden was found (r=-.640, p=.000). However, the relationship between activities of daily living (ADL) and a sense of well-being had a positive correlation (r= .232, p=.008). Also the relationship between the sense of burden and the sense of well-being was revealed to have a negative correlation (r=-.614, p=.000). 4) A sense of burden was the most important indicator to the well-being of the caregivers who took care of stroke patients (R2 =.36). In addition to this, living with the patient (45%), activities of daily living (51%), relationship with patient before disease (53%), and the family's monthly income accounted for 56% of the sense of well-being of the caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the spiritual well-being of hemodialysis patients and the correlation between spiritual well-being and demographic characteristics and disease related characteristics. The subjects for this study were 98 patients who were diagnosed as having chronic renal failure and were being treated at the hemodialysis units of three hospitals located in Seoul, Pusan and Taegu, Korea. Data were collected from October 27, 1997 to November 15, 1997 by an investigator interviewing with a structured questionnaire. Palautizion and Ellison(1982)'s spiritual well-being scale was used after some modification. The results of this study are as follows; To analyze the differences between demographic characteristics, spiritual well-being, and disease characteristics and the spiritual well-being, T-test and ANOVA were used. 1. There were statistically significant differences in spiritual well-being for the demographic characteristics of age(p=0.0145) religious affiliation(p=0.0001) and level of education(p=0.04). 2. There were statistically significant differences in spiritual well-being for the disease characteristics perceived health status(p=0.0014) and vigor(p=0.01). 3. The mean score for spiritual well-being in hemodialysis patients was 57.10of a possible range 22-88. Among the components of spiritual well-being, the mean score for religious well-being was 27.01 of a possible range 11-44, and for existential well-being 30.09 of a possible range of 11-44. 4. Correlation between general characteristics and spiritual well-being showed that there were significantly positive correlations for level f education(p=0.0036), perceived health status(p=0.0001), vigor(p=0.0036), perceived health status(p=0.0001), vigor(p=0.0036) and religion (p=0.0004).