The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of the physical and behavioral risk profiles for cardiovascular disease among industrial workers, and to examine predicting factors for the subgroups.

Health records of 2,616 male and female workers aged 19-56 years who were employed in an airplane manufacturing industry were analyzed. Data were analyzed using the Latent class cluster analysis.

Four different clusters (two high-risk groups, one low-risk group, and one normal group) were found and these clusters were significantly different by age, gender, and work type (p<.05). The two high-risk groups had higher chances of drinking alcohol, elevated BMI, FBS, total cholesterol, having hypertension, and were significantly older, and had relatively high chances of being day workers rather than other groups. The low-risk group had higher chances of drinking alcohol, higher BMI and total cholesterols compared to normal group, and highest portions of current smokers and shift workers in the four clusters and their mean BP was within prehypertension criteria.

Industrial nurses should guide the lifestyle behaviors and risk factors of the high risk groups for CVD and need to intervene early for behavioral change for the low-risk group who are young and shift workers. Age, and work environment should be considered in planning for targeted preventive interventions for industrial workers.

The purpose of this study was to explore the link between health and welfare service and barrier's factors by reviewing the connection between the public health center's visiting nurse and social welfare center's social workers

A survey by mail or a face-to-face interview of 151 visiting nurses in 25 public health centers and 48 social welfare workers in general social welfare centers in Seoul, was preformed from Feb. 12, 2001 to Mar. 15, 2001. The data were analyzed with frequency, percentage, mean value, paired t-test and independent t-test using SPSS/WIN 7.5 program.

1. ‘ The necessity and degree of cooperation with social welfare workers of visiting nurse’ scored average 4.49 and 3.19, and ‘ The necessity and degree of cooperation with visiting nurse and social welfare workers’ scored average 4.81 and 3.15 on the five-point scale ; there was a significant difference between the two variable in visiting nurse and social welfare workers. 2. In barrier's factors which health and welfare service offer to, visiting nurses showed statistically significant higher score than social welfare staff ; ‘ job factor’, ‘ resource factor’, ‘ clients factor’, ‘ individual ability factor’

In order to provide link system that hold clients in common in public health center and social welfare center, it is recommended a case management team should be constructed and educate visiting nurses for case manager.

The purpose of this study was to investigate individual and organizational level of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors associated with CVD risk in Korean blue-collar workers working in small sized companies.

Self-report questionnaires and blood sampling for lipid and glucose were collected from 492 workers in 31 small sized companies in Korea. Multilevel modeling was conducted to estimate effects of related factors at the individual and organizational level.

Multilevel regression analysis showed that workers in the workplace having a cafeteria had 1.81 times higher CVD risk after adjusting for factors at the individual level (p=.022). The explanatory power of variables related to organizational level variances in CVD risk was 17.1%.

The results of this study indicate that differences in the CVD risk were related to organizational factors. It is necessary to consider not only individual factors but also organizational factors when planning a CVD risk reduction program. The factors caused by having cafeteria in the workplace can be reduced by improvement in the CVD-related risk environment, therefore an organizational-level intervention approach should be available to reduce CVD risk of workers in small sized companies in Korea.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of actual cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, as well as, individual, psychosocial, and work-related factors as predictors of CVD risk perception among Korean blue-collar workers.

The participants were 238 Korean blue-collar workers who worked in small companies. Data were collected through a survey; anthropometric and blood pressure measures; and blood sampling for lipid levels.

Blue-collar workers had high actual CVD risk and low CVD risk perception. The significant predictors of risk perception included perceived health status, alcohol consumption, knowledge of CVD risk, actual CVD risk, decision latitude, and shift work. The model explained 26% of the variance in CVD risk perception.

The result suggests when occupational health nurses are giving routine health examination in small companies, they can enhance CVD risk perception in blue-collar workers by providing essential information about CVD risk factors and personal counseling on the individual worker's CVD risk status.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate effectiveness of a peer support program conducted by older community volunteers for older adults living alone.

Thirty volunteers trained as peer supporters were matched with low-income, older adults living alone in the community on gender. Visits occurred on a weekly basis over the 12 month study period, and the volunteers provided peer support for health management to solitary older adults. Data were collected, before the start of the program and again 6 and 12 months after its initialization, from intervention and control groups regarding physical health, general health, mental health, depression, social functioning, and satisfaction with social support. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze data.

By the end of the program, socially isolated older adults in the intervention group had significantly higher scores in physical health and general health than elders in the control group. Significant interaction effects between time and group were found for depression, social functioning, and satisfaction with social support.

The peer support program undertaken by older community volunteers was effective in improving physical health, general health, depression, social functioning, and satisfaction with social support in socially isolated, low-income, older adults.

This study was done to investigate differences in health behaviors by job stress level in male and female workers in a large-sized company.

Participants were 576 male and 228 female workers who completed questionnaires. Job stress was measured using the 'Short Form Korean Occupational Stress Scale (SF-KOSS)'. Health behaviors included smoking, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, and diet. Frequency, mean, SD, chi-square test, and multivariate logistic regression using SAS version 9.1 were used to analyze data.

Smoking, drinking and regular exercise rates were not different by job stress level in male or female workers. Only regular diet was significantly different by job stress level in male and female workers. From multivariate analysis, the alcohol consumption rates for female workers differed by marital status. Regular exercise rate was significantly related to age for male workers and type of employment for female workers. After adjusting for demographic and work-related characteristics, regular diet significantly differed by shift work for male workers and marital status and shift work for female workers.

The findings of the study indicate that nursing interventions should be developed to manage job stress to improve diet habits for male and female workers in large-sized companies.

The purpose of this study was to collect basic data on social support and acculturative stress in migrant workers.

Between August, 2007 and January, 2008 171 immigrant workers completed data collection using a questionnaire. Workers were recruited from 2 churches, one in Seoul and the other in Gyeonggi Province. Mean and standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and Stepwise multiple regression were used to analyze the data.

The average score for social support was 3.73 (±0.65) and for acculturative stress, 2.52 (±0.65). There were significant differences acculturative stress according to gender (t=2.152, p=.033), kind of job (t=2.597, p=.040), and have community or not (t=2.899, p=.005). There was a significant negative correlation between social support and acculturative stress (r=-.270, p=.001). Factors influencing acculturative stress were existence of participants having a community of people from their home country or not (R²=.151, p=.002).

More studies are needed to identify the variables that influence acculturative stress in immigrant workers.

The purpose of this study was to examine health problems and to estimate economic impact based on health problems of workers.

The subjects of this study consisted of 301 workers who received a group occupational health service. Data was collected from February 1 to March 30, 2006. The questionnaire contained questions based on general characteristics and the Stanford Presenteeism Scale. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test using SPSS program.

The primary health conditions as reported by workers were ranked in order as stomach or bowel disorders, back or neck disorders, or liver function disorders. The reason of absenteeism per worker was ranked in order as asthma, or a breathing disorder. The reason of presenteeism was ranked in order as asthma, insomnia or a sleep disorder. The cost of the total economic impact on the workplace in this study was 8,851,838 won. The cost of absenteeism per worker was 8,390 won. The cost of presenteeism per worker was 941,732 won.

Presenteeism had a strong correlation to health conditions of the workers. Therefore, improving the work conditions of the workers is very important. If employers improve the health condition of workers, they will benefit from improved productivity in their business.

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of mental health hospital workers.

Participants in the study were a total of 8 mental health hospital workers who consisted of nurses, social welfare workers and health managers. To prevent them from being omitted, the interviews were all recorded under the participants prior agreement. The method was analysis using the phenomenological method proposed by Colaizzi(1978).

The experiences of the participants of this study were classified into 15 significant areas, from which 10 subjects hard work, conflicts, heavy feeling, irritability, getting familiar, changes of recognition, aptitude determination, feeling of achievement and sense of pride were drawn out. These subjects were then grouped into 5 themes. These five themes were finally grouped into 5 categories, negative emotion, depressive emotion, changes of thinking, delight and value discovery.

The study tried to analyze the experiences of key informants like nurses, social welfare workers and health managers all of whom were serving at mental health hospitals, contribute to social recognition about the special medical establishment, promote qualitative mental health nursing and further provide educational information necessary for understanding mental health hospital workers.