This descriptive study aimed to identify the menstrual cycle characteristics and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) prevalence in Korean young adult women using the retrospective and prospective Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP).

In the first stage, participants included 151 nursing students studying in a university located in Seoul. Data were collected from April 20 to June 2, 2017, using the questionnaire on menstrual characteristics, pictorial blood assessment chart, and retrospective DRSP. In the second stage, participants included 17 students with PMS, based on the screening conducted in the first stage. Data were collected using the prospective DRSP from May 29 to 2 September 2, 2017.

Of the study sample, 104 participants (68.9%) had regular periods. Those with regular periods had 11.97 periods annually with a menstrual cycle of 29.38 days and a period duration of 5.72 days. Fifty-five participants (37.4%) showed menorrhagia. Sixty-four participants (42.4%) were found to have PMS based on their retrospective DRSP. When the ratio of women (52.9%) with PMS shown in the prospective DRSP was used as a positive predictive value, the estimated PMS prevalence was 22.4%.

This study provides clinically significant PMS prevalence among Korean young adult women, positive predictive value of the retrospective DRSP, and valid data to basically understand the menstrual cycle characteristics experienced by these women.

This study was done to assess the bone mineral density (BMD), biochemical bone turnover markers (BTMs), and factors associated with bone health in young Korean women.

Participants were 1,298 women, ages 18-29, recruited in Korea. Measurements were BMD by calcaneus quantitative ultrasound, BTMs for Calcium, Phosphorus, Osteocalcin, and C-telopeptide cross-links (CTX), body composition by physical measurements, nutrients by food frequency questionnaire and psychosocial factors associated with bone health by self-report.

The mean BMD (Z-score) was -0.94. 8.7% women had lower BMD (Z-score≤-2) and 14.3% women had higher BMD (Z-score≥0) than women of same age. BTMs were not significantly different between high-BMD (Z-score≥0) and low-BMD (Z-score<0) women. However, Osteocalcin and CTX were higher in women preferring caffeine intake, sedentary lifestyle and alcoholic drinks. Body composition and Calcium intake were significantly higher in high-BMD. Low-BMD women reported significantly higher susceptibility and barriers to exercise in health beliefs, lower bone health self-efficacy and promoting behaviors.

Results of this study indicate that bone health of young Korean women is not good. Development of diverse strategies to intervene in factors such as exercise, nutrients, self-efficacy, health beliefs and behaviors, shown to be important, are needed to improve bone health.

Purpose of this study was to investigate the status of depression in academic high school students and path analysis model for exploring the mediating role of entrapment to depression in relation to academic stress and perceived social support.

Measurements were four reliable questionnaires measuring academic stress, social support, entrapment, and depression. Data were collected from students in 17 high schools in Seoul.

Students (n=5,346) completing the questionnaires indicated depression & entrapment from academic stress. Depression was more prevalent in girls, those whose parents' household income was less than two million won, who did not live with father or mother or both due to divorce, separation, or death, and those who smoked or used alcohol. Entrapment was more prevalent in students similar to cases of depression and in seniors. According to the proposed path model, 48.6% of depression was explained by academic stress, social support, and entrapment. The indirect effect of entrapment as a mediator between academic stress and depression was verified and larger than the direct effect of academic stress on depression.

Considering levels of depression and entrapment demonstrated by these students, better mental health programs with diverse strategies should be developed for their psychological well-being.

In this study cardiovascular health status and health behavior of Korean women based on their household income were explored.

For this cross-sectional study, 91 women residing in the community were recruited to complete survey questionnaires and biophysical tests including blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), body fat rate, waist circumference (WC), and blood chemistry tests.

Compared to non-low income women (NLIW), low income women (LIW) were more likely to be older, less educated, and jobless, and further more LIW were postmenopause and reported having been diagnosed with hypertension or hypercholesterolemia. Significant differences were found in systolic BP, triglyceride level, BMI, body fat rate, and WC between the groups. Two fifths of the LIW had indications for metabolic syndrome. Their 10-yr risk estimate of myocardioal infarction or coronary death demonstrated a higher probability than that of NLIW. Although these significant differences were due to age gap between the groups, advanced age is known to be one of the key characteristics of LIW as well as a non-modifiable risk factor.

Effective community programs for vulnerable women at risk of cardiovascular disease should be based on strategies targeting unhealthy behaviors and modifiable risk factors.

This study was done to develop a school-based anger management program (SAMP) of 4 sessions and examine its effects on the anger, anger expression, psychosomatic responses, psychosocial responses, and immunologic responses in adolescents.

A quasi-experimental study using a nonequivalent control group, pre-post design with repeated measures was used. Chi-square test, t-test, paired t-test, and Fisher’s exact test were used to analyze the data.

There were no differences between the experimental and control groups in outcome variables except for lymphocytes. However, following additional analyses, statistically significant differences by time point were observed for pain sensitivity, T cell, Helper T (Th) cell, Suppressor (Ts) cell and Natural Killer (NK) cell post-treatment, entrapment and psychosomatic symptoms at the 4-week follow-up, and resilience at the 10-week follow-up for the experimental group.

Although some modifications in contents and administration will be required to increase the effectiveness of the program for anger management, SAMP can be used to promote anger management ability in adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of a breast feeding promotion program for working women on breast feeding continuation, mother-infant attachment, and maternal sensitivity.

The design of this study is nonequivalent control group design with repeated measures.

There were significant differences in breast feeding continuation between two groups at each time point except 2 days and 1 week after delivery. The scores of mother-infant attachment and maternal sensitivity of experimental group were higher than those of the control group, but there were no significant differences between two groups.

Although some modifications in contents and administration will be required to increase the effectiveness of the program, breast feeding promotion program for working women can be an effective nursing intervention which can facilitate breast feeding continuation and mother-infant relationships.

The purpose of this study was to identify the types of anger expression in adolescent women.

The Q-Methodology which provides a method of analyzing the individual's subjectivity was used. The 32 subjects classified 50 selected Q-statements on a 9 point scale to make a normal distribution. The collected data was analyzed by a PC-QUANL program.

Five types of anger expression in adolescent women were identified. Type I: Direct attacking expression type, Type II: Mature consideration type, Type III: Passive indirect expression type, Type IV: Avoidance conversion type, and Type V: Expression control type.

This study revealed that different approaches of nursing intervention strategies are recommended based on the five types of anger expression and their characteristics.