Earticle

The purpose of this study, as a project for health management at small workplace by Korean association of occupational health nurse, was to evaluate the program for correction of eating habits to prevent digestive disorders of workers. The study cases were twenty nine workers who voluntarily participated in the above program and they were from small(under fifty employees) workplace at Youngdeungpo-gu, Seoul. The study was done between January, 2000 and May, 2000. This program was concerned with daily menu for correction of eating habits and was composed of individual health education and distributing guide books and video. Nurses visited the workplace for the program once a week or two weeks. The result of this program was evaluated by paired t-test of digestive symptoms, eating habits, and self-efficacy before and after the fulfillment of the program. The result could be summarized as below. 1) There were decrease in digestive symptoms and improvement in eating habits and self-efficacy from study cases after fulfillment of the program. 2) The most common digestive symptoms were heartburn, upper abdominal pain, indigestion. The symptom which had been improved through the program were indigestion, heartburn and anorexia in the order. 3) The most improved eating habit was to eat flat foods instead of salty and spicy foods. The most improved self-efficacy was 'I can follow any helpful guides for my health'. The result indicated the program was successful for workers at small workplace. The continual management by nurses' regular visit once a week or two weeks was the most important thing for the successful program.

Industrial shift workers feels suffer mental stresses which are caused by unfamiliar day sleep, noisy environment, sleeping disorder by bright light, unusual contacts with family, difficulty in meeting with friends or having formal social meetings and other social limitations such as the use of transportation. Such stresses influence health of the workers negatively. Thus the health promotion policy for shift workers should be made considering the workers' ways of living and shift work specially. This study attempted to provide basic information for development of the health promotion program for industrial shift workers by examining predictive factors influencing health promotion behaviors of those workers. In designing the study, three power generation plants located in Pusan and south Kyungsang province were randomly selected and therefrom 280 workers at central control, boiler and turbine rooms and environmental chemistry parts whose processes require shift works were sampled as subjects of the study. Data were collected two times from September 17 to October 8, 1999 using questionnaires with helps of safety and health managers of the plants. The questionnaires were distributed through mails or direct visits. Means for the study included the measurement tool of health promotion behavior provided by Park(1995), the tool of self-efficacy measurement by Suh(1995), the tool of internal locus of control measurement by Oh(1987), the measurement tool of perceived health state by Park(1995) and the tool of social support measurement by Paek(1995). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS program. Controlling factors of the subjects were evaluated in terms of frequency and percentage ratio Perceived factors and health promotion behaviors of the subjects were done so in terms of mean and standard deviation, and average mark and standard deviation, respectively. Relations between controlling and perceived factors were analyzed using t-test and ANOVA and those between perceived factors and the performance of health promotion behaviors, using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. The performance of health promotion behaviors was tested using t-test, ANOVA and post multi-comparison (Scheffe test). Predictive factors of health promotion behavior were examined through the Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis. Results of the study are summarized as follows. 1. The performance of health promotion behaviors by the subjects was evaluated as having the value of mean, 161.27±26.73 points(min.:60, max.:240) and average mark, 2.68±0.44 points(min.:1, max.:4). When the performance was analyzed according to related aspects, it showed the highest level in harmonious relation with average mark, 3.15± .56 points, followed by hygienic life(3.03± .55), self-realization (2.84± .55), emotional support(2.73± .61), regular meals(2.71± .76), self-control(2.62± .63), health diet(2.62± .56), rest and sleep(2.60± .59), exercise and activity(2.53± .57), diet control(2.52± .56) and special health management(2.06± .65). 2. In relations between perceived factors of the subjects(self-efficacy, internal locus of control, perceived health state) and the performance of health promotion behaviors, the performance was found having significantly pure relations with self-efficacy (r=.524, P=.000), internal locus of control (r=.225, P=.000) and perceived health state(r=.244, P=.000). The higher each evaluated point of the three factors was, the higher the performance was in level. 3. When relations between the controlling factors(demography-based social, health- related, job-related and human relations characteristics) and the performance of health promotion behaviors were analyzed, the performance showed significant differences according to marital status (t=2.09, P= .03), religion(F=3.93, P= .00) and participation in religious activities (F=8.10, P= .00) out of demography-based characteristics, medical examination results (F=7.20, P= .00) and methods of the collection of health knowledge and information(F=3.41, P= .01) and methods of desired health education(F=3.41, P= .01) out of health-related characteristics, detrimental factors perception(F=4.49, P= .01) and job satisfaction(F=8.41, P= .00) out of job-related characteristics and social support(F=14.69, P= .00) out of human relations characteristics. 4. The factor which is a variable predicting best the performance of health promotion behaviors by the subjects was the self-efficacy accounting for 27.4% of the prediction, followed by participation in religious activities, social support, job satisfaction, received health state and internal locus of control in order all of which totally account for 41.0%. In conclusion, the predictive factor which most influence the performance of health promotion behaviors by shift workers was self-efficacy. To promote the sense, therefore, it is necessary to develop the nursing intervention program considering predictive factors as variables identified in this study. Further industrial nurses should play their roles actively to help shift workers increase their capability of self-management of health.

This study was conducted, on the basis of the Theory of Planned Behavior to analyze factors affecting intentions for health behaviors defined as non smoking, moderate drinking and exercise in male office workers. The participants of this study consisted of 230 male office workers of 10 workplaces located in Seoul. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1. Non smoking For smokers, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude were factors affecting on intention for non smoking, and these factors explained 29% of the total variance of non smoking intention. 2. Moderate drinking For drinkers, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and attitude were factors affecting on intention for moderate drinking, and these factors explained 5% of the total variance of moderate drinking intention. 3. Exercise For those who exercise irregularly or don't exercise, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude were factors affecting on intention for exercise, and these factors explained 26% of the total variance of exercise intention. 4. Health Behaviors For all participants, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude were factors affecting on intention for health behaviors, and these factors explained 34% of the total variance of intention for overall health behaviors. And health behavior intention affected practice of health behaviors, but perceived behavioral control didn't.

Purpose: Surgical Site Infection(SSI) is the third most common cause of nosocomial infection, so that it results in serious socioeconomic impact such as extra hospitalization, mortality and health care cost. The aim of this study was to analyses the SSI that based on the degree of wound contamination and patient risk index after general surgery and to generate a reference data for the effective management and reducing SSI. Method: From July, 1999 to June, 2000, 1080 cases which presented with surgical site infection after general surgery at S hospital in chunchon city were included in this study. The data were collected by review of the medical records retrospectively. The collected data, in accordance with the test purpose, is analyzed by SPSS/PC+ program, using real numbers, percentage, X2 test, Pearson's correlation and stepwise logistic regression. Result: The overall wound infection rate was 4.7%(51 cases out of 1,080). The infection rate of clean wounds was 1.4%. Surgical site infection rate for patient risk index scores of 0, 1, 2 and 3 was 1.9%, 8.0%, 13.1% and 20.0%, respectively and increased significantly according to patient risk index(p=.000). Sixteen of the fifty one(31.4%) surgical site infections were found during an outpatient visit after discharge. Multivariate analysis, identified two independent variables : duration of postoperation stay(p=.000), age(p=.037). The most frequent isolated organisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa(21%) and Staphylococcus aureus(21%). Also Staphylococcus aureus were all MRSA(Methicillin Resistant S. aureus). Conclusion: In this study, SSI was analysed according to the degree of wound contamination and patient risk index after general surgery. The data that obtained from this study is expected that it would be available for surveillance and control of SSI.

Purpose: This study was to analyze changes of motivation and health-promoting lifestyle in 3 months after medical examination, and to identify the influencing factors on the change of health-promoting lifestyle. Methods: The subjects of this study were 81 adults who took medical examination at a general hospital health clinic in Cheonan city. The instruments used in this study were the motivation scale and modified HPLP. For data collection, the first survey was conducted from March 16 to April 19, 2001, and the second survey was carried out by mail three months after the medical examination from June 16 to July 19, 2001. Results: 1. The age of the subjects ranged from 26 to 66 years, 71.6% were male, and the major group was office workers(43.2%). 2. The average score of motivation scale was significantly improved in three months to 520.7(SD=82.7). All sub-scales of motivation scale, self-efficacy(t=-4.204, p=.000), perceived benefits(t=-4.263, p=.000), perceived barriers (t=4.305, p=.000), and emotional salience (t=-6.169, p=.000) showed significant improvements in 3 months. 3. The average score of health-promoting lifestyle was significantly increased to 62.5 (SD=9.8) (t=-5.111, p=.000) after 3 months. Health responsibility(t=-6.098, p=.000), eating habit(t=-3.625, p=.001), exercise(t=-2.557, p=.012), and smoking habit(t=-2.157, p=.034) showed significant improvement. But stress management was not changed at the significant level in 3 months(t=-1.832, p=.071). 4. As the result of multiple regression analysis, it was found that perceived barriers, self-efficacy and monthly mean income had a significant influence on health-promoting lifestyle in 3 months after the medical examination. These variables explained 42.4% of variance in health- promoting lifestyle in 3 months after the medical examination. Conclusion: Periodic medical examination and guidance for healthy lifestyle was effective to change the motivation and to improve health promoting lifestyle.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the job characteristics of container terminal workers by applying the Job Strain model, and to assess the relationship among the general characteristics, job characteristics and psychosocial distress. Methods: A self-administrated questionnaire survey was performed to the container terminal workers in Pusan. Among the 200 male workers who answered the questionnaires, white-collar workers and blue-collar workers were 100, respectively. Karaseks Job Content Questionnaire was utilized to evaluate the job characteristics and Psychosocial well-being index (PWI) was applied to measure the extent of their psychosocial stress. Results: In white-collar workers, the skill discretion, created skill, decision-making authority, decision-making latitude, psychological job demand, and supervisor support of the job characteristics were significantly high, while in blue-collar workers physical exertion was significantly high. The result of Psychosocial well-being index (PWI) reveals that blue-collar workers were more stressed than white-collar workers, especially, the indices of depression (factor 2), sleeping disturbance and anxiety (factor 3), General well-being and vitality (factor 4) were significantly increased; whereas, in white-collar workers, only the index of social performance and self-confidence (factor 1) was significantly increased. And PWI scores were significantly increased in the lower social support and psychological job demand. By the multiple logistic regression analysis for PWI, blue-collar workers had increased odds ratio of 2.66(95% CI;1.11-6.41) compared with white-collar workers. The unmarried workers increased odds ratio of 3.54(95% CI;1.18-10.62) compared with married workers. And workers who have not own house increased odds ratio of 2.35(95% CI;1.15-4.79) compared with workers who have own house. Particularly, odds ratio of work-shift in blue-collar workers was 11.10(2.14-57.64). Conclusion: Skill discretion, created skill, decision-making authority, decision-making latitude, psychological job demand, and supervisor support were increased in white-collar workers. Decreased skill discretion and increased physical exertion were found in blue-collar workers, which is supported the Job Strain model. Job stress of blue-collar workers was comparatively higher than that of white- collar workers, especially, skill discretion, decision-making authority, decision-making latitude, job insecurity, physical exertion were noticeable factors. Especially, sleeping, smoking, and work shifting turned out to be a main cause that increases stress. Therefore, in order to decrease the job stress, a health promotion program to change the health behaviors should be activated and an organized job stress management program should be introduced. Especially, working condition for blue-collar such as physical exertion and work-shift should be improved.