Earticle

Purpose: This study aimed to understand how changes in income due to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the health behavior and mental health status of self-employed individuals. Methods: We compared the health behavior and mental health status of regular wage workers and self-employed individuals with no change in income, with that of self-employed individuals with reduced income due to the spread of COVID-19. Results: Smoking status, average amount of smoking per day, changes in the amount of smoking and drinking due to COVID-19, drinking frequency per year, monthly binge drinking experiences, subjective stress, and suicidal thoughts experienced by self-employed individuals with decreased income were not only higher than those of wage workers and self-employed individuals with maintained income, but their happiness index was also lower than the latter group. Conclusion: This study suggests that the change in total household income due to COVID-19 adversely affects the health behavior and mental health status of self-employed individuals. However, COVID-19-related policies focus only on economic loss compensation, and the health behavior and mental health management for self-employed individuals is insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to establish policies for health behavior and mental health management of self-employed individuals.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the meaning of job experiences of fixed night shift nurses participating in a pilot project by a tertiary hospital, and to provide basic information for improving their night shift working environment. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted using individual interviews in September 2022. Three female nurses who worked fixed night shifts were recruited from a tertiary hospital. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: By analyzing the meaning of job experience as a fixed night shift nurse, four categories and nine subcategories were identified. The four categories of job experience of fixed night shift nurses were: expecting an improvement physical health due to predictable working hours, enjoying leisure time due to long off-duty hours, regretting for loosened relationships, and considering a successful settlement of fixed night shift nursing. Conclusion: As night shift work is essential for nurses to provide continuous nursing to patients, it is necessary to develop various strategies to improve the physical health of night shift nurses through fatigue management and good sleep quality, mental health through work-life harmony, and social health through intimate relationships between patients and coworkers.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the influence of workplace violence experience and emotional labor on depression among caregivers. Methods: Data were collected from 227 caregivers working in long-term care institutions from August 20 to October 31, 2021. Workplace violence experience, emotional labor, and depression were measured using developed structured questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, pearson’s correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Results: Among the participants, 14.5% complained of minor or severe depression. There was a significant difference in the degree of depression depending on whether caregivers experienced unfair situations from the organizations they belonged to. Emotional labor was identified as a major factor influencing depression by regression analysis. Conclusion: A campaign to improve social awareness to prevent caregivers’ emotional labor experience leading to depression should be strengthened. Furthermore, it is necessary to develop an emotional capacity building intervention program to effectively cope with caregivers’ emotional labor and depression.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the moderating effect of self-esteem on the perception of death and the meaning of life among hospital nurses. Methods: The participants were 167 nurses working in two tertiary general hospitals located in city B. Data were collected from September 8 to 21, 2022. SPSS/WIN 29.0 was used for analysis along with t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results: The study showed that the meaning of life was significantly correlated with the perception of death (r=.34, p<.001) and self-esteem (r=.31, p<.001). Self-esteem significantly moderated the relationship between the perception of death and the meaning of life (F=16.00, p<.001). Conclusion: Self-esteem may moderate the relationship between the two factors. This means that nurses with higher self-esteem have a greater tendency for their perception of death to positively impact their meaning of life. Therefore, for hospital nurses to discover the meaning of life, it is necessary to develop and apply a self-esteem enhancement program specialized for each clinical career.

Purpose: This study aims to identify the factors that influence the experience of falls among older adults living in the community. Methods: The study participants were 70,887 65-year-olds who participated in the 2021 Community Health Survey. The study employed the Rao-scott x2 test to examine the variation in fall experiences based on the characteristics of the older adults. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate these characteristics’ impact on older adults’ fall experiences. Results: The proportion of subjects in fall experience was 16.6%. The factors influencing the subject's fall experience were sex (odds ratio [OR]=1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.37~1.57), age (OR=1.48, 95% CI=1.34~1.65), family structure (OR=1.23, 95% CI=1.15~1.31), body mass index (OR=1.13, 95% CI=1.06~1.20), diabetes (OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.06~1.20), depression experiences (OR=1.56, 95% CI=1.42~1.70), stress (OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.05~1.19), subjective health status (OR=1.77, 95% CI=1.63~1.92), life satisfaction (OR=1.57, 95% CI=1.41~1.76), and chewing discomfort (OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.21~1.38). Conclusion: Efforts should be made to effectively educate and develop various programs aimed at reducing falls among older adults. It is essential to emphasize the importance of continuous and active attention to falls in the older adult population.