Earticle

Objectives: To explore alcohol-related health policies at more wide view point including alcohol industrial views and to suggest directions of those responses to be taken in the future. Methods: We reviewed reports and documents of alcohol policies published by government departments, related organizations and academies. We searched and reviewed those documents using Google Scholar and the internet home pages of related organizations in the health care sector, including the webpage of Korean society of Alcohol and Health Behavior and Korean Public Health Association. Results: Industrial policies for promoting alcohol use have been more antecedent, proactive, strong and antagonistic to health policies on alcohol for preventing its harms. Since 1980 various alcohol–related industrial policies have been tried through various channels. in Korea. Since 1995 various alcohol-related health policies have been tried but much need to improve based on useful policy options from recent evidences. Conclusions: Alcohol-related health policies will be needed more comprehensive governance and wider support from whole-of-society approach in Korea

Objectives: Although Korean Health Plans are first and official alcohol policies of Korean government, changes and implications have not scrutinized from. So we followed those from wider view for new era. Methods: We compared the alcohol-related policies of first to fifth Korean Health Plan. The implication was deducted from wider view based on recent international and domestic evidences. Results: Major effective alcohol control policies have only slowly and incrementally introduced in Korea. Regulating the availability of alcohol and marketing restrictions have tried recently. Pricing policies were not apparent in official policies. Regarding to changes of governance bodies, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (1stHP), the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (2nd and 3rd HPs), and the Korea Health Promotion and Development Institute (4th and 5th HPs) were governance bodies. About changes in contents, in the latest HP, 6 divisions, 29 tasks, 83 projects, and 400 performance indicators were made and these are more confirmed than the previous plans. The 1st Health Plan 2010 launched a campaign with alcohol prevention education, establishment of a healthy drinking culture, educational counseling. In the 2nd New Health Plan 2020, it was changed to a more comprehensive plan, including consumption restrictions. In the 3rd plan, performance indicators such as high-risk drinking rate indicators and the number of projects were further expanded. In the representative indicators by sector, the adult high-risk drinking rate indicator was selected as the representative indicator. In the 4th and 5th plans, detailed projects and indicators were revised without major changes in the framework. Conclusions: Korean Health Plans have been improve continuously toward evidence based alcohol policy. More progresses are expected. In the future, it is thought that a diverse interdisciplinary approach will be necessary, focusing on the business fields and performance indicators approached in the Comprehensive National Health Promotion Plan.

Purpose: This study explored the physical availability of alcoholic beverages to adolescents through online liquor sales, based on a semantic network analysis. Method: Two methods were used: 1) first, an experimental study was conducted of 300 restaurants with app and phone delivery to verify whether the IDs of adolescents were checked when purchasing alcoholic beverages; then, 2) focus group interviews with two groups (adolescent drinkers and adolescent non-drinkers) were carried out to explore characteristics of the physical availability of alcoholic beverages to adolescents, drinking motives, alcohol advertising, and drinking behaviors. Differences in ID checks in the Seoul area, delivery application type, day of the week, and delivery food type were analyzed using a frequency analysis test. A semantic network analysis was used to investigate the relationship between keywords. The network characteristics were identified using a community analysis. Results: Only 14.7% of online sales checked whether an ID or guardian was present. Thirty-seven and 20 meaningful keywords were extracted from the texts of adolescent drinkers and non-drinkers, respectively, and the community analysis revealed four sub-communities: 1) peer inluences, alcohol advertisement, physical availability of alcohol, and liquor sales for adolescent drinkers and 2) physical availability of alcohol, Alcohol temptations, alcohol-related images, and online liquor sales for non-drinkers. Keywords gave the impression of a tolerant drinking culture. The adolescents’ alcohol use was associated with the ease of physically obtaining alcohol, their positive perceptions of alcohol, family factors, peer influences, and social and cultural aspects of alcohol consumption in general. Although alcohol should not be explicitly sold to adolescents, the results of this study confirmed that it was easy for adolescents to purchase alcoholic beverages. They also confirmed that the main channel for adolescents to experience drinking or to come into contact with alcoholic beverages was the family environment, i.e., their parents’ tolerant attitude toward alcohol. Conclusion: Therefore, for the prevention of drinking among adolescents, targeting only adolescents is not effective, and a campaign to raise awareness and change the overall drinking culture of society is needed.

Objectives: As the obesity rate has been increasing in Seoul, it is emphasized to make efforts for obesity prevention and management. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of built environmental factors affecting the physical activity and dietary behaviors on obesity among the population in Seoul using GIS spatial analysis. Methods: GIS spatial analysis was conducted to identify the influence of built environmental factors affecting physical activity and dietary behaviors, and socioeconomic environmental factors on obesity. The data of 92,357 Seoul residents and their living environment were obtained from multiple sources and used. Results: After controlling age, sex, residential type, and officially assessed land and housing price of the study population, those who lived far from the subway station were more likely to be obese. Those who lived in the community with higher intersection density or lower steepness of the slope were more likely to be obese. In terms of the food environment, a significantly positive relationship was found between higher access to the high-calorie food and obesity. Conclusions: In order to effectively prevent and manage obesity, it is necessary to make a supportive environment to facilitate people’s healthy behaviors through multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral efforts.

Objectives: This study is a descriptive research study to identify factors affecting the proficiency of core basic nursing skills of 3rd and 4th year nursing students. This study was conducted to use as evidence data for an intervention study to increase the proficiency of core basic nursing skills of nursing students. Methods: The subjects of this study were 184 people in the 3rd and 4th years of the nursing department at a university located in K city. They voluntarily agreed to participate in this study and filled a structured questionnaire provided. The questionnaire includes general characteristics, problem-solving ability, and proficiency in core basic nursing skills. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Schéffe test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple regression using the SPSS WIN 18.0 program. Results: It was found that the higher the grade, the higher the problem-solving ability, the higher the mastery of core basic nursing skills. Conclusion: In order to improve the proficiency of core basic nursing skills of nursing students, it is necessary to continuously provide opportunities for education and practice of core basic nursing skills and the application of educational content to continuously improve problem-solving skills from the lower grades.

Objectives: Health literacy has become an important issue in the filed of public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently established a strong global mandate for public policy action on health literacy by positioning it as one of three key pillars for achieving sustainable development and health equity in the Shanghai Declaration on Health Promotion. A number of countries implemented national health literacy policies, with many others expected to develop them in the immediate future. However, national policies and strategies for health literacy in Korea is still limited and underdeveloped. The aim of this study was to suggest policy directions to improve health literacy in Korean through reviewing international health literacy polices and strategies at the national level. Methods: In terms of the literature in U.S, Canada, Australia, and European countries, government policy reports and research papers were reviewed. For systematic comparison, the criteria for analyzing and extracting data from policy documents suggested by previous study was employed. Results: Based on the literature review, document review on international efforts to improve health literacy, and survey results, we suggest the following policy recommendations: (1) developing an official term of health literacy in the Korean language to help stakeholders and the public better understand the comprehensive, multi-dimensional concept, (2) monitoring of the health literacy level among Koreans, and (3) coordinating with government, healthcare sector, academia, etc. to develop intersectoral strategies aiming at improving health literacy as well as achieving health equity. Conclusions: For the development of effective health literacy policies and strategies at the national level, health literacy needs to be understood as a key determinant of health, and inter-sectoral efforts should be considered to improve health literacy.