Heon-Jae Jeong

Factors Related to Condom Use Behavior Among Club-Working Women in South Korea Importance of Subjective Norms and Customer-Related Attitudes

The primary aim of this study was to understand factors associated with condom use behavior among club-working women and identify the most influential factors to be addressed in future health programs. A total of 158 club-working women were surveyed from 3 midsize cities in South Korea from July to September 2004. Survey questionnaires were developed based on the theory of planned behavior. A total of 7 distinct themes emerged: Health aspects, Customer related, Pleasure related, Finance related, Societal norm, Occupational norm, and Perceived control. The results indicated that the Customer-related theme, Societal norm, and Occupational norm were statistically significant factors affecting condom use. On the other hand, self-related factors such as health, pleasure, and finance are not significantly related to the condom use behavior of club-working women in South Korea, suggesting that the currently used knowledge-focused education programs may not be sufficient for this population.

Rebuilding Trust: Novel Standards for Reporting the Effectiveness of Male-Pattern Hair Loss Treatment

In 2005, the scientific world was immensely shocked and traumatized by the notorious scandal of Dr. Woo Suk Whang’s photo manipulation including in his famous articles about embryonic stem cell research published in Science, one of the most prestigious academic journals. Indeed, his team made an even bolder move than simply re-touching photos depicting their study results; they actually did a copy-and-paste adjustment to some pictures. Luckily for academia as a whole, the manipulation was caught before the studies led countless future researchers in the wrong direction. Yet it was not the journal, Science, that called out the fraud, but an Internet community called Biological Research Information Center (BRIC), voluntarily run by Korean scholars and students. Science never even questioned the authenticity of the photos in Dr. Whang’s manuscript.

Factors affecting hand hygiene behavior among health care workers of intensive care units in teaching hospitals in Korea: importance of cultural and situational barriers

AbstractOriginal Article Factors affecting hand hygiene behavior among health care workers of intensive care units in teaching hospitals in Korea: importance of cultural and situational barriers 2 In Intensive Care Units (ICUs), where severely ill patients are treated, importance of reducing Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) cannot be overstated. One of the sim-plest and most effective actions against HAI is proper hand hygiene (HH) behavior of Health Care Workers (HCWs). However, compliance varies across different cultures and different job types of HCWs (physicians, residents and nurses). This study aims to understand determinants of HH behavior by HCWs’ job types in Korea. Quali-tative analysis was performed based on Reasoned Action Approach style interviews with staff physicians, residents and nurses across 7 teaching hospitals. We found that all HCWs strongly believe HH is important in reducing HAI. There were, how-ever, job type-specific HH behavior modifying factors; staff physicians stated feeling pressure to be HH behavior role model. Residents identified Quality Improvement team that measured compliance as a facilitator; a notable barrier for residents was senior physicians not washing their hands, because they were afraid of appearing impudent to their seniors. Nurses designated their chief nurse as a key referent. All participants mentioned heavy workload and lack of access to alcohol-based sanitizer as situational barriers, and sore and dry hand as deterrents to HH compliance. Key wordsPatient safety, Hand Hygiene, Hospital acquired infec-tion, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Safety culture, Rea-soned action approach