Rural Areas Of Korea Research Articles

Association between residing in municipalities facing population decline and satisfaction with neighboring healthcare infrastructure in older aged adults

BackgroundMany municipalities in rural areas of Korea are facing population decline due to the aging population phenomenon. This study examined the relationship between residing in municipalities facing population decline and satisfaction with nearby healthcare infrastructure in older aged adults.MethodsThe 2021 Korea Community Health Survey (KCHS) data were used. Municipalities were classified as those not facing population decline, those at risk, and those facing population decline based on the Population Decline Index. The association between residing in municipalities facing population decline and satisfaction with nearby healthcare infrastructure was examined cross-sectionally using a multi-level logistic regression analysis. Satisfaction with available public transportation was concomitantly examined as it is related to accessing healthcare services.ResultsOf the 58,568 individuals aged 65 years or above analyzed, 27,471 (46.9%) adults were residing in municipalities without population decline, 4,640 (7.9%) adults in municipalities at risk of population decline, and 26,457 (45.2%) in municipalities with population decline. Individuals living in municipalities with population decline were more likely to be dissatisfied with nearby healthcare infrastructure (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.41–2.20). Similar tendencies were found for public transportation infrastructure (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.38–2.03).ConclusionsIndividuals residing in municipalities with declining populations are more likely to report dissatisfaction with nearby healthcare infrastructure and public transportation. These findings emphasize the importance of providing adequate medical infrastructure to reduce potential health-related disparities.

Risk of all-cause mortality is associated with multiple health-related lifestyle behaviors and does not differ between urban and rural areas in Korea.

Urban-rural inequities in health and mortality exist in Korea, a highly centralized developed country. The potential impact of multiple health-related lifestyle behaviors on mortality and difference between urban and rural areas is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high-risk health behaviors on all-cause mortality among residents living in urban and rural in Korea. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on 8,298 adults aged 40 yrs and older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2013-2015. High-risk behaviors were defined as having poor diet quality, current smoking, high-risk drinking, or insufficient physical activity. Mortality status was linked to the Cause of Death data followed up to December 31, 2019. The associations between all-cause mortality and high-risk behaviors were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, income, and survey year. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated, and effect modification analysis was conducted. Participants were stratified by residential area (urban or rural). During the follow-up (median: 5.4 yrs), 313 deaths occurred. A higher proportion of rural residents than urban residents engaged in multiple high-risk behaviors (28.9% vs. 22.6%; P < 0.0001). As individual factors, a greater risk of mortality was associated with poor diet quality, current smoking, and inadequate physical activity, and these tendencies persisted in rural residents, especially for diet quality. Multiple high-risk behaviors were positively associated with a higher risk of mortality in Koreans living in urban and rural areas. PAF (95% confidence interval) was 18.5% (7.35-27.9%) and 29.8% (16.1-40.2%) in urban and rural residents, respectively. No additive or multiplicative effect of the region was observed. The higher prevalence of multiple high-risk lifestyle behaviors in rural residents may explain the higher mortality in rural areas compared to urban areas. Comprehensive public health policies to improve health-related behaviors in rural populations may be needed.

장애인 대상 서비스디자인관점 치유농업 사례연구

In Europe, social farming began in the late 19th century after the Industrial Revolution as a way to create jobs and produce food by utilizing farmland as rural populations moved to cities and production decreased due to urbanization and industrialization. In Korea, the government began supporting the revitalization of social agriculture in 2018. Rural areas in Korea are in a serious crisis. We want to revive rural areas by fostering the 6th industry and tourism industry, but it is not an easy problem. Social agriculture requires the government to actively intervene and play an active role in creating jobs in rural areas and protecting rural areas in terms of food and security. In this study, we developed a program for a farm subject to a social agriculture revitalization support project, designed the program in terms of service design as part of healing agriculture for children with developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities who are socially underprivileged, and analyzed the healing effect.

Health risk assessment of uranium intake from private residential drinking groundwater facilities based on geological characteristics across the Republic of Korea

Groundwater contributes to an average of 8 % of the total water source capacity in the Republic of Korea. Hence, private residential households in rural areas in Korea are still using groundwater for drinking without any regular water quality inspection. This can increase the risk of exposure to natural radionuclides like uranium through drinking groundwater. This study investigated the uranium level in drinking groundwater all over the country by analyzing 11,451 samples from private residential drinking groundwater facilities and compared the exposure amount and its associated carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk based on the geological characteristics of the aquifer. Results yield that although the average hazard quotient (HQ) and excess cancer risk (ECR) of exposure to natural uranium through drinking groundwater were respectively below 1 and 1 × 10−6 and do not indicate a potential health hazard, significantly high HQ and ECR up to respectively 70 and 4 × 10−4 in samples where the aquifer is the Jurassic granite observed. Accordingly, regular water quality investigation and onsite treatment methods are required to provide healthy drinking water in such areas.

Prevention of water pollution through combined sewer overflow using high-speed biofiltration in urban watershed

Over recent decades, the rural areas of Korea, including containing source waters, have become extensively developed. Combined sewer systems (CSSs) have been constructed to collect the sewage generated from these areas. Presently, it is common to experience localized heavy rain events, likely due to climate change, and sometimes, the volume of rainfall can become too high for a CSS to handle. In these cases, combined sewer overflow (CSOs) occurs, contaminating surface water, which may have been used as source water. Therefore, the Korean government will begin regulating the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of CSOs occurring during first flushes of less than 40 mg/L from 2024 onwards. In this study, a biofiltration-based technology was proposed to treat CSOs. Thus, this study aimed to remove BOD from CSO using this biofiltration system to contain cube-type media. For this, two different loading rates were tested on a pilot scale. Although the proposed system resulted in a footprint of only 10 % of that of a conventional activated sludge system, it was still capable of achieving efficient BOD removal. At a high loading rate, BOD removal efficiency was observed at approximately 53 %, and when this loading rate was reduced by 50 %, the removal efficiency was slightly improved to about 58 %. In both cases, the BODs of treated CSOs could be maintained below the proposed future standard: 31 mg/L and 28 mg/L for high and low loading rates, respectively. Therefore, the proposed system could potentially be preventing environmental contamination from COSs.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Rural Digital Social Prescribing in Korea: Protocol for a Cohort Study.

The UK National Health Service (NHS) has introduced a digital social prescribing (DSP) system to improve the mental health of the aging population. In Korea, an ongoing pilot social prescribing project has been implemented for older individuals in rural areas since 2019. This research aims to develop a DSP program and to evaluate the effectiveness of the digital platform in rural areas of Korea. This study was designed as a prospective cohort method for the development and effectiveness evaluation of rural DSP in Korea. The study divided participants into four groups. Group 1 will continuously implement the existing social prescribing program, group 2 implemented the existing social prescribing program but was switched to DSP in 2023, group 3 newly started the DSP, and the remaining group is the control. The research area of this study is Gangwon Province in Korea. The study is being conducted in Wonju, Chuncheon, and Gangneung. This study will use indicators to measure depression, anxiety, loneliness, cognitive function, and digital literacy. In the future, the interventions will implement the digital platform and the Music Story Telling program. This study will evaluate the effectiveness of DSP using difference-in-differences regression and cost-benefit analysis. This study was approved for funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education in October 2022. The results of the data analysis are expected to be available in September 2023. The platform will be spread to rural areas in Korea and will serve as the foundation for effectively managing the feelings of solitude and depression among older individuals. This study will provide vital evidence for disseminating DSP in Asian countries such as Japan, China, Singapore, and Taiwan as well as for studying DSP in Korea. PRR1-10.2196/46371.

농촌의 사회유지 기능에 대한 지불의사 분석

This study examines consumer’s perception of and willingness to pay for society maintenance function of rural area in Korea. For the economic valuation of ‘society maintenance function’, a non-market good, we defined society maintenance function of rural area. We surveyed 2,000 consumers and found that 76.8% of respondents perceive that society maintenance function is worth maintaining and expanding. We also surveyed the willingness- to-pay (WTP) for maintaining and expanding society maintenance function using a multi-alternative question method with the security transaction tax and open-end question method with hometown love donation. 61.3% of the people surveyed said that they are willingness pay additional taxes to maintain and expand society maintenance function. The total amounts of WTP for maintaining and expanding society maintenance function calculated are 1.35 trillion Korean won for security transaction tax and 1.8 trillion won for hometown love donation, respectively.

Modification of termination of resuscitation rule with compression time interval in South Korea

This study aimed to validate the predictive performance of the termination of resuscitation (TOR) rule and examine the compression time interval (CTI) as a criterion for modifying the rule. This retrospective observational study analyzed adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients attended by emergency medical service (EMS) providers in mixed urban–rural areas in Korea in 2020 and 2021. We evaluated the predictive performance of basic life support (BLS) and the Korean Cardiac Arrest Research Consortium (KoCARC) TOR rule using the false-positive rate (FPR) and positive predictive value (PPV). We modified the age cutoff criterion and examined the CTI as a new criterion. According to the TOR rule, 1827 OHCA patients were classified into two groups. The predictive performance of the BLS TOR rule had an FPR of 11.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 5.9–17.5) and PPV of 98.4% (97.6–99.2) for mortality, and an FPR of 3.6% (0.0–7.8) and PPV of 78.6% (75.9–81.3) for poor neurological outcomes at hospital discharge. The predictive performance of the KoCARC TOR rule had an FPR of 5.0% (1.1–8.9) and PPV of 98.9% (98.0–99.8) for mortality, and an FPR of 3.7% (0.0–7.8) and PPV of 50.0% (45.7–54.3) for poor neurological outcomes at hospital discharge. The modified cutoff value for age was 68 years, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve over 0.7. In the group that met the BLS TOR rule, the cutoff of the CTI for death was not determined and was 21 min for poor neurological outcomes. In the group that met the KoCARC TOR rule, the cutoff of the CTI for death and poor neurological outcomes at the time of hospital discharge was 25 min and 21 min, respectively. The BLS TOR and KoCARC TOR rules showed inappropriate predictive performance for mortality and poor neurological outcomes. However, the predictive performance of the TOR rule could be supplemented by modifying the age criterion and adding the CTI criterion of the KoCARC.

고령화사회의 농촌지역 범죄예방전략

Huh Koungmi(Keimyung University) The purpose of this study was to examine the crime prevention strategies developed and implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United States in line with the aging and depopulation of rural areas, and to find ways to supplement and apply them to rural areas in Korea. As a crime prevention strategy in rural areas, the UN Secretariat for Drug Crimes presented local-based crime prevention strategies, life development crime prevention strategies, situational crime prevention strategies, and reintegration strategies as action strategies. In the case of the United States, the federal government, each state government, criminal justice agencies, including local police departments, and regional researchers developed various rural crime prevention strategies together, complementing each other and disseminating it. Representative rural crime prevention strategies include hotspot policing strategy, problemoriented policing, ACTION, Police-Mental Health Provider Co-Responder Model, outreach using social media, and support for criminal recovery through Offender Review Board. This study can be used as a security policy to promote the safety of rural residents, and is expected to trigger follow-up research in related fields.

농촌지역 스마트빌리지 사업의 우선순위 서비스 도출과 추진 전략 - 충청남도 금산군을 중심으로 -

In this paper, for the smart village project in Geumsan-gun, the problems of the village were derived for the residents. And the business model of the smart village was presented. In the introduction, we looked at domestic cases related to the smart village project. And In November 2019, this paper reflected the results of the resident survey(314) and extracted important smart services using the IPA method. The results of the investigation are as follows. The government's smart village project aims to increase agricultural and fishery production and improve the urban environment. Geumsan residents want to increase agricultural production and develop tourism. The smart village model in Geumsan-gun is promoted in three directions. (1) Smart villages require smart services for crime prevention, parking lots, and public transportation. (2) Smart villages need ICT-based ginseng festivals, smart farms, and tourism services. (3) Smart villages need ICT-based culture and welfare services. The rural areas in Korea are expected to improve the quality of their living environment through the smart village project.

Early English Literacy Acquisition and Learners’ Perspectives in Rural Multicultural Families: A Case Study

This study explores the learning experiences of five Grade 3 multicultural elementary school students living in a rural area of Korea, as they received instruction in English decoding. Having identified a gap in research regarding the students’ own perceptions of their learning experiences, the author conducted a two-month exploratory intervention at a Multicultural Family Support Center (MFSC) in an agricultural town in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. Data were collected from the students, parents, and the MFSC staff through a demographic questionnaire, tests, individual child interviews, in-class work and homework, self-evaluation sheets, online Zoom lesson recordings, teaching and learning materials, informal talks, and a researcher journal. The content analysis findings indicate acquisition challenges related to a lack of spoken vocabulary, low Hangeul reading proficiency, and homework incompletion. Academic progress evidenced by the participants was found to be driven by friendship, learner commitment and confidence-building, highlighting the positive effect of affect in their language learning. Suggestions for effective English decoding instruction for these particular learners are discussed.

농촌마을 빈집의 활용방안에 관한 연구 - 김제 하천마을 중심으로 -

Currently the population of rural areas in Korea continue to decline due to low birth rate, aging population, and migration. This phenomenon is accelerated over time. And as a result, there are some declining phenomenon in rural society. And it is same in the residential and basic living conditions of rural villages. The increase ratio of empty houses exacerbates the rural landscape, acts as a cause of crime and bring out various social and economic problems such as worsening settlement conditions and local slums. The study is carried out to prevent this phenomenon by investigating the architectural contents of empty houses in the village, surveyed residents and owners and finally analyzed and synthesized to make a plan to utilize empty houses in the village. This study was conducted from June to December 2021. The conclusions are followings: 1. The empty houses in Korea were 1,511 million in 2020, 8.2% of the total number of houses, whereas those in Jeollabuk-do were 95,412, 12.9% of those of houses, and those in Gimje-city, the subject of this study, were 5,944. It is up to 15.8%. In particular, empty houses in Hacheon village, the site of this study, accounted for the highest ratio, with 25% of the total number of houses. 2. To understand the utilization and improvement of empty houses, surveys and interviews were conducted to residents and owners of Hacheon village in Gimje, and most of the residents submit proposals that empty houses were not desirable in terms of village landscape and safety. The owners don’t have intentions of selling or leasing them. They want to remodel them and rent for a specific period. 3. As the physical condition of the empty houses(9empty houses) 6 empty houses of them are good. 4 of them are in poor condition. 4. By synthesizing these contents, nine empty houses in Hacheon village will be remodeled as the space for those of rural start-up young people, smart farm area, community space and rental housings for rural returnees.

Deep learning algorithms for prediction of PM10 dynamics in urban and rural areas of Korea

Deep learning algorithms for prediction of PM10 dynamics in urban and rural areas of Korea

Establishing the Customized Smart Disaster Management System for Rural Areas in Korea

The purpose of this study is to suggest the customized smart disaster management system for rural areas with elements of technological development. For achieving the research goal, we tried to derive and systematically classify the rural disaster through the concept of ‘Sam Nong [Nongmin (farmer), Nongup (agriculture), Nongchon (rural village)]’. And we tried to get how ICBMS (IoT, Clouding, Big Data, Mobile & Machine intelligence, Security & SNS), the core technologies of the 4th industrial revolution, can be applied in the disaster management process and its implications were examined for each disaster management process. Main results are as follows; First, this study suggested 3 categories including living safety crisis, disaster safety crisis (2 from farmer side), agricultural production disaster, agricultural-related industrial disaster(2 from agrculture side), environment disaster, and infrastructure disaster (2 from rural village side). Second, smart technologies have been utilized in the process of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. Third, customized smart disaster management system of rural areas has become a framework of future rural disaster management s criteria.

Effects of social prescribing pilot project for the elderly in rural area of South Korea during COVID-19 pandemic.

BackgroundOlder adults—classified as a high‐risk group—are highly likely to experience increased loneliness due to the implementation of various policies designed to prevent the spread of COVID‐19. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the effects of a pilot social prescribing project for elderly people in rural area of South Korea during the COVID‐19 pandemic.MethodsUsing the PRECEDE‐PROCEED model, the effectiveness of the pilot project was verified through pre‐ and post‐impact and outcome evaluation.ResultsAccording to the results of the impact evaluation, loneliness reduced significantly, while the social participation attitude score increased. Although the average score of self‐efficacy increased, it was not statistically significant. Moreover, it was found that self‐esteem increased significantly. In the outcome evaluation, depression reduced considerably.ConclusionTo conclude, the pilot social prescribing project was effective in reducing depression and loneliness for the elderly in rural areas of Korea. It was also confirmed that there is potential to develop a new health promotion project that can improve the self‐esteem of the elderly, and expand their social activities. Second, the pilot project was carried out in an integrated manner by utilizing resources in communities with good accessibility. Therefore, it is expected to be used as a new “Integrated community care model” to improve the mental health of the elderly in rural areas. Third, during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the elderly tend to experience increasing feelings of depression, isolation, and loneliness due to “social distancing.” Therefore, it is expected that social prescribing programs for the elderly in rural areas would become a new alternative for relieve mental disorder of the seniors.

Sustainability through Non-Agricultural Business Development in Resident Cooperative Planning: A Case of Korea’s Rural Area

This study analyzes a participatory regeneration project implemented for sustainable improvement as the center of Yeongju, a rural area in Korea, declines. The paper explains how participants were chosen from the mostly elderly population and encouraged to participate. In this case, a small, non-agricultural business that existing residents could maintain was conceived and implemented with a focus on cooperation rather than agricultural recovery or urbanization through the construction of large apartments and new industrial complexes. To this end, the administration continues to support the community from a long-term perspective, and experts have consistently made practical implementations among them. The participating community is not fixed but flexibly reorganized based on the progress of the project. In addition, by creating public community facilities, residents can continue their activities. This study emphasizes that participatory planning does not necessarily imply a retreat to the administration and experts and provides important guidance for implementation under similar conditions in the future.

Preventive effect of a 18-year water fluoridation program for dental caries in a rural area of Korea

Preventive effect of a 18-year water fluoridation program for dental caries in a rural area of Korea

Fall characteristics among elderly populations in urban and rural areas in Korea.

Falling is one of the leading causes of injury among elderly populations. As the population over 65 years old increases, medical costs due to falling will also increase. Urban and rural areas have different fall characteristics, and research into these differences is lacking.A survey was conducted on 2012 people over 60 years old between September 1, 2015, to October 12, 2015. Guro-gu (Seoul), Yeongdeungpo-gu (Seoul), and Jung-gu (Daegu) were classified as urban areas and included 1205 of the study participants. Dalseong-gun (Daegu) and Yangpyeong-gun (Gyeonggi-do) were categorized as rural areas and included 807 participants. The survey included questions about fall history, cause, season and time of recent falls, and external conditions associated with recent falls, like floor or ground materials and shoe types.Rural respondents were older than urban respondents (P < .001) but did not differ significantly in gender proportion (P = .082). Fall history over the past year was not different between the 2 regions (P = .693), but lifetime fall history was greater among rural respondents (P < .001). Only 5.1% of all respondents had undergone fall-prevention education. A slippery floor was the most common cause of falls in both regions, but there was a significant difference in pattern of fall causes (P < .001). Falls were more frequent in the summer, spring, and the afternoon in urban areas, and in the summer, autumn, and the morning in rural areas. Cement and asphalt were the most common ground materials at the time of falls in both regions, but rural respondents had higher fall rates when walking on soil and when wearing slippers.A fall-prevention program that reflects the characteristics and differences of falls in urban and rural areas should be developed and used to effectively prevent falling among elderly people.

Factors influencing suicidal ideation among female late adolescents from a Korean rural province

This study aimed to examine factors affecting suicidal ideation among female late adolescents from a Korean rural province. A descriptive cross-sectional design involving self-reported questionnaires was used. The data were collected from female adolescents aged 18 to 22 years, from high schools, universities, churches, and local community centers. The sample consisted of 197 female late adolescents from three rural areas in Korea. The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale and the Suicidal Ideation Scale were used to measure depression and suicidal ideation, respectively. Suicidal ideation was correlated with having a specific suicide plan (r=.65, p<.001), depression (r=.39, p<.001), subjective well-being (r=-.46, p<.001), ever experienced violence (r=.15, p=.029), and age (r=-.21, p=.003). Factors affecting suicidal ideation among rural female adolescents were having a specific suicide plan (β=.56, p<.001), subjective well-being (β=-.23, p=.001), and suicide of a close person (β=.12, p=.035). These factors explained 48.0% of the variance in suicidal ideation (F=37.62, p<.001). This study demonstrated that affective factors and personal experiences regarding suicide were critical indicators for suicidal ideation among female late adolescents. These factors should be managed and tailored nursing should be offered to prevent suicide and enhance the psychiatric health of female late adolescents.

Increased risk of atherosclerosis associated with pesticide exposure in rural areas in Korea.

Atherosclerosis is a progressive inflammation in systemic vessels, and pesticide exposure has been emerging as its risk factor. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between pesticide exposure and the risk of atherosclerosis in a rural population in Korea using carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). This study used dataset from the baseline survey of the Korea Farmers Cohort Study between November 2005 and January 2008, and the final analysis included 477 participants. Well-structured questionnaires were used to estimate pesticide exposure. CIMT ≥ 0.9 mm was established for carotid atherosclerosis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were undertaken to evaluate the association between pesticide exposure and atherosclerosis, adjusting demographic and health-related confounders. Even after adjustments, the increased risk of atherosclerosis was significantly associated with pesticide exposure, such as a lifetime history of farming (odds ratio [OR] 3.25 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.51–6.98), a history of using pesticide (OR 3.42 95% CI 1.63–7.16), using pesticide 10 times or more annually (OR 2.55 95% CI 1.21–5.39), and higher cumulative exposure index level (OR 3.63 95% CI 1.65–7.97). Further prospective studies are required to elucidate effects of pesticide exposure on the risk of atherosclerosis.