Sook Ja Yang | 3 Articles |
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a walking program for office workers in terms of social cognitive theory, walking activities and physiological indexes. METHODS A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The sample consisted of 50 office workers who were identified as having low levels of physical activity according to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ Research Committee, 2005). The participants were recruited from two companies in Seoul. Of the 50 participants, 26 were assigned to the non-equivalent experimental group and 24 to the control group. The walking program consisted of six didactic sessions via e-mail, two individual telecoaching sessions and three support group meetings over ten weeks. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 program. RESULTS The non-equivalent experimental group reported significantly higher posttest scores in walking activities and adhering to the walking protocol than the control group. There were no differences in reported self-efficacy, outcome expectations, body mass index and blood pressure between the two groups. CONCLUSION These findings indicate that a walking program based on social cognitive theory is effective in increasing physical activities for office workers.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate cognitive function, leisure activities and depression in female elderly, to examine the relationships among those variables and to investigate leisure activities and depression according to cognitive function. METHODS The subjects were 105 female elderly visiting two senior citizen centers in Seoul, Korea. Data were collected from November to December 2006. The participants were assured of anonymity and confidentiality. All information was collected through face-to-face interviews using questionnaires. RESULTS 26.0% of the participants were cognitive impaired but not demented and 17.3% were demented. The level of depression was severe and 77.9% of the subjects were depressed. The subjects were not actively engaging in leisure activities. There were significant correlations between cognitive function, leisure activities and depression in female elderly. Demented or CIND subjects were more actively engaging in extra family fulfillment type leisure activities than normal subjects, CONCLUSION: These findings showed the need for a program for female elderly regarding leisure activities. When counseling the elderly, nurses must consider their cognitive function, leisure activities and depression.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of antioxidant vitamins and magnesium supplementation on fasting blood glucose and lipids in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS This study is a unequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Seventy-one subjects with type 2 diabetes who were recruited from home visiting clients of a public health center, completed the trial. The experimental group entered a 12-week treatment period with antioxidant vitamins and magnesium and the control group with no antioxidant vitamins and magnesium. RESULTS Serum level of fasting blood glucose decreased from 134.7 mg/dl to 125.0 mg/dl and total-cholesterol decreased from 215.5 mg/dl to 198.2 mg/dl in the experimental group. No changes in fasting blood glucose and total-cholesterol were demonstrated in the control group. CONCLUSIONS A short-term supplementation with antioxidant vitamins and magnesium can reduce fasting blood glucose and total-cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes. The continuous effect of this supplementation and the beneficial effect on the prevention of diabetes complication still needs to be demonstrated.
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