PURPOSE
This study has aimed to examine the relationship among self-esteem, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and depression reported by hospitalized elderly patients with chronic diseases.
METHODS
A descriptive correlation study by means of a self-report questionnaire or face-to-face interview was used to collect data from 119 elderly patients who were hospitalized in a General Hospital from January 5 to February 25, 2010. Their levels of depression was measured using Short-Form Geriatric Depression Scale, self esteem using Jeon's, and activities of daily living using K-ADL.
RESULTS
80.7% of the subjects experienced depression. Depression correlates with self-esteem (r=-.67) and ADL (r=.45). The influencing factors on depression were self-esteem, ADL, subjective health status, and family support satisfaction (R2=.57), while self esteem in itself explained 45% of variance in depression.
CONCLUSION
These findings indicate the importance of early detection of depression, which starts from the admission of patients and the continuing evaluation/management in daily life after discharge to ensure their well-being and quality of life. The development of program empowering self esteem, ADL and subjective health status with adequate family support during hospitalization and in daily life is indispensible.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a 2-week somatosensory stimulation program on cognitive function and ADL of patients with brain damage.
METHODS
The sample consisted of two groups of patients with stroke: 10 patients with a mean age of 59.0 years who were treated with somatosensory stimulation, and 9 patients with a mean age of 51.78 years, who were not treated with somatosensory intervention. A nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design was used to assess the functional recovery after stroke. Instruments used in this study were MMSE-K for cognitive function and FIM for ADL.
RESULTS
The hypothesis 1 that "Patients with stroke who were treated with the somatosensory stimulation program will show higher MMSE-K score than that of the non-treatment group" was supported(Z = -2.390, p = .017). The hypothesis 2 that "Patients with stroke who were treated with the somatosensory stimulation program will show higher FIM score than that of the non-treatment group", however, was partially supported(social cognition: Z = -2.204, p = .045).
CONCLUSION
Somatosensory stimulation was effective to patients with stroke in improving their cognitive function. These findings suggest that somatosensory input can be adopted to nursing intervention for functional recovery after stroke.

PURPOSE
The purposes of this study were to examine the effects of recreational therapy (60 minutes * 3times/week * 6weeks) on dementia behavior & affection, and activity of daily living of senile people with dementia. METHODS: The subjects were 27 senile people with dementia, 16 experimental group, 11 control group, admitted at K hospital in Chungnam province in quasi-experimental study. The recreational therapy program was developed, based on the recreational program for senile welfare made by athletics science research institute in Chungnam National University(1997). It consisted of rhythm game, ball play, and beanbag game. The data were collected through questionnaires from May 1st to June 10th 2003 and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi2-test, Fisher' exact test, and Man Whitney U test. RESULT: The dementia behavior and affection score was significantly different between the two groups (U=32.5, p=.005). The ADL score was significantly different between the two groups (U=12.0, p=.000). There were significant decrease in dementia behavior & affection, and improvement in ADL in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Recreational therapy intervention was proved effect in decreasing dementia behavior & affection and promoting ADL of senile people with dementia. We recommended re-test in containing a communicating variable.

The ratio of the elderly population is rapidly growing due to socio-economic development and better medical services. As the average life-span of the Korean elderly becomes longer, the proportion of the elderly is increasing. Therefore, the elderly need to sustain a high quality of life. However, all these factors, such as sensory loss, decreased endurance, mobility limitation, and a loss of independence, act to diminish the quality of life among the elderly. It is necessary for elders to adapt themselves to aging, to maintain their physical functions and especially, it is important to keep their independence in activity of daily living and self care. Therefore, this study was designed to identify the degree of activity in daily living and exercise of a self-care agency and to investigate the relationship between activity of daily living and self-care agency. Also, this research aimed to contribute to nursing interventions that maintain and promote quality of life of the elderly and to enable themselves to live independently. The subject of this study were 160 elders, over age 65, who were sampled in C city. Data were collected by observation and questionnaires from May,1999 to December, 1999. The measurement tools were Barthel Index(1979), Lawton & Brody(1969) for activity of daily living and Kearney & Fleischer(1979) for self-care agency. Data were analyzed by SAS PC+ package and included descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Cronbach's alpha. The conclusions of this study are summarized as follows; 1. The mean of ADL and IADL was 96.09 and 16.38, respectively. The score described activity of daily living among the elders in C province as moderate. Particularly, in the items of IADL, the item of medication was the highest score. 2. The mean for exercise of self-care agency was 76.48, a moderate degree. 3. The degree of ADL and IADL according to demographic characteristics was significantly different statistically in pocket money, the presence of disease, perceived health status and in occupation, pocket money, family type, the presence of disease, and perceived health status, respectively. 4. The dagree of selt-care agency according to demographic characteristics was significantly different statistically in gender, education level, economic status, and pocket money. 5. There was a significant positive correlation between activity in daily living and self-care agency. Based on these results, further research is suggested to discover the variables influencing the activity of daily living and self-care agency to develop nursing strategies for improving self-care and activity of daily living among the elderly.

A quantitative descriptive survey was conducted to assess the needs of elderly people in relation to accessibility of medical care. Identifying their functional status was done and accessibility of medical care was ascertained. Using a convenient sampling method, 856 elderly aged 65 and over in Taejon-city participated. A multi-dimensional questionnaire containing sections on health status, Activities of Daily Living(ADLs) and accessibility of medical care in terms of use, time, distance, transport, cost and feeling at ease was developed by the researchers of this study to collect data. Data were collected between October and December, 1999. In general, the result of the self-reports from this study found that approximately 40% of participants had difficulties with their health status and ADLs while about 45% of the population did not access medical care. The majority of respondents stated that they had no difficulties with time distance and transport to access medical care. About two-thirds of the respondents felt that they had many or some difficulties with expenses and strategies for emergency to access medical care. Even though these findings need to be generalized, several recommendations for appropriate medical care delivery for the elderly still can be outlined from the study findings. Recommendations suggested are: To identify impediments to access medical care in emergency in elderly people and to remove those factors preventively are required. Responsible governmental involvement for solving problems of the medical care cost and additional costs in relation to separation of dispensary from medical practice for the elderly is required. More constructive and practical uses of public health community centers are recommended.

Predicting factors of post-stroke depression were investigated. The subjects were 254 stroke patients who had been discharged and visited regularly the outpatient clinic for follow up care. The influencing factors were classified into five categories: demographic, disease-related, current state, social support, and illness intrusiveness. Sex, age, job, and educational level were defined as the demographic factor. The disease-related factors included stroke type, illness duration, attack frequency, and NIH score. ADL, cognitive function, and social activity were considered as the current state factors. The social support was measured as the perceived amount of social support. Illness intrusiveness means the perceived illness induced life style disruptions. Demographic, disease-related, current state, and social support were hypothesized to directly and indirectly affect post-stroke depression through illness intrusiveness. The illness intrusiveness was hypothesized to directly affect post-stroke depression. The hierarchial multiple regression was used to identify significant factors. The result showed that this model explained 43.3% of variance of post-stroke depression. And the prevalence of post-stroke depression was 38.8%. Among the demographic factors, job was identified as a main contributor to indirectly increase the post-stroke depression. Among the disease-related factors, stroke type, attack frequency, and NIH score were found to indirectly affect the post-stroke depression. Among the current state factors, ADL and social activity indirectly affected the post-stroke depression through illness intrusiveness. Social support and illness intrusiveness were identified to directly affect the post-stroke depression. This study has proved the factors likely to be implicated in the development of post-stroke depression. Based upon these results, it is recommended that the nurses who take care of post-stroke patients consider the risk factors such as social support, illness intrusiveness et al. Also programs which decrease the illness intrusiveness and increase the social support to reduce post-stoke depression recommended to be developed.

This study was conducted to identify the relationships among quality of life, ADL, depression and self-efficacy in people with chronic arthritis. Firth two patients with chronic arthritis participated in this study. The data were collected from 5th Jan. To 15th Oct., 1997. SPSS program was utilized for data with mean, standard deviation, pearson's correlation coefficient. The results of this study were as follows ; 1. The mean score of quality of life was 5.47, representing moderate degree of quality of life. The mean scores were 2.54 for ADL, 2.06 for depression and 61.69 for self-efficacy. 2. Significant correlations between quality of life and ADL, self-efficacy, and depression were found. quality of life was positively related to ADL and self-efficacy, while negative correlation was shown between quality of life and depression. 3. When correlated with demographic characteristics, quality of life was significantly negatively related to duration of illness. The study results suggested that nursing intervention such as, self-help education improving self-efficacy would be useful for patients who are depressed and have limited ADL.