A participatory practice study for the improvement of sub-regional health vulnerabilities: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the experiences of the residents of Samho-dong with the health environment in the local community, and their in-depth opinions on health promotion using a photovoice methodology. Alternatives to improve health among the residents of Samho-dong were also discussed with the local residents, with the aim of translating suggestions from the discussion into practice. METHODS: A total of 195 photographs taken by the 15 participants over the course of 7 weeks were collected, along with 96 photovoice activity logs and transcription data from 5 rounds of focus group discussions. The photovoice activity logs consisted of the photographer's name, the dates photos were taken, and a series of responses to the following SHOWeD questions: "What do you SEE here?", "What is really HAPPENING?", "How does this situation or scenario affect OUR lives/health?", "WHY does this problem or strength Exist?", "What can we DO about it?". Direct content analysis was used for analysis. RESULTS: The analysis yielded a total of 247 semantic units, which were categorized into the themes, "the good, but insufficiency, living environment in Samho-dong," "the health environment in Samho-dong needs improvement," "small efforts to improve Samho-dong," and "points of improvement for a better Samho-dong". Samho-dong was found to have a poorer walking and transportation infrastructure than other regions, even though it was a town with a large elderly population. The dark streets in the residential complex made participants hesitate to engage in afternoon activities, and the insufficient traffic environment made it difficult to live a natural daily life by solving food, clothing, and shelter. Participants have made various attempts to solve areas that need improvement in the Samho-dong, which has led to actual improvement. It was analyzed that in order to make Samho-dong better, it was necessary to improve the perception of residents in Samho-dong and cooperate with the local community. CONCLUSIONS: This study was significant in that it enabled the in-depth exploration and identification of areas of improvement from the participants' perception of their health environment, considering that as residents, they are the direct stakeholders of the community health environment.

Dining-out behaviors of residents in Chuncheon city, Korea, in comparison to the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey 2001.

Dining-out behavior is associated not only with socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, education, occupation, residence, and marital status, but also with individual preferences, such as eating-out activities, interests, and opinions. We investigated dining-out behaviors and their associated factors. Announcements by health practioners and the Chief of Dong Office were used to recruit 739 residents (217 males and 522 females) in Chuncheon, Korea. Information on the frequency and reasons for eating out, the standards for meal selection, and the overall satisfaction with restaurants, based on taste, nutrition, amount, price, service, sanitation, and subsidiary facilities of restaurants, was obtained through personal interviews with a structured questionnaire. Among all respondents, 46.3% of subjects ate outside of the home once or twice a month, and 33.8% reported that they ate out only a few times a year, or never. This was much higher than the national average of 52.0% as reported by the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHNS) in 2001. The frequency of eating out differed significantly according to age (p=0.001), family income (p<0.001), residential area (p<0.001), and educational level (p<0.001). The most common reasons for dining out were meetings (46.7%), followed by special celebrations (15.4%), and enjoyment (11.2%). Korean food (55.3%) was the most frequently selected type of meal when eating out, and food was most often selected based on personal preferences (41.4%) and taste (29.8%); only 5.5% and 7.7% of subjects considered nutrition or other factors (e.g., sanitation), respectively. The results showed that the frequency of eating out for Chuncheon residents was much lower than the national average; in addition, eating-out behaviors depended on the residents' socio-demographic and personal characteristics.