This study aims to develop co-farming program for elderly farmers, employ, then evaluate its effectiveness whether it influences purpose in life and psychological well-being of program participants. A total of 130 elderly farmers that composed of 65 in experimental group and control group respectively were enrolled in this study. The results of this study are as follows: First, the experimental group showed significant difference on ‘purpose in life’ compared to the control group(t=3.316, p<.001). Second, the experimental group showed significant difference on ‘Psychological Well-being’ compared to that of control group. The four major problems of elderly farmers which are poverty, health, loneliness and alienation keeps on worsening over time along with the population ageing. According to the result, it is necessary to improve elderly farmer’s quality of life by developing suitable and sustainable occupation.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the preferences for the physical features of senior congregate housing. The survey was conducted to target the elderly households living in senior congregate housing and general elderly households living in the rural. The results of this study were as follows. Showed that housing conditions are more important than environmental conditions, elderly households living in senior congregate housing. Among them was the most important house prices and rents. Also among the external factors such as environmental conditions is the distance to the workplace were very important. So the elderly households living in congregate housing showed that more important considering the economic aspects. Finally, want to be the foundation of sustainable housing policies for rural elderly households.

본 연구는 원예활동 여가프로그램에 참여한 농촌지역 건강한 노인들의 정신건강 및 생활만족도의 변화를 살펴보고 그 효과성을 규명하고자 수행되었다. 연구의 대상자는 J시 K읍에 거주하며, 마을회관을 이용하는 60세 이상 노인으로, 2009년 1월에서 3월까지 연구자가 마을회관을 방문하여 프로그램에 대해 설명하고 이에 참여 동의 의사를 표명한 노인을 대상으로 주 1회 총 12회기의 프로그램 중 10회기 이상 프로그램에 참여한 노인들을 실험군으로 하고, 활동에 참여 하지 않은 노인들을 대조군으로 각각 20명씩 표집 하였으며 Mann- Whitney U-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test를 이용하여 그 효과를 통계 분석하였다. 결과에 따르면 원예활동 여가프로그램에 참여한 후 실험군이 대조군에 비해 정신건강과 생활만족도가 통계적으로 유의하게 높았고, 실험군에서 원예활동 여가프로그램 전에 비해 후에 정신건강과 생활만족도가 통계적으로 유의하게 높아졌다.

As people get aged, we need to pay more attention to the elderly living condition with respect to welfare policy. The present study focuses on housing condition of elderly people living in rural area, and analyzes its determinants, periodical difference, and regional disparities, incorporating an index of minimum housing standard. This study applies multi-level logit model that has a strong statistical advantage that can take random aspects of household and regional context into account. We found that married couple household, presence of economically-active family members, higher education, specialized profession, migration and higher level of land price tend to lower the probability of residing in substandard housings. We also found that housing conditions for elderly people prove to be different by regions and it is particularly noticeable in mountainous rural areas in Gyeongsangnam-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do with the poorest elderly housing conditions. Results also implies that housing welfare policies should be implemented differently considering the target groups based on regional differences. We conclude with some additional policy implications for the elderly living in rural areas.

The purpose of study was planning to a rural community space plan for revitalization of aging in rural society and activity of rural older adults. The rural community type was divided 5 categories by local topography characteristics and road system. According to 5 categories, the rural community space plan was consisted of space plan such as consideration for a rural topography characteristics and activity plan by space which analyzed a relations with rural resource and activity of rural older adults. Results from the rural community planning showed that to improve quality of life and to increase in economic productive activity for rural older adults, moreover to lead a retired oppidan migrate from city to country and to make full use of oppidan's intellectual capacity resource.

The purpose of this study is to increase the utility in terms of the elderly's welfare. The data introduced in this paper were collected by the constructed interview method, and 192 aged interviewees were selected from 4 rural areas: Namhaegun, Uiryeong-gun Imsil-gun and Sunchang-gun. From the descriptive analysis of the data, the results derived are as follows: 1) The financial supports are needed to remodel rural village community facilities as senior centers. 2) It is expected that the facility be a center for the aged people's living in a village, and that have multiple functions of general care service network health care, meal support and making friendship spaces for them. 3) Share housing function is also added to the facility in emergency conditions.

This study aimed at derivation of planning factors and applicable planning factors of residential environment for the elderly in Korean rural village in the more detailed level. Literature review, questionnaire and depth interview with the elderly of case rural villages keeping face with investigation of residential environment was carried out for the derivation of planning factors. Study of related legal factors and interviewing with experts for advice was conducted also for the verification and complement of planning factors. The goal of this study was improvement of residential environment for the elderly or existing rural village not the new one and planning factors was intended to include all the considerable elements. Planing factors was classified two groups which were factors of village outdoor and the inside and outside of a house. The former was also divided into spacial factors and facilities factors and the latter was divided into inside factors and outside factors. The results may contribute to improving residential environment for rural elderly with relation of health and medical service.

Rural Korea has been becoming heavily aged societies from the end of 20th century due to the massive depopulation of young generation and extension of the average span of human beings. Although rural communities in Korea had been traditionally based on closely webbed social relations, almost all of community self-help organizations disappeared in recent time with very strong urbanization trend. However, almost all rural villages in Korea have the village seniors' union -'NO-IN-HOE' in Korean speaking- of which members usually use, operate and maintain community facilities in terms of voluntary base. Using these facilities, most of public/common/private services and community activities have been being served or provided. So, the purpose of this study is to investigate the usage tendency of community facilities and needs of the rural elderly and to propose the improvement strategies for their optimum usage. For this purpose, data was gathered both from community (107 villages) and individual level surveys(881 older people). The statistical method used for data analysis was descriptive statistics. The major findings were as follows : It was found that the dominant family type of the rural elderly was elderly-only household (75%) with very limited economic capability. There are 2~3 common community facilities with village including the seniors' center -'KYOUNG-RO-DANG' in Korean speaking. Many of the elderly (74%) use the center once or twice per week. There are several rooms in the center, like as kitchen bathroom and health room, of which usage frequency differs respectively. Many rural elderly want assistance from out-of-village for good maintenance and free use of these facilities.

As the proportion of the elderly population in rural area is growing rapidly, the quality of life of the rural elderly is becoming a major concern. According to Rowe and Kahn(1997), active and productive engagement in society is a central component of successful aging. Yet, the effect of various social support network on psychological well-being of the rural elderly is not well known. This study is an attempt to empirically examine the connection between social support network and psychological well-being of the rural elderly. For this purpose, community welfare specialists gathered data from 1033 rural elderly in 32 villages, using structured questionnaires. The statistical methods used for the data analysis were descriptive statistics, cross tables, ANOVA and hierarchical regression analysis using spss wins 10.0 program. The major findings of this study are as follows: The majority of rural elderly have social support networks composed of more than one person and the mean number of their social support network was ten persons. The elderly who keep frequent contact with many adult children and friend/neighbor are happier than the elderly who keep contact with fewer number of children and friends. The size of the network of relatives significantly affects the level of loneliness of the elderly. Theoretical and practical implications of this study for the improvement of the quality of life of the rural elderly is discussed.