Background: Sarcopenia refers to a decrease in functional ability due to the loss of skeletal muscle. Sarcopenia can be prevented, delayed, and treated more effectively the sooner the intervention, and muscle mass and strength can be effectively increased through physical exercise and adequate protein intake. Because symptoms of sarcopenia do not appear in the early stages, awareness among healthcare professionals is essential for early diagnosis and subsequent intervention. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop sarcopenia questionnaire items and investigate additional factors in Korean clinical practice. Design: Qualitative research. Methods: A qualitative survey was conducted targeting eight physical therapists affiliated with the sarcopenia associations or physical therapists with extensive clinical experience. A preliminary sarcopenia questionnaire and a qualitative survey questionnaire created by the researchers were sent to the participants together. All questions were open-ended. Results: Through a qualitative survey, themes were derived, including barriers to equipment and healthcare reimbursement, the need for awareness of sarcopenia, and improvement of survey questions. Conclusion: The diagnosis and treatment of sarcopenia requires efforts not only from physical therapists, but also from patients, government, and professional societies.

Background: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health-core set (ICF-core set) for children and youth (CY) with cerebral palsy (CP) provides a useful conceptual framework and a guide for health care planning and measuring the changes brought by interventions across a multitude of dimensions from body functions to personal activities, social participation, and environmental factors for them. Objects: This single case study was reported to illustrate the use of a goal directed approach in applying the ICF-core set for CY with CP from a physical therapist perspective. Methods: An eleven year old boy with spastic CP, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level V, and his mother participated in an evaluation of his functioning state. The intervention goal was set through an interview using the ICF-core set, Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and Goal Attainment Scale (GAS). Physical therapy was carried out on an outpatient basis using a goal directed approach for 30 min, 1 time/week during 12 weeks and the boy’s gross motor function was assessed using the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM)-66 version (item set 2) before and after the intervention. Results: As measured by the boy’s mother, the COPM score showed a meaningful clinical change (performance=mean 3.5, satisfaction=mean 2.5) and the T-score of GAS changed 34.4 after the goal directed approach. The GMFM-66 (item set 2) score changed from 31.8 to 38.7 and evaluation using the ICF-core set displayed improvement in 6 items of activity level between before and after the intervention. Conclusion: The ICF-core set for CY with CP is useful for understanding the overall functioning of CY with this condition and provides an opportunity to share and integrate information and opinions from different disciplines. We consider it as a useful tool in the universal language for the therapy and education of CY with CP.

This study purposed to analyze difference in the perception of service quality between physical therapy patients and physical therapists and to provide basic materials for maintaining high service quality that meets patients' expectation in each service area. For this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey with physical therapy patients and physical therapists in Jeju from the 6 to 30 of January, 2010. In the survey, we received 133 questionnaires from patients and 125 from physical therapists, and used them in analysis. The instrument used in this study to measure service quality was prepared by the researcher through adapting and supplementing the SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al (1991). For our physical therapy environment, and it consisted of a total of 23 questions in five areas, namely, tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Patients' perception of service quality was high in order of reliability, assurance, empathy, responsiveness, and tangibility. In four areas with exception of reliability, quality perceived by patients was lower than that perceived by physical therapists, and particularly in responsiveness(t=2.82, p=.00) and empathy(t=2.02, p=.04), the difference between patients and physical therapists was statistically significant. In order to reduce the difference in the perception of service quality between patients and physical therapists, it is considered necessary to enhance physical therapists' perception of service quality and to prepare measures for improving service equality so that services would be provided through respectful communication with maintaining the dignity of patients, rather than focusing on disease.

목적 : 재활치료사들의 근무지향-직무만족도와 조직몰입도-에 영향을 미치는 요인들을 파악하여 가장 효과적인 조직 문화 유형을 구축하고자 함에 그 목적이 있다. 연구방법 : 연구는 작업치료사와 물리치료사 340명을 대상으로 자기기입식 질문지를 사용하여 자료를 수집하였다. 측정도구는 근무지향에 대한 문항으로 구성되었으며, 확인적 요인분석을 통하여 타당도 검증을 실시하였다. 또한 신뢰도 검증을 위하여 Cronbach α 계수를 통해서 확인하였다. 근무지향에 영향을 미치는 요인들의 인과성을 검증하기 위하여 공변량구조분석을 통하여 분석하였다. 결과 : 분배정의는 조직몰입에 대해서 유의미한 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석되었지만 직무만족에 대해서는 유의미하지 않았다. 절차정의는 외생변인 중에서 가장 강하게 직무만족과 조직몰입에 유의미한 영향을 미쳤다. 직업결사가 강할수록 직무만족와 조직몰입에 유의미한 영향을 미쳤다. 자율성이 높을수록 직무만족에는 유의미한 영향력을 나타냈지만 조직몰입에는 유의미하지 않았다. 결론 : 조직몰입도를 설명하는 가장 중요한 요인은 직무만족도였으며, 그 다음으로는 절차정의, 직업결사, 분배정의, 교육수준 순으로 중요한 설명요인인 것으로 조사되었다.

Participants of this 1998 survey included 100 physical therapists working in hospitals located in Andong City. 77.7% of the participants were in their twenties and 20.2% in their forties. 46.4% of the participants were 3rd year students at a junior college, and 1.0% were college graduates. 67.6% of the participants had less than 5 years experience and 1.0% 16 years experience in their field. 59.6% of the participants were married. Regarding questions about occupational satisfaction, many of the participants replied "normal" for the first and third questions, and few answered "very much". Most of the participants answered "normal" for all the questions concerning their work environment with few replying "very much". With regards to awareness of the physical signs of fatigue, "occasionally, yes" were the most frequent answers. Regarding awareness of the psychological signs of fatigue, the similar proportions of participants answered "occasionally, yes" as that for "feeling nothing". Similarly, with regard to awareness of the neuro-sensitive signs of fatigue, there was a similar ratio of participants answering "occasionally, yes" and "feel nothing". It can be concluded that there are many causes of fatigue amongst physical therapists. Improvements in daily nutrition, mental health and general well-being are important in tackling these problems. It appears that fatigue amongst physical therapists may be cumulative and due to prolonged working hours To promote better daily functioning and early recovery from fatigue, appropriate assignments of working and resting hours are necessary. They would also benefit the prevention of symptomatic problems in the waist and shoulder.

As in house care is develops and becomes part of the health care delivery system in Korea, it is necessary to quantify the viewpoints of in-patients and outpatients. The purposes of this study are to analyze the utilization of house visits by physical therapist and to investigate the viewpoint of in- and out-patients who had rehabilitation treatment at 3 general hospitals in Wonju, Korea. Two hundred and fifty-eight questionnaires were analyzed and the major findings are as follows: 1. Sixty-five point seven percentage of respondents showed their willingness to utilize house visits by physical therapist if an in house physical therapy program were established. 2. The questionnaire used a Likert-type scale to ask the respondents their viewpoints on in house physical therapy services. Most respondents showed a positive attitude, answering 'I agree'. The findings show that house visits by physical therapists should be introduced as an integral system for the delivery of health care in Korea.

The purposes of this study were to research the current state of evaluation of children with delayed development and cerebral palsy and determine pediatric physical therapists' knowledge of assessment tools and their use. The subjects were 130 pediatric physical therapists (general hospitals, university-related hospitals, rehabilitation centers, etc.). Data was obtained from August 24, 1999 to October 18, 1999 by means of a survey questionnaire. The results were as follows: 1. The current state of pediatric physical therapist evaluation of children with delayed development and cerebral palsy. 1) Tools used to assess functional areas of children with cerebral palsy were: subjective description format-128 (47.1%); the GMFM-58 (21.3%); facility-generated tool-51 (18.8%); and DDST-15 (5.5%). 2) Tools used to assess developmentally delayed children were: subjective description format-121 (50.6%); the GMFM-43 (18.0%); facility-generated tool-41 (17.2%); and DDS T-14 (5.9%). 3) After their college or university study, therapists who had attended lectures on evaluation were 113 (86.9%); 13 (10.0%) therapists had not attended any lectures on evaluation 2. Test scores of physical therapists' professional knowledge of evaluation procedures: high (more than 36 points)-74 (56.9%); moderate (18~35 points)-39 (30.0%); and low (below 17 points)-none. 1) For therapists treating cerebral palsied children, 73 (65.2%) were in the high range, 39 (34.8%) were in the moderate range and none were in the low range. 2) For therapists treating children with delayed development, 71 (65.7%) were in the high range, 37 (34.3%) were in the moderate range and none were in the low range. Although the general degree of professional knowledge of evaluation was quite high, there was a lack of variety in the assessment tools used With a large number of therapists depending on subjective description. Possible reasons for the low rate of objective asses sment tool use: 1) Poor clinical environment: too many clients and lirnited treatment time. 2) Lack of any medical insurance fee category for specific assessment tools. 3) Lack of continuing education opportunities in pediatric evaluation skills during or after either college-based (3 year) or university-based (4 year) education programs. Based on the study results, provision of more extended educational opportunities would promote the use of a greater variety of objective assessment tools by pediatric physical therapists.