Purpose:This study was to measure quality of life in hospice and palliative care patients. Methods: Research tools were the Korean version of McMaster quality of life scale and Spitzer's quality of life index used by 11 doctors in 7 institutes related to hospice and palliative care. Research subjects were 70 terminal cancer patients. Results: There was no statistically significant differences in the Korean version MQLS score by test-retest method. Cronbach's alpha was 0.90. The Pearson correlation coefficient for concurrent validity between the Korean version MQLS score and QLI score by physicians showed a moderate level of statistically significant correlation (r=0.55, P=0.002). The Korean version MQLS score of terminal cancer patients group in hospital ward of hospice was significantly higher than the others (F=4.958, P=0.004). Total scores of the Korean version MQLS (Mean± SD=3.79±0.74) and QLI (Mean±SD=4.58±1.63) showed moderate scores. Conclusion: The Korean version MQLS would be a reliable methods for the measurement of quality of life in Korean palliative care patients. The research tool would be satisfactorily used for assessment of hospice and palliative care patients during palliative phase. (Korean J Hosp Palliat Care 2010;13:225-231)

This research is a descriptive correlation research to examine the relationship among stress, coping behaviors, and perceived social support in school-age children. Students in third, fourth, and fifth grades at one elementary school in A metropolitan city were included for this research. A researcher of the study visited the elementary school and obtained appropriate approval to conduct this survey. Then, a total of 481 students answered the questionnaire; finally, the questionnaires of 409 students were analyzed after excluding 72 questionnaires due to unreliable responses. Descriptive statistics, T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation were used to analyze the collected data with SPSS 13.0. In the stress scores, academic stress was associated with the highest score (9.30±4.41). With respect to stress coping behaviors, lower-grade students showed to have significantly higher scores in coping behavior of pursuing social support than higher-grade students (F=3.181, p=.043); male students had higher scores in aggressive coping behavior than female students (t=-3.399, p=.001). Perceived social support scores were higher in the following order: family members (33.01±7.61), friends (28.43±7.89), and teachers (25.71±6.30). Female students had higher scores in perceived social support from friends (t=3.842, p=.000) and teachers (t=3.037, p=.003) than the male students. As the stress scores increased, passive coping behaviors (r=.410, p=.000) and aggressive coping behaviors (r=.445, p=.000) have been significantly increased. As perceived social support is higher, active coping behaviors (r=.455, p=.000) and coping behaviors to pursue social support (r=.429, p=.000) were significantly increased. Therefore, we can conclude that stress management is very significant for children. It would be necessary to develop nursing intervention programs in order to reduce the aggressive and passive coping behaviors of children and encourage perceived social support.

Objectives : This study developed an assessment tool that can help a child describe the pain they are experiencing. This researcher tried to adopt the Faces Pain Scale (FPS) that was already developed by Wong and Baker into Korean culture and language with modifications and translations. Methods : According to the international linguistic validation process, The Korean version was made and a survey was done for the targeting children (M:F=7:8) who were admitted in the hematologic malignanices ward. Results : The preference of measurement methods were FPS, 0_1_2_3_4_5 numerical rating scale, and 0_2_4_6_8_10 numerical rating scale in order. In 100 points terms, General understanding levels of Korean version FPS were more than 80 points in average. According to the method of questionnaires drawing up, The first pain score of children's group taken mother's help was significantly higher than the children's self describing group (z=2.56, p=0.02). No statistic difference was observed in the pain scores by test-retest method (t=7.5, p=0.06). Conclusion : Korean version FPS would be an easy and simple tool to be used for the children with leukemia and their family in Korea.