This study examined the characteristics of fatigue and the relationship between fatigue and its related factors in Korean patients on hemodialysis.

A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 104 patients on hemodialysis in Seoul, Korea.

Of a total of 104 subjects, eighty-one (77.9%) complained of fatigue. Fatigue severity was measured by the self-rating Visual Analogue Scale-Fatigue (VAS-F) with a mean score of 36.5 (SD=17.49, range 2 - 81). The mean duration of fatigue was 3.8 hours (SD=5.3, range 0 - 24). Depression was most significantly correlated with fatigue (beta=.43, p<.00), with interdialytic weight gain (beta=.25, p<.05) being the second most significant correlate.

This study shows that nursing interventions for patients who experience fatigue while on hemodialysis should be focused on both psychological problems, such as depression, as well as on physiological problems, such as interdialytic weight gain.

The primary purpose of this study was to reexamine underlying dimensions of attitudes toward the elderly held by undergraduate nursing students. A secondary purpose was to investigate characteristics of nursing students associated with attitudes toward elders.

A survey was performed using self-report questionnaire completed by nursing students from a total of 10 nursing schools or departments each selected randomly from one province of Korea. Students' responses (N=366) were analyzed using factor analysis, correlation coefficients, t-test, and ANOVA.

Three attitudinal dimensions explaining 35.29% of the variance were extracted: vitality, generosity and flexibility. From a neutral point of 4.0 in the range of 1 to 7, only generosity (4.47) was evaluated positively, whereas vitality (3.31) and flexibility (2.91) were evaluated negatively. The mean scores of the vitality and generosity dimensions were significantly different by students' level of communication with the elderly, experience living with the elderly, and interest in elders or in issues related to elders. Interest in elders/elder issues was the only characteristic affecting significant mean score difference in flexibility.

Educational process should increase students' exposure to healthy elderly to modify negative attitudes toward the elderly among nursing students.