This article discusses the importance of a pilot study in undertaking phenomenological qualitative inquiry for culturally competent research. The pilot work was conducted in preparation for a dissertation on Korean-American family dementia caregiving. The definition and useful functions of pilot studies in qualitative inquiry are particularly identified. To highlight the benefits of pilot work, it describes the specific practical and methodological issues emerging in the pilot exercise as well as the modifications made for the main study as a result of the pilot work. The implementation of the pilot exercise proved to be essential in four ways. These comprise (1) finding issues and barriers related to recruiting potential participants, (2) engaging the use of oneself as a researcher in a culturally appropriate way and from a phenomenological perspective, (3) reflecting the importance of the epoche process and its difficulty in conducting phenomenological inquiry, and (4) modifying interview questions. Finally, the value of sharing the pilot study to develop culturally competent research practice is addressed.

High-performing athletes possess the ability to read the game, which is known as the “sports brain.” The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in athletes’ cognitive functions across sports and to identify the dominant cognitive functions in each type of sport. We classified sports as interceptive, static, or strategic. A total of 120 individuals participated in this study, including 30 boxers (interceptive), 30 competitive shooters (static), 30 soccer players (strategic), and 30 non-athletes. To measure the executive function (inhibition and cognitive flexibility), spatial ability, and information processing speed of the participants, we administered the trail making test (TMT), mental rotation test (MRT), design fluency test (DFT), flanker task (FKT), and tests of simple reaction time (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT) using an original computer program. We found differences in dominant cognitive functions across sport types. Athletes in interceptive sports demonstrated advanced visuospatial functioning and processing speed, while athletes in strategic sports showed superior executive function, including working memory and cognitive flexibility. Athletes in static sports demonstrated the fastest visuo-perceptual processing among all groups. This study’s findings provide an understanding of the cognitive characteristics of athletes in interceptive, strategic, and static sports, which can aid in the discovery and recruitment of athletes based on their cognitive skills.

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and international sport, and its psychosocial benefits for its trainees have been studied extensively. This review aims to systematically assess and meta-analyze the effects of Taekwondo training on sociality, character, etiquette, and school life adjustment. We searched the RISS, NDSL, and KISS electronic databases between January 1985 and December 2019. We also included gray literature, such as theses, in addition to peer-reviewed articles. R software (version 3.6.2, R Core Team, Vienna, Austria) was used to synthesize the effect sizes and perform moderation analyses. Twenty-eight studies (24 cross-sectional and four intervention studies) were included in the final meta-analysis. Significant positive effects of Taekwondo training were found on sociality (MD = 0.266, 95% CI: 0.191 to 0.341), character (MD = 0.446, 95% CI: 0.331–0.560), etiquette (MD = 0.562, 95% CI: 0.500–0.624), and school life adjustment (MD = 0.308, 95% CI: 0.195–0.421). Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis support that Taekwondo can have a positive impact on the psychosocial factors of trainees. Due to several limitations discussed, well-designed RCTs and multiple levels of Taekwondo intervention studies should be conducted in future research to validate the current findings.

As the prevalence of suicide among the elderly has developed in recent years into one of the more serious social problems in South Korea, preventing these elderly suicides has emerged as a national priority. Korean social workers play a major role in the recent elderly suicide prevention efforts that were implemented starting in 2007. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the ways in which social work practitioners perceive, assess, and intervene in suicidal behavior by their elderly clients. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 social workers involved with elderly suicide prevention. Both in-depth interviews and field notes were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Three main themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) an understanding of late-life suicide within an ecological framework with existential thought, (b) the challenges and barriers that hinder the provision of assistance to suicidal older adults, and (c) the assertion that elderly suicide prevention is to promote both well-being and well-dying. The findings revealed ways in which social workers incorporate unique perspectives into working with suicidal elderly clients. They also presented perceived challenges facing intervention and ways in which those challenges might be addressed. Identifying social workers’ field experiences with suicidal older adults may contribute to the empirical knowledge base needed to better develop effective suicide prevention strategies. The implications for gerontological education and training are highlighted.

The purpose of this article is to describe life experiences following suicide attempts from the perspective of older Korean adults. Both field notes and in-depth interviews with 35 elderly Koreans who had attempted suicide were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. With an underlying theme of “life with no way out for those who believe they do not even have any luck in dying,” I classified the experiences of participants in the wake of a failed suicide attempt into four categories: (a) facing additional hardships including deteriorating physical health, (b) having more sadness and loneliness than before the suicide attempt, (c) deepening dependency on tranquilizers, and (d) seesawing between despair and faint hope. Based on these research findings, I make four recommendations regarding secondary preventive interventions for elderly suicide attempters.