This study identifies vulnerabilities of single-person households with disabilities and proposes care policy directions. These households maintain long-term solo living and face social isolation, care gaps, and kinlessness risks, requiring an integrated approach.
Literature review and quantitative-qualitative analysis revealed that life satisfaction is determined by complex interactions among economic, health, and housing factors. Daily living difficulties, old-age anxiety, and economic instability were high, intensifying with age. Groups with high support needs and poor health were identified as high-risk, while regional disparities indicated the need for tailored support.
The study proposes Korean adaptation of the UK's Universal Basic Services (UBS) and the US's Ecosystems of Care model.
This study analyzes how the expansion of centrally driven statutory plans in the social services sector has led to fragmented planning systems and structurally constrained local governments’ autonomy and implementation capacity. Based on these findings, it proposes institutional reforms to reorganize planning structures and strengthen local governments’ substantive planning autonomy and effectiveness.
In 2025, South Korea officially became a super-aged society. While the demand for Long-Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs) is expected to rise due to the increasing elderly population requiring chronic care, the current system suffers from ambiguous boundaries between medical treatment and long-term care. This ambiguity has led to functional overlaps with nursing facilities and inefficiencies in the delivery system. Furthermore, the prevalence of "social admissions"―where patients are hospitalized for caregiving or housing needs rather than medical necessity―poses a significant financial burden on the National Health Insurance (NHI). Against this backdrop, this study aims to provide evidentiary support and foundational data for improving the LTCH system, focusing on redefining LTCHs as medical institutions and ensuring the sustainability of the healthcare system.
Social isolation and loneliness are emerging as new social risks. Along the pathway from the rise of single-person households and solitary living to lonely death, social isolation lies at the core. This study examines current policies along the pathway through which loneliness deepens social isolation, and proposes policy strategies to address social isolation from a life-course perspective, in which risks and vulnerabilities accumulate across the lifespan.
Data drift refers to the phenomenon where the statistical properties of the data used to train machine learning models shift over time. This study examines the unique characteristics of various types of data drift and provides a systematic evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of different detection methodologies. Furthermore, through simulations utilizing public administrative datasets, the research proposes practical measures to enhance the reliability and sustainability of data-driven governance within the health and welfare domain.
Missing data is an inherent challenge in the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHPS). Currently, researchers must apply their own criteria for handling the problem of missing data, highlighting the need for multifaceted research.
This study aims to enhance KHPS data quality by analyzing the status of missing data. By examining data collection processes, seeking optimal imputation methods, and evaluating the feasibility of providing imputed data, this research seeks to ensure the provision of more precise and reliable datasets.
Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs(KIHASA) and Seoul National University (SNU) organized the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS) in 2006. In 2025, the 20th wave of KOWEPS was carried out. The content of KOWEPS is composed of socioeconomic information, welfare status, and attitude toward the welfare or something for individuals and households. The particular topic for this wave is ‘The Disabled’.
This descriptive report provides a wide variety of content about the general features, the economic conditions, the employment status, social security, welfare needs and the special topics for the 20th-year surveys. The results could be reference data for the researchers who would use KOWEPS.
This study examines the validity of disability recognition and explores institutional support measures for people with long-term conditions who experience restrictions in daily activities but are not formally recognised as disabled. Five conditions―epidermolysis bullosa, PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS), brain tumour, HIV/AIDS, and Crohn’s disease―were inductively selected to represent diverse patterns of functional limitation and institutional blind spots. Based on in-depth interviews with individuals living with these conditions, the study argues for the recognition of disability among people with long-term conditions and proposes expanding eligibility for disability-related benefits within the disability registration system.
This study evaluated the performance of the Basic Livelihood Security System ten years after its conversion to a tailored benefit system. The analysis shows that while some coverage gaps have been alleviated, further relaxation of asset criteria remains necessary. In addition, reforms are required with respect to the calculation of the median income standard used in benefit determination. The outcomes of self-sufficiency programs in facilitating exits from benefit receipt remain limited, indicating the need for institutional improvements in this area. Looking ahead, preparations are needed for a transition of the Basic Livelihood Security System toward a categorical public assistance system, taking Into account poverty traps and its consistency with other social security systems.
Recently, mental health policies have been shifting away from a focus on treating individuals with mental illnesses toward expanding comprehensive mental health and welfare services for the entire population. This reflects changes in domestic and international policy trends and demands, representing a transition toward recognizing mental health as a societal issue and encompassing a service spectrum that includes prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery, and self-reliance support.
Accordingly, securing the workforce, enhancing their capacity, and establishing a protection system for providing mental health and welfare services have emerged as critical national tasks. However, domestic workforce policies still heavily rely on the training system for mental health professionals, and systems for assessing the scale of the field workforce, improving working conditions, and supporting capacity building remain insufficient. Consequently, this is highly likely to limit the scalability, accessibility, and quality of mental health and welfare services.
Therefore, this study aims to analyze the workforce policies of major foreign countries, comprehensively diagnose the issues within the current domestic situation, and derive improvement tasks for mental health and welfare service workforce policies that are suited to the context of South Korea.
