Introduction

The symposium was held at Ewha Womans University in conjunction with the 7th Annual Qualitative Health Research Conference and was supported by the Korean Academic Society of Women's Health. Approximately 100 participants attended from six countries: Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, and the USA. The abstracts of this symposium consist of two parts: (A) Invited Presentations, and (B) Concurrent Sessions. Among the invited specialists Dr Young Hee Choi, member of the Korean National Assembly, delivered an impressive speech on ‘Health‐care policy for Korean elderly’. The speech helped all to better understand the health care of the elderly at present, as well as future plans for care in Korea. The presentation by Dr Beum Seang Kim (Catholic University, Korea), ‘What is Alzheimer's disease?’, gave the attendees an opportunity to gain greater knowledge about dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The other invited speakers, Drs Wendy Duggleby, Kiyoko Makimoto, Chun‐Ok Lee, and Kaoru Nishimura also provided impressive and stimulating addresses. In addition to invited presentations, 20 papers were presented at the concurrent sessions.