Abstract
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 11 local residents and data were continuously compared and analyzed with the objective of describing the culture of mutual assistance rooted in Area A in the Ani region from the perspective of the residents’ livelihoods, and suggestions were obtained on the establishment of a local comprehensive care system.
The following interview data analysis results regarding the culture of mutual assistance based in the area were extracted: core categories, 1; major categories, 4; categories, 12; and subcategories, 36. The core category was set as “ceaselessly connected to and accompanying each other.” Major categories included the following four items: “united mutual help was common in villages of the past,” which shows the circumstances of past mutual help; “still connecting and mutually helping without difficulty as time passes,” that shows how these traits have been inherited into the present; “stability of customs and temperament in the area, which is a result of geographical proximity,”; and “the residents’ wishes, which are a result of the desire to continue living in the land despite aging and depopulation.”.
