RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN REGIONAL CHARACTERISTIC CLASSIFICATION AND THE DEGREE OF UTILIZATION OF HOME WELFARE SERVICE FOR THE AGED AMONG THE 656 CITIES IN JAPAN

Abstract

A total of 656 cities in Japan were classified according- to demographics, housing and economics, and correlations between these cities grouped according to regional characteristics and the degree of utilization of home welfare services for the aged were investigated. The results of the analysis showed the main characteristics of the cities to be "scale," "degree of urbanization," "industry" and "growth." On the basis of these four characteristics, the 656 cities were divided into the following nine groups: "regional small-scale cities," "regional high-growth cities," "cities forming a large commercial area," "subsatellite cities of a metropolis," "regional key cities," "satellite cities of a metropolis," "non-growth cities," "average regional cities" and "growth-type regional industrial cities." Analysis of the correlations between these nine groups and utilization of home welfare services for the aged showed that there were significant differences among the groups in the number of days per year that home - help service was used by 100 people over the age of 65 and the number of days per year that one-day service was used by 100 people over the age of 65 but that there were no significant differences in the number of days per year that short-stay service was used by 100 people over the age of 65. The results of this study show that the degree of utilization of home welfare services for the aged differs according to the functional characteristics of the city in which the aged reside.