2024 Volume 31 Issue 2 Pages 69-88
[Objective]To investigate challenges to initiatives at long-term care service facilities and businesses in the first year following the introduction of the 2021 revisions to the long-term care fees and the ministerial ordinance making the establishment of a system to prevent elderly abuse mandatory. [Method] An online survey was conducted of facility directors and administrators at long-term care service facilities and businesses in three prefectures in the Tokai region. [Results] Relative to other long-term care service facilities and businesses, the long-term care welfare facilities for the elderly that were reviewed had significantly more cases in which an abuse-prevention review committee was held, and a significantly lower percentage of facilities having no system for care by multiple caregivers, no system for consulting with experts, or no abuse-prevention manual. However, relative to other facilities and businesses, a significantly higher percentage of these long-term care welfare facilities received administrative guidance in response to abuse, and a significantly lower percentage featured managers who participated in abuse-prevention training. [Conclusions] At long-term care welfare facilities for the elderly, where the incidence of abuse is often high, it is vital that managers be encouraged to attend training sessions to strengthen initiatives that are at risk of becoming mere formalities and that all staff members come to share a common understanding of abuse and its prevention.
