2022 Volume 73 Issue 2 Pages 89-99
The “family care support projects” listed in Chapter6 (community support projects) of the Long-Term Care Insurance Act make up the main public service for family carers in Japan. The aim of this study is to examine what kind of information is provided in family care support projects and to reveal issues related to this service. The elderly welfare sections in 160 municipalities were surveyed via a questionnaire that was sent by post. 86 municipalities responded to the survey (response rate: 53.8％).
The questionnaire includes 9 sections that ask what information they provide to familycarers. It was found that the most prevalent information was about “available service” (60.5％) and there was not sufficient information provided in the other eight sections. Specific projects names and methods for providing information to family carers are broadly divided into “direct approaches to family carers” and “approaches related to the use of long-term care insurance services by person in need of nursing care.” 37.2％ of them utilize existing materials for family carers and 27.9％ created their own information brochure. The situation of original projects that lead to the provision of information was apparent. Moreover, this study revealed how existing materials are utilized and how original materials are created. These results suggest the possible direction of sharing advanced initiatives with other municipalities. The survey also presented the issue of how to approach family carers who have no contact with these municipalities.
