Current topics in residences for elderly people with services in Japan

Abstract

In Japan, housing for older people is becoming an issue. This comes against the backdrop of a declining and aging population with a declining birthrate, and expected future increases in older single-person households and the demand for medical care for people aged 75 and over.

In Japan, there are several types of housing that cater to the condition of users, such as welfare facilities for the elderly requiring long-term care, fee-based homes for the elderly, and residences for elderly people with services, which have been increasing in recent years.

The residences for elderly people with services system was launched in October 2011, but with the remarkable increase in the number of such facilities, there is a need to evaluate their quality.

This paper summarizes residences for elderly people with services from the perspectives of living environment, functions, supply and location, improvement and assurance of service quality, appropriateness of service use, and future perspectives.

It is necessary to evaluate the quality of the functions of residences for elderly people with services. There are perspectives of structure, process, and outcome, and it will be important to establish a database for individuals to evaluate which kind of service is needed for which kind of residents and the results of matching them.