2023 Volume 13 Pages 3-13
Childcare support is essential in Japan because the birthrate is declining, and the aging population increases every year. However, caregivers might not receive any childcare supports because they do not intend to or cannot do so. We focused on infant caregivers’ awareness of their consultation behavior and “Object Relations”. We examined the relationship between these variables and help-seeking variables, i.e., general help-seeking preference, help-seeking preference/behavior about parenting. A questionnaire survey was conducted with caregivers of infants (N=152) to obtain data for discussing how to deliver supports to caregivers in need. The results indicated significant positive correlations between caregivers’ general help-seeking preference and self-other awareness of their consultation behavior, and between their help-seeking preference/behavior about parenting and self-other awareness of their consultation behavior. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between their help-seeking preference about parenting and their tendency to have difficulty in making friends or have less interpersonal interactions. Based on these results, we proposed several specific ways for supporting infant caregivers with inadequate help-seeking; (1) Counselors should refrain from negative remarks or attitude when giving advice, (2) Psychological education to encourage cognitive change about consultation behavior and/ or training programs to enhance requesting skills through SST are to be delivered during compulsory education or in mother’s classes, (3) Caregivers are to be provided with opportunities for interpersonal interactions in which they can experience mutual understanding and supporting exchanges for building lasting relationships so that they can mediate and develop connections with other caregivers and/or local agents.
