Municipalities’ modifications to forms specifying residents’ reasons for housing adaptations under the long-term care insurance system

Abstract

The application form specifying residents’ reasons for housing adaptations is an important document in Japan, as it must be submitted when applying for housing adaptation services under the long-term care insurance system. Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provides a standard form, but each municipality can revise or further add original items to it; however, the exact details of such modifications remain unclear. This study examined the original items modified by each municipality, to enable their use in future revisions and further research. We classified the forms into “A: standard form,” “B: partial revision of standard form,” and “C: major revision of standard form,” and examined the differences between “A: standard form”, and “B: partial revision of standard form” and “C: major revision of standard form.” Among the 414 municipalities selected, A was used by 27%, B by 32%, and C by 6% of the municipalities. As a result of organizing the original items, the findings suggest the need to revise the forms in order to reduce the burden on long-term care professionals and help achieve better and comprehensive assessment regarding measures to deal with the difficulties experienced by residents in daily life.