The Issues of Family Care Support Projects under the Promotion of Integrated Community

―based Care in Tokyo

Abstract

This study investigates the current conditions and issues of family care support projects in Japan, taking into consideration the recent reorganization of health and welfare policies for the elderly that aim to promote integrated community―based care, and focusing on the transformation of the role of municipalities. It focuses on a large metropolitan area （i. e., Tokyo） that is characterized by a rapidly aging population. By using the results of a questionnaire survey, the implementation of family care support in the city is analyzed. In particular, this study examines （i） the priority of family care support policies, （ii） the implementing body of a community general support center, and （iii） the expectation of self―help, mutual help, public support, and public assistance in order to verify the issues of family care support projects. We find that the expectation for self―help is relatively high in a large metropolitan area with a stable financial basis such as Tokyo. It is thus necessary to implement projects that support family caregivers directly, taking account of their independence. Therefore, learning from advanced countries is important from the viewpoint of the integration of caregivers into care systems.