This study examined the relationships between the levels of independence in excretion and physical/cognitive functions in residents of special nursing homes for the elderly providing functional recovery care. On analyzing the data of 1,230 residents, offered by 17 special nursing homes for the elderly participating in a caregiving skill-building workshop, to clarify such relationships, significant differences were observed in most items related to excretory behavior, eating behavior, mobility, and cognitive functions. Among these factors, the food type showed a particularly strong correlation with the level of independence in excretion. The results suggest that independent excretion is achievable even in those requiring partial assistance for activities of daily living, and that sufficient regular food and energy intakes make discharge to home and the continuation of home life feasible.

View full abstract

Background: This study examined whether imagined intergroup contact reduced prejudice against suicide loss survivors in Japanese undergraduates.
Methods: Participants were randomly divided into the following two groups: imagined contact and control. The imagined contact group included 53 participants, and the control group included 48 participants. Participants assigned to the imagined contact group were asked to imagine meeting and comfortably talking with a suicide loss survivor for two minutes. Participants assigned to the control group were asked to think about suicide loss survivors for two minutes. Then, all participants responded to 5 questions assessing social distance and 11 questions about their impressions of suicide loss survivors. The five items for social distance were measured on a 6-point scale. The eleven items for their impressions of suicide loss survivors were measured on 7-point semantic differential rating.
Results: For social distance, participants assigned to the imagined contact group considered survivors were significantly less psychologically disturbed and less to blame for the death. Then, an exploratory factor analysis of the 11 items of the scale for impressions of suicide loss survivors was conducted, and the following two factors were derived: “Anticipated Survivor Affect” and “Negative Affect.” Results indicated that participants assigned to the imagined contact group considered survivors had significantly less “Negative Affect” toward survivors.
Conclusion: It was showed that imagined contact with a suicide loss survivor had a certain influence on reducing prejudice against suicide loss survivors.

View full abstract

Early assessment of children with special needs is important as a basis for subsequent support in preschool, kindergarten, and beyond. In this study, we examined the accuracy of preschool and kindergarten teachers’ assessments of children’s problematic behaviors incorporating the effects of five factors that influence the accuracy of such assessments: age, years of work experience, self-learning time, training time, and face-to-face communication time with parents. In our analysis results, we identified that the assessment scores in the high self-learning time and high training time groups were significantly higher than those of the low self-learning time and training time groups, suggesting that those assessments were more accurate. The results also indicated more accurate assessments among the group with more face-to-face communication time with parents. In contrast, age and years of work did not affect the assessment scores for attachment and developmental disorders, although more broadly, we found significant positive correlations between face-to-face communication time with parents and both age and years of work experience. We do note that it might be valuable to measure experience in specific terms, such as years of experience working with children with developmental or other disabilities. These results suggest that training is essential for improving the accuracy of caregivers’ assessments of children with challenging behaviors and that increasing face-to-face interaction with parents can lead to more accurate assessments of their children. It is necessary to further examine the causes of these results to increase the accuracy of assessments of children whose behaviors pose challenges.

View full abstract

This study aimed to verify the reliability and construct validity of Disability Awareness Program (DAP) scale in a multicenter setting for students wishing to become teachers in the future. Cross-sectional data and longitudinal data were collected at University in Yamaguchi and Miyazaki, Okinawa, Miyagi prefecture between January 2020 to May 2020. The reliability of DAP scale was verified via the internal consistency method; the coefficient of Cronbach’s α were over 0.7 (0.829 for all items). The validity of DAP scale was also verified via one-way repeated-measures ANOVA and the latent growth curve model. The total scores of DAP scale obtained from one-way repeated-measures ANOVA were the same as the predicted scores. DAP scale is valid based on its goodness-of-fit values obtained using the latent growth curve model, the values of comparative fit index and root mean square error of approximation were within the goodness-of-fit range (CFI=0.998, RMSEA=0.017). These results indicate that DAP scale has high reliability and construct validity.

View full abstract

This study aims to grasp the characteristics and trends of case records and staff awareness in institutions for persons with intellectual disabilities. The study analyzed the descriptive content of the case records of users with many problematic behaviors as well as those with fewer problematic behaviors in a certain residential facility. To this end, the study conducted a questionnaire survey on the staff regarding the case records. The results confirmed that the case records contained accounts of health status and daily routines, regardless of the user. However, users who reported serious problematic behaviors were significantly more likely to have accounts of individual episodes and problematic behavior. Furthermore, a considerable number of the staff felt burdened by the case records. Based on these findings, the study discusses the future directions for case records.

View full abstract

Frailty is a geriatric and physiological syndrome, which is highly prevalent in community-dwelling older adults. In particular, prevention of mental health is a key objective for successful ageing in older adults who are becoming frailty state. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to determine the effect of physical exercise on Quality of Life (QOL) and mental health of the frail older adults. A literature review of research was conducted using the PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar and Web of Science electronic databases for papers published between 2016 and 2021. Randomized controlled studies were included that were aimed at the QOL and Mental health of frailty older adults. The inclusion criteria were: frailty; QOL and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL), Mental health (MH); physical exercise; intervention; controlled trial study and published in English. After screening, 7 research were included in this literature review (n=1038, age range: 68.9±3.9 to 85.2±7.4 years). There was a significant, positive impact on QOL and MH outcomes in 3 out of the 7 studies included in the literature review. Furthermore, there was proof that using a clinically validated measures of frailty affected the results of QOL.

View full abstract

To define the concept of menstrual disorders in young women. Articles were searched from PubMed (2010-2020) using the keywords “Young Women,” “Dysmenorrhea” and “Premenstrual Syndrome.” Eight articles were extracted from 32 articles. Regarding articles in Japan, Japan Medical Abstracts Society website and CiNii Articles were searched, using the keywords “Young Women” and “menstrual disorders.” 23 articles were extracted from 165 articles. A total of 31 articles (23 articles in Japan, 8 articles from overseas) were targeted. Six attributes: Actual condition of menstrual disorders, risk of menstrual disorder, endometriosis and treatment, use of analgesics, use of oral contraceptives (hereinafter OC), and Quality of Life (hereinafter QOL) in menstrual period. Five preconditions: Young women and motivation, women’s lifestyle and change in life habits, menstrual mechanism and normal values, classification and symptoms / treatment of menstrual disorder, view of menstruation and menstrual education. Four consequences: Awareness of menstruation, education surrounding menstruation, research on menstruation, and issues related menstruation were extracted. This concept was defined as “in actual conditions of menstrual disorders, there is great variation, such as dysmenorrhea, PMS, and irregular menstruation, and accordingly, related risks have been observed, and the existence of endometriosis is also partially indicated. Analgesics and OC are not appropriately utilized, and QOL of young women during menstrual period decreases.”

View full abstract

As population ages rapidly, the need for caregivers will continue to increase. Family caregivers play an important role in delaying and possibly preventing institutionalization of older patients with chronic diseases. Caregiving by family members related to their subjective well-being and cognition. Especially, the sense of life worth living (ikigai in Japanese) is essential to maintaining their life-satisfaction and caregiving. However, there is a lack of research focusing on the sense of life worth living in older caregivers. The aim of this narrative review was to investigate the factors affecting the sense of life worth living and cognitive function for older caregiver. Two experimental studies were extracted: one qualitative study, and one quantitative study. There were no reports that evaluated the cognitive function in older caregivers. The sense of life worth living is associated with cognitive function and vice versa, it is possible to those factors that affect in life worth living also affect in cognitive function. In conclusion, this review suggest that intervention programs are associated with promoting the sense of life worth living of older caregivers. Further studies are needed to clarify the factor affecting this relationship between the sense of life worth living and cognitive function in older caregivers.

View full abstract