Various social problems in an elderly society are global issues in today's society. Aging proceeds globally in the world while Japan is expected to become a super-aged society in an unprecedented short term. An increase in the elderly population, including the disabled, demands the expansion of social security-related expenditures, which confers an unbearable burden to the following generation. These “Aging Crises” would give rise to the collapse of the social system. We are here to emphasize the importance of the integration of the elderly population toward the productive society and in the reform of the life cycle that is currently refined by education, labor, and retirement. In order to establish a sustainable society, in which the elderly can be independent, we need to explore the occupations that are suitable for the elderly and reduce social security-related expenditures. In our research scheme, we conjugated the related research fields including medical science, engineering, and social science in order to integrate the various aspects of a complex aged society. The recent progress in our research project is reported.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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We assessed a new type of walker with a seat and two fore sleds for use in both faculties and at home. This walker has been named "RAKU walker", with 4 casters and a pair of sleds besides the front casters. Forty seven patients were evaluated for this study. Quite an improvement was observed in FIM items (bathing, toilet use, self grooming, transfer and locomotion) in the initial interval. Patients above 75 years and below showed similar improvements. Clinical success of this walker depends on both the analysis of patient needs and proper selection of the patients.

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The elderly population of Japan of 65 years old or more increased rapidly, and reached 19% in 2003. Various strategies are necessary so that the aged may maintain healthy life. It appears to a physical function as a good influence if a mental function is activated for the aged. This time, the relation between a result and body various functions to practice the consumption behavior for a weak senior citizen and the slight dementia senior citizen were assumed and the relation to the state of mental was assumed to be an examination. Subjects were divided randomly into two groups, with one group (Cons-G) actually taking place in consumption activity, and with other group (W-G) only having a watching activity in the shopping center. Depression scale and face scale showed the improvement tendency in C-Group. It has been understood to cause the influence on a mental function with a physical change through this consumption behavior. It is necessary to grope for an effective technique achieving relations and these that achieve such senior citizen individual's needs.

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[in Japanese]

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Elderly cases offered Takizawa-Program as one of the rehabilitation techniques were evaluated statistically. Initially we clarified the characteristics of the total FIM (Functional Independent Measure) score and the relation between the number of improved items and of worsened ones. Furthermore, we investigated the multidimensional relevance of 18 FIM items to explain the characteristics of improvement or aggravation clear, and obtained four factors by factor analysis and classified into six groups by cluster analysis, and then extracted some specific cases. Finally, we statistically verified the effect about the 18 FIM evaluation items using the t-test, a sign test and the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, and several items in the FIM were turned out to be significantly effective.

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