The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between domestic roles and quality of life (QOL) in the elderly living in the community. The subjects for this study comprised 947 residents aged 65 years and over in a rural community. The self-administered questionnaire was sent to the subjects by mail and collected by visiting homes. The questionnaire incorporated domestic roles of seven categories and the multidimensional QOL scale developed by Ota et al (2003). Multiple regressions for the relationship of the domestic roles to QOL was performed. Although the number of the elderly people who played some kind of domestic roles reduced as they become older, both males and females them did play domestics roles-60% and over, such as "taking care of their garden and kitchen garden" and "maintenance of their household Shinto or Buddhist alter". As for the female, 60% and over of them did "preparation for meals", "mixing with neighbors","contact with neighbors". Among the QOL of the 6 categories, "daily activity" and "positive mental attitude" showed significant relationship with most domestics roles. On the other hand, "symptom of depression" and "satisfaction with economic state" did not show significant relationship with domestic role performance. These findings suggest that the elderly people can play some kind of role or other if their family or people around them can find a role they are able to play and expect the elderly to play the role. It is also suggested that the family and community should reevaluate the roles of the elderly and construct a system in order to create a new role.

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This study phenomenologically interprets the meaning of body experiences in stroke survivors through looking into the recovery process of artisan skills, and further encourages a reconsideration of post-stroke rehabilitation programs. Three stroke survivors with more than 30 years of artisan work experience in their specialized fields (sushi, Japanese confectionery and tategu-fittings for doors or windows) underwent a semi-structured interview. This interview was conducted nine times in total at 2 days, 5 days, 2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months and 1 year after stroke onset. The obtained data were subjected to an interpretive phenomenological analysis for understanding the meaning of body experiences. The analysis extracted thirteen themes, which were then organized into six categories. The study found, among other findings, that the body experiences of stroke survivors over the course of time have three aspects: (1) Their paralyzed bodies come back to life and regain a vivid sense of the surrounding world. (2) They recognize the importance of improving the functions of the entire body, not just the hands which play a central role in their work. (3) Their body experiences are accompanied by relationships with people suffering from the same disease as well as healthy people. These aspects are entangled with each other from the past to the future, deciding the meaning of body experiences. In the rehabilitation of stroke survivors, we should not just see whether or not survivors are able to do something. Rather we should support the diversity of experiences so that the body, a vehicle for recognizing the surrounding world, can manage in the world through various means.

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The present study aimed to determine the effects on community-living mentally disabled persons of their participation in volunteer activities. The study intended that the knowledge acquired of such effects and the environmental requirements for them serve as key references for developing future regional mental health and social service activities.The effects on participants were qualitatively analyzed using focus group interview data. Among community-living mentally disabled persons who prepared meals for and interacted with individuals with intellectual disabilities, six volunteers provided consent to participate in the study. Results of participation in volunteer activities indicated "skill acquisition for continuing to live in the community,""broadening of daily activity areas,""experiencing how it feels to be a part of the community,"and "feelings of fulfillment and satisfaction."Environmental requirements included"existence of self-help groups,""role expectations within the community,""whether participants felt comfortable,"and"involvement with a specialist to elcit their motivation to participate,"Active participation in society may contribute to maintaining functional capacity, and is of great interest in determining the future direction of health and social service policies for mentally disabled persons.

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