Objectives. This study was designed to clarify the relation between continuity of social interaction and eight-year-mortality in a group of elderly people. Methods. The participants were all 65 years or older living in farming communities near major urban centers in Japan (n=554). The contents of the questionnaire covered social interaction (using an "Index of Social Interaction" consisting of 18 items), health status, activities of daily living (ADL), age and gender. Results. A total of 84 subjects died within the eight year period after the baseline survey: 1) baseline age and ADL were related to the eight-year mortality; 2) continuity of social interaction was positively related to reduced mortality; 3) multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for baseline age, gender, physical function, health status, and ADL indicated that continuity of social interaction was related to reduced mortality. Discussion. These findings highlight the importance of continuing social interaction in successful aging.

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Background: With more and more very old people and relatively less young people as well as an old population becoming more demanding what their self-determined life is concerned the provision of housing and care needs structural changes. Concepts of such changes have been developed in Europe including both Germany and Sweden. Methods: In Germany the Residential Area Concept has been developed by analyzing existing care and housing solutions that seemed better suited to future needs than traditional ones. Also examples from abroad were included. The results showed a great variety of solutions both in terms of forms of housing, and in particular of care provision for local areas. Results: In the German concept the focus is laid on strengthening social networks within rather small-scale residential areas where housing, care and social support should be integrated. Also special needs housing should be laid out to serve this purpose. Such a new care structure needs changes of the roles providers play. They must cooperate und encourage citizen participation. In Sweden, special forms of housing are in the focus of the more centralized social planning, but a revision towards a more community oriented approach is under discussion.

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Background: Over the fast decides, after transition from a socialist system to a market economy, Mongolia has been quite impressive in social and economic development. But these improvements have not been meaningful impacts on health services, poverty reduction and environmental and sustainable development. During this transition period many families were plunged into poverty, social services were reduced and women were losing their equal opportunities. In order to solve the problems faced to community, it needs to promote empowerment and advancement for both men and women. Although basic human indicators are almost equal for Mongolian men and women, there are very few studies have examined in community empowerment and gender differences in Mongolia. Addressing and reducing the gender and socioeconomic disparities in the health of population is very important and the aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in health seeking pathways among the communities in Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia. Methods: Five hundred randomly selected adult respondents were surveyed through paper based questionnaires. Each respondent represents one household and the survey was carried out urban and peri-urban areas in Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia. Results: However, the health statuses of women were found to be lower than men, males are less likely to seek health care than females. The results show that women were more likely to have periodical exams than men. Also the most respondents did not participate in health enhancing activities. Conclusions: Even, there was some significant gender differences in health seeking behaviour, there were no gender barriers in health seeking behaviour in Mongolian society. In other hand the process of empowering community need to be more developed and surveyed at all level in Mongolia and there is much need to continue this kind of studies.

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Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between elders' social interaction and their subsequent functional capacity. Method: A longitudinal study based on interview and investigation were carried out with the sample of elderly people who living in the rural community of Japan. Total 267 elderly people aged 60 and over were enrolled in this study in 2005 and 2008. The data of social interaction and activity of daily living (ADL) including basic ADL (BADL) and instrumental ADL (IADL) were analyzed by logistic regression analysis to examine the associations between elders' social interaction and their functional status 3 years later. Results: Subjects were consisted of 117 men (mean age±standard deviation, 68±7.0 years) and 150 women (69±7.6 years). During the 3-year follow up, after controlling for elders' age and gender, the significant factors of social activities related to their future BADL included: having a hobby (odds ratio=-1.57, p<0.05); having a self-identity as a useful social role (odds ratio: -1.78, p<0.05). For future IADL it included: Participation in community activities (odds ratio: -1.57.95%, p<0.05); Feeling importance in normal life (odds ratio: -1.65, <0.05) and using handy equipments (odds: -1.47, p<0.05). Conclusion: The findings in the present study clarified the links between elders' social interactions and their functional capacity three years later in the sample of rural community. It indicated that more social interaction which engages their physical and intellectual function can probably retard elders' function capacity decline.

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Background: Early mother-child interaction is an important environmental factor for children, but there are only few observational studies looking into this in Japan. There is a need for research based on an observational and longitudinal study. Methods: This project, conducted in Japan, sought to examine the relations between children's social competence and early mother-child interaction and adaptation of 174 toddlers and mothers. The Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) was used to assess children's social competence and caregiver's parenting features when children are 18, 30 and 42 months old. Results: The results showed that early mother-child interaction was related to the children's autonomy, responsiveness, empathy, motor regulation, and emotional regulation assessed by the IRS. Conclusion: These findings show that early mother-child interaction is related to children's social competence at 42 months of age.

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Background: Sleeping is important to children's development. There are some findings that sleep improvement of children with autism resulted in the improvement in social relatedness. Therefore sleeping patterns may be important to develop social skills. The aim of this study is to find the interaction between sleeping patterns, especially waking up patterns and social skill in healthy children. Methods: All authorized child-night-care centers and attached child-day-care facilities across Japan participated in the study when the children were two to four year-olds. Parents filled in questionnaires regarding sleeping time, and service providers evaluated the development of each child in the facility every year. Results: The trajectory of children's social skill in cooperation, self- regulation, and assertion were adopted. There was an association between cooperation and waking-up patterns, even after adjusting in gender. Conclusions: These findings show that waking-up patterns play the important roles for children's social skill. Further research is needed in order to clarify the correlation between sleeping patterns and social skill.

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A cohort study focusing on dental health, dental behavior and mortality was carried out among the elderly residents of a village near the city Nagoya. The aim of the study was to assess the possible role of dental health and dental behavior as a predictor of mortality. A survey, conducted during the period from 2002 to 2008, targeted 1012 people over the age of 60. Upon completion of the survey, multiple logistic regression was used to analyze factors affecting the survival rate. The results revealed a significant correlation between 6-year mortality levels and oral health behavior as indicated by a yes answer to the following questions; "Do you know the 8020 Movement?"; "Do you go to the dentist as soon as possible, if you need to?"; "Do you brush your teeth two times or more during a day?"; "Do you go to the dentist for a routine dental health check-up?". Within the positive responder group logistic regression analyses further revealed that the mortality rate was significantly dependent upon age and gender when using the yearly number of routine dental health check-ups as the independent variable. Our results support the hypothesis that a routine dental health check up strongly correlates with an increased survival rate and a longer lifespan.

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Background: With an increasing number of working mother in Japan, resulted to the concomitant increase in the using of non-parental childcare facilities to help look after the child. This increase in non-parental care has led to a dramatic change in the traditional child-rearing environment. Besides, young children's vocabulary and communication competences were demonstrated to be tightly correlated with early parenting practice. Methods: A total of 398 children and their working mothers were recruited from Japanese government-licensed childcare facilities. Children's developments were assessed by childcare professionals and parenting behaviors were collected by questionnaire which was filled by mothers. Results: The results show that mother singing songs with child (OR=3.079, P=0.0024) and playing with child (OR=9.393, P=0.0137) are beneficial to children's vocabulary development one year later. Conversely, punishment (OR=4.702, P=0.0088) child would exacerbate child vocabulary developmental delay. Mother playing with child (OR=6.119, P=0.043) also contribute to child's competence of communication, meanwhile, mother has confidence about childrearing (OR=3.553, P=0.0233) promote to children's communication development as well. Daily mother-child interaction in early childhood is crucial predictor for young children's language development later. Conclusion: Working mothers should increase the daily parent-child interaction activities with young children consciously in their free time, so as to promote children's competence development in vocabulary and communication

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Background: Dementia is one of the most common diseases in the elderly. Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world, which means that serious health problems such as dementia are prevalent among a large segment of the Japanese population. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between lifestyle habits and dementia among community dwelling older adults by conducting a cohort study. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study conducted over 6 years. The study was carried out in a farming community near a major urban center in Japan. Results: The participants consisted of 525 elderly adults aged 65 years or older. Multiple logistic regression analysis after adjustment for sex and age indicated that the diagnosis of dementia was 4.0 times higher among participants who did not take breakfast (p<0.01, CI=1.3-11.8), 2.7 times higher among participants who did snack (p<0.05, CI=1.1-6.5), 2.5 times higher among participants who did not care for salt consumption (p<0.05, CI=1.1-5.8), and 2.7 times higher among participants who did not care for nutrient balance (p<0.05, CI=1.2-6.2). Conclusion: According to our results, several lifestyle habits were associated with dementia. Appropriate interventions are required for high-risk individuals, including those with mild cognitive impairment. Evaluation and counseling by the physician is likely to strongly influence patient and caregiver awareness of dementia and hopefully slow disease progression. We suggest that public nurses may have the capacity to assess community dwelling elderly individuals in this manner in the Japanese health system.

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Background: The objective of the present study was to elucidate factors related to the contemplation of abuse toward care recipients among family caregivers in order to prevent elderly abuse within families. Methods: Questionnaires were distributed in September 2009 to a total of 1008 primary caregivers of users of visiting nursing stations in Prefecture X. Responses were obtained from 651 caregivers, and analyzed 308 among them. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed using two groups as dependent variables ("one type of abuse" vs. "more than one type" and the "none" group as the standard) and other variables as independent variables. Results: A total of 57.6% of caregivers were classified into the "none" group, 26.0% into the "one type" group, and 16.6% into the "multiple" group. Significant odds ratios for the "one type" group relative to the "none" group were as follows: care burden score, presence of cerebrovascular disease, and care-giving experience. In addition, significant odds ratios for the "multiple" group relative to the "none" group were as follows: care burden score, depression score, and positive view of care. Conclusion: Support for reducing care burden must be given to family caregivers who contemplate even one type of abuse.

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We aimed to clarify the effects of mothers' praise-when their children were 18 months-on the trajectory of their children's social competence from 18 months to 30 months. The participants were 194 mother-child dyads whose interaction was observed when the children were 18 months and 30 months. The features of mother-child interaction were examined using the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an aspect of social competence. Logistic regression analysis was performed with the trajectory of social competence from 18 months to 30 months as the dependent variable and the actual behaviors of caregivers' praise as independent variables while controlling for the children's gender and the mothers' age and educational background. It was found that the mothers' actual praise-related behavior influenced the trajectory of their children's social competence from 18 months to 30 months.

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An anonymous self-recording questionnaire was administered to 565 public health nurses engaged in health services for 10 months old infants across the country, which aimed to clarify the features of mother-child interaction in cases requiring follow-up. As a result, the Child Related Items of IRS in the cases requiring follow-up (295 boy infants and 257 girl infants) were negatively evaluated in "Motor Self-regulation" and "Emotional Self-regulation," and the Caregiver Related Items were negatively evaluated in "Respect for Cognitive Development" and "Respect for Social-emotional Development." The observation of mother-child interaction in infants requiring follow-up by public health nurses suggested the features that mother was anxious about the infant's behavior and stability of mind, that mother was unable to take approach in empathy with the child, and that mother had difficulty in understanding the child's image and then interacting with the child.

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This study examined the relationship between types of maternal stress, parenting attitudes and support, aspects of childcare use, and outcomes of child development and health conditions of 5-year-olds in daycare in Japan. Results showed that the stress of mothers immediately after birth was significantly related to punishing the child and also significantly related to the lack of interaction with their child, such as reading books, shopping, and playing. Spousal support and cooperation was also a key factor in outcomes. The findings suggest that, in support for childrearing, measures that reduce the stress of mothers at this time are important.

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