(Objective) A marginal community is defined as a community in which over 50% of the population are over 65 years old and faces difficulty maintaining adequate function of the residents' daily lives. Difficulties facing the marginal community can include unemployment, shopping for daily necessities, managing rural agriculture and participating in community ceremonies. This results in many people relocating to more convenient communities. This research aims to reveal the relationship between the desire for permanent living in the marginal community and the power of the community to support the elderly. (Methods and Materials) A questionnaire was administered to people over 20 years old in a marginal community through visiting all the houses in that community. The power of the community to support the elderly was measured by a 10-item Scale, the Support Power for the Elderly Scale (SPES). The SPES consists of 2 subscales: sense of power (Power Score: 6 items) and the sense of sharing community problems (Sharing Score: 4 items). The desire for permanent living when they live alone was questioned in 2 circumstances: healthy, and in need of care. (Results) Through binary logistic regression analysis, the data pointed to a significant relationship between the Power Score and the desire for permanent living in marginal communities in both the healthy and in need of care circumstances. (Conclusion) The results indicate that the feeling of empowerment in the community enhances the hopes of residents' to live permanently in the marginal community. Therefore, social workers and other professionals should endeavor to empower the community dwellers. Such empowerment can provide many other unexpected benefits and activate the marginal community.

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Objectives This six-year follow-up study was designed to analyze the relationship between social interaction and dementia. Method All participants (aged 65 years and above) lived in farming communities near major urban centers in Japan (n=558). The contents of the questionnaire covered social interaction (using an index of social interaction constituting 18 items), health status, physical function, family structure, life events, age, and gender. Results After the baseline survey, 108 subjects were analyzed within the six-year period: (1) baseline age and physical function were related to dementia; (2) greater social interaction was positively related to reduced dementia; (3) the multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for baseline age, gender, and physical function indicated that low frequency of newspaper reading was related to increased dementia. Discussion These findings highlight the importance of social interaction in dementia.

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【Purpose】The present study aimed to identify the empowerment acquisition of a person who had been visually-impaired since adolescence.【Method】Data collection and analysis were performed according to the life-history method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Rappaport's empowerment theory was used along with Simon's concept of power in interpreting the data.【Result】There were six stages of empowerment in Ms. A's case. There were disempowered stages of "awareness of her disability" followed by "prejudice within herself", moving onto empowerment stages of "self-confidence", "acceptance of her disability", and "her natural self" And after that, there was a new stage of "further development" where she was able to continue to challenge as a reborn person.【Conclusion】For Ms. A, her central theme for empowerment was "to challenge the new thing".

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