In recent years, reports on young people and children who take care of their own parents and grandparents in their homes are getting picked up in the media. Based on the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Employment Structure Basic Survey (2014), it is reported that in Japan there are nearly 180,000 people who have such a role. It has been noted that such young people and children are at high risk of suffering various influences on academic work, employment and even mental health, in connection with engaging in care for their families, the necessity of support has been pointed out from the previous research including the UK. Even in Japan, there are some aspects that are gradually being clarified from the media reports and the interview survey for the parties as mentioned above, but the number of empirical studies is very limited. In this study, we proceeded empirical research on young people and children (hereinafter referred to as Young carer) who provide nursing care and care to such families of diseased and disabled adults, and developed a psychological scale that can be index to contribute to accumulation of useful knowledge for its support. Items were prepared through Japanese translation of the content of young carer of Inventory Revised (YCOPI-R) by Cox et al (2014) and back translation. Using the Internet survey, we analyzed the responses of 174 people (including 59 Young carers) from the obtained data. As a result of factor analysis, the same structure as Cox et al (2014) was observed. It was also shown that reliability and validity are sufficient .It was considered that it is necessary to empirically investigate mental health, relationship with family function and structure, adaptability fulfilled by maturity perceived by the parties, in the future research using the developed scale.

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The objective of this study was to develop a new measure of stress response in children, the Comprehensive Stress Response Inventory for Children (CSI-C). The items and response options of the original CSI, which was designed for use with adults, were modified using expressions more accessible to children. This measure was then used to conduct a self-report survey among 500 respondents, who were first-grade elementary to third-grade high school students, located in the Tohoku or Kanto regions of Japan at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake. A confirmatory factor analysis of the CSI-C demonstrated the validity of its four-factor structure, and Cronbach’s alpha test indicated the scale to be reliable. Concurrent validity was confirmed with both the DSRS-C and PTSSC-15. Finally, cutoff values were determined using an ROC analysis, at 21 points for general stress response and 12 points for disaster stress response. The CSI-C uses a four-factor system, in accordance with prior theory, and our findings suggest that it provides sufficient reliability and validity as a measure of stress response in children.

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Couples with marital infidelity have received many therapies, but the effective therapies for them were still unclear. The present case study utilized Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) and Empty-Chair Dialogue Intervention (ECDI) for a couple with marital infidelity and aimed to show advantages of ECDI over EFCT. Our case was a Japanese heterosexual couple with husband’s infidelity. The husband also had alcohol abuse and bipolar disorder, whereas the wife assaulted him physically. During the first 6 monthly sessions, they were peaceful but wife’s physical assault suddenly occurred and interrupted the therapy. During the next 5 monthly sessions, EFCT was applied for them, but his hypomanic episode and her physical assault disturbed their emotionally responsive communication during the sessions. During the last 5 biweekly sessions, ECDI was applied for the wife. She imaginary dialogued with the husband’s extramarital lovers, rather than the husband. During the ECDI sessions, she had been able to fall asleep during night and her physical assault on him had been disappeared. Even after the three-year follow up since the ECDI session, her physical assault and his marital infidelity had not occurred. Comparative advantages of ECDI over EFCT were discussed.

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