This study aimed to identify an association between risk of falling and various functions in 45 community-dwelling frail elderly people from the viewpoint of preventive care. The investigated items comprised fall risk, physical functions, cognitive and living functions, and fear of falling. We found that 11% of the elderly people had experienced falls. Factors involved in increasing risk of falling included dynamic and static balance ability, decreased walking speed and cognitive functions about body functions. In terms of cognitive function, decreased attention (selectivity) and living functions, the extent of fear of falling, movement such as the amount of the attention given to falling, leisure activities, the limit of in-home roles, and walking up and down stairs were associated with risk of falling. Fear of falling was also associated with the presence or absence of a domestic role. Fear of falling needs to be considered in addition to physical and cognitive functions when considering the efforts to prevent the fall of frail elderly. Intervention in areas such as the domestic role or leisure activities also seems particularly important.

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In the present study, we sought to demonstrate the relationship between professional motivation and stress among new nursing students as part of our attempt to develop stress-coping measures at a nursing university. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire on professional motivation for becoming a nurse, responses to stress, and stress coping methods (sense of coherence, SOC) was conducted on 137 nursing students at Nursing University A, and 112 valid responses were subjected to analysis. Compared to the respondents who demonstrated a lack of professional motivation, a high percentage of respondents who showed strong professional motivation (i. e., those who wanted to become a nurse for financial reasons, those who were recommended by others to study nursing, and those who wanted to become a nurse for no definable reason) fell into the high-stress group. Respondents who showed strong professional motivation (i.e., those who saw nursing as a worthwhile profession and those who found nursing to be an interesting profession) had a higher median SOC score than the respondents who showed a lack of professional motivation. Our findings suggest that assessing the professional motivations of nursing students is a useful way to develop stress-coping measures to maintain physical and mental health.

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In the present study, we attempted to gain insights into ways to reduce breastfeeding anxiety in 1-month postpartum mothers. Specifically, we distributed an anonymous, selfadministered questionnaire to 196 mothers at 1 month postpartum, and then analyzed their responses from the perspective of mental and physical health sciences to determine their anxiety about breastfeeding and the factors related to this anxiety. All mothers (100%) responded to the questionnaire and 183 mothers (93.4%) provided valid responses.
Our analysis of the 183 valid responses showed that 106 mothers (57.9%) experienced breastfeeding anxiety. Factors related to this anxiety were “experience of childbirth,” “plans to return to work,” “previous participation in childbirth preparation classes,” “feedingmethods at discharge and 1 month postpartum,” “sleep status,” and “feeling or not feeling enjoyment from childrearing.” Additionally, factors directly related to breastfeeding anxiety were “tendency for insufficient breastmilk production,” “nipple and breast pain,” “baby's feeding style,” and “use of nipple protectors.”
Our findings suggest that primiparous mothers with no previous childrearing experience may have difficulty in acquiring the skills to raise their newborn in the brief period from immediately after childbirth until discharge.

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