The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether students' attitudes toward persons with mental disorders were influenced by nursing education. The subjects were 50 first grade students, 70 second grade students and 71third grade students. Total number of subjects was 191 students (male10, female181; mean age, 22). A test battery was prepared comprising Attitude Towards Mental Illness Scale, Semantic Differential Method to assess the emotion-based images of the students, and Guttmann Scale to assess their social distance. These questionnaires were administered at the first and the final day of each class in psychiatric nursing and practicum. No significant difference was found between the scores before and after the two lectures. Significant differences were found between the scores before and after the practicum. After the psychiatric nursing practicum, attitudes of nursing students became significantly favorable. It was suggested that an actual contact with a mentally handicapped person favorably influence a student's attitude.

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Even after the implementation of the long-term care insurance system, family members still feel it a severe burden to take care of the elderly needing long term care. The elderly with problem behavior, especially, are said to impose heavy burden on caregivers. To solve this problem, it would be necessary first to clarify the factors which influence the feeling of burden, and then to measure the effects of the specific factors more accurately. The objective of this study was to clarify the relation between the burden felt by the main caregiver for the in-home elderly needing care/support and the manifestation of problem behavior, by based on the structural equation models. The model assumed that problem behavior generally influences the feeling of burden, satisfied the requisites at statistically acceptable levels (GFI : 0.906, AGFI : 0.850, RMSEA : 0.072), demonstrating compatibility a good fit with the data. This result suggues that problem behavior is a stressor for the caregiver and it influences the feeling of burden. In order to lighten the caregivers' feeling of burden, it would be necessary to develop of medical management and home care that would effecting controll problem behavior of the elderly needing care or support.

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Inadequate physical strength cognition in elderly people causes an unsuitable action strategy thus inducing the possibility of the danger of falls. This research examined the physical strength cognition of elderly people. The examination focused on 91 healthy elderly people who do not have trouble with daily activities and 70 healthy youths. Each subject was requested to predict the value of the Functional Reach Test and the Timed Up and Go Test. Actual measurements were carried out after their value predictions. The discrepancies between the predicted and the actual values were used as indices of physical strength cognition and they were compareal between the elderly and the goung. As a result, elderly people showed significany greater misconceptions in both tests. The functional research tests showed misconceptions of 6-7 cm and the Timed Up and Go Test indicated misconceptions of about 6 sec. These miscon'eptions were interpreted as due to the failure of recognizing the functional decline that comes naturally with aging. Various factors contribute to the process of falling. One of the factors could be based not on the decline of various functions of elderly people active research is necessary to clarify the relationship between physical strength cognition and falling through in the future.

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Objective : To clarify factors related to house adaptations for the disabled elderly. Methods : Study subjects consisted of 311 elderly users of house adaptation planning under both the nursing care system and A-City residence equipment improvement system. Data and information were collected from the records of physical and occupational therapists. A logistic retrogression analysis was used to identify relevant factors between the attributes of the 311 subjects (basic attributes, transfer ability, ADL, IADL, care level) and the required house adaptations (installation of a grasp bar at the entrance, the bathroom, the toilet, and elimination of differences in floor levels, changes in the doors, and other adaptations). Results : Installation of a grasp bar correlated with improvement in the living conditions of subjects in the 'support required' bracket or in the 'care level 3' bracket. Grasp bars at staircases and on verandas correlated with the improvement of ADL and IADL. Regarding the installation of duckboards on the bathroom floor, which are used to eliminate differences in the floor levels, other family members' convenience and house ownership were found to be the decisive factors. Conclusions : Regardless of the levels of care, it was suggested that installation of a grasp bar was necessary. House adaptation planning for the elderly should be developed from a comprehensive perspective, taking in to consideration not only their transfer ability and care level but also ADL and IADL.

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The purpose of this study was to explore the structure of maltreatment by mothers of their children for developing an empirically based, psychometrically sound instrument for the assessment of child maltreatment. Data were from 4,710 mothers, who had used 86 day-nurseries in Shizuoka prefecture. A factor structure of a pool of maltreatment items was evaluated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, when the pool of items was regarded as a psychometric measurement, the reliability, internal consistency, among scores on the individual factors was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficients. As expected, results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis yielded and supported three factors, labeled physical abuse, psychological (emotional) abuse and neglect. Furthermore, total and these sub-scales showed moderate internal coefficient alpha. Based on the findings, the authors discuss the implications of these findings specifically for its use in research settings and the future direction of child maltreatment research.

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The purpose of this study was to analyze the work-related factors of people with CVD by using the ICF (WHO2001). Nine people with CVD cooperated in answering the 9 major items and middling items involving activities and participations. The items included self-care, domestic life, interpersonal interaction and relationships, etc. based on the ICF checklists. The most effective elements of activity limitation in the reinstated group with, aphasia were "interpersonal interactions and relationships", "communication", "learning and applying knowledge" and "general tasks and demands". Subjects with aphasia had a tendency to show higher levels of limitation than those without aphasia. The ICF checklists were found to be effective in evaluating the worker's difficulties of living factors for an occupational therapist as a career supporter. This study also noted the use of the checklists enabled the therapist to analyze the subjects' situation in resuming work.

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This study aimed at clarifying the intervention needed for mothers of children with mental retardation. The informants for this study were ten mothers whose children had intellectual disabilities and were in the first and second grades of elementary schools. The data collected through the informants' narratives was based on semi-structured interviews. The informants were asked what they needed when previously attending community interventive facilities, when attending elementary schools, and during current intervention. The data was analyzed with the Grounded Theory Approach. It was found that the maternal role experienced by the mothers corresponded to six socio-cultural factors during the self-realization on process. It was suggested that the diversity of identity bases was the core concept that controlled maternal role change. Furthermore, the importance of supporting each mother's self-competency and decision-making experience in socio-cultural areas should be a high priority of intervention.

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Thirty seven literatures investigating the LD incidence rates were compared and examined with the main consideration on the methods. They were categorized into three types : literatures on children with LD; on those with academic difficulties; and on those with mild developmental handicaps (each type included suspected child). The incidence rates given in these literatures varied from 0.22% to 10.43%. The questionnaires used in those investigations included items of coordinated movements, and/or attention and activity levels. There were relatively few items on hearing and speaking, on reading and writing, or on calculating and reasoning. The standard measure in the determination of the actual condition of LD provided by the Government (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) was not adequate for obtaining the actual incidence rates. Although there was no reliable examination to obtain the precise incidence rate, it was deemed that there was a necessity for neurological evaluation or longitudinal perspective for the investigation of LD incidence rates to be included.

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It is desirable for as many people as possible to experience and comprehend the ambulatory difficulties and mental states that the elderly may experience in their everyday lives due to functional decline concomitant with the aging process. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term effects of the elderly simulation program on the conduct and mentality of the subjects as well as on their understanding of the elderly (instant senior program). We conducted a follow-up survey with the subjects before, right after, one month, and three months subsequent to the program using a written question-and-answer method. The subjects of the analysis were 159 program participants. As a result, the program proved effective for a given period in regard to their increased understanding of movement and ambulatory difficulties, as well as to their recognition of the sustainability of the effects of the program after one month, though a tendency toward a decline after three months was observed. Furthermore, in regard to awareness of and attitude toward the elderly, effects after one and three months as well as long-term effects of the program appeared to be poor though a change was recognized immediately after the experiences.

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Tokyo Metropolitan Government shifted the role of the direct services to the 23 Wards in Metropolitan Tokyo and 26 cities in Tokyo Prefecture. These 23 Wards and 26 cities comprise the District of Tokyo Prefecture. As a result, for the year 2004, supported employment programs started in 28 places out of 49 districts. In 2003, supported employment programs were not used, and instead, vocational training was given in the Tokyo Vocational Center for the Physically and Mentally Handicapped. There were 23 people who were interviewed for vocational evaluation to enter the vocational program, since they needed be to referred to the Tokyo Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center for the Physically and Mentally Handicapped (Hereafter identified as the Center). Fourteen people lived in the District, which had a supported employment program. A need was found for vocational training beyond the supported employment program. While a supported employment network was taken seriously, a supported employment office was needed for backup support from the Center when face with difficult problems. Financial support was necessary, and the importance of the support functions helping persons with mental retardation to keep jobs. A transition from sheltered workshop to competitive employment suggests the needs for changing programs at institutions with increased availabilities of transition units, working units, and day activity units.

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It is often difficult for occupational therapy students attending schools which have no affiliated hospital to form an image of clinical situations. Consequently, the need exists to instruct students without access to such facilities. To overcome this problem, we developed an instructional video to show how a trained occupational therapist would initially assess a patient (hereinafter referred to as the assessment video). The objectives of the present study were : 1) To confirm the usefulness of the assessment video; and 2) To identify potential improvements that could be made in the tape, or its usage as a teaching tool in the future. The subjects were fourth-year university occupational therapy students in 'A' college who, after learning about the object of this project, consented to watch the assessment video and respond to a questionnaire. Each subject was asked to complete the questionnaire immediately after watching the assessment video. The results showed that the use of the assessment video was an effective means of familiarizing occupational therapy students with patient assessment procedures. The following three potential improvements to the assessment video were identified : 1) development of auxiliary materials that could be used in conjunction with the assessment video in group discussions; 2) the creation of additional videos that show tasks other than the initial assessments that occupational therapists perform; and 3) the development of videos that show occupational therapists interacting with patients in various conditions.

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The local government (a metropolis and 46 districts and 35 administrative divisions・special districts.) were investigated to find the present situation and issues related to business and employment for the disabled. The results were as follows : (1) transition guidance, industrial support, and promotion activities were done in 62.1% of the total local government. (2) a metropolis and districts had more advanced services such as vocational training, promotion and industrial supports than administrative divisions・special districts. (3) of 317 activities involved with awarding the employers, placement of the advisers, campaigns, 31% were initiated by a metropolis and districts; while of 130 activities involved with employment for the disabled and net-working 30% were initiated by administrative divisions・special districts. The study suggested the importance of well-balanced, collaborative efforts of a metropolis・districts and administrative divisions・special districts.

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