This study aimed to reveal difficulties perceived by nurses at day-care centers during the response to anaphylactic shock in children with a food allergy. It also aimed to investigate the support necessary for accommodating children who are prescribed an adrenalin auto-injector by establishing an emergency system within day-care centers. Nine day-care nurses, who had consented to participate in this study, were interviewed in accordance with an interview guide, and data were qualitatively analyzed using an inductive approach. The following four categories were extracted: worries about the ability of the day-care center as a whole (including all staff) to deal with emergency events; feeling a heavy burden of responsibility in the event of an emergency; an insufficient system for responding to emergency events; differences in action policies among parents/guardians, doctors, and day-care centers. Concrete measures such as stipulation of posting of a nurse at every day-care center in a relevant law or guidelines, and financial support by the government for those expenses are required. A training system and a support system (e.g., legal authority protection) should be established so that all day-care nurses can confidently play an educational role toward staff at day-care centers.

 We conducted a qualitative and descriptive research among seven mothers with stay-home, medically dependent children with profound multiple disabilities. The aims of this study were to understand the mothers’ thoughts on their husbands’ performance in paternal responsibilities and to consider how to offer nursing support to these families from the perspective of family management.

 The following categories were extracted from the study: (1) relief felt by a father when his child with disabilities receives affection, (2) respecting the childcare the father performs, despite work being his primary responsibility, (3) desire to maintain the current cooperative system for raising the child and doing housework, (4) inability to leave the disabled child to the father without concern, (5) appreciation of the husband’s respect for the mother for her efforts in tending to the needs of the child with disabilities, (6) appreciation of the husband for giving emotional support by listening, (7) occasional irritation due to not being on the same page as the husband in terms of caring for their child with disability, (8) willingness to understand the difficulty of performing paternal responsibilities, and (9) feeling of having no other option but to live together each day to the best of their ability.

 Nursing support, for families, needs to focus on the differences in parents’ feelings about medically dependent children with profound multiple disabilities when admitted to advanced-care medical facilities. Support should also facilitate contact between fathers and children and enable them to express such feelings during these times.

 This study attempted to clarify nurses’ perceptions about “child and family-based care,” including the process of initiating home-based medical care for the child and family. We conducted a survey among nurses working in hospitals or home-visit settings. We defined “child and family-based care” based on existing perspectives on child-parent interaction and concepts of patient- and family-centered care prevalent in Western countries, wherein reciprocal engagement between children, families, and nurses is encouraged and where the child’s and family’s perspective and experience are respected. Although nurses recognized the importance of child and family-based care, few practiced it. Nurses reported difficulty in providing the child and family-based care, especially when teamwork or organized systems were required. The factor analysis revealed four significant factors: “collaboratively engaging in care while sharing perspectives and thoughts among the child, parent and nurses,” “respecting them as child, parent or family,” “providing necessary information and support for the child’s, parents’, and the family’s life,” and “ensuring the availability of opportunities for discussion.” Thus, further studies are necessary in order to draw a clearer picture of the care.

 Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) need to transition from pediatric to adult healthcare. This study aimed to clarify differences in cognition of transition between adolescents with CHD and their parents, and to determine their needs for support. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 40 pairs. Effective responses were collected from 35 patients (response rate 87.5%) and 32 parents (response rate 80.0%). The acquisition of disease related information by patients and explaining the disease to the people around them were identified factors that affected the transition. These factors were associated with frequent explanation of the disease by parents and provision of informational support by physicians. However, the process of transition was mainly dealt with by their parents and/or physicians. In addition, some patients were found to experience anxiety regarding changing from pediatricians to cardiologists in adult healthcare, and tended to decide against the transition due to lack of information. This indicates that patients need support such as information regarding the transition and promoting an understanding of their disease. At the same time, there is a need to consider the support required for parents to help their children to make the transition without difficulties.

 Those in pediatric nursing quite often mention the child’s independence but its meaning in the context of nursing has not been defined in past literature. A better understanding of the term would help them provide more effective nursing care to sick children. The purpose of this study was therefore to analyze the current meaning, in Japan, of children’s independence and consider how it would apply to pediatric nursing. 75 papers and books, written in Japanese, in the fields of nursing science, education, psychology and development study were subjected to concept analysis based on the method by Rodgers (2000). Seven categories were extracted as a result. According to the findings, the child’s independence was characterized by the attributes of proactive recognition/emotions/actions and development through progressive stages. The antecedents of concept were categorized as the child’s development/emotions/experience and interaction of surrounding adults. The consequences were the healthy sense of self and development, positive emotions and the ability to manage and adopt. A concept model based on the findings suggested the development of independence by repeating the cycle of antecedents, attributes and consequences. The study further suggested that interaction of surrounding adults would become an effective guide for the provision of nursing care to sick children and attributes and consequences could be used as an indicator of independence.

 Background: It is reported that menstruation and menstrual distress exists in children and adolescents with disabilities related with the disabilities and the development. However, the situation of the children and adolescents with disabilities has remained unclear.

 Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the situation of menstruation and menstrual distress in children and adolescents with disabilities from perspective of parents.

 Methods: The questionnaires were sent to 205 parents, 133 parents of children and adolescents with disabilities were enrolled (the mean of 45.1±6.3 years, mother: 94.0%). The questionnaire consisted of condition on a menstrual period of children and adolescents, content of menstrual distress. The contents of menstrual distress were based on Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ).

 Results: Compared with previous study, all scores of MDQ were lower than children and adolescents with typical development. Furthermore, the disabilities of children were more serious, each symptoms of menstruation answered by parents were “unidentified”, and there were significant differences between slight cases of disabilities and serious cases of disabilities in contents of menstruation distress.

 Conclusion: A regular assessment of menstruation and menstrual distress in children and adolescents with disabilities is needed.