The purpose of this paper is to examine the "idea of family" and the "idea of family support" which are important issues to consider when the social welfare system provides support to families. Family support is a topic that has garnished much attention in recent years. Previously, social welfare ignored the notion of gender, and emphasized self-help in families. However, recent concepts of family support are based on the two ideas of "gender-equality in families" and "shared care responsibilities between family and society." In the area of family support, family care is now viewed as a form of labor. Yet in spite of such changes, the idea of emotional connection among family members has remained the same. These days, incidents of abuse of family members are a frequent occurrence, there is a lack of respect for the "individual," and maintaining the family unit often runs counter to the welfare of family members. In this situation, there is a need to examine "the idea of emotional connection among family members." This paper therefore reconsiders the aims and ideas of family welfare, and elucidates family welfare perspectives which require reconstruction.

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"Authority" was an important concept in relations between aid workers and leprosy patients in Catholic social work. Soichi Iwashita was not only a central figure in Catholic philosophy in the early Showa era in Japan, but in later years he was a social worker for leprosy relief at Kohyama Fukusei Byoin. This paper will show Iwashita as a leprosy relief worker, and focus on the character and structure of his practical philosophy for handling worker-patient relationships in leprosy cases, using "authority" as his guiding principle. Iwashita's guidance, based on an authoritative relationship, was remarkably effective up to a certain point. However, "authority" was a two-edged sword, in that Iwashita was unable to recognize the need for filling the emotional gap that existed in his worker-patient relationships, and this became the limiting factor of his work. The fundamental reason for this was due to amplification of Iwashita's characteristically self-denying feelings of "negative sacrifice", which impeded his caritas directly associated with a love of God.

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This article aims to examine each of two main areas of research in contemporary Japan about parents of handicapped children and their 'acceptance of disability.' One of these areas is 'co-therapist' theory, and the other is 'epistemological change' theory. The former recommends to parents 'acceptance' in order to make them take roles as 'co-therapists.' And the latter does so because parents should 'represent' handicapped children through 'epistemological change' to a 'positive view of the handicapped.' Through these examinations, certain parts of the roles which have ever been charged mainly to the parents should be made clear and reconsidered. The authorities and researchers who have generated this research have continuously drawn and circulated 'desirable' images of 'parents with handicapped children.

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Assisted Reproductive Technology is being touted as the most advanced technology in medical treatment in Japan. This study tells of the necessity of protecting children's rights in Assisted Reproductive Technology from the perspective of child welfare. And it deals with the children's right to knowledge of their birth. The method of this study is as follows ; research of the adoption system, review of prior studies of Assisted Reproductive Technology and interviews with foster parents and helpers. The results are as follows : children and their parents and donors need social support ; social support is a key factor within social work, including helping parents bring up their child healthily ; helping parents inform their child of their birth through Assisted Reproductive Technology ; and supporting the child in learning about their true biological parents.

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The present historical study explored why superintendents of schools for the "feeble-minded" accepted care for the "feeble-minded" in the community, by considering relations with the approval of special classes in the public school system. This study examined the contents of new institutional roles, namely aftercare of special education, and clinical activity as intervention in public school special education. The following results were obtained. People who were discharged from public schools because of "mental defect" have applied to facilities. However, they had higher grade mentalability than usual inmates. The schools for the "feeble-minded" began to provide them with the rehabilitation services, such as aftercare training in the schools, and parole care in the community with the supervision of the institution's social workers. In addition, the schools provided public schools with institutional knowledge and technology by means of establishing clinics in them. The complementarity between Institutional Care of schools for the "feeble-minded" and Special Educational Care in the Public School System was approved by the 1920's in the United States.

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A scale of QWL was developed based on Alderfer's need satisfaction theory called E.R.G. theory. The QWL scale (QWLSCL) was designed to measure the extent to which four types of needs (or subdomains of QWL) allowance including pay and fringe-benefit, relationship with supervisor, collegiality, and growth, are met by nursing personnel working in nursing facilities for the elderly. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) , confirmatory factor analyses were employed on the data of 575 nursing personnel to examine the validity and reliability of the QWLSCL. Deletion of redundant observed variables changed the original 18-item scale to the respecified 15-item scale. Goodness of fit indices (GFI=.984, AGFI= .978, CFI=.978, RMSEA=.058) revealed the 15-item 2nd order factor model fit the data well, which confirmed the construct validity of QWLSCL.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors involving the intention to quit among certified care workers, using structural equation modeling. The subjects were 1206 certified care workers who belong to the Okayama Prefectural Association of Certified Care Workers. Firstly, the measurement model Role Ambiguity of three scales was validated through confirmatory factor analysis. Next, the hypothesis constructed with latent variables of Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity, Job-Induced Tension and Intention to Quit was examined using structural equation modeling. The result indicated that the construct validity and reliability of the measures can be supported. Analysis produced acceptable model fitness to the data. The findings suggested that the hypothesis was noteworthy among Certified Care Workers in Japan. The path coefficients between the latent variables showed the Job-Induced Tension had a direct effect on the Intention to Quit, and the Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity had an indirect effect through Job-Induced Tension.

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Many Thai people have been left behind in a policy of charging for medical services in public health facilities. Different areas of social protection have developed at different paces, however, more than 30% of population are still uninsured. Current policy discussions focus on efficiency improvement, reduction of inequity within the insured population, and the extension of coverage to the entire population. The 30-baht schema, the prospective policy discussed so far, has been implemented from October 2002. It aims at reducing the entire medical cost by providing a way of accessing the health center for those who are suffering from various disease. This paper provides an overview of the insurance system in Thailand and examines how well the 30-baht schema works in Pathumthani province which was chosen as a pilot project.

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