The purpose of this research is to clarify the trends in acceptance of refugees and public assistance by Japan through relevant documents. For Indo-Chinese refugees, the Japanese government began to permit their stay in 1975 and their settlement in 1979. Now about 11,000 Indo-Chinese refugees live in Japan. Convention refugees were first accepted by the Japanese government starting from 1982, and about 330 people have been recognized as Convention refugees to date. This research also identified some problems regarding acceptance of refugees and public assistance. First, only a limited number of Indo-Chinese refugees are accepted. Second, public assistance for settlement is only provided several years after settlement is permitted. Three, compared to other countries, the number of Convention refugees recognized by Japan is extremely small. Four, public assistance for settlement was only implemented recently.

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This study compared levels of stressors, resources, and caregiving stress among elderly spouse caregivers by gender. It also examined whether the stressors and resources had different effects on spouse caregivers' psychological, physical, and social conditions by gender. The subjects included primary spouse caregivers : 68were males and 134 were females. Stressors included care recipients' ADL and cognitive limitations, frequencies of caregiving, and durations of caregiving. Resources included financial conditions ; availability of additional caregiver(s) ; and utilization of home care, day care, and short-stay services. The effects of caregiving included the emotional exhaustion, the number of physical symptoms, and social restrictions due to caregiving. The results of t-tests showed no gender differences in any stressor, while male caregivers were more likely to have additional caregiver(s) and to use home care service(s). Male caregivers also had lower scores in emotional exhaustion and physical symptoms. Multiple regression analyses and variable to variable analyses showed that financial conditions had significant relationships with physical symptoms and social restrictions only among females, while the number of cognitive limitations had a significant relationship with physical symptoms only among males.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and mortality using a three year longitudinal study among the elderly. The subjects were residents (between 65 and 84 years old) in Shizuoka Prefecture. The baseline data such as age, sex, medical histories, life style, mobility, and QOL (using the "Index of QOL") were collected in 1999 (n=14001). 781 people from baseline survey died during three-year (1999-2001) , and 11509 people lived, and 1711 people were missing. The results were as follows : (1)Low score on "Index of QOL" was significantly related to three-year mortality. (2) Logistic regression analysis adjusted for sex, mobility, and medical histories indicating odds of mortality showed significantly high with lower score in the Index of QOL. These findings suggest that mortality affected the QOL among the elderly.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of homebound elderly living in the community. The subjects were 166 older adults aged 65 to 96. We defined homebound going-out frequency about once per week. The results demonstrated a homebound rate of 21.1%, a higher tendency than past studies. The factors related to homebound state were TMIG-Index of Competence, social role, self-rated health, self-rated physical strength, social activities and social support. IADL, cognitive function and area environment were not related. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze independent effects of the homebound status. The final model for prediction of homebound status at follow-up research included : self-rated physical strength (OR : 0.43 ; 95%CI : 0.22-0.84),socialrole (OR : 0.71 ; 95%CI : 0.50-0.99), learning activities at a citizen hall (OR : 0.27 ; 95%CI : 0.08-0.97). Discussion : In spite of the fact that self-rated physical strength was not connected with present IADL, it was a factor in homebound status. As a result, when performing prevention activities for the homebound in communities, it was suggested that it is effective to examine the contents of any activity requiring physical strength.

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The current study examined the characteristics of non-participants in social activities among the elderly. Data of 593 persons aged 65 years and over were obtained from a mail survey. The elderly were asked to indicate whether they participated in each four types of the social activities within the last year. The elderly were categorized into three groups : participants, non-participants who were intending to participate, and non-participants who were not intending. The two groups of non-participants were compared with participants using multinomial logistic regression analyses, and the analyses revealed following results : (1) The characteristics of non-participants who were intending to participate in neighborhood association had a higher level of failure anxiety and little opportunity to be invited to take part. (2) The characteristics of non-participants who were intending to participate in learning activity had fewer friends and little opportunity to be invited to take part. (3) The characteristics of non-participants who were intending to participate in volunteer activity had a higher level of failure anxiety, no useful skill in social activities, few friends, and little information about social activities. (4) The characteristics of non-participants who were intending to participate in hobby club had physical difficulties, few friends, and little opportunity to be invited to take part.

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To sort out the present state of end-of life care at special nursing homes for the aged (special home, hereafter) and clarifying issues for putting high-quality hospice services in practice, studies related to these issues were reviewed. People who face the end-of-life at special homes are a minority (about 2 %) at present. However, as people wishing to face the end outside home and special homes willing to offer hospice services increase in number, the services are expected to become prevalent in the future through necessary preparations such as "policy clarification by institutions". On the other hand, it is difficult to state that conditions for high-quality end-of-life care are satisfied at present because of weak medical treatment systems. Considering the above, issues were sorted out at the following three levels : policy, institution, and practice. To advance hospice services at special homes, measures need to be taken to position special homes as a place for hospice services at the policy level ; studies need to be gathered including preparations for four establishing conditions, document introduction for advance directive, and development of quality evaluation indices at the institution level ; and systematization of management know-how is deemed necessary at the level of implementation.

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This study aims to examine the effects of unit-care for the elderly with dementia at a special nursing home for the elderly. The present study is based upon ; 1. fieldwork at one unit of a special nursing home for the elderly, 2. a case study of 5 demented residents in the unit. As the result, the effects of unit-care for the elderly with dementia are summarized as follows ; 1. adaptation to "unit-care", 2. facilitating communication among the residents of a nursing home, 3. enhancing the enjoyment of meals, 4. increasing motivation and energy for their lives, 5. activating group dynamics.

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This study looks at students attending a free school in the Chikuho District of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The paper examines the situation of school dropout children from economically disadvantaged families and suggests strategies to support these children. In this district, the ratio of welfare recipients exceeds the national average by ten times and more than 50% of the children going to the free school live in households on welfare. Moreover, 70% of these children are at such low scholastic attainment levels that they face numerous obstacles even if returned to their former school. In addition, many of them live in single-parent families (42%) , and in families with mentally or intellectually handicapped parents (25%). The study finds that the educational deprivation is considered to be the main problem for school dropout children from disadvantaged families, and suggests a framework for setting up comprehensive compensatory education systems. The methods of collaboration with parents are also discussed.

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In order to present the issues in advancing research on poverty in children in Japan, this paper considers the trends up to the present for research on poverty and inequality in children. As the result of examining research based on quantitative data from longitudinal studies, research that subjectively followed the effects of poverty on children, and research based on reference observations in the home, the most current trends are thought to be represented by the "child-centred perspective" of T. Ridge and A. Lareau's research based on comparison of child rearing methods and hierarchical interactions within the family. However, neither of these approaches attempts to explain the process contributing to effects of family poverty on children, making apparent the necessity of future study on this point. Thus, an analysis was performed on the relationship between objective conditions such as family and education systems, and the subjective awareness of children, confirming the view that it is most important to have a clear understanding of "life chance inequality."

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Mental health and welfare measures and policies are rapidly changing in Japan and are moving toward appropriate psychiatric care and comprehensive community living care. Above all, the significance of the existence of social workers who are responsible for community living care is heightening. Given that trend, this paper touches on dilemmas for social workers that arise when psychiatric care encompasses community living care and discusses the essential roles of social workers. The result is that first the phenomenon of "living care management" is critically evaluated using the concept of "medicalization" and that the essential roles of social workers are noted, predicated on the redefinition of users. Second, the difficulty in seeing the "particular nature of social work" when a multitude of occupations are responsible for community living care is discussed based on characteristics of living care and the particular nature of a professional stance is noted. In addition, the expertise of the social worker lies not in "an individual who applies advanced knowledge and techniques" but in "an individual who derives knowledge and techniques in practice."

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The purpose of the present study is to make clear the necessity of school social workers in Japan as links for collaboration between schools and community agencies to educate students with social problems. Municipal boards of education, elementary schools, and junior high schools in Fukuoka Prefecture answered questionnaires about the tasks of collaboration between schools and community agencies. The results showed the following : (1) Most of the coordinators between schools and community agencies were school staff, and they did not have enough time to coordinate the times and dates for the meetings because of school work, so, they hoped for full-time professional coordinators. (2) They felt the distinction between their own and community agencies'points of view to serve students with social problems. (3) They couldn't get professional support quickly. (4) They didn't know the professional role and staff of community agencies. (5) They couldn't consult readily because of a lack of mutual reliance. These results indicated that school social workers are necessary for schools in Japan.

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