Most research on elderly care in Japan has primarily focused on the perspectives of the caregivers and has not closely examined the views and experience of care-receivers. Elderly individuals who become care-receivers face many challenges that affect their relationships with caregivers. These challenges relate to their own experiences, behaviors, knowledge and attitudes on care. It is assumed that effective partnerships can reduce the stress and improve the quality of care for both caregivers and care-receivers. This may in turn help to reduce the sense of powerlessness and increase the sense of efficacy experienced by elderly care-receivers. Semi-structured interviews, conducted with 15 care-receivers who require more than 8 hours of care assistance per week, identified seven core themes in the care-receivers' perspectives with five family caregivers : (1)beliefs on care needs, (2)coping attitudes, (3)self-care, (4)participation in meaningful activities, ^building networks, (6)use of available services, and(7)future planning. Under these seven themes, some positive attitudes, participation in physical and mental self-care, acquisition of knowledge to handle new challenges, and behavioral adaptation to their new life were identified as crucial for care-receiving in their new role. Finally, the need for further research on care-receiver for social work practice is discussed.
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