Japanese Journal of Social Welfare

This article explores the contemporary possibility of the reciprocal feeling of people through the historical examination of the idea of "national mutual help" in Japan. After World War II, the Ministry of Health and Welfare started the nationwide campaign of community chest, for the purpose of fund-raising to finance the private sectors of social welfare settlements. To this end, the campaign attempted to propagate two ideas for its purpose: i.e. the duty of a community member, and the duty of mutual help in the nation. The former was related to the idea of the democratic movement at that time, and the latter was associated with the idea of Douhou Engokai, an organization intended to raise support among fellow countrymen. These two ideas can be traced back to the traditional feeling of reciprocal help in the neighborhood. This basic reciprocal feeling of people was an important basis of the policy for relief and charities, named Rinpo-Soufu or Shakai-Rentai. The idea of the duty of "national mutual help", named Kokumin Tasukeai, was also based on the feeling of reciprocal help in the community. Through this examination, we clarified that idea of "national mutual help" has been important to reawaken the reciprocal feeling among people.

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In this paper, some problems in social welfare systems regarding the study of financial assistance provided by educational institutions to school children, that is, study assistance systems are discussed. Previous studies have shown the need to examine three aspects concerning study assistance systems: ・The outline of financial support systems for children ・The extent of national assistance ・Practice of study assistance systems by municipalities Based on previous studies and data, the following problems are clear. (1) Inconsistent levels of study assistance systems and public assistance are provided. (2) The laws about study assistance systems for educational rights are framed in vague terms. (3) Financial support systems for municipality are not sufficient. (4) There is considerable confusion among municipalities regarding(1)〜(3). Study assistance systems relate to not only public assistance and volunteer systems "MINSEI IIN" but the whole financial support system for children in poverty. Social welfare is required to accumulate the following studies. ・Investigation of children's lives ・The development and accumulation of analyzing and estimating the quality of children's lives ・Ways of fostering collaboration with pedagogy

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There are few studies about people with mild disability. The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristic features and the life achievements of such people in their social participation. Ten people were interviewed by life-story survey. The result of analysis showed five categories of achievement: (1) attending ordinary schools and classes through their parent's intervention; (2) making efforts to do things for themselves; (3) achieving freedom of mobility; (4) economic independence in general work space; (5) various forms of social participation that improved QOL. These categories were analyzed from the perspective of individual consciousness of disabilities and three characteristic features of these people were revealed: (1) difficulty of self-presentation in relations with able-bodied people; (2) limitations of welfare services; (3) increased social participation through economic independence.

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Purpose: Although care services have widely been utilized since the establishment of the public long-term insurance in Japan, family caregivers had high stress and depressive symptoms. Particularly, family caregivers of individuals with dementia had relatively higher stress levels in the previous studies. Many studies showed that participation in self-help groups was effective in supporting the caregivers. However, few studies clearly showed the significant factors related to participation. The purpose of the present study is to examine the factors related to self-help group participation. Method: Self-administered instruments were mailed to 626 members of caregivers' self-help groups, and 181 usable responses were analyzed. The model was structured with "empathy" and "adjusting to care" based on Carl Rogers' theory of personality, and "intention to participate in a group". Result: This hypothesis model was examined by using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This model performed well in terms of CFI=0.90, RMSEA=0.066. Coefficient from "empathy" to "adjusting to care" was significantly 0.98, coefficient from "adjusting to care" to "intention to participate in a group" was significantly 0.68. Conclusion: We found that empathetic relationships promoted "adjusting to care" and that "adjusting to care" promoted "intention to participate in a group".

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