In this paper, Dr. Hepburn's attitudes and his dispensary are considered during the time he spent in Japan from 1859 to 1887, when his work switched from the dispensary to completing a translation of the Old Testament and establishing a school. When the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan” was concluded in 1858, Protestant missionaries began coming to Japan from the late Tokugawa period to the early Meiji era. Japan's first relief act was “Juttukyu Kisoku” promulgated in 1874;however, until 1887, medical missionaries left behind many contributions in areas where medical care was insufficient. Dr. Hepburn opened his dispensary at Soukouji in 1861, with funding from the missionary board, foreigners, and his own contributions. He voluntarily gave free medical treatment and medicine to the poor, treating all patients equally, regardless of their social status or wealth. He also taught Western medicine to medical students in the Yokohama settlement. Dr. Hepburn thus served the cause of medicine through his missionary work and retired gracefully when he recognized that Japanese doctors had gained the necessary skills and knowledge to continue his medical practice. Dr. Hepburn was meticulous, and a person of immense goodwill. Dr. Hepburn's philosophy and practices influenced the people who studied under him, and they continued his work by the establishment of a school for the blind and other dispensaries. These activities seem to be the origin of welfare for the blind and medical social work in Japan.

In this study, the characteristics and conditions of grant-making foundations, which financially supported social work organizations in the Taisho and the early Showa eras, were comparatively and empirically revealed. Research objects were four grant-making foundations which represented foundations for active support in the field of social work: Yasuda Syutokukai, Mitsui Hoonkai, Keifukukai, and Harada Sekizenkai.

The results of the study showed that there were differences in the tendency of grant-giving in terms of the source of funding. Since the intention of the people who provided the funding was reflected on the contents of grant-giving, there were a high percentage of grants related to the foundations and those connected to them. Also, receiving grants from other foundations guaranteed the quality of the organization receiving the funding, and they were opened to receiving other grants. Therefore, the grant-making foundations effectively supported those organizations who needed grants.

This study empirically and structurally identified the characteristics of local volunteers who continue to engage in preventing loneliness among the elderly. This paper specifically focused on “enjoyment” of volunteers. A qualitative research method was used, and data were collected through participant observations and interviews conducted over the course of three years. Qualitative coding was used for data analysis. The results showed that continuing to volunteer is possible as a result of two functions: promotion and maintenance. Both elements have a complementary relationship. Promoting continuation is defined as “immersion in activities” and “ambitious attempt” by “two-way experience”. The maintenance of continuation is defined as “refreshing approaches toward activities” and “improvement through self-management” by “easygoing attitude”. Promotion and maintenance are identified on the basis of individual environmental factors, emotions, and behaviors. Moreover, characteristics for continuation are proposed by comparing the concepts of “flow theory.” This study will contribute to methods that support volunteers who want to prevent loneliness in the elderly and in the creation of training programs for this purpose.

The present study aimed to clarify the contents of person-centered, end-of-life care practice for the elderly by care workers in nursing homes. Quantitative research was conducted in order to achieve the objective. The results showed the current status of end-of-life care practice by care workers in the nursing homes. In addition, an exploratory factor analysis identified the following six significant factors:1) Performing non-pharmacological care to keep residents comfortable during their life;2) Observational assessment to identify residents' critical conditions in the terminal period of life;3) Consultation with other professionals to satisfy residents' needs in restricted conditions for medical care;4) Grasping and satisfying residents' needs from the perspective of strengths;5) Advance care planning to satisfy residents' needs at the end of their life;and 6) Supports to express residents' unexpressed and potential needs. In conclusion, it was found that the care workers continued to provide daily life supports during the end-of-life care, and the strength-based approach was one of the core concepts in person-centered end-of-life care practice. The six significant elements in end-of-life care should be implemented in nursing homes, and care workers should be appropriately supported and supervised in the implementations of them.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the process by which negative experiences in social work practice come to have positive meaning. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted among 11 social workers and the results were examined using a qualitative data analysis.

The results of the analysis indicate social workers who were in a state of “losing direction” and “swaying” due to “facing a reality different from expectations” gained the support of “important others” and “became conscious of their own roles.” They also deepened their knowledge and skills through “changing themselves” and “polishing their skills.” They gained new awareness through “reconsidering by linking their own actions to situation changes” and grasped “unwavering practical skills” through self-confidence from self-insight and positive feedback from others. These attempts to overcome negative experiences came to have positive meaning by being incorporated into their thoughts and judgments in subsequent practice.

Twelve-step self-help groups are the most popular self-help mutual aid groups in the world. In Japan, however, there has never been a “directory” of twelve-step groups, nor has any quantitative research been conducted about them. This manuscript examines the factors that affect meetings of twelve-step self-help groups in Japan, using a multiple regression analysis, with the total monthly meeting lengths in each prefecture as a target variable. For the data source, this study uses the meeting lists with locations collected from the websites of the local offices of nineteen twelve-step self-help groups in Japan. The results show that, the following variables:“population,” “the number of half-way houses,” and “the number of treatment resources” have affected total meeting lengths. It is recommended that prefectural governments wishing to increase the number of twelve-step self-help group meetings should support applications to build new half-way houses for alcoholics and drug addicts. Local governments should also promptly identify a key medical institution in each prefecture, to be based on the basic act on measures against alcohol-related harm.

The purpose of this study was to examine the difficulties(psychological stresses)faced by social workers in rehabilitation facilities and to organize the actual situations in a systematic manner. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for 19 social workers through individual interviews, and then the date were analyzed verbatim using a modified grounded-theory approach. From the analysis result, 12 difficult concepts were established and from the relationships between them, the concepts were collected into three categories: stresses towards institutional and organizational limits, stresses caused by client behavior, and stresses caused by support deadlock. In this research, predictions were made about the difficulties that could be faced in rehabilitation of criminal offenders, and the characteristics of support in their rehabilitation were revealed.