This study aimed at clarifying how the visually impaired gave meaning to experiences of unsolicited support in their lives, how they coped with it, and what difficulty they faced when they tried to correct it. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five visually impaired people based on their life stories and were analyzed through qualitative coding. This study recorded their negative or positive emotional reactions to unsolicited supports, which were divided into two categories, namely, “negative unsolicited support” and “positive unsolicited support.” They deemed that negative unsolicited support was caused by a “lack of understanding about the visually impaired situation” and that positive unsolicited support happened seemingly from “a lottery.” They coped with negative unsolicited support by “giving up” with a hope to correct it. When they had difficulty correcting negative unsolicited support, they considered it their “self-responsibility,” attributing their difficulty to their unskillful explanation to correct or to a basic lack of their own ability. Accordingly, I made five disabilities visible from the environment around the visually impaired from the social model’s point of view. They were compelled to give up their initial desire to resist or refuse unsolicited support by the disabilities.

This study aimed to clarify the factors affecting the employment of the mothers of children with disabilities and to examine ways to support their families. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the mothers of children enrolled in special schools, receiving 266 effective responses. Having dependent variables of employed or unemployed and sense of work restriction, hierarchical multiple regression analysis and hierarchical binary logistic regression analysis were executed. These analyses validated that the medical care of the child had the greatest effect on a mother’s employment. If medical care was required, then the mother was likely unemployed, and her sense of work restriction was high. As for an employed mother, the higher her use of welfare services and the higher her quantitative satisfaction level of welfare services, the lower her sense of work restriction became. Conversely, the higher the required level of assistance for the target child and the greater the recognition of being restricted by her role as a mother, the higher her sense of work restriction became. These results stressed the importance of coordinating welfare services to support the needs of both children and their families.

This article attempts to clarify the position and changes of music activities for individuals with mental disabilities in medical and welfare services from 1950 to 2016. This study examined the situations and relationships of professionals. The author arranged and analyzed the process of the development of music activities by using practical records, research papers, and related articles on music activities published in professional journals for “doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, and psychiatric social workers”. Music activities were originally introduced by doctors as part of their hobbies and lifestyle therapy. They were also enjoyed by individuals with mental disabilities and were subsequently utilized to improve the lives of long-period hospitalized patients, to treat and relieve symptoms, and to support psychiatric and social rehabilitation. Currently, the use of music activities has been expanded to one of activities in place where individuals with mental disabilities reside, and promotes the public understanding of mental disabilities. The author of the present paper clarified that music activities have been incorporated flexibly into treatment methods, measures, and support systems for individuals with mental disabilities and have been used continuously for the entire time frame that was studied.

Approximately 1.2 million hikikomori exist in Japan. Support for hikikomori is divided into such categories as ibasho (comfortable place) activities and employment support. This study aims to examine the perceptions of people who have experienced hikikomori and those who provide support and identify the ambiguity of activities in hikikomori support centers. Moreover, this study conducts an analysis using Goffman’s framework concept, which addresses the definition of the situation. The interviews revealed that the community cafe activity at a hikikomori support center, which seemed to support employment, was regarded as an ibasho activity. Therefore, the community cafe activity has the dual meaning of both an ibasho and an employment support activity. This paper also highlights that dual meanings are not considered under the current political system. However, according to the survey, dual meaning has made running a cafe difficult because hikikomori support policies are vertically segmented. This study also reveals that there is a need for flexible discussion on how to provide hikikomori support, regardless of the category.

This study examines the historical background regarding the definition of “absenteeism” in the official statistics of Japan since the 1950s from the perspective of poverty and reviews the research trends of “absentees from disadvantaged families” since the 2000s. Historically, in Japan, the concerns for the long-term absence from school were concentrated around children from families in poverty. Such concerns, however, diminished through the period of high economic growth in the 1960s, and gradually, “absenteeism” was considered arising from psychological problems of children themselves. Since the late 2000s, as child poverty became a political agendum, research on absentees from disadvantaged families has accumulated in the fields of education research and social welfare research. This study surveys the two fields and suggests future directions for research on absenteeism among poor children in Japan:examination the differences between absentees from disadvantaged families and ones from non-disadvantaged families, and placing problems surrounding absentees from disadvantaged families as social structural issues.

This study aims to analyze the support processes of social work for inspecting the actual supporting circumstances being practiced outside child homes for females who left such residences. The author conducted fieldwork in a nongovernmental shelter and analyzed the data of eight households through the Trajectory Equifinality Model. The processes for analyzing the data were sorted into three categories. Two of those such categories initially showed various contributions the supporting processes brought about, they also clarified several examples in which the social workers of the shelter could not cope with the females successfully. Those examples will be the tasks of social workers in the future. This study identified how the social workers utilized the child homes as a medium for practicing social work. The females who left the child homes actively took advantage of not only such residences, but also other various social resources. A single case of change in gender bias was found in one of the eight households. Given all the results of this study, “Positive Support” must be offered to all females who have left child homes and are in need. This support should be a standard procedure in all institutions where social work is being practiced.

The role of commissioned welfare volunteers in the Japanese original voluntary system has become more important recently in our communities. However, their increasing burden is one of the serious problems. This study aimed to examine the structure of the burnout that commissioned welfare volunteers experience in visiting the elderly people. To clarify the structure of the burden, we used the model of burnout and analyzed the questionnaires that were distributed to almost all commissioned welfare volunteers in the A ward of an urban area in Japan. We also evaluated the global fit of the model and obtained satisfactory values. The result verified that (1) the basic characteristics of the subjects that affected stress-experience were age, the length of experience, and family composition (living alone);(2) the basic characteristic of the subjects that affected burnout was only their motivation when they took on their roles as commissioned welfare volunteers;and (3) regarding stress-experience factors that affected three dimensions of burnouts, both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were related to “overwhelmed with practice” and “dealing with difficult cases,” and personal accomplishment was related to “the lack of knowledge and training regarding practice.”

In social work education, role playing is recommended in seminars before and after practical trainings; however, its concrete method presentation has remained insufficient. The author conducted a case study on communication workshops using a “theater/drama” method and considered the suggestions for social work seminar education and the points to be noted on the basis of the results. The subject of the analysis is a follow-up report of students who took the communication workshop in 2015 and 2016. Through the analysis, the improvisational experience combined with the emphasis on return to the body sensation provided by the “theater/drama” method will awaken the sense of “here and now.” It was found that each student’s well-accepted sensation by being unrestricted by single evaluation enables diversified values aimed at social transformation. Those obtained through this workshop enable critical reflection emphasized in critical social work. These achievements can only be utilized if these elements are appropriately arranged throughout the entire active learning education on social work. The issues for the future of education in seminars have become evident.

This study explores the interlacing of employment policy and social work, focusing on measures for displaced coal miners and supervisors for employment promotion. Recently, social work has expanded from social welfare policy to other policy realms, including educational, judicial and employment policies. Social work was used to influence employment policy when measures were introduced to assist displaced coal miners in 1963. Many coal mines were shut down due to the “Energy Revolution,” and numerous coal miners were displaced in all coalfields. The government enacted the Act on Temporary Measures for Displaced Coal Mine Workers in 1959. As a result of increased coal recession, this act was amended in 1963 to promote employment by including the job application pocketbook for unemployed coal miners. Simultaneously, supervisors for employment promotion began utilizing social casework for employment promotion, which was the first time social work was interlaced with employment policy. This study also investigates the case of the Tagawa Public Employment Security Office in the Chikuho coalfield.

This study aimed to examine the usefulness and procedure of program evaluation in social action. The author considered the usefulness and procedure of program evaluation as a method of social action based on the example of the Shibuya Study Coupon Program in Shibuya, Tokyo. As a result of the study, the illustration of the theory of the program, the clarification of the needs, the visualization of the effectiveness of the program, and the presentation and sharing of evaluation results seem to have contributed substantially to the realization of social action. Given the above information, program evaluation appears to be a useful method of practice to endanger social action.

According to the “Three Principles of Welfare for the Elderly” established in Denmark in 1982, in order to support independence, it is important to respect the will of the elderly and to improve the quality of life (hereinafter referred to as QOL) and activities of daily life. However, a nursing method that does not help a senior citizen decide is the mainstream in Japan;therefore, senior citizens’ QOL is difficult to improve. Hence, I tried to investigate the visit nursing home that are used by the elderly at present and analyzed the results to examine ways of care to maintain the dignity of the elderly. The analysis elucidated that the introduction of the recreation that a senior citizen can choose contents himself/herself is effective. The reason is that the time when a staff member watches senior citizens more than the time used to look after a senior citizen is increased. Hence, nursing based on hospitality is important.