This study examined how school social workers who regularly participated in School Social Work (SSW) Standards Workshops used the standards during their SSW practice and the outcomes of the utilization of the standards. Eight school social workers with 3–8 years of work experience participated in the research. Research participants had experienced difficulties identifying and performing their roles and felt that merely relying on their own experiences during their practice had limitations, which motivated their participation in the workshops and utilization of the standards. For some workers, the standards served as guidelines and/or the backbone of their practice. One worker, for example, used the standards personally in daily basis and occasionally with her colleagues to check the “heart” of their work. Some recognized tasks and developed the foundation of their practice by using the standards so that they could explain things with confidence. Another school social worker increased her understanding of their role by using the standards that allowed her to work with the staff from related agencies to develop a common understanding and shared goals.

This case study aimed to reveal the characteristics of the development of the official daycare business and local politics in Hoya city in the 1960s–1970s. This study focused on strategic multi-sector collaboration between organizations and discovered the following. Hoya city began the daycare business “Hiiragi Kyoshitsu”(HK, hereinafter) in the 1960s to fulfill a community welfare policy. HK developed into a business with infant support objectives until the 1970s. HK was founded by collaborating with citizen organizations. In addition, HK procured the resources for development from outside organizations. The collaboration between such organizations and resource purveyance was supposed to fulfill the policies of Hoya city’s “reformist local government.” This case study indicates that it is possible to evaluate a “local initiative” as a local political precedent.

Writing is an important form of communication and a significant means of connecting with society. This study clarified the circumstances surrounding the writing process of an author with severe physical disability and speaking difficulties. To assess these circumstances in detail, the email sentence-creation process was analyzed. To interact with caregivers during the writing process, the writer used an original communication method called “A, KA, SA, TA, NA.” This study documented the author’s interactive technique and analyzed the process. The results demonstrated that the person the author works with is extremely important since the caregiver may make suggestions that influence the output. It was further noted that the author changed his interaction style depending on the caregiver he was working with. Thus, the author asserted self-determination by flexibly considering what to do and how to proceed based on the caregiver helping him. Furthermore, the author strategically chose to identify as a “frail individual” and then tried to build individualized relationships with each caregiver, which facilitated accurate interpretations and encouraged the caregiver’s suggestions.

This study considered the circumstances surrounding the “wavering feelings” of family members who made decisions regarding gastrostomy as surrogates of elderly patients based on the “family narrative.” The researcher conducted interviews with the families of three elderly patients who had impaired decision-making abilities. The survey was designed to analyze how “wavering feelings” in family members are generated, maintained, and fluctuates in relation to the lives of patients. The survey results further revealed two characteristics of “wavering feelings.” The first characteristic was that several factors influenced “wavering feelings,” and the second was that fluctuations in “wavering” are related to a “continuous relationship with the patient” and several “factors influencing the waver.” A major conclusion of the study was that while thinking about the patient’s well-being, all families continued to waver. This suggests that surrogate decision-making support requires an acknowledgment of the family’s continued wavering during the process while considering the mental burden on the family.

This article explores the type of living assistance required by women, mothers, and children domestic violence (DV) survivors. Based on my research into women, mothers, and child DV shelter residents, I identified six crucial difficulties they face in their lives. The first was multiple life problems. The second was the life-threatening and psychological damage women and mothers suffered following DV. The third was the serious psychological damage children suffered through DV. The fourth was the many difficulties in their life histories. The fifth was living in unstable conditions when they left the shelter. The sixth was their continuing life difficulties. In addition, my follow-up study encountered some difficulties in making contact after residents had moved out of the shelter. I propose two solutions to assist the women, mothers, and children that have experienced DV. The first is strengthening cooperation between the related agencies, and the second is strengthening living assistance and aftercare for children that have experienced DV.

This study clarified the change that led the staff of the council of social welfare to become involved in the resident-driven salon during the introduction of the regional staff system. We aimed to develop a theory to explain the social interaction between the staff and local residents. In July 2019, we conducted a semi-structured interview with 17 staff, digitalized the verbatim records, and analyzed the data using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. As a result of the analysis, 28 concepts were produced, and then the following 8 categories were found. “Switch to create the gathering places”, “Entering in the region creates a work”, “Exposure to the Council of Social Welfare from the outside”, “Changing oneself and others”, “Working in line with the regional situation”, “Connecting bases”, “Collaboration between leading figures and persons behind the scenes” and “Bottleneck of collaboration”. Supporting and collaborating with the resident-driven activities in the region as an element of community work which is different from the case of individual support was suggested.

In recent years, the commercialization of long-term care work has dramatically changed the circumstances surrounding long-term care workers. As a consequence, it could be that the motivation of care workers has also changed. Therefore, this study aims to clarify what motivates people to become care workers, including intrinsic and economic motivation. We focused on initial training seminars that provide an entrance to the qualification system for long-term care work and conducted a questionnaire survey of seminar participants. In this survey, we asked them about their basic attributes, as well as their motivation for employment and the purpose of their attendance and conducted a statistical analysis of the data. The number of participants who emphasized livelihood motivation was about the same as those who emphasized an altruistic one. In addition, the following participant images were identified: “Young and middle-aged people: emphasized livelihood motivation,” “Young people: emphasized altruistic motivation,” and “Elderly people: emphasized altruistic motivation.”

This study clarified the kinds of experiences encountered by workers employed by an economic partnership agreement (EPA) in the care field in Japan. Interviews were conducted with 10 EPA care worker candidates and eight licensed EPA care workers. The analysis identified 27 categories and 98 codes representing the experiences of EPA care workers. EPA care workers entered employment to earn an income and pass on advanced knowledge and skills in nursing care and public welfare to their countries of origin. EPA care workers experienced difficulties, including linguistic issues and interpersonal problems, difficulties utilizing their past experiences, and issues relating to daily life. When dealing with linguistic challenges, care workers tended to learn from nonverbal information and acquired nursing skills through experiences in the field. Furthermore, the EPA care workers’ learning was characterized by user-centered care, where care workers valued users’ feelings and derived satisfaction from serving their interests.

This study discusses the tasks of the adult guardianship system for people with intellectual disabilities at a group home from the perspective of their support provider. A qualitative analysis of field notes of a study meeting held by the support provider revealed the following. The support provider debated whether to use a professional guardian due to the limitations that residents experience when using a family guardian. In cases where residents used a professional guardian, the support provider adjusted the stakeholder’s relationship, had anxiety about the professional guardian, and questioned the category of the guardian. The support provider considered it especially important to adjust the way each resident spent their money on support staff and guardianship. The support provider needed to review the adult guardianship system to ensure guardians did not just make financial arrangements but also advocated for people with intellectual disabilities by creating an advocate network within the community. Finally, professional guardians and residents should participate in service utilization and individual support plans, and a system where stakeholders could make common decisions was suggested.