This study examined the background to a change in the definition of a day nursery (hereinafter called the Definition), which accepted any baby and infant when the Child Welfare Act (hereinafter called the Act) was enacted, to accepting only babies and infants “requiring childcare” in the fifth amendment of the Act. Focusing on the fact that a social-welfare system was established by putting the private sector under the control of public authority based on a General Headquarters directive (SCAPIN775) during the Occupation, I analyzed the process from the drafting to the fifth amendment of the Act. The analysis showed that eligible babies and infants for day nurseries were limited by inserting wording related to parent support and “requiring childcare” due to work and other reasons in the Definition. Furthermore, the private sector was constitutionally interpreted as being under the control of public authority by linking the Definition to the control of the public authority. Linking the Definition to the control of public authority suggests that putting the private sector under the control of public authority caused day nurseries to contribute to postwar economic reconstruction as a system supporting the recovery of labor by stably providing childcare services to reduce parental burden.

Differences in the happiness of the elderly were investigated according to their status of public assistance receipt. The data were taken from self-administered surveys, which were conducted in 2013 (n=137,736) and 2016 (n=194,352) by the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study via mail, of people aged 65 years and older. All the samples were divided into the following three groups: “Public Assistance Recipients,” “Non-Recipients, Poverty,” and “Non-Recipients, General.” Independence in daily life and independence in social life were used as confounding factors related to happiness. The results confirmed that although no difference was observed between the time points of the survey, the happiness level of the group containing recipients of public assistance was significantly lower than that of the other groups. The likelihood of being eligible for the group with a high level of happiness in the group containing recipients of public assistance was 0.68 times that for the non-recipients/general group, regardless of gender, age, etc. Moreover, it decreased by a factor of 0.73 after adjusting for independence in daily life and in social life. These further results affirmed that the low level of happiness of the group containing recipients of public assistance could be mitigated by supporting independence.

This study sought to clarify the possibility of predicting improvement based on user information by analyzing pre- and post-wheelchair seating data on six daily living situation factors. All the six factors of daily life situations adopted in this research showed significant improvement after wheelchair seating. For each of the six factors, logistic regression analysis was conducted on the variables affecting each improvement. The results confirm that logistic regression equations can be used to predict improvement in six factors. Moreover, I could organize the information and make the data easy to understand by reducing the dimension of the six factors and by classifying the data into four clusters by using hierarchical cluster analysis to clarify their characteristics. The results of the post-intervention effects shown in this study and the prediction of improvement based on user information are expected to contribute to the promotion of wheelchair seating in the future.

This study sought to characterize the organizational adaptation types of early career mentally disabled persons working in companies. We conducted an Internet survey of 245 mentally disabled employees in the private sector who had been with the company for three years or less. The analysis revealed that the most common type of organizational adjustment among persons with mental disorders is the step-up one, with high occupational and cultural socialization but about average affective commitment and high intention to leave, followed by the ideal adjustment type, with high occupational socialization, cultural socialization, and affective commitment and low intention to leave, and then the least maladaptive type. For the step-up type, retention support measures must be taken to discourage employees from leaving for other organizations. The maladjustment type is beneficial to increase work motivation and job satisfaction by reassigning employees to a department that is more suited to them or by changing their job description.

Although the need for the standardization of social work recording method in health services has been highlighted, no progress recording method suitable for social worker in health services (MSW) has been shown. Therefore, I conducted a national survey and the Decision Tree Analysis to clarify the status and issues of MSW recording, focusing on the unification status of a progress recording method and the relationship between the progress recording method used and MSW practice. The objective variables were set to “unification status of progress record” and “progress record method”. The explanatory variables were analyzed as “awareness of interview/record” and “learning status of progress record” etc. Resultantly, the unified progress recording method influenced the raising awareness of the “interrelationship between MSW and clients” on interviewing and recording. Additionally, it was clarified that the progress recording method was influenced by the consciousness of interviewing and recording and the organizational environment and that the practice of MSW cannot be sufficiently specified by SOAP and descriptive form. Furthermore, the importance of social work record education became clear. It must be conducted on the basis of the issues and characteristics of each progress recording method, and then each progress recording method should be used.

This study aims to identify the difficulties that guardians face when consenting to medical care for the elderly with dementia who do not have relatives. A qualitative analysis of cases in which guardians were unable to reach an agreement with medical care workers was conducted. As a result of the analysis, three major issues emerged as sources of disagreement: a lack of guidelines for advance directives for the elderly with dementia, insufficient training of healthcare workers on decision-making for the elderly with dementia, and the requirement for family members to provide medical consent. This study examined the cases where parents had trouble getting consent from medical personnel for medical care for the elderly with dementia who had no relatives. The problem is that there is a medical knowledge gap between parents and healthcare professionals. Furthermore, in selecting treatment, preference was given to the wishes of the relatives. Accordingly, parents should fully explain to healthcare professionals the intentions of their ward regarding medical care. Furthermore, to provide the best medical care for the ward, working with medical personnel is critical to reach a consensus while maintaining fairness.