Purpose : The present study examined the differences in behavior change indices and cost-effectiveness among three dissemination approaches for long-term care prevention utilizing social marketing theory.

Methods : Participants were 684 elderly who joined in long-term care prevention promoting programs. Total of seven programs with three different dissemination approaches: a large lecture presentation (LLP), 3 small lecture presentations (SLP), 3 free-for-all events (FAE) were held. Behavioral change indices regarding long-term care prevention (knowledge, motivation, self-efficacy, and willing to tell other people) were obtained and compared among three approaches. Program targeting goal achiever was defined as those who obtained the perfect scores on all of behavioral change index. Program efficiency (cost-effectiveness) was determined with the expense per participant (P-E), and the expense per perfect scorer (PS-E).

Results : Free-for-all event(FAE) had significantly lower scores in three of four behavioral change indices (motivation, self-efficacy, and willing to tell other people) than LLP and SLP. The highest corresponding expense groups for P-E, and PS-E were SLP, whereas the lowest groups were FAE.

Conclusions : Lecture-based program could more effectively provide useful information for promoting behavioral change with elderly adults. FAE were inexpensive to provide but had low program efficacy to produce the program targeting goal achievers.

  The aim of present study was to determine the relationship between depression and subjective and objective caregiver burden, and to investigate feature of coping strategy in people with high caregiver burden. 34 caregivers (mean age 69.3 ± 14.4 years-old) providing care in one's home for family who has physical impairment participated in present study. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (J-ZBI) and Barthel Index (BI) were used to determine the subjective and objective caregiver burden each. Further, coping strategy was assessed using the Stress-Coping Inventory (SCI). There was significant positive correlation between CES-D and J-ZBI (r=0.63, P < 0.001), but the correlation between CES-D and BI was not significant. With respect to coping strategy, the score related to "change mood" of caregiver with high burden was lower than that of caregiver with low burden. It was suggested that subjective caregiver burden influenced depression, and coping strategy influenced subjective caregiver burden.

Purposes: The purpose of this study is to examine if the listening volunteer activities have relation to the social factors and other social activities, and contribute to promote the psychosocial health.

Subjects: Subjects of this study were 1713 people who completed the three months listening volunteer training course. The questionnaire was mailed to 1713 subjects between August 2004 and September 2004. 505 subjects responded (response rate: 30.2%), and 494 (29.6%) subjects were analyzed to except the outskirts of age from the valid answers.

Variables investigated: The questionnaires consisted of the listening volunteer activities, the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Loneliness Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index K, the social factors and the attributes.

Results: For the women, doing the listening volunteer activities related to being active in other volunteer activities, getting along well with friends and neighbors, and not engaged in paid labor. For the men, there are no significant relation between listening volunteer activities, and the social activities. Furthermore, doing listening volunteer activities related to inhibit depressive status. When depressive score was dependent variable, on the analysis of covariance, only the interaction was recognized between the listening volunteer activities and the activities of learning and lecture on citizens’.

  The purpose of this study was to identity the roles the elderly take in the home and community, and to analyze the relationship between the roles and life satisfaction. Subjects were 700 elderly people who belonged to Senior Citizen Clubs in Okinawa, recruitment was conducted by the placement method. Of these subjects, the date from 503 elderly people without missing values for age and sex were analyzed. It was found that their roles “major housework activities”, also that most of them got involved in joining the residents association, and the Senior Citizen Clubs. As for a relationship between the roles and life satisfaction, multiple regression analysis was conducted with life satisfaction as the dependent variable, the role variable and the variables related with life satisfaction, as pointed out in previous research, were took as independent variables. As a result, the more the elderly took part in “major housework activities”, or “belong to an association”, or acted as a board member, or the less they took part in “other housework”, the life satisfaction was greater.