Purpose

  The purpose of this study is to grasp health problems and anxiety of single-living elderly, to understand the actual situation of the self-care performed by the elderly in order to avoid and reduce them, and to discuss the problems in maintaining their safe and secure life.

Method

  A public housing estate in a rural area located in the east of Shizuoka prefecture was selected, and interview-based investigation was performed to single-living elderly at their home. The survey contents included actual situation of the self-care such as preparation for emergency and existence of persons who can support them.

Result

  Responses were obtained from 52 out of 89 targeted subjects (response rate 58.4%). It was found that 84.6% of them visited hospitals for treatment and 59.6% had anxiety about their health. In the past three years, 25.0% of them experienced domestic accidents and 34.6% experienced sudden physical deconditioning. Thirty-eight of them (57.6%) reported that their separately-living families were the only people who could support them, and five of them (9.6%) had nobody to support them. It was also revealed that the proportion of those who prepared for emergency was 62.7%, or 75.0% of the old-old (aged 75 or older). The specific contents of such preparations were medical history information card, preparing for unexpected admission and so on.

Conclusion

  Self-care ability of the elderly should be improved for the safe and secure life of single-living elderly. However, ensuring safe and secure life only by improving their own self-care ability and awareness would be difficult. The present findings that approximately 10% of single-living elderly had nobody to support them and more than 60% were to be supported by separately-living families, suggests the necessity of social and systematic assistance for single-living elderly that complement and support their self-care.

Purpose With the aim of monitoring tobacco control implemented by municipalities in Gifu Prefecture and developing measures for its promotion, an empirical study was conducted using the “Self-inspection sheet for tobacco control measures (for municipalities)” to examine the status of the promotion of tobacco control in the municipalities.

Methods The subjects were persons in charge of tobacco control in all municipalities in Gifu Prefecture. The following five areas were selected as the survey items to assess the promotion of tobacco control comprehensively: “I. Protection from second-hand smoke”, “II. Smoking-cessation support”, “III. Prevention of smoking”, “IV. Provision of information and educational activities”, and “V. Systems for the promotion of tobacco control”.

Results The subjects for analysis were 30 responses (response rate: 71.4%). Public health nurses accounted for 93.3% of the total of persons in charge of tobacco control at the municipalities, and the mean period of their experience of conducting tobacco control was 2.2 years. Only 20.0% of the municipalities banned indoor smoking or smoking on the premises in all public offices, and 36.7% imposed smoking ban in all schools and educational institutions. Regarding the proportion of municipalities that provided all smokers with smoking-cessation support at health services, it was the highest (73.3%) upon the issuing of the Maternal and Child Health Handbook and was only 41.4% during specific health guidance covered by national health insurance. Education on smoking prevention in all elementary and junior high schools was conducted by 43.3 and 65.5% of the municipalities, respectively. As for the provision of information and educational activities, the proportion of municipalities that distributed and posted posters was the highest (93.3%). Numerical targets for reducing the smoking prevalence were set by 60.0% of the municipalities as a system for the promotion of tobacco control.

Conclusion In general, much improvement is still needed in the five fields of tobacco control implemented in the municipalities, and there were significant differences in its promotion among these fields and municipalities. It is particularly necessary to create smoke-free environments at public places by indoor smoking ban or smoking ban on the premises, and enhance smoking-cessation support for all smokers by utilizing health-related activities, in addition to the development of systems for the promotion of tobacco control.