In Japan, The idea that elderly people in a family should be cared for by any of their family members, especially their daughter or their son's wife, has been considered to be the best solution for a long time, in spite of a rapid enlargement of aging in Japanese society. In this situation, a nursing care insurance system was inaugurated as a new nationwide governmental policy in December 1997.
Why was this socialization of aged people's care actualized officially?
There seems two reasons in its background. One is the breakdown of nursing care by a family. The other is a change into nursing care idea that we should focus on elderly patient's human right and quality of life. It might be said that the philosophy of normalization about caring for the aged has been introduced finally into the field of nursing care. This means that we should have a correct understanding of the facts that elderly people can take part in my social activities and can live independently to the end of life as possible. It is our social obligation to help these people as much as possible.
As a result, nursing care system has been compelled to change from simple physical care to supporting their independent life. When we care for the elderly, the first thing we must do is to grasp their present physical conditions, the long history of their life and the characteristics of their disablement and after that we must form our reliable human relationships.
Next, the qualification of care-workers as professionals must be approved. They can encourage elderly people to have motivation to live and can help them with forming their new life together with care-workers'.
This text deals with considerable treatment of licensed care-workers and the ways how to train them. We need human resources who can understand this philosophy of nursing care and realize their duty, and guarantee their workplaces, their status and income.
After nursing care insurance came into effect, we have expected professional care-workers to be made match of. But, in reality, there are some problems from a gender point of view, in which nursing care is still considered as a woman's role and any women, qualified or not, can do it.There is a stereotyped point of view that nursing care by a member of family is a good custom in Japan and also housework is neglected in nursing care insurance because it is a housewife's duty, not an object of The insurance. The government is planning to make matrons in the establishments into part-time workers, and to increase only the number of registered care-workers.
In conclusion, we can accept this policy to establish the nursing care system on condition that (1) the elderly's quality of life should be improved, (2) the elderly's independence be supported, (3) the status of care-workers as professional workers should be properly evaluated and guaranteed.
Meanwhile, care-workers need more opportunities to be trained and educated and the more important thing for care-workers is to participate in the decision-making of nursing care services, whenever it may be.
抄録全体を表示