Factors related to family visits to nursing home residents in Japan.

This study examined factors related to the frequency and duration of family visits to elderly residents of nursing homes in Japan. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from 299 family members of residents of three nursing homes in Tokyo. Almost all family members visited residents more than once a month, and more than three quarters stayed for more than 1h during each visit. These findings confirm that family involvement with the elderly is maintained even after admission to a nursing home. Multiple regression analysis revealed the variables related to a higher frequency and duration of visits. Some factors related to frequent or long visits such as the requirement of higher care or the ability to remember family visits were similar to the findings of other studies conducted in western countries, yet the results need to be understood in a Japanese cultural context. Other factors such as the gender of the visitors, distance to the nursing home, and sentiment about placement were thought to be related to the unique cultural norms of family caregiving in Japan. These findings will be useful for developing effective methods to assist nursing home residents and their families in Japan.

[Mental health and related factors with family caregivers for elderly in special-care nursing homes for the aged].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the mental health and related factors with family caregivers for the elderly in special-care nursing homes for the aged. METHODS: We conducted a questionnaire survey among family caregivers for elderly living in three special-care nursing homes in Tokyo. The questionnaire included factors from the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) pertaining to family caregivers, the elderly, and the relationships between them. The GHQ-28 was used to measure the mental health of the caregivers and a logistic regression model was applied for the analysis. RESULTS: Of the 145 family caregivers surveyed, 59 (40.7%) exhibited low mental health (GHQ-28> or = 7). The logistic regression analysis revealed that family caregivers with low mental health had lower social support (OR: 0.10 (0.03-0.29)) and had longer visiting times (OR: 5.80 (1.79-18.82)). DISCUSSION: The results suggested that many family caregivers for elderly persons in institutions may have poor mental health and that it is necessary to provide them with support. It is concluded that self-help groups for families and the promotion of communication between the elderly and their family caregivers might be effective for this purpose.

Subjective quality of life and positive appraisal of care among Japanese family caregivers of older adults.

Most family caregiving research has portrayed caregiving as a negative life experience for caregivers, but a broader perspective is necessary to examine its impact on the caregiver quality of life (QL). The role that positive appraisal of care plays in the caregiving experience among Japanese families of older adults was examined in relation to the caregiver's subjective QL. Positive as well as negative appraisal of care was measured by a newly developed multi-dimensional scale, which included the domains of 'relationship satisfaction,' 'role confidence,' 'consequential gain,' 'normative fulfillment' (positive appraisal), 'role exhaustion,' 'isolation,' 'relationship difficulty,' and 'symptom management difficulty' (negative appraisal). Subjective QL was measured by WHO/QL-26. Altogether 337 Japanese family caregivers participated in this survey. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that 'role confidence,' 'normative fulfillment,' and 'role exhaustion' had a significant independent impact on physical QL, while 'role confidence' and 'role exhaustion' on psychological QL. The association of 'normative fulfillment' with physical QL was negative while that of 'role confidence' was positive, despite the positive correlation between the two domains. The results underline the importance of considering positive as well as negative appraisal of care when examining subjective QL of the family caregivers.

Transmission of Staphylococcus aureus between healthy, lactating mothers and their infants by breastfeeding.

The authors have investigated Staphylococcus aureus transmission between healthy, lactating mothers without mastitis and their infants by breastfeeding using both bacteriological and molecular-epidemiological methods. They studied 8 healthy, lactating mothers without clinical signs of mastitis and their infants who were less than 3 months old. They collected samples of breast milk, swabs of the mothers' nipples, the infants' nares, and the infants' oral cavities. There was a 50% transmission rate between the pairs. As the result of 12 antibiotics' susceptibility, Methicillin-resistant S. aureus was isolated from 2 of the 4 pairs. Using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, the authors determined chromosomal DNA restriction patterns of the S. aureus isolated from 4 mother-infant pairs. The DNA fragment patterns of the organism within a given mother-infant pair were indistinguishable or closely related. The results suggest that methicillin-resistant S. aureus or methicillin-sensitive S. aureus may be transmitted between healthy, lactating mothers without mastitis and their infants by breastfeeding.

Factors of positive appraisal of care among Japanese family caregivers of older adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine factors of positive appraisal of care among Japanese family caregivers of older adults. The Positive Appraisal of Care (PAC) scale used in this study is a multidimensional Japanese measure and has four domains: relationship satisfaction, consequential gain, role confidence, and normative fulfillment. Three hundred and thirty-seven caregivers participated in this survey. Multiple regression analyses revealed that social support and caregiver belief in caregiving had a consistent impact on all domains of the PAC, whereas the impact of caregiver and care recipient characteristics varied among the domains. For example, caregiver age had a significant impact on role confidence and normative fulfillment but not on relationship satisfaction and consequential gain. The differential impact of caregiver and care recipient characteristics on the domains of the PAC underlines the usefulness of a multidimensional measurement.

Multiprofessional team approach in palliative care units in Japan.

Health-care providers engaged in palliative care experience difficulty with the practice of team care. However, the details of the difficulties have not been not clarified. To obtain an overview of team care in the Japanese palliative inpatient care setting, a descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed. The participants were physicians, nurses, dietitians, medical social workers (MSWs), and pharmacists. A representative from each discipline was selected. They were asked about their participation in services provided by government-approved palliative care units (PCUs) and the practice of team care. A total of 38 institutions participated in this study. In these institutions, 97% of physicians, 37% of dietitians, 39% of MSWs, 27% of pharmacists, and 13% of physical therapists attended PCU care meetings once a week or more, and 35% of religious workers and 11% of counselors attended. About 70% of institutions held regular care meetings with more than three types of health-care providers. Physicians and nurses had different perceptions regarding the practice of team care. The former had a positive perception of team care and the latter had a negative perception. In addition, nurses' perception of overall team care was related to their perception of care meetings ( P=0.052) and the number of types of professional participating in care meetings ( P=0.054). To promote team care in the Japanese palliative care setting, it is necessary to consider a practical standard of team care, and to conduct effective care meetings.

Development of a Japanese quality of life instrument for older adults experiencing dementia (QLDJ).

This study develops a quality of life instrument for older Japanese people experiencing dementia (QLDJ). Quality of life (QL) for these older adults is defined as a three dimensional construct including 1) interacting with surroundings, 2) expressing self, and 3) experiencing minimum negative behaviors. From 53 items in the initial item pool, 24 were selected based on item reliability and validity using data from 3 studies that involve ten dementia-care experts (Study A) and 36 and 623 older persons and their formal caregivers in various care settings (Study B & C). Factor analysis of these items identified three domains that correspond to the conceptual definition of QL for older adults with dementia. The domain and total QL scores were calculated considering the relative weights of each item. Resultant domain and total scores of the QLDJ showed satisfactory reliability and evidence of validity.

[Willingness to implement mental health measures among small-scale enterprise employers in Ohta ward, Tokyo, Japan].

Due to the increase in mental health problems among Japanese workers in recent years, effective approaches to address these problems are of growing concern. Although such an effort is now under way in largescale enterprises (LSEs), small-scale enterprises (SSEs) are lagging behind LSEs for a number of reasons. In the present study, to know the reason, the presidents of 263 SSEs (fewer than 50 employees) in the Ohta ward of Tokyo were surveyed with a self-administered questionnaire from October 1999 to March 2000 (response rate, 51.0%). The main business types were manufacturing (71.2%), transportation & storage (6.1%), and construction (5.3%). The results revealed that employers attribute the mental health problems of employees to "Job content/Aptitude for job (78.6%)", "Communication among employees (71.0%)", "Physical problems/Illness (50.4%)", "Family problems (33.6%)". These results are very similar to those obtained in the same enterprises employees survey in 1996, suggesting that employers perceive the factors responsible for employees' mental health problems with substantial accuracy. Sixty-nine point five percent of the employers answered that they need mental health measures for employees. And 62.7% of employers agreed to take mental health measures in their enterprises. Taken together, it is considered that employers are willing to improve their employees' mental health problems. Nevertheless, 95% of employers are doing nothing to improve the situation. The major reasons cited were 1) Cannot obtain a consultant or counselor (44.8%), 2) Lack of time (43.1%), 3) Manpower shortage (41.4%), 4) Difficulty in ensuring employees' privacy (36.2%), and 5) Lack of financial resources (30.2%). The results of the present study suggest that perception of the mental health problems among employers and employees of SSEs in the Ohta area were close to each other. Effective strategies are needed to improve mental health problems in SSEs.

[Impact of the positive appraisal of care on quality of life, purpose in life, and will to continue care among Japanese family caregivers of older adults: analysis by kinship type].

PURPOSE: The impact of positive appraisal of care (PAC) on the caregiver's quality of life (QL), sense of purpose in life (sense of ikigai) and will to continue care was examined. METHODS: Data were collected from 322 Japanese family caregivers of older adults who were using visiting nursing services through 21 facilities in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and the prefectures of Shizuoka, Mie and Okinawa. RESULTS: The data were grouped by kinship type (husband or son, wife, daughter or daughter-in-law) and analyzed separately. From the multiple regression and logistic regression analyses, the following results were derived: 1) The PAC was not related to the physical QL regardless of the relationship type; 2) The relationship depended upon the relationship type: only the PAC was related to the mental QL among husband and son caregivers, both the PAC and the negative appraisal of care (NAC) were important among wives, only the NAC among daughters, and none of them among daughters-in-law; 3) Both the PAC and NAC were related to the sense of ikigai in all caregiver types except among husband and son caregivers, which showed no relationship between the NAC and sense of ikigai; 4) Both the PAC and NAC were related to will to continue care among son and husband caregivers, whereas only the PAC was among wives and daughters-in-law. Only the NAC was related among daughters. However, the difference across kinship type seems minimal for will to continue care. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the PAC among family caregivers may be important in order to better assist them to improve their mental QL or sense of ikigai as well as to predict their continuation of caregiving at home. The impact of PAC varies depending on the kinship type, and it should be assessed separately with reference to this pariable to develop plans for appropriate assistance.