| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥2,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Prior to implementing the system of long-term care insurance, a survey was conducted in 1998 on 1,807 senior citizens residing at home and requiring some type of nursing care at City "I", Prefecture "A" (local aged population, approx. 16,000, about 19 % of the total population). Valid responses were obtained from 1,283 (effective response rate, 71 %). The respondents were divided into the following groups : A, 1,024 (80 %) who had caregivers available at all times ; B, 57 (4 %) having caregivers available some of the time ; and C, 202 (16 %) having no caregivers.
By comparing these 3 groups, it became possible to delineate their background characteristics, as well as individual problems with everyday activities, the current status of their use, and expectations on various existing services. When senior citizens had no caregivers (70 % were living alone), about one-half were taking advantage of "home-visit nursing care" but only 10 to 20 % took advantage of the services offered at specia
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l facilities (e.g., "day care" and "day services"). The most frequent complaints made were "loneliness having no one to talk to": 70 % wished to use "home-visit care" and 40 % expressed a desire to utilize the service by visiting facilities specially designed for senior citizens. Even among those aged individuals who had caregivers at all times, the most frequently cited complaint was "loneliness without having anyone to talk to". The number of those who wished to utilize "home-visit care" or services available at senior citizens' facilities was 2 to 3 times those who were already taking advantage of the same services. One may expect that the introduction of long-term care insurance would result in immediate expansion of these services. Meanwhile, among those senior citizens who had caretakers at all times, 60 % received physicians' care at home and 20 % were using special medical equipment at home or services provided by home visiting nurses. For the "problems that they face in everyday iving", 2 % listed "the absence of a person with whom they could consult about their physical or medical problems." In spite of these situations, only 10 % used "home-visit nursing care"; the existence of the service was known to only one-half of the senior citizen population ; and only 40 % expressed a desire to use it. The extent of awareness of home-visit nursing care services was only one-half of the amount of knowledge about home-visit nursing care services and those offered at community facilities. A need to improve the public's awareness of home-visit nursing care services when the long-term care insurance system was implemented was recognized. Less
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