Budget Amount *help |
¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
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Research Abstract |
In this research project, the location characteristics of psychiatric clinics in six metropolitan areas in Japan is investigated as an example of recent change in medical service provision, focusing on the effect of land use control upon them. Psychiatric clinics are studied from the following three viewpoints. l)As an example of change in policy change in government control on medical service provision, 2)as an example of locational conflict around noxious facility 3)as an indispensable facility in the contemporary society with many mental stresses. Mail survey are conducted to the psychiatric clinics in largest six metropolitan areas, i.e. Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. The findings are summarized as blow. 1)After around 1980, newly opened psychiatric clinics have increased greatly Such increase is prompted by the public opposition against the quality of care provided at the psychiatric hospitals, and by the change in medical insurance system. 2)Newly opened psychiatric clinics tend to locate in larger metropolitan areas, especially in the vicinity of railway terminal station. This is because people often regard these clinics as noxious facilities. 3)From 1985, more psychiatric clinics are located around the terminal. The reasons why such location is preferred for psychiatric clinics are as follows. i) Patients prefer anonymous surroundings. ii) Railway terminal has easy access from the wider areas from in and out of the outer city iii) Locational conflicts can be avoided in the commercial areas around the railway terminal where land use control by urban planning is less strict than in the suburban residential areas. Such spatial inequality in the provision of psychiatric treatment service is not compatible with the recent policy orientation towards deinstitutionalization.
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