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Home visits by commissioned welfare volunteers and psychological distress: a population-based study of 11,312 community-dwelling older people in Japan
- Authors:
- NOGUCHI Masayuki, et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 30(12), 2015, pp.1156-1163.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Objective: Social support is a resource for the older people that effectively reduces psychological distress, with or without specialised health service provision. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine whether home visits by commissioned welfare volunteers (organisations of community residents assigned by national or local governments) are associated with a lower risk of psychological distress among the older people. Methods: Questionnaires were sent in August 2010 to all residents aged ≥65 years in three municipalities (n = 21,232) in Okayama Prefecture in Japan; 13,929 were returned (response rate = 65.6%). The final sample size for the analysis was 11,312 participants. Home visits, psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale: K6 > 5), and severe psychological distress (K6 > 13) were measured by the questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for psychological distress, adjusting for age, gender, education, marital status, and qualification for long-term care insurance. Results: The prevalence was 41.4% for psychological distress and 6.5% for severe psychological distress among all participants. Home visits were significantly associated with a lower risk of psychological distress after adjusting for the covariates. These associations were comparable for men and women. The association was clearer for severe psychological distress. Conclusions: Home visits by commissioned welfare volunteers are significantly associated with a lower risk of psychological distress among older people (Edited publisher abstract)
Older parents’ loneliness and family relationships in Japan
- Authors:
- TAKAGI Emiko, SAITO Yasuhiko
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing International, 40(4), 2015, pp.353-375.
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Place of publication:
- New York
This study investigated how Japanese older adults’ feelings of loneliness are related to structural, associational, and functional dimensions of intergenerational family relationships as well as to older adults’ expectations regarding filial support. The study treated intergenerational coresidence as a unique family context. Therefore, the study examined how associations differ depending on whether parents live with children or not. The authors analysed data from the Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging (NUJLSOA) (N = 5923). The NUJLSOA data were collected five times between 1999 and 2009. The results showed that for parents who lived with children, relationships with children living separately from parents were generally not related to their feelings of loneliness, but the lack of a spouse living in the same household was significantly associated with loneliness. On the other hand, for parents who did not have a coresiding child, associational and functional family relationships with children living separately were significantly related to parents’ loneliness. The analysis also showed that while relatively frequent face-to-face contact with children was associated with a lesser likelihood of parents reporting loneliness, frequency of phone contact was not significantly related to loneliness. The authors discuss the different implications of family relationships for parents’ loneliness depending on their intergenerational living arrangements. (Edited publisher abstract)
The effect of intergenerational programs on the mental health of elderly adults
- Authors:
- MURAYAMA Yoh, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 19(4), 2015, pp.306-314.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Objectives: This study examines the effect of an intergenerational program on elderly persons’ symptoms of depressive mood and in improving their sense of coherence, which is an element for successful coping with stressors. Method: This study evaluated an intervention research project (Research of Productivity by Intergenerational Sympathy [REPRINTS]), in which volunteers >65 years old read picture books to children in a school setting. The intervention group (REPRINTS) was recruited through intensive weekly training seminars for three months. The no-contact control group members were also recreated to participate in health checks and surveys for data collection purposes. Eventually, 26 participants in the intervention group and 54 in the control group were included for data analysis. Results: The age or gender was not significantly different between the intervention and control groups. Analyses of the simple main effects showed that sense of meaningfulness significantly increased for members of the intervention group at all terms, with no changes in the control group over time. Multiple mediation analysis revealed that participation in the intergenerational program was associated with a sense of manageability which was also significantly related to depressive mood. Conclusion: Intergenerational programs could serve as key health promoters among elderly people by decreasing the risk of social isolation and loneliness due to the greater sense of meaningfulness. However, given our limited sample size, generalizability was restricted and studies with larger cohorts are required to further validate our findings. (Edited publisher abstract)