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ABSTRACT
To date, no elder care facilities in Japan have formally introduced the Eden Alternative® philosophy of care. The purpose of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to identify the perceptions of care workers and nurses regarding the lives of older adults in care facilities to consider the prospects for introducing the Eden Alternative to Japan. The participants included 139 care workers and 41 nurses who responded to a survey questionnaire based on Eden Alternative principles developed by the researchers for this study. More than half of the participants indicated that they sometimes thought the older adults experienced feelings of helplessness, loneliness, and boredom and hoped for changes in the manner of care to improve the lives of residents. Participants were also in favor of the residents having plants and visits from children, but opinions about having animals on site were split. The fact that the survey respondents noticed the problems indicated by the Eden Alternative suggests there is great potential for introducing the Eden Alternative to Japan.
In Japan, the percentage of older adults exceeded 20% of the population in 2000 and reached 22.1% in 2008. The average life expectancy is 79.2 for men and 86 for women, and the aging of Japanese society is unmatched anywhere in the world (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2009). The challenges brought about by Japan's aging population include an expansion of nuclear families, older adults living alone, a rising population of old-old adults, and increasing medical costs. In particular, the number of older adults living alone is expected to rise, and measures are urgently needed to address who will care for this population and where this care will be provided. Since the implementation of Japan's long-term care insurance system in 2000, designed to resolve such issues, the number of older adults admitted to facilities where everything is covered by that insurance has been increasing. Older adults with health problems who cannot live independently at home usually decide to move to a facility for elders (FE) to receive care. Long-term care insurance is accepted in 9,327 facilities, with 690,358 older people currently living in them (Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2009). Thus, FEs have become increasingly important in Japan for older adults and their families.
BACKGROUND