Association Between Time Spent With Family and Loneliness Among Japanese Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had large impacts on society, including people practicing social distancing. This behavioral response has increased loneliness. Loneliness not only increases the risk of psychiatric disorders, but also affects occupational mental health. To avoid the negative effects of isolation, it is important to have social contact with other people, especially family members. Employment and economic instability caused by COVID-19 may have also affected family relationships. It is important to understand the association between family relationships and loneliness in workers under the pandemic.Methods: We collected usable data from 27,036 Japanese workers who completed an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were asked how long they spend with members of their family during mealtimes or at home, and if they experienced loneliness; the latter was assessed by a single question. Other questions included whether participants lived with their spouse, or with someone in need of care. To estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of time with family associated with loneliness we used a multilevel logistic model nested in the prefecture of residence, with adjustments for age, sex, marital status, presence of a cohabitant requiring care, equivalent income, educational level, number of employees in the workplace, frequency of remote work, availability of someone for casual chat, smoking, drinking, time for leisure interests, and cumulative rates of COVID-19 in the prefecture.Results: Ten percent (2,750) of the 27,036 participants reported loneliness. The survey showed a significant negative correlation between time spent with family and loneliness (p < ‘0.001): participants who spent more time with family were less likely to feel loneliness. In addition, not living with a spouse and living with someone in need of care were associated with loneliness (not living with a spouse: p < 0.001; living with someone in need of care: p < 0.001).Conclusion: Loneliness under COVID-19 pandemic conditions was negatively associated with time spent with family members, with the converse result found for participants cohabiting with someone in need of care. These associations suggest the potential value of changes to working practices and interventions to combat loneliness.

Preferences of Older Immigrants in Nursing Care: A Scoping Review

Background Worldwide, our societies are characterized by an increasing diversity, greatly contributed by immigrants. When in need of care older immigrants face various barriers and serious challenges in terms of unmet preferences. To provide person-centered care, health care professionals need to consider the personal background of immigrants to identify and assess their individual preferences. Objective To understand how preferences of older immigrants in nursing care are defined and how they can be assessed. Methods A scoping review will be conducted to identify and analyze preferences of older immigrants across health care settings. Preliminary results The literature search revealed that older immigrants in need of care define their preferences in terms of expectations and priorities. Differences among immigrants are related to the age of the person at the time of immigration, on cultural differences and/or on how the concepts of preferences in the country of origin is understood.

A STUDY ON VOCATIONAL NEEDS OF INMATES OF GOVERNMENT CHILDRENS HOMES IN KERALA

Education helps a child to develop personally, socially as well as economically in future. Proper care and support given to children helps in the personality development which means the set of qualities which makes a person distinct from the other. It is a fact that all the problems and needs cant be solved and satisfied always. Even then, everyone will try to attain the goals through realising various needs and overcoming the problems to an extent. It is in this context, education helps one to acquire new skills and wisdom to overcome the challenges they face. But children may not be able to tackle all the barriers that come across them during the flow of their life. In the present study the investigator identifies the vocational needs of child in need of care and protection. As the inmates of childrens homes are dejected by the society, the investigator tries to identify their needs especially vocational need as it would help the teachers and the officials to support these children to have a goal in their future to have a successful life.

Relationship Between Tongue Strength and Dysphagia Symptoms in Japanese Older Adults in Need of Care

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the tongue pressure of older adults who require nursing care and to clarify the relationship between dysphagia symptoms and tongue strength. Methods: The participants were Japanese older adults (age: ≥ 65 years) in need of care who were able to communicate with others and agreed to participate in the study. Tongue pressure was measured using TPM-01, a tongue pressure measuring instrument. The Dysphagia Risk Assessment for Community-Dwelling Elderly was used to assess dysphagia. The association between tongue pressure and 12 dysphagia symptoms was analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance. Results: The average tongue pressure was 23.22 ± 9.9 kPa. Tongue pressure was significantly associated with occasional food spillage from the mouth and sputum formation in the throat during meals or after eating or drinking (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Decreased tongue strength should be suspected in older adults with food spillage from the mouth or sputum formation in the throat during meals.

Physical activities for older adults: Are local co-operations of sports clubs and care partners an option to increase access?

Group-based physical activity brings high and long-term added value for the participants. Especially for older adults in need of care, this development is dependent on interdisciplinary thinking and the networking of local structures. Studies underline the consideration of the communication and access options that are needed to be able to promote the target group’s health through exercise programmes. Sports clubs are repeatedly mentioned as competent partners in health promotion, but in municipal practice—possibly due to very different basic structures to the system of care—they receive less attention. The project Moving Nursing Homes and Care Providers (2019–2022) is coordinated by the State Sports Federation of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Local sports clubs cooperate with providers of outpatient and inpatient care to start new sports programs for older adults in need of care. As part of the scientific evaluation, the perspectives involved are equally considered and their motives and needs are analysed. For this paper, four conducted qualitative interviews with representatives of sports clubs were analysed with the focus on opportunities and barriers for local partnerships between sports clubs and care. Results show structural and personal parameters that have to be looked at from the beginning. Local networks are essential for sports clubs to get in contact with potential partners and to reflect initiated processes. Although aspects of (financial) organisation is an often named topic, sports clubs have the opinion that they have the social responsibility to influence developments in their neighbourhood for all generations positively.

Association between time spent with family and loneliness among Japanese workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Background: The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had large impacts on society, including people practicing social distancing. This behavioral response has increased loneliness. Loneliness not only increases the risk of psychiatric disorders, but also affects occupational mental health. To avoid the negative effects of isolation, it is important to have social contact with other people, especially family members. Employment and economic instability caused by COVID-19 may have also affected family relationships. It is important to understand the association between family relationships and loneliness in workers under the pandemic. Methods: We collected usable data from 27,036 Japanese workers who completed an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were asked how long they spend with members of their family during mealtimes or at home, and if they experienced loneliness; the latter was assessed by a single question. Other questions included whether participants lived with their spouse, or with someone in need of care. To estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of time with family associated with loneliness we used a multilevel logistic model nested in the prefecture of residence, with adjustments for age, sex, marital status, presence of a cohabitant requiring care, equivalent income, educational level, frequency of remote work, availability of someone for casual chat, smoking, drinking, time for leisure interests, and cumulative rates of COVID-19 in the prefecture. Results: Ten percent (2,750) of the 27,036 participants reported loneliness. The survey showed a significant negative correlation between time spent with family and loneliness (p<0.001): participants who spent more time with family were less likely to feel loneliness. In addition, not living with a spouse and living with someone in need of care were associated with loneliness (not living with a spouse: p<0.001; living with someone in need of care: p<0.001). Conclusion: Loneliness under COVID-19 pandemic conditions was negatively associated with time spent with family members, with the converse result found for participants cohabiting with someone in need of care. These associations suggest the potential value of changes to working practices and interventions to combat loneliness.

EFFECTIVENESS OF INSTITUTIONAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN IN NEED OF CARE AND PROTECTION: A REVIEW

The Nation’s development depends on the development of children. Child must be encouraged to live in a family environment which gives an atmosphere of happiness, understanding, love, affection and emotional support for development of child’s personality. The growth, development and personality of children is depended on the environment where the children grown up. Children are being institutionalized with various reasons such as destitution due to death of parents, poverty, inability of parents, unconducive family environment and health issues. As the children are living in the institutions away from their parents, it effects on physical, psychological and emotional development of children. The Government mandated child care institutions to maintain the minimum standards for providing effective rehabilitation services for children in need of care and protection. The child care institutions were managed by Government and Non-Government Organisations. Many studies have been conducted to see the services provided by child care institutions really meeting the needs of the children for their development to attain their goals and mainstreaming in the society. KEY WORDS: Vulnerability, protection, institutions, rehabilitation, development.

‘Care literacy’ in super aging Japan

Accentuated by the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the change in Japan to community-based health and care services for older adults indicates an urgent need to enhance and spread citizens’ understanding of care. This is a broader notion of care that incorporates conditions within the community to support the inclusion of older adults, involving not only those older adults receiving care and their direct providers of care, but also others in the community who are involved in the daily lives of these older adults. To underpin such a broader notion of care across citizens, this paper proposes ‘care literacy’ as a novel analytical concept, defined as the knowledge and capabilities that enable people in need of care to live their daily lives in the community and facilitate potential health and care solutions. Reflecting the interconnection of health and care and rooted in the local context, care literacy underpins aging by enabling this involvement of the broader community, and is disseminated through media and grassroot activities.

Pawnder: An Online Platform for Canine Adoption

This paper presents a new online tool, Pawnder, a dog adoption website which allows users to access and navigate through the database of dogs, in need of care and support, which constitutes a significant proportion of the canine's population in India with the subsequent aim of adoption, thus helping to reduce cases of human-animal interference along with their high mortality rates. Using the concepts of Machine learning and Web development using React.js, Pawnder is designed to run on any browser on any device creating easy accessibility for its users thus allowing a greater reach which consequently would help in providing all the resources needed for these innocent animals. The objective behind its development is to utilise the network base so created to eventually facilitate in their adoption and helping them find their forever homes.