菅原 育子

AIM: Although some previous studies have suggested using a social networking service (SNS) to create and maintain offline social networks among younger generations, whether similar outcomes would apply to middle-aged and older individuals is uncertain. This study aimed to examine the association between participation in groups via SNS and greater offline social networks among middle-aged and older individuals. METHODS: We conducted a web-based questionnaire survey on 3106 respondents from September to October 2021 among members of "the Shumi-to Club," an SNS in Japan. They indicated the number of SNS groups they belonged to and were classified into two categories, namely, those with and without participation in SNS groups. The current study assessed offline social networks using the total frequency of face-to-face interactions with distant family members and friends. Ordinal logistic regression analyses were performed, and the frequency of offline interactions was set as the outcome with adjustment for sociodemographic variables and self-rated health. RESULTS: Approximately 70.8% (n = 2200) of the participants belonged to SNS groups. Participation in SNS groups was associated with higher frequencies of face-to-face interaction with friends (odds ratio [95% confidential intervals]: 1.78 [1.53-2.07]). However, the current study found no association between belonging to a group and face-to-face interaction with distant family members (1.09 [0.93-1.26]). CONCLUSIONS: The participation in SNS groups potentially promotes offline social networks, particularly with friends. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 279-284.

AIM: This study aims to elucidate what volunteering activities mean for older adults in Japan by analyzing their emotions and evaluations from hedonic (e.g., happiness), eudaimonic (e.g., self-growth), and social (e.g., social coherence) well-being. METHODS: The qualitative research was conducted to describe the subjective experience of older adults' volunteering activities (frailty checkups) in the community-setting. Eight older adults were interviewed about their experiences during these activities. The interview data were analyzed from two assumption frameworks: first, three aspects of well-being, and second, timeframes of well-being, during the activity, medium-term, and long-term. Previous studies have not focused on the polysemy or the timeframe of well-being. RESULTS: Our results showed that hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well-being are not independent, but overlap. Furthermore, even if older adults experience certain emotions at a point of time, they may change in the long term. This implies that it is important to analyze older adults' feelings and experiences from not only one aspect but from different perspectives and measure their feelings not just at a particular moment but in the long term. This is the first empirical study to examine qualitatively the holistic experiences of well-being among older adults who volunteer. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that this study is unique in that it attempted to associate empirically the experiences of older adults during volunteering with their general psychological status of well-being. These findings could help make volunteering activities more meaningful for older adults and create or promote an active community. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 273-278.

Every research participant has their own personality characteristics. For example, older adults assisted by socially assistive robots (SAR) may have their own unique characteristics and may not be representative of the general population of older adults. In this research, we compared the average personality characteristics of participants in a workshop on robotics recruited directly through posting with those of older Japanese adults to examine participant selection bias and group representativeness for future study of SARs. After a one-week recruitment period, the workshop was attended by 20 older participants (nine males and 11 females) aged between 62 and 86 years. Extroversion among workshop participants was 4.38, 0.40 higher than the average for older adults in Japan. The workshop participants’ openness was 4.55, 1.09 higher than the average for the Japanese elderly. Thus, the results indicate a slight selection bias in the personal characteristics of the participants depending on the recruitment method when compared to the Japan national average for older adults. In addition, only one of 20 participants was below the cutoff on the LSNS-6 score and considered to have a tendency toward social isolation. The development and introduction of socially assistive robots is often being considered to support people in social isolation in their daily lives; however, the results of this study showed that it is difficult to recruit people who tend to be socially isolated when gathering research participants by methods such as posting. Therefore, the effectiveness of the method of recruiting participants should be carefully verified in research regarding socially assistive robots.

To realize a society in which older adults can live independently in their homes and familiar environments for as long as possible, their lives can be supported by providing appropriate technology. In this case, a new intervention for older people using socially assistive robots (SARs) is proposed; however, previous research has demonstrated that individual differences exist in the use and response to SAR interventions, and it has also been reported that SARs are not used by users in some cases. Therefore, in this study, we developed a self-disclosure function to promote continuous interaction with robots, using a Japanese corpus and self-disclosure items. In this study, we defined the specific requirements and functions of self-disclosure in SARs and developed ten non-arbitrary speech scripts from the field of social psychology using a Japanese corpus and self-disclosure items. To evaluate the effect of self-disclosure in SARs, an SAR was introduced to each household for 20 days, with the consent of seven community-dwelling older adults. Based on the recorded voice interaction data, we analyzed how the number, total time, and quality of verbal interactions changed with the SAR's self-disclosure. Furthermore, we conducted group interviews with the participants and received positive comments regarding the robot's self-disclosure. Some participants considered the specific personality of the SAR by accumulating its behavioral characteristics. As a consequence, these results indicate that the robot's self-disclosure feature is effective in significantly increasing the quantity and quality of verbal interactions with older adults.

Abstract This study investigated associations among loneliness, social support, social participation, and well-being among the Japanese elderly. We predicted that the negative association between loneliness and well-being would be weaker in people with adequate social support and frequent social participation. We measured ikigai and life satisfaction as indices of well-being. Ikigai and life satisfaction both include satisfaction with a person’s current and past life, yet ikigai also includes unique concepts such as satisfaction with social interactions and positive expectations for the future. Data of 418 Japanese aged 75 and older were analyzed; findings demonstrated that loneliness was negatively related to ikigai but not life satisfaction. There was a significant interaction between loneliness and social support for life satisfaction and ikigai. The interaction between loneliness and the frequency of social participation was significant only for ikigai. Post-hoc analysis indicated that social support and social participation frequency were negatively related to the negative association between loneliness and well-being, especially ikigai. These results suggest that ikigai and life satisfaction have a differential relationship to loneliness and social interaction because the concept of ikigai uniquely included perceived social roles.

Although retirement age is increasing in aging societies, its impact on individuals and communities is unclear. This study examined how age moderates the linkage between transition into retirement and participation in productive and non-productive social activities after retirement, using a nationwide longitudinal survey with a probability sample of Japanese aged 60 and over ( n = 3,493). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to predict changes in volunteering and hobbies/learning during 3–5 years of follow-up and their participation level at the follow-up. The significant interactions between change in work status (remained working as reference, full/partial retirement, remained not-working) and age at baseline showed that fully retired persons were more likely to increase these activities than remained workers only when they retired by their early seventies. Thus it is important to encourage engagement in social activities before retirement and remove psychological and environmental barriers that hinder starting new activities at old age.

Ageing is a global concern with major social, health, and economic implications. While individual countries seek to develop responses to immediate, pressing needs, international attention and collaboration is required to most effectively address the multifaceted challenges and opportunities an ageing global population presents in the longer term. The Ageing, Longevity and Health stream of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU-ALH) was built on a solid foundation of first-class interdisciplinary research and on innovative outreach and communication centres. This interdisciplinary network conducts projects that span biology, medicine, social sciences, epidemiology, public health, policy, and demography, and actively engages with the public and other societal stakeholders. Here we posit that such international interdisciplinary networks are needed and uniquely placed to address major challenges related to health and ageing and ultimately will produce new understanding and knowledge to promote the awareness of healthy ageing and encourage societal change via novel, science-informed interventions. Global interdisciplinary research presents great potential and opportunities to accelerate our understanding of human ageing and to produce new, more effective solutions to a pressing, complex problem. However, more focused, strategic efforts and investments are required in order to deliver on these potentials and reap maximum benefits for individuals and societies. IARU-ALH members are determined to contribute, in collaboration with others, to delivering on this vision.

＜Point＞高齢者の就労は近年大きく変化している。働く高齢者の増加とともに、高齢者が活躍する領域も多様になりつつある。退職年齢ではまだまだ健康であり、社会貢献意欲も高い高齢者に多様な働く機会を提供することは、高齢者の健康とwell-beingの維持増進に寄与するものであり、その先にあるフレイルの予防にもつながると想定される。また、厚生労働省が2016年度から開始した「生涯現役促進地域連携事業」にみられるように、高齢者就労にまちぐるみで取り組む体制の整備が期待されている。就労をはじめ、誰もが年齢にかかわらず社会とつながれるまちづくりは、高齢化が一層進むなか、ますます重要な地域課題となっていくだろう。(著者抄録)

© 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Internet of Things (IoT) is highly expected to contribute in making elderly people’s quality of life better, especially by detecting early health risks and supporting livings. However, most elderly people are not friendly to IoT technologies, which is a barrier to implement IoT technologies into the elderly people’ livings. In this study, we designed a card-based age-friendly workshop to help elderly people being friendly and having confidence with IoT. The cards composed of 16 “trigger cards” and 14 “feedback cards” about several IoT devices, which reflects our degraded but age-friendly explanation of IoT that IoT devices give a “feedback” when a “trigger” happens. The participants were asked to come up with ideas for use cases of IoT by combining a trigger card with a feedback card. Within three workshops, 22 people of 65 years of age or older were recruited, and 134 ideas were totally obtained. We revealed that the ideas were categorized into nine groups based on the purpose of each use case. Moreover, survey results indicated that the elderlies became friendly with IoT through coming up with ideas in the workshop. In this study, we confirmed that carefully designed cards and example ideas can help participants bring out more ideas and higher confidence in IoT. Experiencing and imaging about the use of IoT in their own personal needs will encourage elderlies to use IoT technologies.

Japanese older people experienced drastic changes in family structure and values after World War II at different life stages by birth cohorts. We examined how linkages between different types of social ties and life satisfaction (LS) vary across cohorts, in conjunction with age and survey year differences. Data from face-to-face interviews conducted in 1987, 1999, and 2012 with a nationally representative sample of older Japanese (N = 4,917) were analyzed. The participants were members of 4 birth cohorts (C1: 1901-1912, C2: 1913-1924, C3: 1925-1936, C4: 1937-1949), categorized into 6 groups based on cohort and age at time of measurement (young-old [YO]: 63-74; old-old [OO]: 75-86): C1OO, C2YO, C2OO, C3YO, C3OO, and C4YO. Effects of social networks on LS among the 6 groups were compared simultaneously and separately by gender using the Amos software. There were significant cohort variations in the linkages between family network and LS. The positive association between being married and LS was stronger for later cohorts (C3, C4) among men, whereas that of co-residence with a child and LS was stronger for the earlier cohorts (C1, C2) among women. Moreover, the positive association between meeting with nonfamily members and LS increased from 1987 to 2012 among women, indicating a period effect over a cohort effect. The effects of being married and participation in community groups on LS also changed with age. Our results suggest that linkages between social relations and LS should be interpreted within the context of individual and social changes over time.

超高齢社会を迎えた我が国において、60歳を超え定年退職を迎えた人の社会参加を促し、生きがいを見つけることは重要な課題である。本研究では我々が提唱している「住み慣れた場所で自分らしく老いることのできるまちづくり:AGING IN PLACE」を目指して定年退職を迎えたシニアを対象に、地域コミュニティで就労をすることが身体活動量の上昇や余暇活動などの社会参加を促すかどうかを検討した。対象は定年退職後のシニア12名で、日記による行動記録及び携帯型活動量計を装着し、社会参加や余暇活動、身体活動量に変化が生じるかを検討した。日記は1日の活動状況を(1)自宅から出なかった、(2)少し出かけた、(3)1日中外にいた、の3段階で記載した。活動量の定量評価として3軸加速度センサーを用いたリストバンド型活動量計を用いて歩数、運動強度(metabolic equivalents;METS)、消費カロリーの3項目を算出し、それぞれの指標に対し就労開始前、就労開始後の出勤日、休日と分け、就労開始前後の変化を検討した。リストバンド型活動量計より算出される指標での検討では歩数、METS、消費カロリーは就労開始後の就労日において、全ての指標で有意な上昇が認められた。興味深いことに就労開始後の休日においても全ての指標で有意な上昇を認め、日記による活動状況記録においてもリストバンド型活動量計の結果をサポートする内容であった。今回の取り組みに対する検討から、退職したシニアが就労することにより出勤日の活動量が上昇するだけでなく、休日の活動量も増加し社会参加の機会が増えていることが示された。セカンドライフための就労へ積極的に取り組むことは地域コミュニティとの繋がりも強め、AGING IN PLACEを実現するだけでなく、結果的に生活の質の向上を通じて未病にもつながる可能性がある。(著者抄録)

Social capital (SC) can be broken down into a number of aspects and dimensions, but few studies have differentiated between the effects of different components of SC on health. This study examined the relationship between contextual SC and health (self-rated health, and co-occurrence of lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, drinking, overweight/underweight and physical inactivity) among the general population in a Japanese suburban area. The specific research question was to explore which components of contextual SC had what effects on health. In 2009, we randomly selected 4123 residents, aged 20 years and over, from 72 districts in the city of Kashiwa, Chiba prefecture (a typical suburban city of Tokyo) to participate in a cross-sectional survey using mailed questionnaires. We used four indicators of SC: cognitive/horizontal (trust in neighbors), cognitive/vertical (institutional trust in the national social security system), structural/horizontal (participation in groups with egalitarian relationships) and structural/vertical (participation in groups with hierarchical relationships). District-level SC was calculated by aggregating the individual responses of each SC indicator within each district. The response rate was 42.1% (1716 questionnaires), 43.7% of the respondents were male, and the mean age was 54.8 ± 16.4 (ranging from 20 to 97). A multilevel analysis showed that higher district-level institutional mistrust was associated with self-rated poor health, but higher district-level mistrust in neighbors was inversely associated with it, after adjusting for individual-level covariates. There was no contextual effect of any SC components on co-occurrence of risk factors. Our findings showed that institutional trust has a beneficial effect on self-rated health, but trust among neighbors might negatively affect the health of the residents in a Japanese suburban city. These unique findings could suggest the advantage of breaking down SC to examine more specific relationships between SC and health, and the importance of accumulating the evidence in specific cohorts to develop customized health promotion strategies.

In the present research, we investigated the changes and individual differences of physical traits among the old people through physical function data and BMI (Body Mass Index) data of Japanese longitudinal study by using latent curve models. We first estimated the mean change patterns of physical traits, showing that in physical function moderate decrease was observed on average while female showed more rapid decrease. In BMI, female averagely indicated larger values than male but showed almost the similar change pattern to male. Individual differences of these changes were shown to be related to demographic variables, psychological variables, life-style variables such as smoking habits and other physical traits including eyesight. Additionally, longitudinal relationship was investigated between physical function and BMI, indicating the possibility that physical function may control rapid decreases of BMI in the old people. Finally, we attempted to extract multiple change patterns hidden in the whole data. As a result, two main classes were extracted whose change patterns were different in its intercepts and slopes. All analyses were conducted by Bayes estimation based on MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) method, and we showed the all program codes of WinBUGS in the Appendix.

AIM: In the forthcoming super-aging society, the appropriate assessment of functional and cognitive conditions of disabled elderly people will become increasingly significant in providing care services. Care level and household composition would be key factors to assess function. There might also be an interaction between the two factors with the function. The present study examined the associations of household composition and care level with functional and cognitive status among the disabled elderly living in a suburban apartment complex with a high rate of aged residents (39% in 2009). METHODS: Participants were 190 disabled elderly persons aged 65 years and over who lived in the apartment complex. Cross-sectional data were collected between May 2009 and August 2010, including care level, household composition, basic activities of daily living (BADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and the independence level in relation to cognitive status. Lower scores meant less independence in BADL and IADL, and as determined by the cognitive/independence scale. RESULTS: Approximately half of the participants lived alone. Generalized linear model procedure showed significant interactions with the BADL score and cognitive/independence scale between household composition and care level. Scores for BADL and the cognitive/independence scale in groups receiving a higher care level were lower; however, the slope of the trend for the elderly living alone was more gradual than for the elderly living with others. CONCLUSION: It is important for health-care providers to assess in detail the status of the disabled elderly considering both their household composition and care level in planning and providing assistance for them.

Homebound status is associated with poorer health and disability; however, the impact of community factors on the decision to remain homebound is unclear. We applied multilevel analyses to examine the association between neighborhood environment and homebound status among Japanese community-dwelling elderly. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in February 2009 using a mailed questionnaire. A total of 4123 participants aged 20 years and over living in 72 small districts of Kashiwa, Japan, were randomly selected for the survey. Of the 1735 returned questionnaires, the 588 that were completed by individuals aged 65 years and over were used for analysis. Frequency of going outdoors was assessed and respondents going outdoors once a week or less were defined as homebound. Neighborhood environment was assessed using three subscales of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS-A) (land use mix-access, aesthetics and crime safety). Multilevel logistic regression analysis indicated that the lower score of land use mix-access at the district level was associated with the elderly being homebound after adjustment for individual demographic data, physical, psychological and social factors and district prevalence of population aged 65 years or more. This finding could contribute to devising a successful community-based strategy for homebound prevention of community-dwelling elderly individuals. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

目的&emsp;地域を基盤としたヘルスプロモーション活動や介護予防活動を効果的，効率的に実施する上で，人々が地域社会に対して持つ態度や意識，すなわちコミュニティ意識を把握することは重要である。本研究では，このコミュニティ意識の測定を目指した代表的尺度である地域社会への態度尺度の一般住民における信頼性，妥当性を検討すること，および健康指標との関連を検討することを目的とした。<br/>方法&emsp;2009年 2 月に郵送による無記名自記式質問紙調査を実施した。千葉県柏市にある地区社会福祉協議会エリア23か所から，地域特性が多様となるように 7 か所選定し，そこに居住する20歳以上の地域住民93,110人から4,123人を系統抽出した。調査項目は，地域社会への態度尺度（作成されたのが1978年のため，一部項目のワーディングを変更），基本属性，および主観的健康感等を含む健康指標であった。尺度の検証には，確証的因子分析，内的整合性の検討，Item&ndash;Total 相関分析によって行い，健康指標との関連は各指標を従属変数としたロジスティック回帰分析を行った。<br/>結果&emsp;配布数4,123票のうち，1,735票が回収され，そのすべてを有効回答とした（回収率42.1%）。確証的因子分析の結果，原本通りの 2 因子性が支持された。また，内的整合性の検討，Item&ndash;Total 相関分析でも良好な結果であった。健康指標との関連では，地域社会への態度尺度得点が高いほど，主観的健康観が良好であり，将来への不安がなく，孤独感が低いという結果であり，生活習慣との関連は認められなかった。<br/>結論&emsp;尺度が作成されたのが1978年であるものの，一部項目のワーディングを変更することで現代でも使用可能であることが示された。今後はコミュニティ意識を向上させる方法論の検討とともに，健康に影響を与える機序についての検証が必要である。

The purpose of this study was to clarify the actual situation of mental health in community dwelling, and the related factors with depressive symptoms among middlelife. Then, these results are use for the mental health promotion and the activities for suicide primary prevention. On the basis of a cross-sectional survey of middle-aged individuals (40-69 years of age), analyses were conducted using full answers of 510 residents (239 male, 271 female) in a farming village in Aomori prefecture. In this investigation, CES-D scale was used for measurement of depressive symptoms in the self-administered questionnaire. The results showed that the stress degree and the stress coping were worse than the whole country. The CES-D score was significantly higher in those who had no hobby or cultural activities, and those who had more stress or economic problem in both sexes. Furthermore, the score was significantly higher in those who did not sleep well. On the other hand, the score did not differ by drinking customs. There results suggest that not only sleep or stress coping but also hobby and culture activities are important in mental health promotion.

This article introduces the reader to present conditions and suicide prevention measures in Japan. The suicide rate has increased gradually since the early 1990s, reaching a postwar peak in 1998. The number of suicides has remained at about 30,000 every year since 1998. Middle-aged (55-59 years) and elderly men have especially high suicide rates. In 2002, The Council of Learned People on Measures Against Suicides (organized by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare) released its report on national suicide prevention strategies. Although national suicide prevention strategies have just begun to be established, some prefectures or regions have undertaken unique suicide prevention measures.

The objectives of this study were to identify characteristics of items which are susceptible to missing values in mail surveys, as well as characteristics of the people who fail to respond, for people aged 60 + . The item characteristics under study were: the location of the item, item branching and extension, fact or opinion items, the number of response alternatives, and the total number of words in the item. The results showed a robust effect for item blanching on the missing value rate. As for respondents, age, sex, education, health and financial condition, household composition, and offering of comments were examined. Age, education, health, and household composition were related to the missing value rate. These findings suggest that special attention is required in designing questionnaires.