Nursing schools on the increase as the 18 year old population decreases in Japan.

Baccalaureate nursing programs have been on the increase in Japan in the past few decades. However, the 18 year old population is on the decline. While nursing programs have been increasing, the number of high school graduates has decreased. The paradoxical phenomenon has started to affect nursing education, including shortages in faculty members and in clinical sites. The purpose of the present study was to identify actual or potential problems as a result of so many nursing schools having opened in the past few decades, and to make recommendations for nurse educators in Japan.

How differently we should prepare for the next disaster?

Following the Great East Japan earthquake (the Big Quake) that hit the northeastern parts of Japan on March 11, 2011, aid was dispatched from multiple levels of organizations including the Japanese Nurses Association (JNA). Evidence indicates that the JNA did not play an effective role in the aid efforts, since the professional organization had pulled out and stopped sending nursing personnel from the end of April 2011. In view of the way that things were handled in terms of aid efforts immediately, a year, or two years after the Big Quake occurred, the authors of this paper have identified issues related to nurse's role at the time of the disaster. By looking back at what happened, we have gained insights into how to prepare for future disasters.

Work satisfaction of Japanese public health nurses: assessing validity and reliability of a scale.

The Index of Work Satisfaction, developed by Stamps et al., was administered to 583 nurses who had practiced public health nursing in Japan. After psychometric evaluation, three components were identified as contributing to their job satisfaction: the work environment, professional confidence, and commitment to the profession. Overall, the participants in the study were quite satisfied. The findings corroborated previous reports on Japanese nurses' job satisfaction, in that the nurses in the study were most satisfied with their relationships with peers, patients/families, and supervisors. However, they were least satisfied with having enough time for client care, having confidence, and promotion opportunities. The implications are discussed, to the effect that understanding the factors related to public health nurses' job satisfaction could help administrators to improve regulations and other issues related to the work environment.

Family caregiving in dementia in Japan.

Family caregivers were interviewed to describe their caregiving experience with their older relatives who were afflicted with Alzheimer's disease at home. Three elements were identified to contribute toward a caregiving career: (a) good prior relationships between caregivers and care recipients, (b) positive interpretations of the relative's condition, and (c) utilization of resources. Some caregivers were identified as high risk: husbands caring for their wives and daughters-in-law caring for their mothers-in-law. Specific interventions for these subgroup caregivers are in order.

Nurse case management: negotiating care together within a developing relationship.

UNLABELLED: TOPIC/PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to explicate the process of nurse case management involving clients afflicted with chronic mental illness. METHOD: Grounded theory was the method of choice. Interviews were conducted with nurses in inpatient, transitional, and community settings in four cities in southern Ontario, Canada. FINDINGS: Negotiating care together within a developing relationship emerged as the basic social process. "Building a trusting relationship" was identified as the foundation of case management. CONCLUSIONS: Salient differences were found between the three settings, yet the basic social process was consistent across settings. This underscores the therapeutic relationship as the basis for nurse psychiatric case management.

The public health nursing role in rural Japan.

The objective of this study was to describe the activities of the public health nurses in the local community. The setting was a small rural town in central Japan. The design was a descriptive study based on informant interviews supplemented by participant observation. The sample consisted of five public health nurses, four health care workers in other fields, and seven clients, all living in the same town. Each participant was interviewed individually. Interviews focused on the participants' understanding of what public health nurses actually do. Semistructured interview guides for each group of participants served as a framework to elicit participants' views on the activities of the public health nurses. Analysis of interview transcripts indicated that commitment was a core concept in the role of the public health nurses. Linked to this central theme were three constructs describing their work: identifying the real needs of clients, responding appropriately and promptly, and establishing trust relationships. The interviews indicated considerable public support for collaborative activities involving public health nurses, other health care workers, and community members. Implications for public health nurses' expanded role in Japan in relation to other health care professionals are addressed.

Mental health case management in Canada: job description analyses.

The purpose of this study was to examine case managers' (CM) job position descriptions through content analysis. There were 29 case manager job position descriptions examined. The job descriptions could be grouped into four categories: (1) what the individuals should bring to the position, (2) what they did as CM, (3) to whom they were accountable, and (4) what was valued. Themes included focus on client as individual, focus on the external/system, or outer-directed work, and the articulation point between the individual and broader system. The CM works directly and indirectly in the system and community through education, organizing, planning, and networking, as well as through provision of direct care to the individual client. The expectations of the positions are extensive.