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The Care for the Elderly in Sweden and in Japan |
Table . 29
In this period in Sweden, the following service spread rapidly. Home Help, Sheltered Housing, Home Health Care(Primary Care) , Nursing Home and so on.
*1994(14%) - 1998(16%) in Japan In this period in Japan, the following service are planed to spread. Home Help, Sheltered Housing, Nursing Homes, Day-Care Centre, Facilities for Health Service for Elderly and so on. Except the facilities for health service for elderly, almost the same service are planed to spread in Sweden and in Japan. It is interesting that the big institutions like nursing homes(four beds in one rooms) are built in Japan. In Sweden also in 1970's many big nursing homes were built and later the quality of life of such big institutions became the problem. I think in Japan we also face the same problem. 10 years later, the big nursing homes(four beds in one room) will be the big problem.
*1980's(17%) - 1990's(18%) in Sweden In this period in SWEDEN, the following services spread. Night Patrol, Day-Care Center. Home Health Care, Technical Aid, Group Living, Modern Old Age Home. And the integration between the sociaI service and the heaIth care wiII become very important .
*1998(17%) - 2004(18%) in Japan Through the comparison of both countries, I think that the elderly care system in each country mainly depends on the aging rate. So if I can learn the development of the elderly care in Sweden in 1980's - 1990's. I can roughly find that what kind of elderly care resource will be needed in Japan in 1998 - 2004. For example, night patrol, district nurse system and technical aids and group living will be needed in Japan also. And the integration of the health care and the social service will become very important , too. And the QOL at the nursing homes and the geriatric hospital will be needed as their own "home". The single room at the institutions will be needed. The need of elderly care has become bigger and bigger day by day. But the problem is that the speed of aging in Japan is so quick that it is difficult for the Japanese people to change the way of thinking and invest more money for the elderly. 8.2 The Development Process of the Elderly Care From the comparison in both countries, I can guess that the aging rate is the more important factor which influence the elderly care system than the cultural difference and the national character difference. It means t hat at any countries when the society is industrialized and the aging rate increase, the families become to unable to take care of the elderly without the help of public service like Figure.14. The aging rate and the extent of the industrialization influence each other and regulate the society's need about elderly care. Figure . 14 The Developvent of the Elderly Care Style
In other words, the elderly care in Sweden and in Japan develop, in general, with similar development process as follows.
Why the elderly care development process have the similarity in Japan and in Sweden? It is because both Sweden and Japan have the same interest "better quality and less cost". Both countries have the same interest, so the trend will become similar.
Table.30
Through the process in Figure.15 from step.1 to step.4, and through the development from the elderly care at the common society and to the elderly care at the aged society in table.29, the most important point is that the development means not only the "better quality of life for the elderly" but also the "less cost" . The Swedish model is called "unique" model, but it has aimed at the true efficiency, so I think that the Swedish model is a "general" model for the aged society. Of course, it is a discussion whether Japan should provide all these services by public sector like in Sweden or not. And the percentage of housewives in Japan will not decrease like in Sweden. So I do not think that the Japanese elderly care will or should be the absolute same as Swedish Model. But by learning the development process of the Swedish elderly care, I can
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