Impact of the elder abuse prevention and caregiver support law on system development among municipal governments in Japan.

Objectives: Japan enacted the elder abuse law in April 2006. The present study was aimed to examine the progress of systems development and difficulties with implementing activities in municipal governments for dealing with elder abuse after the law.

Methods: Between 11 and 22 December 2006 a paper questionnaire was sent to all 1840 Japanese municipalities and received 917 responses (49.