Japanese development and testing of the network establishment practices scale for community and public health nurses.

The practices required by community and public health nurses to establish community networks mainly involve communicative competencies. Assessment through development and testing of such competencies is necessary for community and public health nurse educators and practitioners around the world to create and maintain a mutual support network. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a scale for community and public health nurse practices to establish and maintain community networks, and to then determine construct validity in a factorial structure model.

Validity and reliability of the community-environmental index regarding daily living among the mental disorders in community: an assessment instrument based on community nursing activity.

The purpose of this study was to examine validity and reliability of a community-environmental assessment instrument analysing community-environmental conditions among the mental disorders in a community. Thirty-three factors were extracted from the data based on a nationwide investigation by the factor analysis. The principal component analysis was applied to these extracted factors, and the first principal component score (1PCS) was interpreted as a synthetic index regarding daily living of the mental disorders in the community.

Postural stability and physical performance in social dancers.

This cross-sectional study examined the benefits of social dancing on postural stability and physical performance in dancers aged 50 years or more. Walking speed, lower limb reaction time and low back flexibility were measured in 202 social dancers and 202 community-dwelling comparison subjects aged 50-87 years. The results showed that dancers who were older than 60 years had better postural stability and faster leg reaction times, whilst dancers aged 50-59 showed only better flexibility, when compared with the controls.

Multidimensional structures of comprehensive accessibility of community support for people with mental disorders in Japan: a nationwide investigation.

The purpose of this study was to define the concept of comprehensive accessibility of community support for people with mental disorders and to clarify the multidimensional structures of comprehensive accessibility. We developed a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 47 items. A complete list of the municipalities in Japan was prepared, and the questionnaire was mailed to 3310 municipalities.

The effects of Tai Chi Chuan on physiological function and fear of falling in the less robust elderly: an intervention study for preventing falls.

The aim of this report is to investigate the effects of 8 weeks of intensive Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) training on physiological function and fear of falling (FOF) in the less-robust elderly. Forty-nine community-dwelling elderly, aged 60 or older, were classified randomly into a TCC training or control group. Physical performance measures (including one-leg stance, trunk flexion, and walking speed) and interviews were conducted before and after the intervention.

[A quantitative and qualitative study on effective information flow for infectious disease control in welfare facilities for the elderly].

Objectives: To clarify factors associated with effective information tranges among staff of welfare facilities for the elderly, and to propose measures for an appropriate information flow system in welfare facilities and public health centers, communication channels and methods, and encouraging factors and barriers were investigated in terms of a printed medium on the control and management of scabies infections.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey and an interview survey were conducted with the staff of welfare facilities for the elderly where "Control and management manual of scabies infection" had been distributed by the Tama-Tachikawa Public Health Center in Tokyo. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to managers and chief practitioners of 66 facilities.

Nationwide study of environmental assessment for people with schizophrenia in Japan.

The purpose of the present study was to develop an environmental assessment tool related to the living of the mentally disabled and to examine the health care professionals' perception of the current situations and its importance. The relationships between the current and ideal environmental situations were analyzed. The survey was conducted at 3310 municipalities nationwide by mailing self-report questionnaires, which consisted of 52 items developed by specialists for the mentally disabled and their families.