Development of a community's self-efficacy scale for preventing social isolation among community-dwelling older people (Mimamori Scale).

Background: Among older people in developed countries, social isolation leading to solitary death has become a public health issue of vital importance. Such isolation could be prevented by monitoring at-risk individuals at the neighborhood level and by implementing supportive networks at the community level. However, a means of measuring community confidence in these measures has not been established.

Development of a community commitment scale with cross-sectional survey validation for preventing social isolation in older Japanese people.

Background: Elderly social isolation could be prevented by facilitating communication or mutual helping at the neighborhood level. The helping of elderly neighbors by local volunteers may relate to their community commitment (CC), but ways to measure CC have not been identified. The aim of the present study was to develop a Community Commitment Scale (CCS) to measure psychological sense of belonging and socializing in the community among local volunteers, for research in prevention of elderly social isolation.

[Study on dilemma and strategy of community support network by community organization for prevention of isolated death in an urban area].

Objectives: Isolated death of elderly is recognized as a severe social problem in public health and it is an urgent requirement that a supportive community network be organized so that its occurrence is minimized. The purpose of this research was to analyze actual issues of a supportive community network for elderly within the community and to obtain clues for useful actions to prevent isolated death of elderly individuals in the future.

Methods: The subjects were 14 representatives of a supportive community network for elderly in A City, B Ward and C District (as a junior high school segment).

Six month outcomes of an innovative weekly intergenerational day program with older adults and school-aged children in a Japanese urban community.

Aim: To describe the nature of the progression of intergenerational interactions among and between older people and children in a weekly intergenerational day program (IDP) in an urban community and to evaluate the older people's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and depressive symptoms, compared to the program volunteers, as well as the children's perspectives of older people, during the first 6 months of the program's implementation.

Methods: This longitudinal study, with a convenience sample of older people (n = 14), program volunteers (n = 8), and school-aged children (n = 7), used mixed methods to analyze the results. Participant observations and interviews were used to describe the interactions between the generations over the 6 months.