YOKOYAMA Masahiro

Outcomes and Challenges of Community Care Conferences as Perceived by Care Managers This study aimed to clarify the outcomes and challenges of community care conferences from the perspective of care managers, who play a central role in community-based integrated care systems. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted among care managers in A Prefecture who had experience participating in community care conferences focused on individual cases, yielding 155 valid responses. The results indicated that community care conferences functioned as opportunities to review care management processes and to deepen understanding of other professionals’ roles. However, participants reported limited perceived effects on service users and their families, as well as limited impacts on motivation for continued participation and job retention. Furthermore, the quality of conference facilitation and the nature of interdisciplinary collaboration were found to be associated with care managers’ evaluations of community general support centers. These findings suggest that community care conferences should be redefined and reconstructed not as one-time discussion forums, but as continuous support processes encompassing pre-conference, conference, and post-conference phases. In particular, it is important to clarify the responsibility of community general support centers in providing post-conference follow-up and practical support, in order to ensure that agreed care plans are effectively translated into practice.

A Quest for the Depths of“ Yuragi” I have reflected on my trajectory in social work education, practice, and research through the lens of“ yuragi,”. In the fields of social work and social work education, there are many moments when one encounters unspoken emotions, hesitation, and uncertainty that cannot be fully put into words. I have sought to understand such experiences by conceptualizing them as yuragi, and by exploring them through both poetic expression and academic inquiry. In addition, in my research on the community-based integrated care system, I have proposed the hypothesis that diverse forms of yuragi also arise in the process of interprofessional collaboration. I believe that these forms of yuragi can become opportunities to deepen relationships among professionals. Looking ahead, I hope to give words to the yuragi experienced by people working in care settings. I am convinced that the core of social work lies in the stance of continuing to stand beside clients, even while wavering and wandering within uncertainty.