TOKUDA Kazuhiro

Alcoholism is a chronic progressive psychiatric disease and is suggested to be difficult to restore. It is also called “a disease of being alone,” and there is a societal stigma surrounding alcoholism. We need a society in which correct knowledge and better understanding about alcoholism and alcohol-related problem is widely disseminated and patients with alcoholism can recover easily.

Participation of residents is essential to promote local projects. A questionnaire was conducted on residents in Miyano area, Yamaguchi City for planning local community development. The aim of this study was to uncover factors for willingness to cooperate in local projects from analysis of the results of the questionnaire. Aid for people who are unable to go shopping, activity to watch over children, development of environment to raise children and anticrime measures were much-needed projects. Relations among neighbors were found to be a factor affecting willingness to cooperate in these projects. Our results suggest that improving relations among residents may lead to increased willingness to cooperate, resulting in enhancement of local community development.

Declining birth rate in Japan is a pressing issue that has garnered a significant amount of scholarly attention.Many couples express barriers to having a third child, citing financial concerns as the main reason. In addition, mental factors are the primary drivers for the decision to have children. Developing supportive relationships with others may provide reliable support in childbirth and child-rearing.

Undergraduate nursing students are required to acquire practical skills, and many of them may experience learning difficulties. However, the relationship between learning difficulties and motivation for pursuing nursing or vocational views remains unclear. In this study, a questionnaire was administered to 92 undergraduate nursing students to determine the influences of their motivation for pursuing nursing and vocational views on learning difficulties. Our results showed that students whose motivation for applying was “because someone recommended me” had difficulty understanding the lecture content. Those who answered “yes” to the item “a career in nursing would help me become my ideal self” found it difficult to acquire practical skills because of fewer opportunities but did not have difficulty balancing their academic and personal lives. Our findings suggest the need to consider measures to support nursing students’ learning by focusing on the motivation for applying for nursing and the vocational views on their learning difficulties.

The use of the Internet and digital devices may encourage social interactions among the elderly. However, the utilization rate of smartphones and other digital devices is not very high among the elderly. A questionnaire was administered to 119 elderly people aged 65 years or older to determine the association between smartphone usage frequency and the frequency of social interactions among them. Our results discovered that 83.2% of the elderly respondents used smartphones. Those who reported using their smartphones more frequently had fewer instances of social isolation and greater numbers of social interactions with others. Our findings also revealed a significant association between the frequency of using social networking services (SNS) on smartphones and the number of social interactions among the elderly. Our findings indicated that the use of smartphones as a means of communication may lead to more social interactions among elderly people.

We preliminarily surveyed the influence of COVID-19 on pregnancy, birth, and childcare. We used semi-structured interviews. We used text mining to analyze five participants who experienced pregnancy and childbirth before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study showed the following outcomes: (1) COVID-19 influenced familial support, social support, and birth. (2) Participants found it difficult to ask for support. (3) Participants needed social support for infection prevention at the preparation stage because they also cared for their children. (4) The birth affected the failure to share needs of the family and enhance the awareness of childbirth as a pregnant woman.

A multiple-choice questionnaire was administered to university students to investigate their positive changes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The data revealed that more than three-fourths of the students felt positive changes in relationships and values. Additionally, approximately half of the students felt positive changes in customs and behavior, while 20%–30% felt positive physical and mental vitality changes. Our findings suggest that it may be necessary for university students to notice their positive changes as being essential for growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An online questionnaire was administered to 143 university students to clarify their perception of the elderly and its related factors. Consequently, the elderly that formed the basis of the students’ perception regarding older adults were in the following order: “grandparents” > “the elderly in the community” ≥“the elderly in various media.” Furthermore, the students’ perception of the older adults was related to “frequent contact with grandparents,” “quarrel with grandparents,” “pleasant activity with the elderly in the community,” “training session offered by the elderly in the community,” “experience of being scolded by the elderly in the community,” “contents of various media for respect for the elderly,” and “contents of various media for the care of the elderly.” Our findings suggest that experiences with grandparents and older people in the community and various media may play an essential role in having a more positive perception of the elderly for students.