地域参加型機能訓練事業の有用性—参加者・家族・民生委員の意識調査から

Effectiveness of community-based functional training programs on the elderly: Survey of attitude in participants, their families, and welfare commissioners

要旨：平成7年から開始された地域参加型機能訓練事業の有用性を検討する目的で意識調査を行い，神奈川県座間市の訓練会参加者115名，その家族42名，民生委員63名から回答を得た．女性，独居者，75歳以上の参加者の60％以上が精神面・身体面に効果が「かなりある」と回答し，参加時の期待に応じた結果を得ているとみられた．しかし男性および64歳以下では訓練会の効果に対する評価，訓練内容の満足度の結果が有意に低く，有用性は低いと考えられた．また，家族，民生委員とも訓練会への期待度は高かった．

　今後，家族の送迎負担を減らし，参加者の移動能力にかかわらず希望者全員が参加できるためには，送迎サービスについての検討が必要であると思われる．

　Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clarify the effectiveness of community-based functional training programs, which started in 1995. The training programs were introduced to the disabled elderly as well as non-disabled for preventing them from becoming bedridden.

　Subjects and Methods: Subjects included 115 participants within the training programs, 42 members of their families, and 63 welfare commissioners. A questionnaire was completed by the participants, their families and by the welfare commissioners. Items of the questionnaire included age, sex, family members, motivation of participation, reflections on participation, and satisfaction of the training programs. We investigated the families and the welfare commissioners concerning their expectation levels and influence on the families. This study was conducted in October 2000 in Zama City, Kanagawa Pref. Statistical analysis was performed by Mann-Whitney's U test and Kruskal-Wallis test.

　Results: More than 60% of the participants recognized the mental and physical effectiveness of the training; however, there were some differences of effectiveness among age, sex, and family members. Higher scores were obtained from the participants who were over 75 years of age and female, and lived alone. On the other hand, the participants who were under 64 years and male had lower scores. More than 50% of the families and 56% of the welfare commissioners had high expectations for the training. Seventy-nine percent of the families negatively responded to a burden of transportation to/from the training facility, while 41% of welfare commissioners felt it to be a burden to the families.

　Conclusion: The study revealed that the training was very effective mentally and physically especially for people who were over 75 years and female, and lived alone ; however, it seems to be necessary for the administration agency ot cope with problems of participants, those who are under 64 years and male. Both the families and the welfare commissioners had high expectations for the training programs. In order to give the elderly an opportunity to participate in the training programs, a free transportation system should be considered by the city.