介護労働者の腰痛の現況からみた課題と行動分析学を用いた予防教育の有用性

Current issues associated with work-related lower back pain among care workers and usefulness of preventive education using Behavior Analysis

要旨：わが国は超高齢社会を迎え，将来的な介護労働者不足が懸念されるが，その要因には職業性腰痛があげられている．職業性腰痛の予防対策として，海外では福祉用具を活用する抱上げない介助が徹底されている一方，本邦においては福祉用具の普及が進まないのが現状である．これは，介護現場において福祉用具の活用を促進させる環境が未整備である点と，介助技術の習得の困難さが要因と考えられる．これらの要因を解決する方法として，個人の行動と環境の関係を追及する心理学である行動分析学に着目する．本稿では，介護労働者の腰痛に関連する現況を概説し，福祉用具を用いた介助方法の教授法に対する行動分析学の有用性について論じる．

　Japan's serious problems as a super-aging society has resulted in a predicted shortfall in the number of available care workers. One of the causes of a lack of care workers is work-related lower back pain. Preventive strategies for dealing with lower back pain include restricting transfer and movement of patients by physical force through adopting welfare equipment utilized in overseas developed countries. However, widespread utilization of such welfare equipment has not yet caught on in Japan due to inadequate environments and lack of training in operating the equipment. To alleviate these factors, we focused on Behavior Analysis which is based on the viewpoint that behavior is a function of the environment. In this paper, current issues associated with work-related lower back pain in care workers are introduced. Furthermore, applying the framework of Behavior Analysis to the educational method aimed at acquiring assistance techniques utilizing welfare equipment is discussed.