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Aims: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between family caregivers' health‐related quality of life and health outcomes in care recipients. Methods: A total of 160 female caregivers in Japan were initially assessed using self‐reported baseline questionnaires to determine physical and mental aspects of their health‐related quality of life. Based on these scores, they were divided into three groups: lower, middle, and higher quality of life. We followed up with the 133 participants (after excluding those that did not respond) 6 years later to assess the health of their care recipients; 36 caregivers continued to provide home care, while 97 reported that their care recipient had died or been admitted into institutionalized care. Results: Statistically, a higher risk for care recipients' health deterioration was strongly associated with the mental component score in the lower caregivers' quality of life group of than for the middle group, after adjusting for the care recipients' age, health status, and caregivers' age at baseline. There was no significant association between deterioration of health of care recipients and physical component scores of the caregivers. Conclusion: Caregivers' poor health‐related quality of life, particularly poor mental health, may be linked to the deterioration of care recipients' health. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Family caregivers reportedly have lower quality of life than noncaregivers.While factors associated with decreased quality of life of caregivers such as high caregiving burden and longer care duration are being identified, they remain difficult to prevent.Lower caregiver quality of life may negatively influence the care recipients. What this paper adds? Poor mental health in caregivers, calculated with health‐related quality of life scores, is associated with health deterioration of care recipients.Physical health in caregivers is not associated with health deterioration of care recipients. The implications of this paper: Support for improving the health‐related quality of life of caregivers is necessary, especially in relation to their mental health, from the viewpoint of maintaining the health status of care recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The study aimed to explore the effect of video‐mediated communication on father‐infant bonding and transition to fatherhood during and after Satogaeri Bunben. Background: Satogaeri Bunben is a Japanese perinatal tradition that results in the pregnant wife and husband living apart, which may interfere with father‐infant bonding and transition to fatherhood. Design/Methods: A mixed‐methods study was conducted from July 2012 to November 2015. Participants were divided into two groups (Treatment/Control). Quantitative data included Taiji kanjyo Hyotei Syakudo (TKHS) , communication methods, husband's visitation records and video‐mediated communication records and satisfaction of video‐mediated communication experience. Qualitative data included participants' journal entries about their experience and feelings toward their infants during Satogaeri Bunben. Results: Fourteen treatment and thirteen control dyads/couples participated in the study. There were significant differences between groups in the frequency of fathers' visitation during Satogaeri Bunben, as well as on the THKS between groups in cross‐sectional analysis and in treatment group in longitudinal analysis. Fathers' journal entries revealed the use of video‐mediated communication in both groups, specifically commenting about these experiences and the impact of additional visual cues when communicating. Conclusion: Video‐mediated communication provides a sense of virtual co‐presence, which may help support father‐infant bonding and transition to fatherhood; however, it does not completely substitute for face‐to‐face interaction. SUMMARY STATEMENT: What is already known about this topic? Father‐infant bonding and transition to fatherhood are supported by father's early involvement and ongoing sharing of time and space with his infant. What this paper adds? Virtual co‐presence in which people maintain a sense of "being there" for each other across distances may improve father‐infant bonding and transition to fatherhood when face‐to‐face contact is not possible due to geographic separation. The implications of this paper: Video‐mediated communication was explored as a way to support fathers who were separated from their wives and infants during the perinatal period by creating a sense of virtual co‐presence. This study advanced the idea that video‐mediated communication may be ideally suited when families are separated geographically during the perinatal period and early infancy (e.g. military/work deployment, hospitalization, educational opportunity and migrant/refugee families who send one parent ahead), as it provides communication context by adding visual cues and contextualizing auditory cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the factor analysis testing and construct validation of the Japanese version of the Caffrey Cultural Competence Health Services (J-CCCHS). The inventory, composed of 28 items, was translated using language and subject matter experts. Psychometric testing (exploratory factor, alpha reliability, and confirmatory factor analyses) was undertaken with nurses (N = 7494, 92% female, mean age 32.6 years) from 19 hospitals across Japan. Principal components extraction with varimax rotation yielded a 5-factor solution (62.31% variance explained) that was labeled: knowledge, comfort-proximal, comfort-distal, awareness, and awareness of national policy. Cronbach α for the subscales ranged from 0.756 to 0.892. In confirmatory factor analysis using the robust maximum likelihood estimator, the chi-square test was as follows: χ2(340) = 14604.44, P < .001. After correlated errors were introduced, there was evidence of improved model fit (χ2(335) = 8681.61, P < .05) but the other indices showed improvement (RMSEA = .058 [90% CI, 0.057-0.059], TLI = .891, CFI = .903, and SRMR = .059). The discriminating power of the J-CCCHS was indicated by statistically mean differences in J-CCCHS subscale scores between predefined groups. Taking into consideration that this is the first foray into construct validation for this instrument, and that fit was improved when a subsequent data driven model was tested, and it has the ability to distinguish between known groups that are expected to differ in cultural competence, the instrument can be of value to clinicians and educators alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines Buddhist-based meditation in terms of its spiritual, psychotherapeutic, physiological and neuroscientific perspectives. In the latter part of this paper, a pilot study is discussed, in which Japanese university students volunteered to practice meditation at home and complete questionnaires. T-tests were performed to compare with the non-meditated control group. Although only a small number in the experimental group completed the study, our analyses demonstrated that students benefited from meditation and showed significant increases in their sense of coherence, self-esteem and purpose in life. Lastly, practical implications of meditation in contemporary Japanese society are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]