Social Support for Satisfying the Daily Life Needs and Social Relationships of the Elderly in an Urban Housing Complex: Analysis from the Life-Course and Caring-Relation Perspectives

本研究の目的は,ライフコースとケアリング関係の視点から,大都市団地居住高齢者の社会関係と生活ニーズ充足のためのソーシャルサポートとの関連を分析し,地域包括ケアの課題を検討することである。東京都A 市B 団地居住高齢者429 名への訪問調査を2011 年5-6 月に実施した(有効N=196 名,有効回答率:46.0%)。主な結果として,1)生活ニーズのある人(全体の1 割弱)の2-4 割に支援者がおらず,有支援者の2 割弱が家事,買い物,ゴミだし,当番の場合に近所の人を担い手としてあげた(複数回答),2)困りごとの相談相手がいない人は2 割弱で,男性の方が女性よりいない割合が高い,3)ロジスティック回帰分析の結果,独居,男性,近隣ネットワークが小さい方が相談者がいない確率が高いことがわかった。独居や男性など既存の社会ネットワークを活用したソーシャルサポートの活用可能性が乏しいグループには適切な支援策が必要であることが示唆された。小規模調査の限界もあるが,団地居住高齢者の多様な社会関係とソーシャルサポートの現状をふまえての地域包括ケアの課題があきらかになった。
The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to examine the association between social relationships and support for meeting the daily life needs of elderly people in an urban housing complex from the lifecourse and caring-relations perspectives and 2) to discuss the challenges of community comprehensive care. Structured home-visit interviews were conducted among 429 elderly people at Housing Complex B in City A, in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, from May to June, 2011. Valid responses were obtained from 196 persons, for a response rate of 46.0%. The results are as follows: 1) among the elderly who had daily-life needs (less than ten percent of total respondents), twenty percent relied on neighbors for doing housework, shopping, taking out garbage, and performing duties in the housing complex (multiple answer); 2) less than twenty percent of respondents had no one they could turn to for advice regarding their day-to-day difficulties; and 3) as a result of logistic regression analysis, single people, males, and respondents with small networks of neighbors were found to be less likely than couples, females, and those with large networks of neighbors to have anyone to turn to for advice. Our findings indicate thatit is necessary to have an appropriate support system for those who have limited support available in their existing social network (e.g. single people, males). In spite of the limitation of a small sample, we could clarify some of the challenges for community comprehensive care for elderly people by considering the diverse social relations and social support available to them in a housing complex.