ABSTRACT
As Japan has become an ‘ageing society’, the increasing number of elderly persons, and the declining ability of the family to care for its older members have generated a demand for the expansion of social services for the elderly. Institutionalisation, once considered as a government endowment and a social stigma, is now being redefined as the basic right of every elderly person. And it has become an inevitable alternative to home care for old parents. These trends have led to the development of long-term care services for elderly clients and the improvement of institutional care in welfare facilities. In 1995 about 1.66 per cent of Japanese elderly persons aged 65 and over were living in some kind of institution for the elderly, where a special workforce has developed to deal with their needs.
