A Comparative Study on the Nurses' Role between Japan and the United States for the Improvement of the Clients' Quality of Life

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The research method was slightly changed because there was a few data from the United States in the previous study. The questionnaire was developed instead of interviewing, so that we could continue to analyze the data, the clients had no fatigues answering the less number of questions than the previous one, translation of the questionnaire between Japanese and American English was checked, and research institutions were widely selected within Japan. As the result, the questionnaire has 45 questions, instead of previous 96 ones. Kolcaba identified three levels of comfort, (A) reduction, of discomfort, (B) placing the person at ease, (C) assisting the person to strengthen his or her own health status, and the number of questions at each level were 12, 21, and 12 questions.Time and length of the research : From April to June, 1999 in Japan, and September, 1999 in the United States.Results : Subjects were 1031 Japanese and 65 American people. Results were as followings ;1. The high score of the degree of importance was all in the A level, reduction of discomfort, on the other hand, the low score of one was "talked to you about the possibility of dying" both Japan and the United States. This result was different from first report because there were different background within the United States.2. Different from Japanese, the American people felt that C level, assisting the person to strengthen his or her own health status, was more important degree than the A level. This could be explained that American people would need educational contents because of short hospital stay in the United States. The average of the C level was 0.05 in Japan, so that this was also important for the Japanese people, and Japanese nurses would consider this in the future.As the results, the nurses have to recognize the clients' needs, especially the clients health problem in complex society, and to increase the level of quality of life for the clients.