HEALTH PROMOTION OF JAPANESE ELDERLY IN A SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY.

该研究项目是在长野县伊纳谷农村地区进行的，该地区以人口长寿和日本老年人医疗保健支出最低而闻名。这可能表明这个地区有很多保持健康的老年人。本研究的目的是深入了解这些老年人的生活方式、健康习惯、态度和行为，以促进他们的健康老龄化。长野护理学院的教师与社区保健护士合作进行了这项研究。共有650名居住在该地区的老年人和172名家庭照顾者参与了该项目，其中包括以下调查员开发的健康促进研究：1)老年人健康状况、生活方式和主观幸福感问卷调查（n=165名老年人）；2)伊纳河谷地区老年人传统健康习惯与行为访谈（n= 141）；3)对老年人认为健康老龄化的影响因素进行问卷调查（n=319名老年人）；4)女性家庭照顾者对高龄父母社会角色和临终关怀感知的问卷调查（172名女性家庭照顾者）；5)骨密度测量（老年患者108例）；(6)老年人分组方式。研究结果表明，与文献中报道的其他日本老年人群体相比，该地区的老年人对健康状况的看法更高。老年人的主观幸福感与他们的健康状况感知和生活方式行为（如笑的频率、压力的减轻和社会支持的可获得性）呈正相关。确定健康老龄化的影响因素，建立健康老龄化促进模型。

This research project was conducted in an Ina Valley rural area, Nagano Prefecture, known for its population longevity and the lowest health care expenditure for the elderly in Japan. This may suggest that this area has many elderly people who stay healthy. The purpose of this research was to have an in-depth knowledge about those elderly people's life style, health habits, attitudes and behaviors to promote their healthy aging. The faculty of Nagano College of Nursing conducted the research in partnership with community health nurses. A total of 650 elderly people and 172 family caregivers living in this area participated in the project that included the following investigator-developed studies of health promotion : 1)Questionnaire survey of elderly people's health status, lifestyle and subjective feeling of happiness(n=165 elderly) ; 2)Interview about traditional health habits and behavior in the Ina Valley area (n= 141 elderly) ; 3)Questionnaire survey on factors contributing to healthy aging perceived by elderly people (n=319 elderly) ; 4)Questionnaire survey on elder parents' social role and end-of-life care perceived by female family caregivers (n=172 female family caregivers) ; 5)Bone density measurements(n=1O8 elderly) ; and 6)Group approach for elderly people. The findings showed that the elderly in this area had a higher health status perception as compared to any other Japanese elderly group reported in the literature. The elderly persons' subjective feelings of happiness demonstrated positive correlations with their health status perceptions and lifestyle behaviors such as frequency of laughing, stress reduction, and availability of social support. Factors contributing to healthy aging were identified and a healthy aging promotion model was developed.