Needs Assessment of an Ethnic Chinese Community in Japan

Li-Mei Chen

doi:10.3390/socsci3040628

Abstract

This study is a needs assessment of ethnic Chinese older adults in Japan. The Delphi method was applied to identify the needs addressed by the focus groups. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model guided the examination of the community’s political, economic and social environment in satisfying the needs of older community members. The needs were matched with a city’s Health, Welfare, and Long-term Care Insurance Program Plan seeking to identify differences between ethnic Chinese and Japanese community members. Most of the needs were similar to those of the Japanese citizens, but there were a few issues related to financial and cultural needs that were unique to the ethnic Chinese group.

Highlights

Numerous studies have been documented on the utilization of health and long-term care service by racial and ethnic older adults
Barriers hindering service utilization across racial and ethnic groups have become a national concern in countries like the United States as it was found to contribute to the disparities in older adults’ health, mental health, and quality of life outcomes [1]
The extent of Japan’s racial and ethnic diversity is unclear because there is no public information on racial and ethnic statistics in Japan

Summary

Introduction

Numerous studies have been documented on the utilization of health and long-term care service by racial and ethnic older adults. Barriers to service use are complex: discrimination in healthcare settings [2], segregation of long-term care services by race [3,4], different beliefs in manifestation of illnesses [5], and healthcare decisions [5,6] are some of the contributing factors related to disparities of service use among racial and ethnic groups. The extent of Japan’s racial and ethnic diversity is unclear because there is no public information on racial and ethnic statistics in Japan.

Methods

Results

Conclusion