Investigation of quantification of the suitable photos for conversation assistance for elderly and youth

Abstract

The aging of Japan is proceeding at an unprecedented rate in the world, and the aging rate is very high. As the aging society advances and the living environment changes, the environment surrounding the elderly is also changing. Along with then, various social problems are caused. For example, a syndrome of shut itself up of the elderly may be mentioned. “Housebound” is to spend most of the living space and the living time in the house, resulting in the disuse of cognitive functions and further the opportunities and motivation for activities such as going out and interpersonal contact decreasing. In addition, there are elderly who are shut itself do need various support and nursing care in many cases. As for prevention, it is not only to increase the frequency of outings but also to revitalize all aspects of life of elderly by playing a role in society. Thus, in order to prevent the decline of cognitive function, it is thought that the connection with society becomes increasingly important. While the younger generations are accordingly expected to be talking partners for aged people, there is a problem in that they are unfamiliar with how to communicate with the elderly because so many of them grew up in small families without grandfathers or grandmothers. We examined the differences in the mental burden and the quality of communication between patients and caregivers/volunteers when they used photos as communication support content in order to find the best medium for communication. We revealed that what category is the more ideal as the contents but we did not mention the photos in the category. We will investigate the differences in the mental states and communication quality of elderly people and their younger conversation partners when photos are used to support communication, and quantification the best medium for this purpose.