宅地化が進んだ地区のコミュニティセンターにおける乳幼児期の子育て支援と環境の現状

宅地化が進んだ地区のコミュティセンターを中心とした子育て支援と環境の現状を明らかにすることを目的として、小学校1年生の保護者を対象に、無記名のアンケート調査を行った。55名から回答を得（回答率71.4％）、回答者は全て母親であった。対象がストレスを感じた時期は、出生から1歳までが最も多くその原因は様々であったが、就業者より未就業者に多い傾向にあった。環境として「託児施設」は必要性が高いが満足度は低く、「医療機関」は必要性・満足度ともに高かった。また、コミュニティセンターの子育て支援22事業のうち、継続してほしい上位3つは就学後を対象にしたものであった

Evaluation of Reproductive Health Education for Young Couples

Eighty-six young people, who were church-going newly married or engaged couples and their friends, viewed a video concerning childbirth, and presented their opinions about life, sex, and family planning. Then, they were shown a video concerning the Billings method, lectured on planned pregnancy, and answered a free-writing questionnaire about planned pregnancy and partnership. The contents of education and answers to the questionnaire were analyzed. Three concepts, i.e. "affection", "impression", and "coordination", were selected by the linguistic interactive categorical analysis, and whether "affection" and "impression" have led to "coordination" between the partners in the form of planned birth or not was evaluated. The subjects who wrote much about affection also wrote significantly more about impression. Although no significant correlation was observed between affection and coordination in major categories, significant correlations were observed between "protect" and "agreement in thought" and between "important" and "agreement in rhythm". In the category of "coordination", "agreement in thought" (81.4%) and "agreement in rhythm" (94.2%) were mentioned by many subjects, but "self-regulated" was mentioned by only 8.1%. Therefore, cooperation and agreement between the partners with love and responsibility were considered to be important for success in planned pregnancy

Economic burden of the persistent morbidity of nodding syndrome on caregivers in affected households in Northern Uganda

Background Nodding syndrome (NS), is an unexplained form of epilepsy which leads to stunted growth, cognitive decline, and a characteristic nodding of the head. Current data about its impact on households in Uganda is scarce. Therefore, this study aims to assess the economic burden of the persistent morbidity of NS on caregivers in affected households in Northern Uganda. Methods A cross-sectional cost-of-care study was conducted from January 2019 to February 2019 in Lakwela village-Northern Uganda in 14 households, who are members of a community-based organization(CBO)established in the village with the support of a Japanese research team, (Uganda-Japan Nodding Syndrome Network).Data was collected through questionnaires. Both direct (medical and non-medical) and indirect (informal care) costs of caregiving were assessed. Indirect costs were valued using the human-capital method as loss of production. Results Direct costs constituted a higher proportion of costs for NS households, accounting for on average 7.7% of household expenditure. The annual weighted mean cost per NS patient was estimated at 27.6 USD (26.4 USD direct costs, 96.2% and 1.2 USD indirect cost, 3.8%). Average time spent on informal caregiving was 4.4 ±1.7 (standard deviation) hours/ week with an estimated annual informal caregiving cost of 24.85 USD and gross domestic product (GDP) loss of 412.40 USD. Conclusion Direct costs due to NS are still high among households in this study. More studies are needed to investigate measures that could help bring down these costs and equally reduce the day-to-day disruption of caregiver’s activities; consequently, improving the lives of these affected households and communities