The importance of active learning has continued to increase in Japan. The authors conducted classes for first-year students who entered the nursing program using the problem-based learning method which is a kind of active learning. Students discussed social topics in classes. The purposes of this study were to analyze the post-class essay, describe logical and critical thinking after attended a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) course. The authors used Mayring’s methodology for qualitative content analysis and text mining. In the description about the skills required to resolve social issues, seven categories were extracted: (recognition of diverse social issues), (attitudes about resolving social issues), (discerning the root cause), (multi-lateral information processing skills), (making a path to resolve issues), (processivity in dealing with issues), and (reflecting). In the description about communication, five categories were extracted: (simple statement), (robust theories), (respecting the opponent), (communication skills), and (attractive presentations). As the result of text mining, the words extracted more than 100 times included “issue,” “society,” “resolve,” “myself,” “ability,” “opinion,” and “information.” Education using PBL could be an effective means of improving skills that students described, and communication in general. Some students felt difficulty of communication resulting from characteristics of Japanese.

Specific BPSD symptoms could contribute to the expression of PHB. In addition to decreasing caregiver burden, more intensive treatment and care strategies are required to manage individual symptoms.

Background The number of suicides in Japan increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Predicting the number of suicides is important to take timely preventive measures. Objective This study aims to clarify whether the number of suicides can be predicted by suicide-related search queries used before searching for the keyword “suicide.” Methods This study uses the infoveillance approach for suicide in Japan by search trends in search engines. The monthly number of suicides by gender, collected and published by the National Police Agency, was used as an outcome variable. The number of searches by gender with queries associated with “suicide” on “Yahoo! JAPAN Search” from January 2016 to December 2020 was used as a predictive variable. The following five phrases highly relevant to suicide were used as search terms before searching for the keyword “suicide” and extracted and used for analyses: “abuse”; “work, don’t want to go”; “company, want to quit”; “divorce”; and “no money.” The augmented Dickey-Fuller and Johansen tests were performed for the original series and to verify the existence of unit roots and cointegration for each variable, respectively. The vector autoregression model was applied to predict the number of suicides. The Breusch-Godfrey Lagrangian multiplier (BG-LM) test, autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity Lagrangian multiplier (ARCH-LM) test, and Jarque-Bera (JB) test were used to confirm model convergence. In addition, a Granger causality test was performed for each predictive variable. Results In the original series, unit roots were found in the trend model, whereas in the first-order difference series, both men (minimum tau 3: −9.24; max tau 3: −5.38) and women (minimum tau 3: −9.24; max tau 3: −5.38) had no unit roots for all variables. In the Johansen test, a cointegration relationship was observed among several variables. The queries used in the converged models were “divorce” for men (BG-LM test: P=.55; ARCH-LM test: P=.63; JB test: P=.66) and “no money” for women (BG-LM test: P=.17; ARCH-LM test: P=.15; JB test: P=.10). In the Granger causality test for each variable, “divorce” was significant for both men (F104=3.29; P=.04) and women (F104=3.23; P=.04). Conclusions The number of suicides can be predicted by search queries related to the keyword “suicide.” Previous studies have reported that financial poverty and divorce are associated with suicide. The results of this study, in which search queries on “no money” and “divorce” predicted suicide, support the findings of previous studies. Further research on the economic poverty of women and those with complex problems is necessary.

This study investigated factors affecting disaster preparedness and evacuation intentions among home-care patients dependent on electrical power for life support. Health professionals interviewed 53 home-care patients using the Kanazawa and Kochi Disaster Preparedness Checklist. About half of the participants requiring continuous artificial ventilation or aspiration indicated that they would not or could not evacuate following a disastereven though their lives could be at risk. The availability of emergency medical equipment for use during a power outage was positively associated with the desire to evacuate. Our results indicate the need for improved systems to assist power-dependent home-care patients.Despite having escaped the immediate impact of the earthquake tremors and tsunami, users of artificial respirators and oxygen concentrators died owing to power outages following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, 2011). Further, there is insufficient preparation for blackouts caused by hurricanes or earthquakes in the United States, despite the fact that blackout conditions could endanger electricity-dependent children (Sakashita, Matthews, & Yamamoto, 2013). In this way, both nationally and internationally, home-care patients and children using electricity-dependent medical equipment can suffer more damage than that caused by the disaster itself, as their conditions can be exacerbated-and life crises caused-by interruption of their use of medical equipment. Therefore, it is essential to prepare for electricity-dependent individuals to be provided with stable use of medical equipment during a blackout until they can evacuate to institutions, such as hospitals, with secure electricity supplies. However, it is unrealistic to expect patients or their families to shoulder the major burden of such preparations alone. Some individuals who did not evacuate, despite the evacuation order, were not able to evacuate for a physical reason by themselves or because they had to care for someone else (Brodie, Weltzien, Altman, Blendon, & Benson, 2011). It would be effective to prepare evacuation methods and provide for the secure evacuation of supporters in patients' living environments and health professionals who support everyday life.In the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and American Red Cross have established and widely disseminated an approach to help people with disabilities and special needs to prepare for a disaster or emergency. The planning process includes identifying-in conjunction with family members, friends, and personal care attendants-the support and HEALTH NURSING 2016, VOL. 33, NO. 4, 196-208 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07370016.2016 resources that would be required (Federal Emergency Management Agency, & American Red Cross, 2004). Similarly, the Australian Red Cross (2015) and New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (2010) have developed approaches to establish personal support networks and prepare for emergen...

Tsunamis cause direct damage to property and destroy infrastructure. In addition, power outages can lead to death, especially for patients who rely on medical equipment requiring a power supply. Recently, Nankai Trough Earthquakes have been predicted, and much effort has been put into developing countermeasures in Japan. Kochi City on Shikoku Island is expected to suffer in the event of a large tsunami. The present study identifies individuals living in Kochi who need evacuation assistance and depend on electrical medical devices, simulates evacuation behavior and inundation during a tsunami using a geographic information system (GIS), and considers the usefulness of such a GIS. We asked caregivers, including visiting nurses, to introduce us to homecare recipients who rely on a ventilator, an endotracheal suction device, or other medical devices requiring electric power. We received introductions to 52 homecare recipients. Using a GIS, we plotted the area of predicted inundation and the locations of homecare recipients, nursing stations, and welfare evacuation shelters. We predicted evacuation routes, and then analyzed the time difference between the time required for evacuation and tsunami arrival at a welfare evacuation shelter. To measure the effects of the main parameters, we conducted both one-way and multi-way sensitivity analysis. In the event of a tsunami, eight of the homecare recipients living in the forecasted inundation areas in Kochi may face delayed evacuation. Among homecare recipients facing a high possibility of escape delay, 95.2% lived more than 1,800 m from the nearest welfare evacuation shelter. We found that individual evacuation behavior can be simulated by specifying the residence of a homecare recipient and the evacuation route using a GIS.