This study aimed to explore, identify, and classify the strengths of elderly individuals living in rural areas from their own perspectives, using an asset-based approach. A qualitative analysis was conducted through group interviews. The study included two groups of four elderly individuals who resided in District D of Area C, City B, Prefecture A, and three groups of five to six elderly individuals from District E in the same city. As a result, 133 key items related to the strengths of elderly individuals were identified. These items were further classified into 39 subcategories, which were grouped into three major categories: individuals (personal strengths), associations (organizations/groups), and institutions (environments/resources that support strengths). Specifically, 18 subcategories were classified into the individuals category, 11 into the associations category, and 10 into the institutions category. These findings revealed that elderly individuals in rural areas actively take on various roles within their communities, utilizing their rural environment both as individuals and as part of a group. The rural setting itself was found to significantly influence their engagement, while intergenerational support and assistance from public institutions also played a crucial role. In the future, we aim to utilize these “strengths of elderly individuals” to develop strategies that empower community residents to lead vibrant, active, and secure lives in their familiar environments.

Introduction: To clarify the utility of a community care conference that incorporated continuous dialogue between multiple professions.Methods: Group interviews were conducted with nine facilitators in March 2019, and the data were qualitatively, inductively analyzed.Results: Six categories of utility were extracted: "the changing atmosphere of the community care conference," "new groups of people participating," "getting to know people from other professions," "building relationships with people from other professions," "changing perspectives on the case study," and "changing the quality of assistance. " Conclusion: A conceptual framework of utility of these meetings was identified, which is transformed qualitatively through the following three stages: "transforming the location," "transforming interprofessional relationships and perspectives," and "transforming assistance."

An anonymous mail survey was conducted with 2000 elderly residents (≥ 70 years) of areas with heavy snowfall to assess differences in health and lifestyle between those with and without a driver’s license as well as the effects of voluntary license surrender. Responses from 1101 residents with complete demographic and license status data were analyzed. The survey showed that 63.7% had a driver's license, 15.4% had voluntarily surrendered their license, and 20.9% had never had a license. Compared with those who had surrendered their license or never had a license, those who had a license were younger, had higher scores on the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology (TMIG) index of competence and a social capital scale, had better selfrated health and life satisfaction, and had participated in more activities over the past year. Among those who had surrendered their license, the women were younger than the men, and were more likely to be working and had better self-rated health and a higher score on the TMIG index of competence. Men who had surrendered their license more frequently reported “feeling calmer” than women, and women more frequently reported “spending more time working in the fields” than men. Over 60% of both men and women reported having fewer opportunities to leave their house. Among those who had a driver's license, about 40% reported that they wanted to keep driving as long as possible because not having a license would be inconvenient. These results suggest that it is important for people living in areas with heavy snowfall who have surrendered their license to secure another means of leaving their house due to the need to have a car for transportation in these areas.

　　This study sought to develop a social capital index that can contribute to good health in rural communities. A questionnaire was mailed to 7,114 residents of Village A aged 20 years and over in June 2016. A total of 1,327 questionnaires were returned; 4 unfilled forms were eliminated from the analysis and the remaining 1,323 were used to develop a rural community social capital index comprising 4 concepts and 16 items. The goodness of fit of the model was satisfactory, and comparison with other scales confirmed its validity. The model is also associated with the outcomes of self-evaluation of health, sleep status, elderly life competence, frequency of social outings, and Global Deterioration Scale score of 5, thus confirming its criterion-related validity. The reliability of the index was also good with a Cronbach's α value ≥ 0.80 for each concept and all 16 indices. The rural community social capital index developed in this study will help establish healthy communities. Studies of other rural areas are anticipated to accumulate research outcomes.

　　This study was conducted to identify regional characteristics of salubrious aspects of social capital in a rural community. For this purpose, group interviews took place with three groups, each consisting of six to nine people aged 65 and older in Village A and what those interviewees said with reference to social capital were analyzed qualitatively and descriptively. A total of 610 views were extracted and organized into 141 codes, from which 20 codes that seemed to characterize the rural community in general were sampled and were divided into four categories and eight subcategories. The four categories were made up of “communing with nature,” “maintaining a relationship of trust among community members,” “regarding social norms highly,” and “encouraging social intercourse among individuals and families, and networking.” Thebenefits of social capital in the village to the health showed characteristics of Japanese rural communities - close links among community members who have communed with nature. There were plenty of indications showing a solidarity type of social capital based on a shared territorial bond strengthened in the milieu of a rural community where people had kept cultivating lands from generation to generation. There were also indications that a growing number of people had become aware of the need to strengthen networking from the viewpoint of a bridge type of social capital. The present study has afford us useful hints for maintaining the health of the aged in rural areas as well as for building a community very pleasant to live in.