What is good elderly care in Japan and Sweden?

A study on how managers of residential care facilities describe care arrangements

Håkan Jönson, Lund University

Haruko Watanabe, Hiroshima International University

Objectives

To investigate perceptions of good care among managers of residential elderly care in Japan and Sweden (using a comparative approach).

To analyze the use of cultural references as accounts for care arrangements.

Method

The study was based on 16 semi structured interviews with managers of residential care in Japan and Sweden.

Sample: Care facilities of similar kind.

Design/strategy: We interviewed in each others’ countries – as cultural strangers.

Interviews were translated into English (transcribed).

Findings I

Japanese managers expressed more doubts than their Swedish peers about the possibilities of providing good care.

The way managers described policies and goals differed.

A self-help approach relating to the activity paradigm was prominent when Swedish managers described good care but absent in our Japanese interviews.

Findings II

References to cultural differences appeared as accounts but mostly in combination with references to age and generational belonging.

The design of the study elicited answers relating to a common understanding about a specific teach and learn relation between Sweden and Japan as welfare societies.