A Trial to Grasp the Present Caregiving Environment and Problems of Japanese Residential Care Homes: For Promoting Better Social Pedagogic Practice

Spending the transitional period of residential care for children in Japan, we need more evidence for practice as well as more up-to-date philosophy for residential care. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the caregiving environment of Japanese residential welfare institutions for pre-adolescent children. A modified version of the EA-HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of Environment: Early Adolescence Ver.) inventory was used for measuring the environment for individual children and ABCL, TSCC, and Attachment Scale (Toda, 1988) for measuring their psychological and behavioral statuses. 53 children (Age: 11 - 15) and 49 caregivers from 6 institutions participated in the study. The results shows that scores of“acceptance”and “learning material”by EA-HOME predict low behavioral problems. The latter also predicts low problems in interpersonal relationship and emotional regulation. The results also tell that the overall low scoring of “learning material” and “modeling” function of caregivers shows the structural weakness of current Japanese welfare institutions. It implicates that more focused care and pedagogy to promote leaning process with personal involvement of care givers will be necessary. It also suggests that the theory and practice of social pedagogy could be a guideline for developing the quality of Japanese residential care.