Toward maintaining and improving the quality of long-term care: The current state and issues regarding home helpers in Japan under the long-term care insurance system

In Japan, where the population is aging at a speed unequaled by any other country in the world, there has been a rapid increase in the use of long-term care services, following the adoption of the Long-Term Care Insurance System. The increase is seen mostly in home-visit care services, and the need for such services is expected to increase even further in the years ahead. This paper reviews previous studies on long-term care insurance service market in Japan, focusing especially on home helpers. The first section of this paper introduces the framework of the Long-Term Care Insurance System and the current state of the long-term care insurance service market. The second section examines the systems and working conditions regarding home helpers. Finally, the third section analyzes the job performance skills of home helpers and development thereof. Through these observations, this paper aims to introduce the measures proposed to be effective for maintaining and improving the quality of long-term care services, and for consistent provision of such services, by focusing mainly on employment management that enables helper skill development.