Caring for the elderly in Japan and the US : practices and policies / [edited by] Susan O. Long.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Susan Orpett Long -- Pt. I. Assuring care: government policies and programs. 1. Cultural meanings of "security" in aging policies / Akiko Hashimoto. 2. The socioeconomic context of Japanese social policy for aging / Daisaku Maeda. 3. From the New Deal to the new millennium: bridging the gap in US aging and health policy / Brett R. South and Douglas D. Bradham. 4. Changing meanings of frail old people and the Japanese welfare state / John Creighton Campbell. 5. Critical issues in health care for the US elderly: beyond the millennium / Douglas D. Bradham -- Pt. II. Providing care: professional caregivers. 6. We live too short, and die too long: on Japanese and US physicians' caregiving practices and approaches to withholding life-sustaining treatments / Michael D. Fetters and Marion Danis. 7. Difficult choices: policy and meaning in Japanese hospice practice / Susan Orpett Long and Satoshi Chihara.

8. Policies and practices near the end of life in the US: the ambivalent pursuit of a good death / David Barnard -- Pt. III. Assisting in care: non-profit organizations and volunteers. 9. The development of social welfare services in Japan / Kiyoshi Adachi. 10. The accountability dilemma: providing voluntary care for the elderly in the US and Japan / Yuko Suda -- Pt. IV. Coordinating and caring: family caregivers. 11. Variations in family caregiving in Japan and the US / Ruth Campbell and Berit Ingersoll-Dayton. 12. Recognizing the need for gender-responsive family caregiving policy: lessons from male caregivers / Phyllis Braudy Harris and Susan Orpett Long -- Pt. V. Facilitating care of self. 13. The creativity of the demented elderly: the use of psychological approaches in a Japanese outpatient clinic / Yukiko Kurokawa. 14. Visible lives: life stories and ritual in American nursing homes / Thu Tram T. Nguyen, Joal M. Hill and Thomas R. Cole.

15. Disclosure, decisions, and dementia in Japan: maximizing the continuity of self / Masahiko Saito. 16. Concepts of personhood in Alzheimer's disease: considering Japanese notions of a relational self / William E. Deal and Peter J. Whitehouse. 17. Epilogue: downsizing the material self: late life and long involvements with things / David W. Plath.

This volume provides a broader picture of how elder care is defined at a time when ageing is becoming increasingly defined as a social problem. It is a valuable source for researchers in health and welfare, social policy and gerontology.