‘Care literacy’ in super aging Japan

Abstract

Accentuated by the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the change in Japan to community-based health and care services for older adults indicates an urgent need to enhance and spread citizens’ understanding of care. This is a broader notion of care that incorporates conditions within the community to support the inclusion of older adults, involving not only those older adults receiving care and their direct providers of care, but also others in the community who are involved in the daily lives of these older adults. To underpin such a broader notion of care across citizens, this paper proposes ‘care literacy’ as a novel analytical concept, defined as the knowledge and capabilities that enable people in need of care to live their daily lives in the community and facilitate potential health and care solutions. Reflecting the interconnection of health and care and rooted in the local context, care literacy underpins aging by enabling this involvement of the broader community, and is disseminated through media and grassroot activities.