A Study of the Structure of Japanese University Students’ Awareness of Long-Term Care Socialization

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the structure of the awareness of long-term care socialization by focusing on the younger generation’s awareness in order to improve a sustainable long-term care system. A questionnaire that assessed personal attributes and awareness of long-term care socialization was administered. In total, the answers of 209 students (48.4%) were collected for factors related to the awareness of long-term care socialization extracted through exploratory factor analysis. Additionally, the responses 149 students (56.7%) were collected for the construct validity verified through confirmatory factor analysis. According to the exploratory factor analysis, awareness of long-term care socialization included 10 items and three factors: “care burden when caring for family”, “feelings about leaving family care to society”, and “sense of responsibility to care for family as a member of the family”. The goodness-of-fit model in the confirmatory factor analysis proved the awareness of long-term care socialization scale’s construct validity. The structure of the awareness of long-term care socialization included three factors: “care burden when caring for family”, “sense of responsibility to care for family as a member of the family”, and “feelings about leaving family care to society”. This study demonstrated the scale’s good reliability and validity.