コロナ禍における福祉現場で働く外国人介護者のmental healthに影響する要因-日本人介護者との比較

概要

1.1. Migration trend
By 2050, the number of people in OECD countries who are aged 80 years or older will rise from
about 5%, as it currently stands, to almost 10% on average [1]. However, the growth of long-term care
(LTC) services has been slower than the growth of the elderly population. To address this issue, many
countries regard attracting and employing immigrants as one viable option. According to statistical
data in OECD countries, foreign care workers make up almost 20% of the population who worked in
LTC facilities [2]. Japan is no exception. As a country with one of the fastest-aging populations in the
world, about 8% of the population was aged 80 years or older in 2015, and that number is expected to
increase substantially by 2050 [3]. To compensate for the labor deficit in long-term care institutions,
the Japanese government has recruited foreign care workers under economic partnership agreements
(EPA) with Asian countries, starting with Indonesia and followed by the Philippines (in 2009) and
Vietnam (in 2014) [4]. In 2017, the policy-related care work visa was issued to stimulate an increase
in foreign participation in the LTC industry [5]. According to government statistics, 43,446 foreign
workers were employed in long-term care facilities in 2021, an increase of 18.0 percent from the
previous year [6]. As the number of foreign care workers is growing annually, they have already
assumed a significant role in caring for the elderly.
1.2. Workplace of foreign care workers
The complexity of LTC environments and intensive workloads have a negative impact on the mental
health of foreign care workers, manifesting as anxiety and depression, for example [7]. ...

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