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The Japan Association of Certified Care Workers

(Purpose）

The purpose of the association is, through the enhancement of the professional ethics and specialized nursing-care education and research of certified care workers, to enhance their expertise, upgrade their quality and disseminate the knowledge and skills of nursing care so as to contribute to the increase of national welfare.

(Date of establishment)

February 12, 1994

(Major operations)

• Operations related to the enhancement of the professional ethics and improvement of specialized knowledge and skills of the certified care workers;
• Operations related to the nursing care and welfare-related surveys and researches;
• Operations related to the collaboration and cooperation with the educational institutions that provide education to those who want to become a certified care worker and other related organizations;
• Operations related to the public awareness of nursing care and welfare;
• Operations related to the mutual welfare of care workers; and
• Other operations required for the achievement of the purpose of this association.

The Japan Association of Certified Care Workers

A Certified Care Worker is a national qualification in the area of nursing care set under the Certified Social Worker and Certified Care Worker Act (enacted on May 26, 1987 and revised on December 5, 2007).

The term “certified care worker” as defined in the act means a person with expert skills and knowledge who uses the appellation “certified care worker” to engage in the business of providing care for a person with physical disabilities or mental disorder and intellectual disabilities that make it difficult to lead a normal life and providing instructions on caregiving to the person and the person’s caregiver .

The role required of a certified care worker, however, has changed significantly in the quarter of a century since the establishment of the qualification system. It has changed from the provision of personal care only to the provision of support to the daily living of the care recipients, including elderly people, disabled people and others, through the involvement in their lifestyle and overall life needs and implementation of the measures toward their self-sufficiency along with their family members.

When the act was revised in 2007, the responsibility for quality improvement was added with the following sentence:“A certified social worker and a certified care worker must endeavor to steadily improve their knowledge and skills concerning consultation and assistance, or nursing, etc. in order to adequately and flexibly adapt to any changes in services caused by changes in the environment surrounding social welfare and nursing.” Thus, the role of The Japan Association of Certified Care Workers as a professional organization working to improve the quality of certified care workers is becoming increasingly important.

In the “Requirements for a certified care worker,” presented in 2017, the following 10 items are stated in addition to the maintenance of high ethical standards.

1. Providing care that supports personal dignity and independence;
2. Capable of developing care processes autonomously as a professional;
3. Capable of providing not only physical but also psychological and social support;
4. Capable of providing support that focuses on the empowerment of the care recipient and his/her family members, etc., addressing the increasingly complex, versatile and sophisticated care needs;
5. Capable of addressing the changes in the state of the care recipient from the prevention of care to rehabilitation and further to end-of-life care, with the perspective of maintenance and improvement of Quality of Life (QOL);
6. Capable of supporting the lifestyle the care recipient wishes to have in the community, irrespective of being in a care facility or at home;
7. Understanding the basics of the related areas and providing team care collaboratively with members in various job categories;
8. Capable of communicating with the care recipient, his/her family and team members and creating records and descriptions appropriately;
9. Capable of responding to the needs of the community and society with the understanding of the system; and
10. Playing a core role among the care workers.

Expertise of a Certified Care Worker

We often hear the phrase, “the expertise of a certified care worker,” the details of which, however, have not been clearly specified. In FY2014, The Japan Association of Certified Care Workers reviewed and held discussions to clarify the definition of the expertise of a certified care worker in the Training Committee , based on the opinions of the Regional Associations of Certified Care Workers .

Nursing care means a wide range of services, covering all daily living activities of care recipients. It is, however, assistance to toilet needs such as changing of diapers, in walking/lifting/transferring such as helping recipients to get up from the bed, and in taking a bath in a very warm bathroom that come to mind in many people. But a certified care worker gathers pieces of information on all daily living activities of each care recipient through observation and integrates and analyzes them to identify the issues and needs in order to devise the method of nursing care for a higher Quality of Life (QOL) of the care recipient. For the implementation of nursing care best suited to each of the care recipients and achievement of the set goal, it is necessary to educate and train care workers and improve the environment in various aspects, including collaboration with people in related job categories. It is a precondition that a certified care worker fully understands the ethics requirements and basic rules of the practice of nursing care and is capable of complying with them in conducting his/her nursing care activities.