Background/Objectives: Falls in nursing homes significantly affect residents’ health and quality of life. Although considerable progress has been made in fall prevention strategies in acute care settings and community environments, research on fall risk assessment methods and prevention strategies in nursing homes remains scarce. Nursing homes provide long-term care for residents with high levels of dependency, presenting unique challenges in managing fall risks. Nevertheless, unlike hospitals, nursing homes face operational constraints, such as limited resources and staffing. These factors necessitate a tailored approach to fall risk management. This study aimed to summarize the current knowledge of fall risk assessment and prevention methods in nursing homes, clarify practical insights for implementation, and identify research gaps based on studies published over the past five years. Methods: This narrative review targeted studies published between 2019 and 2024 on fall risk assessment and prevention methods in nursing homes. A literature search was conducted using the PubMed and CINAHL databases, combining keywords such as “Accident Prevention”, “Fall Risk Assessment”, “Nursing Homes”, “Long-Term Care”, and “Aged”. The inclusion criteria allowed the inclusion of peer-reviewed academic articles on fall risk assessment or prevention interventions in long-term care facilities published in English within the past five years. Studies focusing on community-dwelling older adults, hospitalized older adults, and review articles were excluded. Results: This review analyzed 55 studies; among them, 27 studies focused on fall risk assessment and 28 focused on fall prevention. Regarding fall risk assessment, widely used tools, such as the Morse Fall Scale, which is also utilized in medical settings, have been extensively examined. In addition, new predictive methods utilizing electronic health records (EHR) and wearable devices have been introduced. However, the limited number of reports highlights the potential challenges in developing indicators that consider the unique characteristics and feasibility of LTC facilities. Regarding fall prevention, studies have examined indirect approaches, such as environmental modifications, and direct interventions, such as exercise programs. Furthermore, staff education and organizational initiatives are crucial in implementing preventive measures. However, most studies have been conducted in experimental settings, with limited empirical research available to assess the practical applications of these strategies in real-world nursing home environments. Conclusions: Fall risk assessments in nursing homes lack practical indicators tailored to the specific characteristics of long-term care facilities. Although various digital technologies have been explored for fall prevention, empirical studies that validate their real-world applicability are lacking.

In community home hospices, limited medical staff and high workloads necessitate measurement models that objectively and effectively capture the needs of residents with malignant tumors. This study compares the measurement properties and feasibility of the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) and Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS), primarily used in palliative care, as only few studies have compared their measurement properties and feasibility based on their actual application in home hospice care. Two-wave longitudinal data were collected from 2021 to 2023 at a community home hospice in Japan from a sample of 120 residents diagnosed with malignant tumors. Residents completed both the EQ-5D-5L and IPOS upon admission. Data were collected at three main time points: the initial admission date, one week after admission, and when residents’ conditions changed. This study evaluates the feasibility and measurement properties of EQ-5D-5L and IPOS, including ceiling and floor effects, correlations among domains, and responsiveness. The EQ-5D-5L demonstrated high feasibility, whereas the IPOS had moderate feasibility with a higher missing data rate. Both scales had low ceiling and floor effects. The EQ-5D-5L showed low responsiveness, while the IPOS showed moderate responsiveness. Anxiety and the emotional domains of the IPOS or EQ-5D-5L scores were insignificantly correlated. Participants who did not complete the IPOS had significantly lower EQ-5D-5L scores. The EQ-5D-5L may be slightly more suitable for the primary screening of needs in this setting owing to its higher feasibility. In contrast, the IPOS is an excellent tool when it is important to comprehensively and deeply capture the needs of individuals over time. We note that when selecting or using different measures, one must consider the specific characteristics of each measure.

Background: Employed households experience time poverty, which refers to feeling overwhelmed because of the struggle to balance work and life. Time poverty is subjectively perceived as a lack of personal free time. In Japan, long working hours and societal expectations regarding the division of work and family roles may influence the perception of time poverty. This issue is of significant concern, as it can impact individuals’ rest time and work productivity. However, there is currently no standardized measurement method to assess time poverty appropriately in the Japanese context. The lack of such a method challenges establishing a foundation for developing effective support strategies. Given this background, this study aimed to quantify time poverty among employed households by developing a Japanese version of the Perceived Time Poverty Scale and examining its reliability and validity. Methods: In developing the Japanese version of the Perceived Time Poverty Scale, cultural adaptations were made in addition to the standard translation and back-translation procedures. Through discussions with researchers and translation experts, terms with differing scopes of interpretation in the Japanese context were revised, and expressions were adjusted to reflect the intended concepts better. The data for this study were collected through Wave 2 of the longitudinal survey, the Hama Study, conducted over a five-year period from 2022 to 2027. This survey randomly selected 10,000 employed households residing in Yokohama, Japan. Participants completed the Japanese version of the Perceived Time Poverty Scale developed in this study, along with the well-being scale, the Kessler Screening Scale for Psychological Distress, and the Japanese Short-Form UCLA Loneliness Scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the scale structure. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega coefficients. Furthermore, correlations between the Japanese version of the Perceived Time Poverty Scale and the other scales were examined to evaluate the structural validity of the scale. Results: Data from 1,979 respondents who participated in the Wave 2 online survey were analyzed. The scale demonstrated high reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient 0.90 (95% CI: 0.89–0.91). Exploratory factor analysis confirmed a single-factor structure and confirmatory factor analysis supported this structure with fit indexes (CFI = 0.957, TLI = 0.929, RMSEA = 0.136, SRMR = 0.035). Perceived time poverty was negatively correlated with sleep time and leisure time, and positively correlated with childcare time. Furthermore, perceived time poverty showed significant correlations with well-being, psychological distress, social isolation, and job satisfaction, confirming the validity of the developed scale. Conclusion: The Japanese version of the Perceived Time Poverty Scale is a reliable tool with a certain degree of validity for assessing time poverty in Japan. This scale enables individuals and households to recognize time poverty as a modern form of poverty. Furthermore, businesses and local governments can utilize it as an indicator in practical settings, such as improving work environments, implementing childcare support programs, and promoting community health. Future longitudinal studies are needed to further validate the scale, including addressing issues related to model fit.

Telework is promoted as a strategy to support work-care balance; however, its mental health implications for workers providing childcare and/or older adult care remain unclear. We aimed to examine whether the association between caregiving roles and poor mental health differs according to teleworking frequency, with implications for developing age-friendly work environments. We analyzed the cross-sectional data of 12,692 employed adults (aged 20–59 years) from the 2024 Japan coronavirus disease 2019 and Society Internet Surveys. Caregiving status was classified into no caregiving, childcare only, older adult care only, and dual caregiving. The telework frequency was none, 1 day/week, 3 days/week, or daily. Poor mental health was defined as ≥ 1 mentally unhealthy day in the past 30 days. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) stratified by telework frequency and adjusted for demographics, socioeconomic status, health conditions, and job-related and social support factors. Relative to no caregiving, adjusted odds of poor mental health were higher for older adult care (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.43–2.16) and dual caregiving (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.89–3.62). Among dual caregivers, odds were highest when teleworking 1 day/week (OR = 4.23, 95% CI: 2.24–7.99), imprecise at 3 days/week (OR = 2.18, 95% CI: 0.77–6.11), and not significant for daily teleworking. For older adult care, teleworking 3 days/week showed elevated, though non-significant odds (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 0.85–4.07). Older adult care and dual caregiving were linked to poorer mental health, and teleworking effects were nonlinear. Therefore, integrating flexible work plan with supportive job conditions may be beneficial in managing poor mental health among caregivers. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-026-07406-w.

Aim: To examine whether social contact frequency is differentially associated with poor mental health by interaction partner and contact mode among older adults in Japan. Methods: We analyzed the 2024 Japan COVID‐19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS; December 2024–January 2025). All respondents aged ≥ 65 years in the analysis‐ready dataset were included; no analytic variables had missing values. Poor mental health was defined as ≥ 1 versus 0 poor mental health days in the past 30 days (CDC Healthy Days item). Eight past‐month partner–mode exposures (family or friends by in‐person, phone, email/messages, or video call) were categorized as none, 1–3 times/month, or ≥ 1 time/week. Logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for demographic, health, lifestyle, physical activity, employment, education, and household income. False discovery rate control was applied across 16 prespecified contrasts. Results: Among 6786 older adults (mean age 72.7 years; 50.4% men), 11.8% reported ≥ 1 poor mental health day. In fully adjusted models, more frequent in‐person contact was associated with lower odds of poor mental health for friends/acquaintances (vs none: 1–3/month OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.59–0.84; ≥ 1/week 0.59, 0.48–0.73) and non‐cohabiting family/relatives (0.84, 0.71–0.99; 0.71, 0.57–0.89). Remote modes were not clearly associated. After multiplicity control, weekly in‐person family contact and both friend in‐person frequencies remained significant. Conclusions: Frequent in‐person contact, especially with friends, was associated with lower odds of poor mental health, whereas most remote modes were not, even after adjustment for education and household income.