Earticle

This study tries to analyse current quality management index on social services according to the service types such as institutional, community, and in-home social services. Also, this study further consider quality management dimensions, such as service user, provider, and organization domain. The findings from comprehensive examination on quality index show that most index comprise input index in the domain of service provider and organization. Some index are process index but seldom are outcome index. In the domain of service user, there is almost no outcome index except index measuring the level of service satisfaction. It is need to develop core outcome index other than service satisfaction measures, in order to measure the ultimate performance and final changes from the service use. This study also finds that the number of quality index measuring the aspects of service providing, such as service organizations and individual providers overwhelms that of service demanding aspects. Furthermore, quality index measuring the possibility of choosing the services based on information and participating the process of service use are very limited in terms of numbers. Common social service quality index should include the index measuring the evaluations from service users, and enhance the domain of service users.

This research began from the interest in that how much effectiveness the Work-Family Balance policy has according to the position of female workers as women's participation in economic activity increases. Focus has been placed on maternity protection system, the most representative of the Work-Family Balance policy, and on Irregular Working Mothers. Therefore the range of maternity protection system was defined and the payroll, fund and the content of pay were analyzed. Concerning the range of the maternity protection system defined in this study, it was divided into the system that supports maternity protection directly and the system that supports it indirectly. The direct support system includes vacation support system, working hour regulation support system and cash support system(to employer), while the indirect support system includes the policy project that supports career-broken women by employment support system. Analysis showed that both vacation support system and working hour regulation support system confined the payroll to those whose insurable unit period of employment insurance is over 180 days. This system is impossible for Irregular Working Mothers, who are not insured for the employment insurance, to even make an approach. The cash support system(to employer) might also legalize Irregular Working Mothers as its support period is limited and the employment is decided according to employer. On the other hand, concerning the employment support system, though the indirect support of maternity protection system does not exclude Irregular Working Mothers from the payroll, the pattern of employable position is short-term contract of which the form of work or the status of employee is inadequate. Considering above result, this research suggested an alternative so that maternity protection system could be applied regardless of women's status of work.

In the second millennium, the UN, EU, and WHO have been encouraging social participation by the aged to foster “active ageing”; thus, Korea has been emphasizing the importance of social participation by the aged in its Seromazi Plan. However, Korea’s welfare policies for the aged concentrate mainly on income security and health, whereas discourse on the social participation of the aged is still in its infancy. This dissertation seeks to analyze the social participation of the aged and support policies for this in Japan in order to derive lessons on welfare policies for the aging society in Korea. The study showed, first, that social participation by the aged in Japan is closely linked with the local communities, occurring with mutual cooperation between the government and the people. Second, social participation of the aged differs according to such attributes as health, employment, wages, etc.; therefore, support policies must take these elements into account. Third, social participation programs create diverse personal and socioeconomic utility, but many problems remain. Finally, in Japan, consistent and proactive efforts to increase social participation by the aged were made within the framework of a social welfare policy referred to as the Japanese government’s measures for an aging society.

This study examined the effects of depression, drinking, smoking and social support on suicidal risk of rural elders who live alone. According to the study results, there were statistically significant risk of suicidal risk of the respondents with depression. It was also found that the elderly respondents who drink and smoke more have higher risk of suicide. In addition, it was turned out that the respondents who got more support from family had lower risk of suicide. In order to reduce the risk of suicide, it is necessary to set up strategies to manage depression, diseases, drinking and smoking effectively. Also, the efforts to strengthen social support system of rural elders which determine the quality of later life are needed.