Aldrich Daniel P, Kyota Emi
1Security and Resilience Studies Program,Department of Political Science,and School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University,Boston,Massachusetts.
2Ibasho and Loeb Fellow,Graduate School of Design, Harvard University,Cambridge,Massachusetts.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2017 Feb;11(1):120-126. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2016.206. Epub 2017 Jan 23.
Natural disasters and rapidly aging populations are chronic problems for societies worldwide. We investigated the effects of an intervention in Japan known as Ibasho, which embeds elderly residents in vulnerable areas within larger social networks and encourages them to participate in leadership activities. This project sought to deepen the connections of these elderly residents to society and to build elderly leadership and community capacity for future crises.
We carried out surveys of participants and nonparticipant residents across the city of Ofunato in Tohoku, Japan, 1 year after the intervention began. Our surveys included questions assessing participation levels in Ibasho, demographic characteristics, efficacy, social networks, and a sense of belonging.
Regression analysis and propensity score matching of more than 1100 respondents showed that regular participation in the Ibasho project had a statistically significant and positive connection with various measures of social capital.
Given its relatively low cost and focus on deepening cohesion, we suggest that this community-based project could be replicated and scaled up in other countries to deepen resilience, elder health, and social capital. Moving away from an emphasis on investing in physical infrastructure, we believe that disaster risk reduction strategies should center on social infrastructure. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:120-126).
自然灾害和人口快速老龄化是全球社会面临的长期问题。我们调查了日本一项名为“场所”的干预措施的效果，该措施将老年居民融入更大的社会网络中的脆弱地区，并鼓励他们参与领导活动。该项目旨在加深这些老年居民与社会的联系，并培养老年领导力以及社区应对未来危机的能力。
在干预措施开始1年后，我们对日本东北大船渡市的参与者和非参与者居民进行了调查。我们的调查包括评估参与“场所”项目的程度、人口特征、效能、社会网络和归属感的问题。
对1100多名受访者的回归分析和倾向得分匹配显示，定期参与“场所”项目与社会资本的各项指标存在统计学上显著的正相关。
鉴于其成本相对较低且注重加强凝聚力，我们建议这个基于社区的项目可以在其他国家复制并扩大规模，以增强恢复力、老年人健康和社会资本。我们认为，减少灾害风险战略应从强调投资物质基础设施转向以社会基础设施为中心。（《灾害医学与公共卫生防范》。2017年；11:120 - 126）
