The Future of Nursing Care Service for Elderlies in an Extremely Depopulated Agricultural Community in Japan The Meaning of Continuation of Agriculture for Female Farmers and the Related Home Nursing Care Service System in the Agricultural Community of `N' in Prefecture of 'A'

Purpose of Study : The purpose of this study is that it aims to focus the present situation of Japanese female caretakers in an agricultural community to continue their home nursing care and agriculture and also clarify how they continue to work for home nursing care and agriculture, and the meaning of the continuation for female farmers in a community. Method : The design of this study used the ethnography type investigation. It maens to try clarifing the perception, the idea, and the meaning of the method of life inductively through the data concerning the experience in daily life of a certain group. The methodlogy is very effective to clalify and understand difficult situation of home nursing care in an agricultural community and the behavior of the caretakers who continue home nursing care and agriculture in extreamly agricultural depopulation area. "Extreamly depopulated agricultural area" is considered a social condition that a community social function declines with decreasing the number of population so that local residents are forced difficulty to maintain their standard of quality of life. In another word, "Extreamly depopulated agricultural area" is also called a marginal villege (or community). Results : Several aspects of female agricultural workers in a local community was clarfied : the womens' duty and burden in agricultural work, agricurtural work for satisfaction and home nursing care and the causes in the historical and cultural backgorund. (their value as agricultural labor force, their sexual role, the local regulation from the community). In addition, understanding to the function of life mutual aid system in the local community, the transformation of Japanese agricultural system, combining to continue home nursing care and agriculture, precondition and related factors of combination work (the function of family, agricultural working features, the present situation of elderly class and the current caretakers' level) . We actually found that the meaning of combination work and female famers' behaviors to the present social condition. Consideration : Home nursing care and agriculture are thought to be a continuation from the farm village female caregiver by finding the meaning to satisfy the combination of home nursing care and agriculture in the method of independence and against the reality.