Incorporating co-created knowledge into mental health social work education in Japan: an organizational case study

ABSTRACT

In Japan, several community-based practices have led to the formation of practical theories in community mental health social work. As an innovative example, social workers at Yadokari-no-sato, a nonprofit organization in Japan, have worked with persons with psychosocial disabilities, their families and other supporters since 1970, while developing theories based on collaborative practices. Thus, based on the work of this organization, this study examined the incorporation of knowledge created through collaborative practices into mental health social work education in Japan from an international perspective. This study used an organizational case study design with mixed methods. First, a qualitative content analysis was conducted using data extracted from major textbooks (n = 25). This analysis identified eight categories related to the fundamental theories and innovative activities rooted in Yadokari-no-sato. Second, the reflections of students regarding a series of university lectures, which focused on the organization’s practices, further supplemented the analysis. The study findings suggest that the values and perspectives of social work practices and the process of collaborative activities with relationship building have developed historically and comprehensively. The findings further indicate the significance of incorporating co-created practical knowledge and its process into social work education beyond the organizational context.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-production
• knowledge creation
• global and local norms
• international perspectives
• qualitative analysis

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the committee members of Yadokari-Kenkyujo for supporting this research project. Concerning this study plan, we referred to the conference proceedings at the practical report meeting, described in Japanese (Higashida & Fujii, 2023).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2023.2283041.

Notes

1. Five Japanese organizations were selected as having best practices by the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation in 1999.

2. Cases of assault and death of inpatients by private psychiatric hospitals are well-known, including the Hotokukai Utsunomiya Hospital in 1983 and the Yamatogawa Hospital in 1993.

3. The issues include long-term hospitalized length of stay of 274.7 days on average (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan, 2018) and human rights violations such as the case of inpatient abuse at the Kande Hospital in 2020 (see also Kanata, 2016).

4. There were also some predecessors, such as the late Ms. Fusa Asaga, who learnt social work theories and techniques in the West and practiced as a medical social worker in Japan.

5. In 2020, the Japanese Association of Mental Health Social Workers changed the abbreviation from PSW to MHSW. However, in this study, we use PSW, since we describe them in a historical context.

6. According to the second author’s memory, Mr Yanaka was likely to have been conscious of providing practice experiences as research material to researchers and of sharing the wisdom and ingenuity of practice with practitioners to promote community-based practices.

7. In FY 2021, there were 319 registered members at Yadokari-no-sato, with 52 full-time employees and 48 part-time employees. In addition, various community life support activities have been conducted, such as 221 new cases of consultations and 737 continuous cases of consultations annually.

8. In Japan, there is the study of Tojisha, which emerged from the practice at Bethel-no-ie (Ishihara, 2015). Mr Mukaiyachi (who led the study) also stated that it was influenced by Yadokari-no-sato’s practices (Yanaka & Mukaiyachi, 2003).

9. A standardized education and training curriculum for mental health social workers has been provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (2020).

10. The ID consists of three components: year of publication, publisher (C = Chuohoki Publishing or H = Herusu Shuppan) and subject (upper-case in Roman initials). The quoted page number is shown after the colon.

11. As for official statements on ‘Y’s Issues’ by Mr Yanaka, then-President of the Japanese Association of Psychiatric Social Workers, they are accessible at http://www.arsvi.com/1900/8106nsk.htm (in Japanese).

12. This expression seems to have a different nuance to the terms ‘survivors’ or ‘consumers’, which are common in the Western world.

13. This involves social workers being present (居合わせ) in the life-world of Tojisha and walking and learning together, considering phenomenological perspectives on coexistence and corporeal existence (Hayakawa & Yanaka, 1984).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K13477.

Notes on contributors

Masateru Higashida

Masateru Higashida, PhD, has been a head researcher at the Asian Research Institute for International Social Work, Shukutoku University, since April 2022. He obtained a doctorate in Human Sciences from Osaka University in 2020. His experience includes social work practices at Yadokari-no-sato from 2006 to 2011.

Tatsuya Fujii

Tatsuya Fujii is a former professor at Sophia University, Japan, from 2006 to 2012. After participating in Yadokari-no-sato as an intern in 1983, he worked as a full-time staff from 1985 to 1988. He was also a professor at Osaka Prefecture University from 2001 to 2006.