Documentation for the Workshop / Country Papers : Japan

Survey and census sources of national disability data

Country: Japan

1. Overview of survey or census

Title of survey or census
Survey on the Actual Status of Physically Disabled Children/Persons
Date of latest data collection
As of June 1st, 2001
Periodicity of survey or census (continuous, annual, ad hoc, 10 or 5 yearly in case of census etc
Every 5 years
Contact person(s) for the survey/census (include title, office mail address,
phone, fax, email, website, etc.):
Mr. Noriaki Ito
Chief of Planning Section, Policy Planning Division,
Department of Health and welfare for Persons with Disabilities,
Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau,
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Address: 1-2-2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 100-8916 JAPAN
Phone: +81 3 5253 1111(ext.3018)
Fax: +81 3 3502 0892
e-mail: itou-noriaki @ mhlw.go.jp
website: http://www.mhlw.go.jp

2. Brief summary of survey or census

Describe what information on disability is collected
As for disabled persons:
Type, lank and cause of disability, Daily activity of life, Use of welfare tools, reception of various pensions, housing, needs by type of disability and so on.
As for disabled children:
Type, lank and cause of disability, Daily activity of life, Use of welfare tools, using of various related organizations, needs by type of disability and so on.
What uses are made of the data and who are the users?
This Survey aims to have the information about situation of disabled persons (children) in Japan. The national/local administrative officers and researchers/scholars use this survey outcome and also it is published to the general public.
Were users involved in deciding what information to collect?
Yes. We made reference to pressure group related to disabled persons.
What definition of disability was used?
1. Permanent disability of eyesight as follows:
  1. Testing by international eye chart, eyesight of every eye (in the case of having abnormal refraction, eyesight after reforming : following are same as this) is 0.1 or under.
  2. One eyesight is 0.02 or under and other eyesight is 0.6 or under.
  3. The range of vision of both eyes is 10 degrees or under.
  4. The range of vision of both eyes is broken half or more.
2. Permanent disability of auditory sense or sense of valance as follows:
  1. Auditory sense of every ear is 70 decibel or more.
  2. Auditory sense of one year is 90 decibel and more, and other is 50 decibel and more.
  3. Clear hearing of ordinal conversation is 50 % or under.
  4. Extreme unbalance sense
3. Disorder of voice function, speech function or chewing function as follows:
  1. Loss of voice function, speech function or chewing function.
  2. Permanent extreme disorder of voice function, speech function or chewing function.
4. Physical disability as follows:
  1. Permanent extreme disability of one upper limp, one lower limp or body.
  2. Lack of thumb of one upper or one lower limp from the first articulation of thumb or upper, or lack of two fingers including forefinger of one upper limp from the first articulation of thumb or upper.
  3. Lack of one lower limb upper from Rythfran articulation.
  4. Lack of all fingers of both upper and lower limps.
  5. Permanent extreme disorder of function of thumb of one upper limb, or Permanent extreme disorder of function of three fingers or more
    Including forefinger of upper limb.
  6. Other disorders as severe as above 1-5.
5. Permanent Disorder of function of heart, kidney, respiratory organs or other disorder regulated by government ordinance, and having an extreme limitation of daily life by these disorders.
Were data collected and compiled according to international standards or national classifications and definitions? (e.g.ICIDH or ICF)
National classifications of type and grade of disability

3. Scope of survey or census

Describe the population covered in the survey (age, private dwelling population, institutionalised population, etc.
Private dwelling children and persons with physical disabilities
Children: under 18 years old
Persons: 18 years old and more

4. Coverage and sampling

Coverage of survey or census (how well was the scope achieved)
Residents in Japan
Sample frame(s) (sample size? Sample frame based on lists, area, register, etc.)
7,534 disabled persons and 827 disabled children reside in the survey districts random sampled from survey districts for National Population Census by proportion of 1/360.

5. Are there other data sources which you use to benchmark your survey results? (e.g. previous surveys to compare with? what evaluations did you make of the results?)

There are previous surveys to compare with.

6. Response and non-response

What was the response rate?
69.9%?
Did you evaluate the non-response? (e.g. break it up into full and partial? impact of non-response? follow-up studies? imputations for missing items?)
Assuming that the type and grade of disability of Non-responses and responses that cannot be summed up are same as those of normal responses, we estimated them by proportion estimation. We do not make follow-up studies.

7. Data collection (Attach or mail us a copy of your questionnaire)

There are no questionnaires in English.

Manner of collection (face-to-face interviews, self-administered questionnaire, telephone, other?)
Self-administered questionnaire.
Type of respondent (who replied? The disabled person or proxy for the person?)
The disabled person
Format of questions (how many questions? pre-coded standardised?)
Number of questions is 11. not pre-coded.
List the languages used in the survey or census
Japanese

8. Measurement error

Which special data collection procedures were undertaken to reduce measurement error (e.g. pilot testing of questions and questionnaire? training of interviewers? detailed coding instructions? follow-up of non response by specialist staff?)
Instruction manual of survey for interviewers is made.

9. Highlights of the strengths and limitations of survey or census

Strengths: (e.g. a very detailed survey; sound sample design; use of international standard concept and classifications, etc.)

Information on the situation of disabled persons/children are grasped because the survey districts are sampled from national population census survey districts.

Limitations: (e.g. high relative standard error for small population groups/geographic areas; respondent overload due to length of questionnaire; lack of consistency or survey items across surveys, etc.)

No limitations.

10. List published sources on disability statistics

"Disabled persons/ children in Japan" Statistical Report ( publisher: Daiichi hoki)
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/houdou/2002/08/h0808-2.html

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