• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2004

This research evaluated counseling tasks performed by consumer counselors between Korea and Japan. Results of this research could be summarized as follows. First, not only female but also male counselors occupied counseling tasks in Korea, in Japan, all counselors were female, most of whom were married and older than in Korea. The average number of counselors in Korea was large than those in Japan, but income of counselors was higher in Japan. Average numbers of counseling were large, the level of perception on the significance of counseling tasks was lower in Korea, but degree of job satisfaction was higher in Korea than their Japanese counterparts. Second, evaluation scores of Korean counselors were higher than those in their Japanese counterparts in the light of objectiveness and fairness of counseling. On the other hand, the degree of job satisfaction among counselors and their perceptions on the significance of counseling tasks affected the evaluation scores. In contrast, both degree of job satisfaction and hours of job-training education generated those impacts. finally, Korean counselors highly evaluated their agencies' counseling tasks than their Japanese counterparts. In sum, this study showed that the overall performance of consumer counseling tasks was more positive in Korea than in Japan.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.51-67
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• 2010

This study looked into the current conditions in Korean and Japanese care management for the elderly, cases of consumer counseling in these countries, and the supporting institutions for Japanese users regarding the use of care management for the elderly. The number of recipients of care management for the elderly in both Korea and Japan is growing every year, and more Japanese users receive various services compared to Korean users. The results of an analysis on consumer counseling regarding the use of Korean and Japanese care management revealed, two types of complaints: counseling for the improvement of the institution and complaints related to the procurement of service. Regarding the insurance system, the complaints were mostly related to affirmation of a rating and the burden incurred by cost-sharing. Regarding the use of service, such key impairment cases were related to in-service medical accidents, illegal acts including caregiver contract violations and forced retirement, careless service by workers, and human rights violations of the elderly. Japan has developed governmental and, related-administrative and business services as well as a local governmental system to redress customer impairment issues as this pertains to service for better quality care management. In addition, they have enlarged the locally closed service, provided exact information about the services offered, and improved service appraisal techniques. The Japanese cases will serve as a good reference to improve the Korean system. In particular, the construction of a system that reduces customer losses and the availability of more counseling information are urgently required to improve the system in terms of customer experiences when they seek care management.