A comparison of trends in research into home care services in Japan and Korea

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to compare of the research trends for home care services in Japan and the Republic of Korea (Korea). In particular, it was compared as the research design, the method of data collection, and key words by literature review. METHODS Original articles on home care services were selected from Japanese and Korean journals published from the year of 2004 to 2008. The articles were classified, and compared in terms of the number of articles per year. RESULTS The research design was quite different. Quantitative research design was dominantly conducted in Korea, qualitative research design was used same level of design in Japan. In particular, outcome study was shown in Korean. CONCLUSIONS It is suggested that future collaboration be undertaken to improve the variety of research design and method especially in both countries under the aged society. In addition, it provides information concerning research concepts, which can be applied to optimize future home care services.