Tekijät

• Tepponen, Pirkko (University of Helsinki. Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care)

Asiasanat

care in the community, care of the elderly, elderly, home help, home visits, metropolitan areas, social services

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey charting the feedback from home care customers was conducted through both questionnaires and interviews. The aim of the survey was to explore the living environment and social relations of the respondents, as well as how they manage by themselves, their use of services, and assistance received. The interviews were conducted after collecting data through the questionnaire. The questions in the questionnaires and interviews were almost identical.

The respondents were asked to estimate their present life situation for instance in terms of health and functionality of services. Long-term illnesses and ability to move indoors and outdoors were also charted. They were asked to name the most important sources of assistance. The need of help and adequacy of help received with various everyday tasks were investigated, as well as the use and adequacy of help received from home help service, home nurse, volunteer, and family member. They were also asked to list the municipal support services they had used, and to give their opinions on which services they considered the most important, and whether they would like to increase some of the services. Some questions canvassed the use of non-municipal services, price level of municipal services, and information received on various services. The respondents were asked how well their own wishes had been taken into account when planning home care. Further questions covered the duration of potential changes in home care received during the past year, and support received from the home nurses. Experiences of loneliness, insecurity, uselessness, idleness, and helplessness were investigated, as well reasons for them. Finally, the respondents indicated whether they had been in ward treatment in the past 12 months, whether the help received during the treatment had been adequate, and how leaving to home had been organised.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, mother tongue, marital status, education, occupation before retirement, type of accommodation, hobbies, number of living relatives, whether R's apartment needed repairing, how far R's close relatives lived, and communication with friends and neighbours. In addition, the questionnaire included a question on who filled the questionnaire.