Home Care
Help for Self-help or Service-oriented Help

Based on four municipalities, this study sheds light on whether municipal home care services provide help for self-help or service-oriented help, and whether focusing on providing help with rehabilitation in mind has an impact on the elderly citizens' physical functional level and psychological well-being and the amount of help granted.

Both help for self-help and service-oriented help come in several variants within munipal home care services, and typically several types of help are required, so both forms may be provided during the same visit to an elderly citizen. Help for self-help is linked to the social and health helpers'/assistant' understanding of their profession, while service-oriented help is often provided to be obliging to the elderly citizens.

In the two municipalities that have focused on providing help with rehabilitation in mind, we have found a relatively limited increase in the amount of help granted from 2009 to 2010, and in one of these municipalities a positive difference is seen in the elderly citizens' mobility and ability to perform daily tasks.