Information of this kind is intended to help decision makers to develop a response to the expected rising demand for health and social services provided at home and the EC has consequently funded the EURHOMAP study ('Mapping professional home care in Europe' ), which is implemented by an international consortium of nine institutes from nine European countries.Īs a first step in describing home care in Europe, the EURHOMAP project has undertaken a systematic review of the scientific literature, with the aim of finding out what the scientific literature in the past decade had to say about home care in European countries. The European Commission has prioritised the gathering of information on this sector (EC Work Plan 2006 of the Programme of Community Action in the field of Public Health). "Home is a place of emotional and physical associations, memories and comfort", as reported by the World Health Organisation. Several European countries aim to stimulate community living and care, including home care, a concept which is not only regarded as just a potentially cost effective way of maintaining people's independence, but is also the mode of care preferred by clients. Growing demand for care, in combination with the diminished potential for informal care, is likely to result in a need to expand formal care services and increase expenditure. Changing life-style trends, smaller families and growing labour market participation of women have reduced the possibilities of providing care informally. The share of the population aged 65 years and over is increasing and more people will consequently be care-dependent in the near future. A comprehensive and more complete insight into the state of home care in Europe requires the gathering of information using a uniform framework and methodology.Ĭurrent demographic developments in Europe have resulted in increased interest in home care. This review clearly shows the need for more scientific publications on home care, especially studies comparing countries. Furthermore, little information emerged on home care financing and on home care in general in Eastern Europe.
Many studies only focused on one aspect of the home care system and international comparative studies were rare. The papers included, however, provided only a limited picture of home care. Home care systems appeared to differ both between and within countries. Geographical inequalities, market forces, quality and integration of services were also among the issues frequently discussed. Many focused on the characteristics of home care recipients and on the organisation of home care. Seventy-four out of 5,133 potentially relevant studies met the inclusion criteria, providing information on 18 countries. The data extracted included: the characteristics of the study and aspects of home care 'policy & regulation', 'financing', 'organisation & service delivery', and 'clients & informal carers'. Clinical interventions, instrument developments, local projects and reviews were excluded. Studies were only included if they complied with the definition of home care, were published between January 1998 and October 2009, and dealt with at least one of the 31 specified countries. MethodsĪ systematic literature search was performed for papers on home care published in English, using the following data bases: Cinahl, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and Social Care Online.
The objective of this literature review was to respond to this need by systematically describing what has been reported on home care in Europe in the scientific literature over the past decade. Hence, there is a need for information on home care in Europe. Health and social services provided at home are becoming increasingly important.
0 kommentar(er)
