Creating sustainable home care services for older people
type: CreativeWork
description: Background: The population is ageing and recent years have revealed substantial increases in expenditure and demand for home care services. However, provision of home care is fraught with quality issues such as high staff turnover rates, inadequate staff training, a lack of coordinator support and reduced continuity of care. Consequently, ensuring the sustainability of home care services remains a critical area of concern. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a restorative home care service, for older people with varying levels of need, in relation to improving quality and sustainability. Design: Randomised controlled trial with cluster randomisation. Older people and their support workers were identified via a home care agency and cluster randomised to receive either the restorative home care service (intervention=93) or usual home care (control=93). Intervention: The restorative home care service involved goal facilitation, repetitive activity of daily living exercises, and an in-depth initial assessment for older people; experiential training for support workers; care management role and enhanced skill and competency level for the coordinator. Participants: Older people (65+ years), living in their own homes, who received assistance from a home care agency in South Auckland, New Zealand. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with older people at baseline, four and seven months. The primary outcome was change in health related quality of life measured by the Short Form 36 Health Survey. Other scale measurements were utilised to assess physical, mental and social wellbeing. Informal carer stress was assessed with the Carer Reaction Assessment. Focus groups were held with support workers at baseline and 14 months to ascertain their opinions. Coordinator perceptions were established via one-on-one interviews at 14 months. A basic comparison of costs for the two groups was undertaken. Results: Compared with usual care, restorative home care demonstrated a st…
abstract: Background: The population is ageing and recent years have revealed substantial increases in expenditure and demand for home care services. However, provision of home care is fraught with quality issues such as high staff turnover rates, inadequate staff training, a lack of coordinator support and reduced continuity of care. Consequently, ensuring the sustainability of home care services remains a critical area of concern. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a restorative home care service, for older people with varying levels of need, in relation to improving quality and sustainability. Design: Randomised controlled trial with cluster randomisation. Older people and their support workers were identified via a home care agency and cluster randomised to receive either the restorative home care service (intervention=93) or usual home care (control=93). Intervention: The restorative home care service involved goal facilitation, repetitive activity of daily living exercises, and an in-depth initial assessment for older people; experiential training for support workers; care management role and enhanced skill and competency level for the coordinator. Participants: Older people (65+ years), living in their own homes, who received assistance from a home care agency in South Auckland, New Zealand. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with older people at baseline, four and seven months. The primary outcome was change in health related quality of life measured by the Short Form 36 Health Survey. Other scale measurements were utilised to assess physical, mental and social wellbeing. Informal carer stress was assessed with the Carer Reaction Assessment. Focus groups were held with support workers at baseline and 14 months to ascertain their opinions. Coordinator perceptions were established via one-on-one interviews at 14 months. A basic comparison of costs for the two groups was undertaken. Results: Compared with usual care, restorative home care demonstrated a st…
author: King, Anna Irene Ivy
license: https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
date published: 2010
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:05:49Z
provider: University of Auckland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: ResearchSpace@Auckland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2292/5765