Analysis of the concepts of home care, long-term care and family care

According to a National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) survey of people 55 and older who care at home, 80 percent receive informal care. A survey of the needs of urban home care seniors in New York shows that 70% of primary support services are provided by informal service providers, and two-thirds of service providers are part-time. The care of the elderly with chronic functional injury is also dominated by informal care. The introduction of paid care scheme in France has promoted the development of formal care and informal care. Although France has recognised the importance of regularising home-care work, it has not been professionalised and is still provided by informal carers. Sweden has improved support for informal carers of older persons at home in the areas of education, psychological support, information and legal and policy advice.

1.4 Purpose of Service

The purpose of home care service is to reduce the institutionalization of nursing homes, reduce the financial expenditure of providing LTC, improve the life satisfaction of service recipients, improve their quality of life, and reduce the burden of informal caregivers in the family. Gohei et al. believe that home care plays an important role in controlling and reducing the disability level of the elderly, improving their independence and autonomy, and managing health and social resources.

Through the above introduction to the concept of home care, we know that:

(1) The service object of home care is the elderly at home or the disabled elderly, and the service place is the elderly's own home;

(2) Effective assessment of the health care needs of the elderly in the home environment is the premise of providing home care services;

(3) The service content of home care for the elderly is to provide basic care for the elderly and meet their health care needs, and provide support in medical assistance, health management, personal care, spiritual comfort, prevention, finance and economy;

(4) The service forms of home care include formal care and informal care;

(5) The purpose of home care services is to improve the independence of the elderly, improve the daily living ability of the elderly and their families, control and reduce the level of disability of the elderly, improve the quality of life of the elderly, and manage health and social resources.

Based on the above analysis, the author believes that the concept of home care means that formal and informal caregivers provide basic care and meet the health care needs of the elderly or disabled elderly in their own homes through effective assessment of the health care needs of the elderly. A continuous and unified service system with support in medical assistance, health management, personal care, spiritual comfort, prevention, finance, economy, etc., aims to control and reduce the level of disability of the elderly, improve the quality of life of the elderly, improve the independence of the elderly, improve the daily life ability of the elderly and their families, and manage health and social resources.

2. Analysis of related concepts of home care for the elderly

There are two basic ways to study specific concepts: one is to directly study the essential attributes of things referred to by specific concepts; The second is to identify the related concepts of a particular concept and study the relationship between them. The following will analyze the related concepts of home care and the relationship between the concepts, which will help to further understand the concept of home care.

2.1 Home care is different from long-term care

The long-term care insurance (LTCI) system proposed by the Japanese government in 2000 aims to provide long-term Care (LTC) services, including home care services. However, the concept of LTC and home care has a significant difference, reflected in the service place, service object, service content.

2.1.1 Service place

LTC's service sites include: A caregiver's home, a caregiver's friend or family member's home, an adult day services location, an assisted living facility facility, hospicefacility, nursing home, etc.

2.1.2 Service Objects

Thomas et al. pointed out that LTC is a health and health-related support service for people with physical, mental, cognitive, and functional impairments. Scholars believe that two reasons promote the development of LTC related research. First, the rapid growth of the elderly population maximizes the current LTC service and related funding budget. The age factor is the determining factor of LTC service utilization. Second, the implementation of the expected payment measures under the hospital emergency medical care system. Payment under diagnosis-Nosis Related Groups (DRGs) encourages hospitals to discharge patients with greater home care needs earlier to reduce the length of patient stays. Therefore, LTC not only includes vulnerable, disabled elderly people, but also "sub-acute" patients after discharge from the hospital. Some scholars have pointed out that people with trauma, surgery, terminal illness, chronic disease, convalescence, old age, dementia, disability, permanent disability, etc., need LTC.