Kvarboendeprincipen i äldreomsorgen

This essay aims to examine and compare the attitudes of decision makers in the local government and representatives of pensioners in two different geographic areas. The main questions were: - their attitudes towards the "stay home principle" (kvarboendeprincipen, a principle that aims to make it possible for people with a handicap, disease or age to stay in their homes instead of moving to nursing homes). - their attitudes towards nursing homes for old people - their attitudes towards the possibility of staying at home when you are old and handicapped and in need of care. The essay is built on qualitative research methods, based on interviews and on a review of research in the field. The author found a complex picture of attitudes. Everybody thinks that the best is to live in your own home as long as possible, except from those who live with Alzheimer´s disease. They showed different opinions on the issue of the need for moving to nursing homes. This might result in forcing people to stay at home. Everybody thinks that nursing homes are better to stay in when you are in need of constant help 24 hours a day. Depending on the decision makers attitudes to nursing homes and to home care, the town and the rural district show different strategies in making people stay at home instead of moving. The stay home principle has during its history changed its core from being a general to an individual position in the society