Care for Seniors at Home

This thesis deals with problems of taking care about elderly people in domestic surroundings. The work gives an account of experience of people who look after an elderly person in domestic surroundings. The thesis consists of two parts. The first theoretical part is divided into five chapters. In Chapter One the concepts of old age and aging are explained. Next the needs of old age are discussed. Then changes brought about by aging are summarized. Chapter Two explains the importance and role of family in old people's lives. The concept of carer is specified, mainly who can become a carer and what conditions this person should meet. Next, principles of caring for elderly people at home and problems that might arise are discussed. In addition the care for the carer is discussed, what a caring person should do to make their situation easier. Chapter Three gives an overview of support equipment that can be used at home. Chapter Four deals with legal measures related to caring for an elderly relative at home and with the concept of attendance allowance - who is entitled to it, how the level of necessary support is assessed and how much the benefit is. Next equipment and mobility benefits are explained. Last chapter gives a summary of social services that carers can make use of. The other empirical part of this thesis focuses on practical experience of people who care for an elderly person at home. The main question was "What are the factors affecting the care for an elderly person at home?" This question consisted of four partial questions "What does caring for an elderly person include?" "What does a day of a caring person look like?" "What makes caring easier?" "What social services do the carer and the elderly person use?" I choose the method of qualitative research for collecting data. I asked questions and used the technique of semi structured interview. The research group represented four people caring for an elderly relative at home. Each carer had been looking after the elderly relative for at least six months, each elderly person was receiving second level attendance benefit and each carer was willing to cooperate. The information I obtained was processed by the cluster method and then evaluated on the basis of common elements and lastly divided according the four partial research questions. The research answered all the questions. The carers and elderly people were relatives. The carers provided all sort of activities basic health treatment, household chores, handling official issues. Next I focused on health care. It has turned out that all the elderly people except one have a general practitioner in the place where they live and see them according to their current state of health in the accompaniment of the carer. To see a specialist, they usually have to travel about 90 kilometres. The next research question referred to the daily routine of the carer. The research has shown that each day of a carer is the same and that all activities are tailored to the needs of the elderly person. The carers do not have any free time for themselves. As for support equipment for homecare. The next question was whether and if so what social services do the carers use. The research has shown that the carers do not use any social services even though they know this possibility exists. The carers knew about attendance allowance from social workers, general practitioners or colleagues. They use this allowance in different ways for buying medicine, support equipment. In two cases the carers put the allowance money aside. All the respondents know about the mobility allowance, only one of them knows about the allowance for special aids