DISTRIBUTION OF HOME HELP SERVICES IN AN ELDERLY URBAN-POPULATION - DATA FROM THE KUNGSHOLMEN PROJECT

Data from the total urban population 75 years and older in Kungsholmen , Stockholm were used to calculate the distribution of home help servi ces. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information about education, occupation, living conditions, Katz Activities of Daily Liv ing Scale, contact with the family, medical treatment and also questio ns about help needed and functional ability. Home help was considered to be provided when the subjects reported receiving home help service from the municipality. The number of hours of home help and the servic es received were registered. The results show that 86% of the elderly population in the Municipality of Kungsholmen live in their own homes, even when they are very old. Twenty-seven percent of those over 74 ye ars and 33% of those over 80 years received home help services. The pe ople receiving help were mostly women, single living, older and with d isability detected by the Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. The p redicting factors of hours of home help are older age, condition of si ngle living, disability detected by the Katz Activities of Daily Livin g Scale and less years of education. Our results also show that, among those who receive home help service, those with disability in the act ivities of daily living get more hours of help. However, a considerabl e group of elderly people are disabled but do not receive any home hel p. Our data stress the need for more attention by health care planners of domiciliary and intensive care and residential facilities for the high risk population (very old, living alone and with disability).