The goals in managing chronic illnesses in the elderly are to maintain the
highest possible level of functioning, promote independence in self-care, a
nd enhance quality of life. Parish nursing is one mechanism for providing c
are for homebound elders with one or more chronic illnesses. However, deter
mining the holistic health needs of older parishioners before developing a
parish nursing program is helpful. The holistic needs of elders in two pari
shes were determined through two multidimensional functional assessment que
stionnaires and a quality of life scale. Results indicate that this populat
ion of elders had relatively high levels of functioning. Quality of life wa
s relatively high and was associated with overall functional abilities.