Home Care for Ageing Populations: International Comparisons of Domiciliary Care Provision

The allocation, organisation and quality control of formal domiciliary care services are central tasks for all community care systems. In the light of population ageing, changes in family structures, increases in women's labour market participation rates and the perceived unsuitability and high cost of institutional care, the challenge of providing adequate domiciliary care is of great importance.

Based on a series of extensive interviews and participant observation exercises (conducted in October 2005 - February 2006) in Germany, Denmark and the United States, this project yielded a comparative analysis of the key aspects of (i) formal domiciliary care (part) financed through the long-term care insurance in Germany (site: Berlin) (ii) In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) in California (site: San Francisco) (iii) the public home care service in Denmark (site: Copenhagen). Considering the respective political, economic and social backgrounds of the four systems an up-to-date analysis of the core aspects of each of the care models is provided. Eligibility and targeting of services within the respective systems, implications of the various assessment methods, the range of services available and the coverage of the service, role and importance of different providers, consumer power and quality controls was described and compared.

Joint Principal Investigators for this project were Virpi Timonen and Martha Doyle. The research ran from October 2005 to February 2008 and was part-funded by the Trinity College Start-up fund. Findings have been published in the book Home Care for Ageing Populations: A Comparative Analysis of Domiciliary Care in Denmark, Germany and the United States (2008) Edward Elgar, Cheltenham. The Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre (SPARC) organised an international conference on the same topic on 12 March 2007, with guest speakers from the University of York, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Vechta (Germany) and the Danish Social Sciences Research Institute (SFI) (see news and events).