Towards Staying at Home. Could Domiciliary Services be a Possible Way?

Kateřina Kubalčíková, Jana Havlíková

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Towards Staying at Home. Could Domiciliary Services be a Possible Way?

Kateřina Kubalčíková, Jana Havlíková

Medailon autora:

Dr Kateřina Kubalčíková is an assistant professor of social policy and social work at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University Brno, in the Czech Republic. She co-operates closely with the Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs, CZ. Her academic interests centre on the social policy concerning the elderly and the culture of providing of social services.

Dr Jana Havlíková is a researcher at the Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs, Prague - Research Centre Brno, in the Czech Republic. Her research interests include: implementation of quality standards in the field of social services, social services and care allowances for the elderly and unemployment with its personal and social policy consequences.

Abstrakt:

Population aging as well as the change in the approach towards the clients of personal social services impact on stated social services policy in many European countries. Likewise to support elderly people in their natural social environment is the strong point of the official policy of social services in the Czech Republic and the role of field-based assistance increases as opposed residential care. In the context of these national priorities of elderly care policy, the purpose of this study is to report on the position of the domiciliary care services as the typical means of field-based social services providing. European and national priorities regarding the policy of elderly care are presented in the first part of the text. After that using case study results of selected domiciliary care service agency extended by quantitative data (SHARE) we investigate both the current aim of the domiciliary care services and its importance to the service users themselves. Above all we focus on the possibilities and risks of the domiciliary care services providing and the potential of this kind of service to ensure suitable care of elderly in their place. We discuss this issue from the viewpoint of the different actors: service users, service workers and service managers as well.