The potential of domiciliary care service in the Czech Republic to promote ageing in place

Abstract

Due to population ageing, the need for long-term care is increasing. In many European countries, there is now a firm policy preference for care in the home as opposed to institutional care and policies at the local level support this preference. The purpose of this study is to report on the position of domiciliary care service within the Czech social services for the elderly and to explore its potential to promote ‘ageing in place’. The aim of the research was to perceive this issue from the viewpoint of the different parties: service users, service workers, service managers as well as policy-makers. Therefore, the qualitative methodology (case study method) was used. The results revealed that users considered domiciliary care as the only service in the Czech Republic that allowed them to remain at home despite their worsening capacity to manage the activities of daily living. On the part of the domiciliary care service, however, we found that this was strong in the provision of practical help, as well as assistance with users' self-maintenance, whereas their supervision and care management were not explicitly included either in the concept or the practice of this type of service.