“This Case Is Closed”: Family Caregivers and the Termination of Home Health Care Services for Stroke Patients
- 7 June 2006
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in The Milbank Quarterly
- Vol. 84 (2), 305-331
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2006.00449.x
Abstract
Policies promoting home- and community-based services and disease management models implicitly rely on family care, still the bedrock of long-term and chronic care in the United States. The United Hospital Fund studied family caregivers of stroke and brain injury patients when home care cases were opened and closed and found that even with short-term formal services, family caregivers provided three-quarters of the care. Patients' mobility impairments and Medicaid eligibility were the main factors in determining the amount and duration of formal services. Between one-third and one-half of family caregivers reported being inadequately prepared for the case closing. At all stages, family caregivers expressed significant isolation, anxiety, and depression. Therefore, home care agency practice and public policies should provide better education, support, and services for family caregivers.Keywords
This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit:
- Family Caregiver Research and the HIPAA FactorThe Gerontologist, 2005
- Closing the Home Care Case: Clinicians’ Perspectives on Family CaregivingHome Health Care Management & Practice, 2005
- Transitions in Caregivers' Use of Paid Home Help: Associations With Stress Appraisals and Well-Being.Psychology and Aging, 2005
- Preparing Patients and Caregivers to Participate in Care Delivered Across Settings: The Care Transitions InterventionJournal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2004
- Training carers of stroke patients: randomised controlled trialBMJ, 2004
- Transitional Care of Older Adults Hospitalized with Heart Failure: A Randomized, Controlled TrialJournal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2004
- Results of the 2001 National Home Health Social Worker Survey: Did Social work Practice Change under PPS?Home Health Care Management & Practice, 2002
- Family Caregiving for Patients With StrokeStroke, 1999
- Home Care Problems Experienced by Stroke Survivors and Their family CaregiversHome Healthcare Now, 1996
- Measuring Caregiving AppraisalJournal of Gerontology, 1989