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How Much Is Enough? Perspectives of Care Recipients and Professionals on the Sufficiency of In-Home Care

^a George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

Correspondence: Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, Campus Box 1196, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130. E-mail: nancymh{at}gwbmail.wustl.edu.

Decision Editor: Laurence G. Branch, PhD

Purpose of the Study: This study sought to increase knowledge about the impact of rater role on the assessment of in-home supportive care. The authors compared the perspectives of care recipients and professionals on one aspect of the broad concept of quality of care in home care—the sufficiency of the amount of care provided by informal and formal caregivers. Design and Method: Sufficiency of home care was assessed through concurrent elderly persons' self-report through telephone interview and nurse clinical report based on in-home interviews with the elder. Care was assessed in terms of the sufficiency of the amount of informal and formal assistance received to meet functional dependency needs. Statistical analyses compared the ratings of elder and professional. Results: Professional ratings of the sufficiency of care were significantly lower than those of the elderly care recipients. From the perspective of both care recipients and professionals, sufficiency of care was significantly related to coresidence of elder and caregiver, and to caregiver health. Implications: Consistent with previous literature, rater role was found to influence the assessment of the sufficiency of in-home care. Researchers and providers should recognize that care recipient and professional ratings are not interchangeable.

Key Words: Quality of home care • Rater role • Measurement of quality of care

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