[Evaluation of 24-hour home help services in a community by the focus group interview method]

The 24-hour home help services that provide day and night care services at home becomes a public health interest in Japan. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the system of 24-hour home help services in a community that has successfully developed it. Participants of this focus group interview were home helpers who were actually engaged in 24-hour home help services in A town of Akita Prefecture. The focus group session was tape-recorded and the tapes were transcribed. The transcripts were evaluated and summarized in order to identify major categories and number of descriptive statements in each category. The results were as follows. First, the home helpers considered that their system of 24-hour home help services could be technically transferred to other communities in Japan. Secondary, the political leadership and the democratic system of community participation were the essential elements for promoting the 24-hour home help services. Thirdly, the regular meetings for discussion about cases and opinion exchanges were required more extensively in the future.