An older rural widow's transition from home care to assisted living

Designed to foster appreciation of comprehensive evaluation of home care outcomes, this case study of an older rural widow is part of a longitudinal phenomenological study of home care. Over 14 months, while her home care agency reacted to the Balanced Budget Act, nine interviews were done with a 95-year-old woman who lived alone until she moved to an assisted living facility. Data analysis yielded structures of her changing experience of home care. Although primarily supportive services may have been inconsistent with Medicare regulations, such services may have influenced the favorable outcomes of sustaining elders at home and undergirding the rural economy.