[Functional training of enfeebled elderly in their own homes. A cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial model]

Today it is a proven fact that rehabilitation of elderly people suffering from illness and loss of functional faculties helps. The very weakest group is unable to make use of existing offers of rehabilitation. The objective of the investigation was to develop and test a model for functional training of weak, elderly people in their own home.

The process was assessed in eight cases. The elderly were selected consecutively on discharge from two geriatric wards as those who could be rehabilitated, but who were too weak to undergo the usual process. Training was supported by the regular home help assigned to the old person and carried out under the supervision of a geriatrician and a physiotherapist. An external-qualitative evaluation of the programme is published elsewhere.

In collaboration with the elderly people and the home help, the project team succeeded in forming and implementing a training scheme based on the expectations that the elderly people had to rehabilitation. Of the eight patients taking part in the investigation, five realised their wishes for a greater degree of mobility and for being able to get out-of-doors.

The model developed, where the home help acts as the central figure in the implementation of the rehabilitation of enfeebled, old persons under the supervision of a physiotherapist and a geriatrician, is an interesting alternative to the existing programmes for rehabilitation of elderly people in their own home. The work should be investigated in monitored tests, with the focus on effectiveness and consumption of resources.