[Preventative home visits by a specially trained nurse for 60-year olds and elderly in Hamburg]

There is increasing interest in home visits by phycisians, nurses or occupational therapists which offer health promotion or preventive care to older people. However, the practical performance of home visits, the targeting, and the effectiveness are ambigious. The collaboration in the EU-study 'disability prevention' gave the opportunity to recruit non-selected people 60 years and older from 14 general practitioners' patient lists in Hamburg. The study participants were offered different programs of health promotion, i. e., group sessions at the geriatric center and preventive home visits. The home visits were made by a nurse who received special training, and a curriculum was established. Seventy-seven elderly persons were visited because they were not able to attend the group sessions at the geriatric center due to self-reported problems in mobility. The investigations revealed combined risks for development of functional decline and dependency in the majority of these community dwelling elderly persons. These findings were unknown to the general practitioners. For example, the risk of falling as recorded by assessment was elevated in more than half of the persons visited. Screening and assessment are useful for planing measures of health promotion and prevention. There are still questions open to discussion. The targeting, practicability, and prerequisites in structure of service provision are considered with regard to the present study's results and an upto date literature review.