Client satisfaction with home care services in rural Russia

The objective of this work is to explore the satisfaction of a sample of 300 frail elders living in a rural Russian area with the support services provided by social service agency staff. The client population lives in extremely difficult conditions in terms of housing and associated communal services. They reported very high levels of satisfaction with the agency-provided services, both general satisfaction and their satisfaction with the specific services received during the reference visit inquired about by the interviewer. The degree of satisfaction is likely related to the difficulty of their living environment and their probable poverty, as well as the quality of services received. Attempts to relate the variance in the satisfaction ratings to the extent of activity limitations and the volume of formal and informal care using multivariate analysis met with limited success, owing in part, at least, to the limited variance in the dependent variables. Nevertheless, the patterns identified are broadly consistent with expectations based on modeling previously done for the U.S. populations receiving at-home care. The results clearly indicate the value of providing such services to frail elders in such circumstances.