The family and the help needs of disabled elderly in two Swiss cities

The purpose of the present article is to describe the situation in which informal help is no longer sufficient, and thus to contribute to the understanding needed for the planning of organized services. Interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of 480 over 65-year-olds in two urban areas of Switzerland representing a 80.4% response rate. The married elderly receive most of their daily help from their spouse; daily nursing assistance to the widowed elderly comes from a family member (60-70%) or from organized services, whereas neighbours may provide occasional help in household activities. Unmarried old people in need of daily help live almost always in stationary institutions. Under the conditions examined, domiciliary services for the disabled elderly serve to complement informal help rather than to replace it. Supporting and motivating informal caregivers would seem to be a promising strategy toward more efficient domiciliary services.