[Professional housekeeping aide for elderly persons. Needs, demand and beneficiaries]

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Social Services Research

Background:

• Professional home help services (aide-ménagère) are vital for enabling disabled elderly individuals to remain in their homes in France.
• An evaluative study was conducted in the Upper-Normandy region to assess the existing needs for these services among the elderly population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the demand and effective need for professional home help services among the elderly in Upper-Normandy.
• To identify discrepancies between service utilization, expressed desire for services, and actual need.

Main Methods:

• The study assessed the proportion of the elderly population (65+) utilizing home help services in 1979.
• It analyzed both the demand (desire for services) and the effective need (inability to perform tasks without family support).
• Calculations were made to estimate the hours required for different levels of home assistance, including personal care and support for the bedridden.

Main Results:

• In 1979, only 4.2% of the elderly population (65+) used home help services, while 14.7% desired them.
• Effective need analysis indicated that home assistance for basic household tasks for those living alone and with limited ability would require 64,000 hours weekly, significantly more than the 43,000 provided.
• Expanding services to include personal hygiene and care for the bedridden would affect 24% of the elderly and require 153,000 hours weekly.
• Approximately 20% of services were utilized by individuals without a demonstrable effective need.
• A significant challenge identified was that nearly two-thirds of elderly individuals who genuinely needed the service stated they did not want it.

Conclusions:

• There is a substantial gap between the demand for and the provision of home help services for the elderly in France.
• Current service allocation may not be optimally meeting the needs of the dependent elderly population.
• Effective planning and integration of home help services within a broader framework of elder care are essential to ensure services reach those most in need and are accepted by them.