Prospects and constraints of nursing home-based integrated adult day care. Viewpoints of experts

BackgroundEven when they are in need of care, old people prefer to stay in their community. An appropriate design of nonresidential and residential care services close to people's home is crucial for supporting them. In the model project Pflege stationarWeiterdenken! (Nursing home carethink ahead!) nursing homes offer extended services to old people in the community. This includes integrated day care (ITP), which entails day guests spending the day with residents of the facilities. This article examines the opportunities and challenges arising when designing and implementing this type of cross-sectoral care model.MethodGuided interviews were carried out with 20experts who were either professionals working at the model institutions or involved in the project at the planning and cooperation levels. The data collected were evaluated using thematic coding.ResultsThe opportunities and challenges lie at two levels. (1)At the institutional level advantages are greater individual and flexible timeframes of usage and better accessibility of day care for care-dependent people through the integration into residential care settings. The challenges involve administrative and management issues as well as apprehensions among the employees concerning the increased workload. (2)At the level of interaction and social integration experts emphasized the importance of making allowances for the interests and needs of day guests and residents. Furthermore, they confirmed that if this is achieved then integrated day care can improve the social participation of both user groups.ConclusionFrom the experts' point of view, the ITP holds the potential for cross-sectoral care for old people in need of care close to their homes. Afinal assessment will require further analysis, especially on users' views.