Preventive home visits. Cross-sectional study to support an independent lifestyle for elderly people

Background. In the interest of preventing or postponing dependency on care and assistance for as long as possible, preventive home visits to people aged over 70 years living at home were conducted by registered nurses. Aim. Assessment of the functional health of people over 70 years of age and counseling or information carried out based on the identified problem areas and resources. Material and methods. A multidimensional nursing assessment through self-evaluation was applied for 345 people aged over 70 years. Results. The sample of people investigated showed a high level of competence in self-care; however, a large number of functional health impairments could be identified that are reflected in the high requirement for counseling and information. Discussion. It became evident that recruiting of study participants was difficult and that care by family members was an important resource for people aged over 70 years. From this it was recommended that in the future sustainable advertising efforts should be conducted and special attention needs to be given to counseling and information for family members in preventive home visits.