What does community care research tell us about community care in Australia?

A critical appraisal of 21 studies of community care conducted in Australia between 1990 and 1995 provides the basis for assessing the account of community care that is presented in recent research. Several aspects of the policy and program context in which the Home and Community Care (HACC) program operates give rise to great diversity in community care, and the design and methods of community care research are also diverse. Review of the coverage of the HACC client population in research, the range of services studied and outcomes investigated shows however, that findings fall short of giving a representative account of community care. The focus on outcomes relating to admission to residential care is especially seen to prescribe too narrow a view of the range of outcomes achieved by community care. The need to recognise a wider range of outcomes is identified as fundamental to strengthening the contribution that research can make to the development of community care in Australia and in other countries.