THE AUTONOMY OF LAY AND PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN HOME HEALTH-CARE

Assessment of familial caregivers' expertise in home health care is an important issue becuase of the increased significance of home health care in long-term care of the elderly. To assess such expertise, a 40-item "caregiver knowledge quiz" was administered to a sample of intensive caregivers, and also to a sample of college students (no exposure to home health tasks) and gerontologists (professional exposure to home health tasks). Using consensus modeling, we explore (1) level of shared knowledge in each group, and (2) differences in group knowledge. Despite their intensive caregiving experience, caregivers' answers are most similar to those of the young college women; caregiving experience does not lead them to embrace the expertise of gerontologists. Ethnographic materials offer insight on the reasons for this autonomy of lay and expert knowledge.