Long Term Care Service Development for Dependent Elders in Community

Abstract

Objectives of this action research were to study the situations and the development of long-term care services for dependent elderly in communities at Yangyai Tambon Health Promoting Hospital, Mueang district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. Primary data came from 2 groups of samples with a total of 30 participants. The first group being care service providers and was comprised of 6 family care team members, 10 elderly caregivers, and a local administrative. The second group was comprised of 13 care service receivers of either elderly or their relative caretakers. Quantitative data collected for this study came from semi-structured interviews and satisfaction surveys. Qualitative data were obtained through participant observations and knowledge sharing activities. The quantitative data were analyzed using frequency distributions, percentages, averages, and standard deviations. Content analyses were used for the qualitative measures. This study was conducted from January 1^st to September 30^th, 2020 over a 9-month period. An initial study revealed that the existing elderly care service system did not demonstrate a clear procedure. Caregivers did not have appropriate practical guidelines, worked with less confidence, and were not known of their roles by the community. Therefore, this research developed a long-term care service with 6 procedures including: 1) establishing a working group, 2) coordinating working plans, 3) screening and registering new dependent elderly to the program, 4) planning care services for dependent elderly, 5) organizing knowledge management and sharing, and 6) evaluating elderly care services. Implementation of this developed care services showed that dependent elderly in the community and their relatives, who are voluntarily participated in this research were satisfied with the services at the highest level.