Home Visit Services Provided for Elderly Dwellers in Isfahan Province: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: As the elderly population increases, chronic diseases and disabilities also become more prevalent. Home care programs as hospital services supplement, not only can prevent elderly from get worse in their disabilities but also make it easier for governments to manage elderly people's needs; therefore, we aimed to determine the home visit services provided for elderly residing in Isfahan province, Iran. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 elderly persons aged 60 years and above who were randomly selected from the list of the aged people which took services from seven home visit service centers. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Results: Mean ± standard deviation age of the participants was 76 ± 8.8 years and about 70% were illiterate. Only about 56% of included participants were able to care themselves. A large number (56.3%) of participants' income source was personal and 5.7% were did not have any insurance at all. The costs of 93.5% of services were provided by the welfare organization. The services provided at these centers include general physician visits, nursing cares, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services, psychologist and social worker visits. Conclusion: As the home visit services might be effective for providing health care for the aged people and increasing their quality of life, policymaking to spread these services seems to be crucial especially for Iran.