An Exploratory Study on Home Support Service for the Elderly in Gyeonggi Province: Focusing on the Problems and Improvements for the Service

Abstract

Along with the introduction of long-term care insurance for the elderly, the home support service for the elderly has been newly implemented, which was changed from the traditional in-home care service, home helper service in Korea. However, in recent years, there has been little research to explore the issues relating to home support service for the elderly. The aim of the study is to explore the problems and improvements for the home support service providers in Gyeonggi-do province in terms of their provision of services and management of their organizations. This research involved literature review and focus group interviews with directors of provider organizations. According to the results of the study, some service providers have limitations in competitive advantage, in provision of preventive services, and in their recruit and retainment of care workforce. In addition, there have been other limitations in terms of the management of the organizations. It seems that many service providers also have been providing other care services such as primarily home visiting care services. However, it appears that while some providers have worked harder to provide such services like home visiting service than home support service in other to make more profits. The lack of proper supervision of home support service providers by local authority appears to affect this result. In order to remove these limitations, a number of policy suggestions for the improvements of the service are recommended such as the redefinition of home support service, the developments of a number of sophisticated guidelines for the service, and the strict supervision of service providers.