Factors associated with the use of home care services

Objective: To examine the effects on home care services utilization by the needy. Method: A total of 657 homecare-needed from the experimental-community of "Pilot Program for the Development of Long Term Care System" were interviewed by constructed-questionnaire on telephone, and 463 subjects were qualified and completed finally. All subjects were the decision maker of the services use and we separated them into 2 models ("self-decided" were 178 and "family-decided" were 285) to analyze. Results: There were 44.5% of respondents who had used homecare. Logistic regression showed that, after controlling for other variables, the expect-utility was the significant factor in both models (OR of self-decided=7.53, 95% CI=3.20-17.75;OR of family-decided=9.54, 95% CI=4.87-18.68). Otherwise, more ADL (activity of daily living) disability (OR=2.32, 95% CI=1.00-5.43) and less effect on filial piety (OR=0.46, 95% CI=0.18-0.94) were more likely to use in "family- decided" model. Conclusions: Expected-utility of services and filial piety are two important factors associated with the use of homecare. Our government should enhance the programming and information when promoting relative long-term care policy.