[Circumstances and issues of support in home care services for older adults requiring insulin therapy].

Abstract

Aim: This study investigated the issues experienced by home care workers in providing home care support for older adults on insulin therapy.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six home care workers, and the resulting data were coded. Data with approximate semantic content were aggregated, organized, and divided into categories and subcategories. The participants were asked about the nature of the support they provided to older adults with diabetes requiring insulin therapy, the difficulties they experienced in doing so, and their thoughts on solutions.

Results: A total of 290 codes were extracted from the narratives of home care workers. The codes were then aggregated and categorized. Support provided to diabetic older adults requiring insulin therapy was organized into seven categories, such as "substitution of family care"; problems in providing this support were organized into eight categories, such as "substitution of medical care" and "gap between the system and needs"; and ideas on solutions for the future were organized into five categories, such as "improvement of expertise in home care," "creation of an organization and system for providing support to diabetic older adults requiring insulin therapy," and "information sharing and establishment of a cooperative system with medical personnel."

Conclusion: Home care workers provide support to older adults with diabetes who require insulin therapy in place of medical personnel and family caregivers. Furthermore, home care workers cannot cooperate with medical personnel. These findings suggest that the system for training home care workers to provide support to older adults with diabetes requiring insulin therapy and the scope of their duties should be reviewed. In addition, information on insulin therapy should be shared among professionals related to home care, and a system of cooperation and collaboration should be established to ensure that home care workers do not need to replace medical care workers.