Explore Home Care Needs and Satisfaction for Elderly People with Chronic Disease and their Family Members

Abstract Two face-to-face interviews with questionnaires were conducted to elicit the home care needs and satisfaction for elderly people with chronic medical conditions and their family members, respectively. One questionnaire for eliciting needs of the elderly people with chronic disease was designed with 3 parts, including personal information, satisfaction, and requirements. There were 46 surveys returned, 35 (76%) of whom were female and 11 (24%) were male. Another questionnaire for eliciting needs of patient's family members was designed with 4 parts, including personal information, satisfaction, requirements, and medical reminders aids. There were 313 surveys returned, 172 (55%) of whom were female and 141 (45%) were male. The results indicated that the factors of occupation and age may affect patients’ needs and the factors of marital status, occupation, and numbers of drugs for each time taking may affect patients’ satisfaction. In addition, the family members, who care for elderly people with more than one chronic diseases, need more concerned by family members or friends, disease information, and society service. They prefer receiving the disease information from health care professionals.