Abstract

The Adult social care outcomes toolkit (ASCOT) tool has been applied in two major studies of social care related quality of life for older people in Denmark, both as part of national commissions looking into the outcomes of LTC. The paper presents the result on measuring social care related quality of life (SCRQoL) in a home care vs. nursing home setting.

The findings are that need for care is obviously higher among residents in nursing homes than among users of home care. In both sectors, users have a significant increase in SCRQoL when receiving care, with a current level of SCRQoL almost at identical levels, but somewhat below the level for the population at large. Home care users have the lowest current SCRQoL in the dimension of abode and residents in nursing home in the dimension food and drinks. This indicates that regardless of need, social care provisions in Denmark manage to raise the level of quality of life, but the dimensions often identified as key for these users still have some way to go.