Home health care - Research Paper Example

Caucasians are most likely to place their elderly in nursing homes as compared to Hispanics and other ethnic groups. Some communities also provide home health care, which can be given either by a professional home caregiver or by relatives. According to Patricia (2001), family members prefer home health care because of the low costs associated with it. Since home care is not covered by insurance, the family solely shoulders the burden of taking care of the elderly. With the rising cost of living, informal caregivers, who are most women, are overburdened.

The American population is living longer and growing older; a factor that makes it necessary for policy makers to consider offering them and their families’ medical and financial support to ease the burden and provide quality of home care for the elderly. Hypothesis Research Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that home health care is the first choice for many families with formal care only used as a supplement or in cases where the informal caregiver experiences burnout. The hypothesis was proved by use of secondary sources that revealed that, although home health care is overburdening to families, most opt for it because it gives them an opportunity to give their loved ones personalized care.

Besides, home health care is not covered by insurance and formal healthcare is costly. The secondary sources also revealed that some elders were taken care of in communities where the cost of home health care was shared among their relatives and friends easing the burden for their immediate families. Ethnicity and race were also a deciding factor in home health care with families living in areas where there are members of their ethnic community opting for home health care. Findings The research study found out that home health care is preferred in America especially by ethnic and minority groups.

The cost of home health care is expensive, but the cost is lowered by use of informal caregivers who can be either family or friends. Hired caregivers are only used as supplements. Some families make use of collective care giving done in communities with a large number of a particular ethnic group. Discussion Even though home health care is costly, families still opt for it as compared to place the elderly in nursing homes. Part of this decision is influenced by financial constraints while the other is influenced by sociological perspectives namely the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective and the symbolic interactionist perspective.

The functionalist view is of the belief that the society works together in harmony and that everyone in the society helps in creating a balance. A part of the family is to nurture, reproduce, and socialize. By providing home health care for the elderly, the family fulfills their part of nurturing (Mooney, Knox, and Schacht, 2007). Home health caregivers are affected by the situation and conditions of their elderly relatives who are also affected by the kind of care they receive. The increase in the number of the elderly in America has contributed to the increase of home health care; as a result, families have devised ways of lowering home health care cost by using informal caregivers.

Conclusion Home health care has become popular in America mainly because families cannot afford to place the eld