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Abstract
Objective A longer life expectancy increases the number of older adults who require long-term care. The presence of a caregiver at home prevents the placement of older adults in care facilities. Identifying the caregivers’ viewpoints around the care clarifies key factors in providing quality care.This study aimed to assess barriers to home care from the perspective of Iranian informal caregivers of older adults.
Design This was a qualitative study with content analysis. Semistructured interviews were conducted via telephone in Persian with informal caregivers of older adults using open-ended questions.
Setting Social and health organisations in southern Tehran, Iran.
Participants Seventeen informal caregivers were selected on purpose. Participants were eligible to participate in the study if they were 18 years or older, and had at least 1 month of care experience for a minimum of 6 hours per week.
Results Barriers to home care for older adults from informal caregivers’ points of view were categorised into three domains: (1) Individual barriers include the physical, mental and social burden of care as well as personal characteristics of the caregiver; (2) interpersonal barriers include psychobehavioural characteristics of the older adult and misbehaviour of people around the caregiver and (3) care system barriers include inefficient institutional/organisational infrastructure, moral issues and inefficiency in public policy.
Conclusions Our study showed multiple individual, interpersonal and care system barriers to home care for older adults. Specific contextual challenges among Iranian caregivers, such as their attitudes and beliefs, as well as a lack of social and healthcare support for families, hindered the quality of care.
Trial registration number IRCT20201012048999N1
- qualitative research
- health services administration & management
- public health
Data availability statement
Data are available on reasonable request.
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Data availability statement
Data are available on reasonable request.
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Footnotes
Contributors All authors contributed to the project’s conception and development of the main conceptual ideas. FR conducted the interviews, coded the primary data and analysed the data. ES and MF assisted with data coding. MA and ES both contributed to the interpretations of the findings and writing the manuscript. The manuscript was revised by all authors, and the final version was agreed on by all authors. FR is responsible for the overall content as guarantor.
Funding This work was supported by the Vice Chancellor for Research of the School of Public Health (grant number: 9711108001) as well as in cooperation with the Vice Chancellor for Health of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (grant number: 1400-1-129-51605).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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