Cargando…

Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care

PURPOSE: To study the design and distribution of different organizational solutions regarding the responsibility for and provision of home care for elderly in Swedish municipalities. METHOD: Directors of the social welfare services in all Swedish municipalities received a questionnaire about old-age...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Olof Hedman, Nils, Johansson, Roine, Rosenqvist, Urban
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Igitur, Utrecht Publishing & Archiving 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2000976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17925837
_version_ 1782135563420172288
author Olof Hedman, Nils
Johansson, Roine
Rosenqvist, Urban
author_facet Olof Hedman, Nils
Johansson, Roine
Rosenqvist, Urban
author_sort Olof Hedman, Nils
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: To study the design and distribution of different organizational solutions regarding the responsibility for and provision of home care for elderly in Swedish municipalities. METHOD: Directors of the social welfare services in all Swedish municipalities received a questionnaire about old-age care organization, especially home care services and related activities. Rate of response was 73% (211/289). RESULTS: Three different organizational models of home care were identified. The models represented different degrees of integration of home care, i.e. health and social aspects of home care were to varying degrees integrated in the same organization. The county councils (i.e. large sub-national political-administrative units) tended to contain clusters of municipalities (smaller sub-national units) with the same organizational characteristics. Thus, municipalities' home care organization followed a county council pattern. In spite of a general tendency for Swedish municipalities to reorganize their activities, only 1% of them had changed their home care services organization in relation to the county council since the reform. CONCLUSION: The decentralist intention of the reform—to give actors at the sub-national levels freedom to integrate home care according to varying local circumstances—has resulted in a sub-national inter-organizational network structure at the county council, rather than municipal, level, which is highly inert and difficult to change.
format Text
id pubmed-2000976
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2007
publisher Igitur, Utrecht Publishing & Archiving
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-20009762007-10-09 Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care Olof Hedman, Nils Johansson, Roine Rosenqvist, Urban Int J Integr Care Research and Theory PURPOSE: To study the design and distribution of different organizational solutions regarding the responsibility for and provision of home care for elderly in Swedish municipalities. METHOD: Directors of the social welfare services in all Swedish municipalities received a questionnaire about old-age care organization, especially home care services and related activities. Rate of response was 73% (211/289). RESULTS: Three different organizational models of home care were identified. The models represented different degrees of integration of home care, i.e. health and social aspects of home care were to varying degrees integrated in the same organization. The county councils (i.e. large sub-national political-administrative units) tended to contain clusters of municipalities (smaller sub-national units) with the same organizational characteristics. Thus, municipalities' home care organization followed a county council pattern. In spite of a general tendency for Swedish municipalities to reorganize their activities, only 1% of them had changed their home care services organization in relation to the county council since the reform. CONCLUSION: The decentralist intention of the reform—to give actors at the sub-national levels freedom to integrate home care according to varying local circumstances—has resulted in a sub-national inter-organizational network structure at the county council, rather than municipal, level, which is highly inert and difficult to change. Igitur, Utrecht Publishing & Archiving 2007-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC2000976/ /pubmed/17925837 Text en Copyright 2007, International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC)
spellingShingle Research and Theory
Olof Hedman, Nils
Johansson, Roine
Rosenqvist, Urban
Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care
title Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care
title_full Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care
title_fullStr Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care
title_full_unstemmed Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care
title_short Clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in Swedish elderly care
title_sort clustering and inertia: structural integration of home care in swedish elderly care
topic Research and Theory
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2000976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17925837
work_keys_str_mv AT olofhedmannils clusteringandinertiastructuralintegrationofhomecareinswedishelderlycare
AT johanssonroine clusteringandinertiastructuralintegrationofhomecareinswedishelderlycare
AT rosenqvisturban clusteringandinertiastructuralintegrationofhomecareinswedishelderlycare