Challenges of Home Care: A Qualitative Study

Abstract Introduction Despite countless benefits of home care, unfortunately, the variety and quality of services provided by homecare centers in Isfahan, Iran, are uncertain. This study was conducted to explore of home care challenges. Method The present qualitative study used the conventional content analysis approach. A total of 17 participants, including nurses, managers of home care centers, and patients, were enrolled through purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed through Granheim’s qualitative content analysis method. Findings In order to explain the challenges of home care, after analyzing the data, 700 primary codes, 15 sub-subcategories, six subcategories, and two main categories, including ‘infrastructural challenges’ and ‘challenges related to the process of home care services provision’ emerged. The main category, infrastructural challenges, consisted of 4 subcategories (the challenge of acculturalization of home care services, economic challenges of providing services, challenges related to human resources, and the challenge of policymaking and setting regulations and rules for home care). The second main category, challenges related to the process of home care services provision, consisted of 2 subcategories: challenges of improving the quality of home care services (the challenge of empowering the human resource and the challenge of monitoring the performance of home care centers) and the challenge of facilities for service provision (the challenge of providing medical equipment and the challenge of ignoring technology in providing services). Conclusion In order to promote and improve the quality of home care services, in addition to providing insurance coverage for the services, acculturalization and revising the bylaws, empowering the human resource, enhancing the monitoring of the performance of home care centers, and employing modern technology need to be taken into account.