FROM PASSIVE CARE TO ACTIVE CARE: PROMOTING SENIORS’ HEALTH WITH HOME CARE AIDES

As aging societies strive to strengthen home and community-based services systems, home care aides (HCAs), also called personal care assistants, play increasingly important roles for frail older adults. In the current home care paradigm of “passive care”, HCAs provide prescribed help with daily activities, rather than actively stimulate older clients’ reserves to maintain independence. To innovate home care practice, we piloted a safe, low-cost physical activity program delivered by HCAs for older adults in a Medicaid-funded home care setting in the United States. HCAs were trained to deliver a brief motivational enhancement and three chair-bound movements to motivate their clients to do physical activity daily and help maintain their independence. Mixed methods were used to evaluate the 4-month intervention. Survey data showed significant improvement in clients’ function to perform daily activities targeted by the intervention (p