Background: Home care (HC) services are the foundational service in Taiwan, such as personal care, housekeeping, showers, meal preparation, and so on. We used population-representative data to evaluate the effects of HC services use on the long-term functional performance of older adults.
Method: This longitudinal study used latent growth curve modeling, measured as trajectories in activities of daily living (ADL) ability. We retrieved data for 1,851 care recipients from the Long-Term Care Service Management System database.
Results: Continuous use of HC services had positive effects on functional performance over time of declining functional capacity (β = .075, p < .05). While greater age was associated with slower increases in ADL scores, being female and living alone were associated with faster increases in ADL scores.
Discussion: Continuous use of the HC services provided has a significant impact on maintaining or improving functional performance among older adults in the early stage of declined functional capacity.
Keywords: activities of daily living (ADLs); functional status; longitudinal methods.