Forebyggende hjemmebesök til eldre. Utbredelse, diffusjons-prosesser og spredning
Sammanfattning
Background: Preventive home visits to older people (PHV) in Norway have received increased
attention as a matter of health policy during recent years. Internationally, there is extensive research
about the effects of the service and its importance for the users, but we know little about prevalence,
diffusion processes and dissemination among municipalities.
Method: Every Norwegian municipality was contacted and asked to answer a questionnaire about the
prevalence and content of PHV. These answers were linked to other data about the municipalities,
retrieved from data collections associated with Statistics Norway.
Results and conclusion: The prevalence of PHV has increased from 8% in 2003 to 24% in 2013. Half
of the start-ups of PHV took place between 2010 and 2013. The results indicate that PHV first spread
locally and regionally through local enthusiasts and cooperation among municipalities, especially
large and medium-size, and centrally located municipalities. The results indicate that municipalities
with little financial wiggle room to a greater extent than financially wealthy municipalities, have to
think health prevention, health promotion and innovative. Strong national recommendations and
guidance for PHV will probably be an important factor in the future spread of PHV.