Introduction
Home care ranges from technical nursing to domestic aid. This is a cost effective way of maintaining people's independence. Despite the growing interest, expenditures and efficiency of home care are critically considered. Expenditures on home health care are expected to grow with the ageing of the population. Policy makers learn the ways in which home care is governed in other countries. The question is whether such policies ca be transferred to other countries. One of the purposes of international comparative studies is why policies in home care differ in various countries. The policy convergence theory stresses the importance of the economic development in explaining such differences, while other theories point to other national features like cultural, economic, and labor market differences.
The first indication of governmental involvement is policy visions in home care, then – actual financing of home care, and its regulation.
Research question: To what extent differences in government involvement in home care in European countries are explained by differences in culture, economy, labor market participation of women, political leaders? In our study, home care refers to formal domestic aid, personal care, and home nursing. Three types of govermental involvement are distinguished: funding, regulation, provision of services.
