Is Home Care Right for My Parent? 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

When you are worried about your parent and think they may need help, it can be hard to figure out the right care option.

By asking yourself these 4 main questions, you can figure out if home care is right for your parent.

What is home care?

First, let’s establish what home care is.

Home care is non-clinical help with daily tasks at home such as meal prep, personal hygiene, companionship, and transportation.

Home care services are tailored to each individual’s needs to help them stay in their home and live as independently as they can.

4 Questions to Determine if Home Care is Right for Your Parent

Now that you understand what home care is, the next step is to determine if home care is right for your parent. Go through and ask yourself this list of questions.

Does your parent need help with their activities of daily living (ADLs)?

Activities of daily living (ADLs) is the term used to describe the fundamental skills required to care for yourself.

There are 6 basic ADLs:

• Ambulating: Their mobility or a person’s ability to independently move positions and walk.
• Feeding: A person’s ability to feed themselves.
• Dressing: A person’s ability to select and put on appropriate clothes.
• Personal hygiene: A person’s ability to bathe and groom themselves.
• Continence: A person’s ability to control their bladder and bowel function.
• Toileting: A person’s ability to get to and use the toilet and clean themselves.

As people age and their health declines, it is common for people to have trouble handling their ADLs on their own. According to the CDC, 11.6% of people age 75 and above have limitations with ADLs.

If your loved one needs help moving around, eating, going to the bathroom, or bathing, they require help with their ADLs.

Sometimes it is clear that they need help (you may be helping them), but sometimes it is not easy to tell.

Some signs you can look for:

• Weight loss could be an indicator that they are having trouble feeding themselves or remembering to eat
• wearing the same or inappropriate clothes can be a sign they have trouble dressing
• strong body odor or greasy hair may mean they have trouble bathing

Look for signs and talk to your parent to see if they are able to manage their ADLs.

If they cannot handle their ADLs on their own, home care is a wonderful option to help them.

Does your parent need help with their instrumental ADLs?

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) are more complex activities required to live independently.

It is even more common for seniors to need help with these; the CDC reports that 19.4% of people age 75 and above need help with their IDALs.

The 6 Instrumental ADLs are:

1. Cooking: A person’s ability to plan and prepare meals.
2. Managing Medications: A person’s ability to take the correct doses of medications at the right times.
3. Shopping: A person’s ability to shop for all their needs, such as groceries.
4. Managing communication with others: A person’s ability to operate a telephone and go through and send mail.
5. Managing Money and Finances: A person’s ability to handle their money, including monitoring their income and expenses and paying their bills.
6. Performing Housework: A person’s ability to clean their home.
7. Driving or Using Public Transportation: A person’s ability to either drive themselves or arrange for transportation.
8. Laundry: A person’s ability to wash and dry their laundry.

You may know if your loved one needs help with these things, or you may need to look for signs, such as missing appointments, unopened mail, no or rotten food in the fridge, too many pills (from missed doses), or late notices on bills.

Transportation, cooking, household management, and medication compliance are easy things for home care professionals to help with.

Does your parent need more social interaction?

Another reason to consider home care is for the social interaction that it can provide.

A 2020 report found that nearly one-fourth of adults aged 65 and older are considered socially isolated, which comes with serious risks, such as higher rates of mental health issues, dementia (increased by about 50% percent), and premature death.

Home care professionals can help provide companionship for your parent.

Do you need help being a caregiver?

You need to consider the practical aspects of being a caregiver, such as

• Are you physically able to care for them?
• Do you live close enough to visit frequently, or is everyone involved willing to live together?

You should also consider your own needs. Ask yourself how you are coping. Are you experiencing caregiver burnout? Are you overwhelmed or exhausted? Is being a caregiver impacting your health?

Be honest about how the added stress and responsibility are affecting you. There is no shame in needing help.

Home care professionals can share the responsibility and workload.

What are the next steps?

If the above questions have made it clear that your parent may benefit from home care, you need to know the next steps.

Determine if your parent needs more serious medical help

Home care can be beneficial for seniors with all medical needs, but it is important to remember that home care is non-clinical help.

Before you go any further, you need to consider if your parent needs help beyond what home care can supply.

If your parent needs round-the-clock medical care, then assisted living facilities may be right for your parent. You can read this article on Home Care vs Nursing Home: Which is Best? to help you determine what degree of care is needed.

You may want to look into home health care (clinical, medical supervision provided by a licensed professional) if your parent wants and is able to stay at home but requires frequent medical tests, physical or occupational therapy, or additional medical care beyond what non-clinical home care can provide.

If your loved one needs home health care, it can be beneficial to combine it with home care to ensure that they are getting help with both their medical needs and everyday activities.

Talk to your parent about hiring home care

You may be nervous about talking to your family about the idea of home care. This is understandable, but it is important that you involve your loved one in the process as much as possible.

Here are some tips to help make the conversation go more smoothly:

• Discuss what you have observed and your concern for their wellbeing.
• Try to frame it in a less intimidating way, such as help around the house.
• Establish why this help will be beneficial for them. Emphasize that this will help them be able to stay safely at home. It can make things easier for them and improve their quality of life.
• Treat them as a partner, not like a child.
• To help them maintain control (and dignity), involve them in deciding who to hire and when they come.
• Don’t take it personally if they don’t react positively at first. They may feel like they are losing their independence or control. Try to be patient and kind.

Contact a home care provider for more information

Now that you know that your family member needs help and that home care sounds like it may be right for your parent, you should contact a home care provider to get more specific information on your loved one’s individual needs.

Give our professional home care agency a call today at (831) 708-2876 or reach us online to find how we can help you!

Grace Newman

Grace Newman is a freelance writer for hire and tutor from Danville, Illinois. She is a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Communication and was an editorial intern and editor for Parlia (a Wikipedia of opinions website). Currently, Grace writes about online education at her blog www.getsmartsoon.com. When she isn’t writing, she loves playing card games, having picnics, and binging her latest TV show obsession.