The information needs and information-seeking behaviours of home-care workers and clients receiving home care

Aims and objectives: Discusses findings from doctoral research on the information behaviour of home-care workers and their clients. The paper focuses on the findings, which have implications for health library and information services. Sample and methods: The qualitative research methods included participant observation in the homes of clients (n = 7), over a period of 18 months, in a city in the UK, complemented by in-depth interviews of home-care staff (11 = 47). Results: Home-care staff perceived requests for information on a variety of topics as an indivisible part of their caring role. Clients asked for more information than they had in the past, and home-care workers were expected to respond to a wide variety of enquiries about health, welfare, leisure and domestic concerns. Clients trusted their advice as much as they might have trusted members of the family. Home-care workers from an agency used a variety of resources at the agency office to help them, such as leaflets on welfare benefits, and health conditions. Few had used NHS Direct, and library use (by a third of the home-care workers) was generally associated with course work or training. Some family members and home-care staff used self-help groups, but the research found that family members were sometimes reticent to ask advice on sensitive issues in self-help groups. Home-care workers learnt from each other and shared experience. Conclusions: Libraries and Information services need to target provision of formal information carefully, as it is advice and counsel that is required in the home-care setting.