Demographic changes point to an increasingly ageing population. As a result, more and more people are dependent on informal and formal support. Many older people wish to remain in their own homes, which can place a great burden on family members that can be alleviated by various forms of community services. To this end, I wanted to find out what the quality of life is like for people who use a home help service within a Social Work centre and what the quality of life is like for relatives whose parents use a home help service. I focused on the, Center for Social Work Južna Primorska, Unit Izola because I do student work at this unit, and the employees have expressed interest in conducting research is needed in this area. The importance of research is also reflected in the intention of the Municipality of Izola, which co-financed the service, to abolish co-financing itself. Based on the survey, I have shown that it is necessary to maintain and expand this service and thus increase the number of staff providing this service. In my master's thesis, I am investigating how satisfied users and their relatives are with the current service, what else they could use and what they would do if the subsidy were to be cancelled or the service discontinued. The theoretical part deals with the topics of age and ageing, social work with older people and social security in old age. These topics are divided into sub-chapters on demographic change, the needs of older people, institutional care, assisted living, home care and home help in the context of the Centre for Social Work. In the empirical part, I present the research methodology and findings, discuss the results, draw conclusions and make suggestions for improvement. The study involved 9 participants, 5 users and 4 relatives. The results showed that both the users and their relatives were satisfied with the home help service and the social carers themselves and expressed a high level of satisfaction. They would have liked more time for social contacts and services that the carers were unable to provide due to a lack of time. In addition to household help and basic day-to-day tasks, users also need social contact, which the carers are unable to provide to the extent that is sufficient for the users and their families. At the same time, they express their understanding for the social workers and describe how they are under time pressure because so many people need their help. Home help is about relieving the burden on relatives who are often unable to provide adequate care for their loved ones due to changes in employment patterns. If subsidies were to be discontinued, this service could also represent a financial handicap, as some people would be forced to reduce their care services or even sell their property, and some would be forced to move permanently into a retirement home.
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