Daytime activity programmes in care services

Daytime activity programmes in municipal care services are aimed at users living at home. The purpose of the services is to maintain the functions of everyday life and to increase well-being and quality of life, with a view to averting or delaying the need for other services. Programme contents vary between municipalities, and are adapted to local conditions and user needs. This report aims to shed light on activities, arrangements, users and scope, both for the service as a whole and for different user categories.

One of the goals of the survey is to contribute to a field that lacks overall and detailed knowledge. Combined with other data sources, this survey gives an insight into how the local authorities have arranged their daytime activity programmes, and also considers and proposes measures for improving the quality of municipal data registration.

The survey, which was conducted in autumn 2015, covers establishments that provide services for users with individual decisions from local authorities on daytime activities. A total of 789 such establishments in 308 municipalities were reported. Establishments exclusively with low-threshold services, i.e. that do not have users with any kind of individual decision, were not included in the sample. On its own, this survey does not give a complete picture of the daytime activity programmes in the municipalities. Primarily, it must be regarded as a description of establishments that provide services for users with individual decisions.

The survey attempts to ascertain the service capacity, measured in number of day places per week, calculated as the number of places per day multiplied by the number of service days per week. The findings show that the establishments are open an average of 4.5 days a week, and for those offering evening programmes, 2 evenings per week. The same premises may be used by different user categories at different times. The number of days per week varies from 3.4 for people with substance abuse problems to 4.7 days per week for people with mental impairments. People with mental impairments also constitute the largest user group, with a reported 23 000 day places per week. Approximately 11 000 day places per week were reported both for people with dementia and older people with physical disabilities. People with mental health problems had 6 000 reported places, while those with substance abuse problems had 1 300.

Many establishments provide programmes for several user categories. It is not uncommon for user categories that naturally belong together to receive the same service at the same time. In other words, a particular place may be available for several user categories. Adding the places for different user categories together will not therefore give the true total.

Social gatherings, food and mealtimes and cultural activities are the most common activities for all user categories. The more special activities largely appear to be aimed at different user categories. While habilitation and rehabilitation are very important for younger people with physical disabilities, this is not given priority for older people, who may receive this service from other kinds of establishments. Work-related activities are very common for people with substance abuse problems, but people with mental health problems or younger people with physical disabilities are also frequently offered this type of service.

Several other aspects concerning users and service organisation are examined, such as location and integration with other services, transport and assistance arrangements as well as the users’ place of residence.