They won’t push you out the back and forget you
Natasha Posner, Sharon Burke, Elisabeth Emrys, Justin McNab, Gawaine Powell-Davies and Saba Waseem
Social Policy Research Centre and Centre for General Practice Integration Studies, UNSW
Contact Email:   n.posnerunsw.edu.au

This paper will discuss the practical and symbolic importance of low levels of care for veterans living at home who are assessed as needing support. Drawing on interview, focus group and survey material, an analysis of the experiences and perceptions of recipients of Veterans’ Home Care (VHC) will be presented. Their reasons for attributing considerable importance to the contribution of VHC services to their ability to remain living at home, included their physical limitations which made maintenance tasks around the home difficult, and reassurance that any future help they might need would be forthcoming from Veterans’ Affairs. Content analysis of an open-ended survey question and statistical analysis of factors associated with the perceived importance of VHC, underlined the practical importance of the help provided. Interviews with a sample of VHC recipients over a period of time underlined the emotional importance of the provision of help in the contexts of their lives.

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