Hooldustiheduse

Hooldustiheduse is a term used in Estonian social care literature to describe the level of care required or provided for a person or population. It refers to the density or intensity of caregiving, combining the amount of time spent on care tasks with the complexity and frequency of those tasks. The concept covers both formal caregiving (professionals) and informal caregiving (family and friends).

Measurable implementations of hooldustiheduse vary, but common approaches include average hours of formal care per recipient per day, hours of informal care, and composite care intensity scores that weight tasks by time or difficulty (such as personal care, mobility assistance, or medical tasks). Data sources often include care plans, caregiver time logs, and administrative records, and figures can be calculated for individuals, groups, or geographic areas.

The concept is used in planning and policy to allocate resources, forecast demand for services, and evaluate changes in care provision. It supports workforce planning in nursing homes and home-based care, informs budgeting and policy assessments, and aids research on aging, disability, and health outcomes. Hooldustiheduse helps identify high-need populations and monitor trends in care demands over time.

Limitations include variation in task definitions, cultural norms surrounding informal caregiving, and potential underreporting of informal care. Cross-country comparability may be limited due to differences in data collection and terminology. Standardization efforts are often needed to enable consistent use of the measure across settings. See also care needs assessment, care intensity, elder care, and disability services.