title: Assessment of chronic care need and use.
abstract: The needs assessment process is indeed complex in the social service context. Whereas most contexts can start with a presumption of "no need," the social service context frequently must start with an assumption of "need met-->change." In addition, underlying values--the individual's, the assessor's, the society's--all play a part in the judgment process. The assumption that the involvement of another in performing the task automatically implies a limitation on the part of the recipient is not warranted, nor is the assumption that the reliance on another by one in need automatically implies the need is met. For purposes of population needs assessments, it is possible to rely on presumptive categorizations as a function of simple response profiles. For individual care planning, however, additional information is essential.
authors.affiliation: Duke University Center for Aging and Human Development, Durham, NC 27710, USA. lgbranch@geri.duke.edu
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Branch
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States