Maximizing the patient's uniqueness and strengths: a challenge for home health care

Abstract

Because of where services are provided, home health care programs offer rich opportunities for incorporating the patient's uniqueness and strengths in treatment planning. Operationalizing these in day-to-day practice may be inhibited by the traditional medical model governing most treatment decisions. A reflective model and strengths perspective are mechanisms which bolster efforts to individualize patient care. A case example illustrates the difference between traditional approaches and alternative opportunities open to the home health care social worker.