Development of a Community-Based Care System Model for Senior Citizens in Tehran

In recent years a variety of system models for providing community based health care services for the elderly has been envisioned and implemented in the developed countries which meet the special care needs of different groups of elders. In Iran as a developing country, a considerable percentage of old people live in the society need to receive specialized care and health services. In order to respond to these care needs, developing and implementing health and social care systems with consideration of relevant factors such as: existing and available resources and facilities (financial and human resources); social and cultural issues and characteristics of each groups of elders(healthy elders, frails,home bounds, …)  seem to be necessary. At the development phase of the care model in this study Ellowing methodological triangulation must be considered: 1) Comprehensive review of current and related literature, 2) Conduction of an ethnographic study on a number of Tehranian elders and their families, 3) Seeking opinions of a group of experts on this issue using nominal group technique, and analysis as well as synthesis of the collected data were employed to develop a community based care system for elders. The preliminary results of employing this care system and examination of expected outcomes such as promoting quality of life and expectancy in elders reflects the efficiency of this system, although further complementary studies and particularly cost benefit analysis are strongly recommended.