Wedding the incompatibles

Abstract

Counselling services for frail elderly people and their family caregivers are considered to have become more and more important in many European countries. In Germany, there are at least five reasons for this trend:

• 1. the priority given to home based care for the elderly;

• 2. the growing pluralism of care providers and the lack of coordination between them;

• 3. an underdeveloped service culture, especially in rural areas;

• 4. a new interplay between formal and informal help and care;

• 5. increasing demands for self-determination and control by both users and relatives.