The growing number of very old people and their present and future demands upon existing health and social service resources is of major concern among practitioners and policy makers throughout Europe. This book makes an important contribution to the debate about the future of care for this population group from a cross-national perspective. Policies in most countries stress the need for older people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Home care services, in particular home help, are one of the most important ingredients in the service mix necessary to achieve this goal. Chapters on individual countries describe the range and nature of service provision and discuss the effectiveness of home care policies and the major issues facing the future of home care provision. Three chapters address the issues from a comparative perspective, highlighting similarities and differences in provision and policies, and exploring ways of explaining the major differences.

The changing demographic profiles of modern societies have led to a growing interest in understanding ageing and later life among those working within the social sciences and humanities. This edited volume addresses the methodological challenges entailed in studying the process of ageing and life course changes, as well as the experience of being old. The book focuses on the theory and practice of doing research, using a wide range of examples and case studies. The contributors, who are prominent researchers in the field, review the range of practices in the use of different methodologies and give in-depth examples, based on their own research experience. The book covers a variety of disciplines and methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative, and a diversity of sources, including fiction, photographs, as well as the traditional social science sources. Researching Ageing and Later Life will be essential reading for those wishing for an insight into the realities of doing research in this area.