Ability for self-care among home dwelling elderly people in a health district in Sweden

The aim of this study was to describe the ability for self-care among home dwelling elderly in the community in a health district in western Sweden. Two self-report instruments plus a number of self-care related questions were distributed by mail to an age stratified random sample and finally completed by a total of 125 subjects. Bivariate and multivariate statistical methods were used in the analyses. The results showed that self-care ability and self-care agency decreased for respondents 75+ years of age. Self-care ability was predicted by three productive means for self-care and four risk factors.