This study was designed to determine (1) the extent to which public health nursing visits and social services income programs serve the same population (shared clientele), (2) whether shared and unshared clientele differ in their characteristics, and (3) whether those who use both these services are high users of other health and social services. A computerized record linkage showed that 17% of individual public health nursing clients were shared with social services. Shared clientele had more social, perinatal, emotional and mental health problems. It is these characteristics, rather than the simultaneous use of both services, that were associated with more public health nursing visits, days in care, and use of all other health providers. The trend away from in-home nursing visits may create a situation of unmet need. While health and social resources are expended on persons with children with greater risk circumstances, the question remains about the efficacy and efficiency of this mix of service for parents and children receiving social assistance.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The prevalence of multicultural groups receiving in-home service from three community agencies in southern Ontario: implications for cultural sensitivity training.

This survey assessed the ethnocultural proportion of clients (largely seniors) receiving services from three home care health agencies in Southern Ontario. Providers from the three agencies were asked to recall clients served in the previous two weeks and to describe them in terms of race, language, sex, age and disability status. White, English-speaking clients comprised 88.3% of the sample (N = 931). The remaining 11.7% of clients were white, non-English-speaking (7.8%), visible minority (2.8%), francophone (0.77%), indigenous (0.22%) and Hispanic (0.11%). Sixty-three percent of clients were women and 34% men. The majority (66.6%) of clients were over 65 years. The 11.7% of clients who were identified as multicultural in three home care agencies are an under-representation of the multicultural mix of population in the Southern Ontario region, which is 24%. Some recommendations have been offered for a system for ethnocultural data collection for the region and provision of cultural sensitivity training programs to enhance staff knowledge and skills.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied