Regional Study on the Institutionalization of Home-Visit Physical Therapy in a Super-Aging Society: Focus on Daegu and Cheongdo

Purpose: With Korea facing social challenges such as a super-aging population and high elderly poverty, medical care services play a key role in ensuring accessible healthcare.Home-visit physical therapy is considered essential for elderly care but has not yet been institutionalized.This study assessed the need to establish it as a public healthcare service.Methods: A survey of 305 home care workers in Daegu and Cheongdo-gun was conducted using a structured questionnaire.The 35 items included 12 on the general characteristics, seven on physical therapy use, 12 on the need for home-visit services, and four on institutionalization.The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 30.0.0.Results: Approximately 57.4% of respondents showed a willingness to use home-visit physical therapy (M= 3.62), and 50.5% viewed it as necessary (M= 3.52).The main reasons included reducing movement difficulties, convenience for immobile patients, and facilitating early discharge.The perceived need significantly varied according to the caregiver and patient age, disability level, and mobility.Conclusion: Institutionalizing home-visit physical therapy may be a core policy for senior healthcare in super-aging regions and agefriendly cities.