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⁵ The cases are presented in a way that prevents identification of actual persons.

⁶ The cases are selected from a study on the interplay between formal (mostly public) and informal (mostly family) care, with special reference to the role of the elderly as active contributors to care events. The main method was anthropological field work with participant observation during a one-year stay in the particular town (1980–1). This particular town was selected for several reasons, one of them being that the town was part of a large survey done ten years earlier, ^23,55 which provided comparable data for a ten-year follow-up. The town was chosen also because the researcher knew it well, as he was born there, and has family and friends still living in the town. This proved to be a great advantage, although we are not unaware of the problems involved.

The town is part of a municipality which includes ‘the town’, ‘the environs’ (close surroundings of the town) and ‘the district’, which are the more rural areas. A total of 8,800 inhabitants live in the municipality, of whom 12.3 per cent are above the age of 70.

In addition to the field work concentrated in the town, we did an interview with a random sample of approximately 100 of the over-70s living at home in the town and the environs. This represents a follow-up of the survey done ten years earlier. We also collected comprehensive statistical data from public records and files of services for the aged (home help, home nursing, old people's homes and nursing homes). These data cover the whole population of the over-70s in the municipality.

The distribution of services among the aged in the municipality is given in table 1.⁶¹

TABLE 1. Percentage of the population above 70 provided with the institutional care or home services by places of residence (N)

Nursing home Residential home Home nursing Home help No services Total (N)

Town centre 7.8 5.9 5.7 22.7 57.9 100.0 (387)

Environs 6.4 5.4 3.9 15.2 69.1 100.0(204)

District 6.5 4.1 5.5 15.3 68.5 99–9(489)

Total municipality 6.9 5.0 5.3 18.0 64.8 100.0(1080)

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