American Indian families and home care: macro social and cultural considerations.

Administration on Aging and the Indian Health Service are developing or examining the feasibility of programs to support home health care on reservations and American Indian colleges are training home care paraprofessionals to provide high quality home care for frail American Indian elders. Home care links formal and informal systems of health care and is affected by social and cultural issues. These macro-level considerations provide a context for home care of cancer patients and are the focus of this article.