The concept of “community nursing” was launched in Austria in 2022. Diploma holders in healthcare and nursing offer counseling at home for elderly people from 75 years of age as well as their nursing relatives and caregivers. The concept does not include Social Workers although their areas of activity clearly overlap with community nurses’ sphere of action. The potentials for extended interprofessional teams following the example of mobile palliative care teams were pointed out beforehand. Informal reports already show a need for support on the part of community nurses when it comes to social challenges.

The project examines which social problems community nurses face during their home visits in existing community projects, how they deal with them in practice, and which kind of support they need and want. From these results, the project team deduce what a future collaboration between Social Work and nursing in the sense of a broader understanding of community care might look like.