OBJECTIVE: This study aims to a) explore to what extent older persons express emotional cues and concerns during home care visits; b) describe what cues and concerns these older persons expressed, and c) explore who initiated these cues and concerns.

METHODS: A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted. Data consisted of 188 audio recorded home care visits with older persons and registered nurses or nurse assistants, coded with the Verona coding definitions on emotional sequences (VR-CoDES).

RESULTS: Emotional expressions of cues and concerns occurred in 95 (51%) of the 188 recorded home care visits. Most frequent were implicit expressions of cues (n=292) rather than explicit concerns (n=24). Utterances with hints to hidden concerns (63,9%, n=202) were most prevalent, followed by vague or unspecific expressions of emotional worries (15,8%, n=50). Most of these were elicited by the nursing staff (63%, n=200).

CONCLUSION: Emotional needs expressed by the older persons receiving home care were mainly communicated implicitly. To be attentive to such vaguely expressed emotions may demand nursing staff to be sensitive and open.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The VR-CoDES can be applied on audio recorded home care visits to analyse verbal and emotional communication, and may allow comparative research.