ABSTRACT
Evaluations of decision-making capacity are common referral questions for many home care mental health providers, given the issues of risk and ethics that emerge when providing care to vulnerable older adults. This chapter identifies issues in capacity evaluation that are particularly relevant to home care, including utilizing the home environment to inform capacity determinations. Capacity issues are explored in detail for two unique situations: assessing capacity to inform a healthcare team’s treatment plan, and assessing capacity as a solo practitioner consulting to a human service agency pursuing legal channels like guardianship.
