In Finland, all community care services are recorded in central registers and medical records, which were requested according to participants’ permission. Service costs were determined at their mean unit costs according to the national cost registers in 200621,22 with an appropriate correction for inflation rate. Use and costs were summed together for
both patient and caregiver because health problems and care needs are highly intertwined in these families owing to the burden experienced by the caregiver.23 Costs are presented in our study as total costs of the randomized groups and as the mean cost per couple per year. Costs were initially calculated in Euros but were changed to US dollars