a growing number of patients with heart failure ( hf ) will need lifelong care and one option is to provide advanced hf care in the patient s home . to our knowledge , studies describing the observed participation in home - care settings are lacking . to identify and describe patient participation in care - meetings during home - care given through a european home - care model . study inclusion among swedish patients that receive structured home - care at four different home care settings are ongoing . a strategic sample of patients is performed to reach a variation regarding severity of hf , different needs of home - care , age and gender . the next step will be to develop codes out of the units , and to develop a coding scheme . significance of the study : participation in care is regulated in health - care legalizations and is important from the individual s perspective . the results from this study can be used for deepening the understanding of participation in home - care .
introductiona growing number of patients with heart failure ( hf ) will need lifelong care and one option is to provide advanced hf care in the patient s home . 
 to our knowledge , studies describing the observed participation in home - care settings are lacking.aimto identify and describe patient participation in care - meetings during home - care given through a european home - care model.methodsstudy inclusion among swedish patients that receive structured home - care at four different home care settings are ongoing . a strategic sample of patients is performed to reach a variation regarding severity of hf , different needs of home - care , age and gender . 
 to collect data , video - recorded non participant observations are conducted . 
 a total of 15 observations have been performed . 
 the remaining observational data will be collected during 2011 . 
 data will be analyzed with qualitative content analysis and categories developed inductively . 
 the analysis has been initiated . 
 meaning units related to patient participation have been identified and recorded . 
 the next step will be to develop codes out of the units , and to develop a coding scheme . 
 finally categories that describe patient participation will be developed.significance of the study : participation in care is regulated in health - care legalizations and is important from the individual s perspective . 
 the results from this study can be used for deepening the understanding of participation in home - care .