Since 1992 the local authorities in Sweden have been responsible for the rehabilitation of elderly people living at home. Few studies of this relatively new form of rehabilitation have been reported. The aim of this study was to describe the type of occupational- therapy interventions received by elderly people over the age of 65 living in an urban area. Another aim was to describe the patterns in the performances of 648 elderly people. The study demonstrated that most of the elderly people who received occupational therapy also received home help several times a day. indicating that these elderly people had severe problems in the activities of daily living (ADL) in the area of self-care. Home-making activities and activities outside the home were the most problematic activities. The elderly also wanted to engage in more activities than they were judged to have the capacity for and or the environmental support to do. The implications of the results for community-base, occupational-therapy programs are discussed