Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Please address all correspondence regarding this article to Joseph E. The objective of this study was to examine why and how families and older adults utilize adult day services. The current study included three months of participant observation in one rural and one suburban adult day service program in an upper-Midwestern region of the United States as well as semi-structured interviews with 14 family members of clients and 12 staff members from these programs.
A number of inter-related themes emerged within each construct. The constructs identified and their potential associations among each other were used to expand upon and refine prior conceptualizations of ADS to frame future clinical and research efforts. Adult day service ADS programs offer out-of-home supervised activities and socialization for older persons or other adults. Although research in the s and early s pointed to the potential benefits of ADS in improving life satisfaction and functional dependence of elderly clients, subsequent multi-site, randomized evaluations of ADS offered more ambiguous results.
It generally remains unknown how size, staffing, service content, and other program-level dimensions influence key outcomes over time among users. Such gaps can in part be addressed with the use of more appropriate methodologies.
For example, ethnographic or grounded theory approaches 7 β 10 could yield valuable insight into those processes and components of care that appear linked to the key outcomes of ADS utilization.
Prior research has relied on constructivist epistemological stances and associated methodological frameworks to develop conceptual models of ADS benefit. Dabelko and Zimmerman 16 postulated that ADS operates through two domains of influence: psychosocial well-being and physical function of clients.
