Measuring the Effectiveness of Adult Day Care as a Facility to Support Family Caregivers of Dementia Patients

Abstract

This study reports findings from an evaluation of adult day care that are drawn from ANOVAs based on a comparative longitudinal design. To obtain a suitable outcome measure considering all relevant dimensions of caregiver stress, qualitative data from semistructured caregiving interviews were analyzed using content analytical techniques. Response scales were developed to assess the intensity of caregiving stress to allow for further statistical analyses. Results from the ANOVAs showed that use of day care significantly reduced conflicts between caregiving and job requirements, caregiving and family needs, and recreational constrictions. It is important to note that day care is effective in reducing specific, but not all, aspects of caregiving stress. For an adequate assessment of interventions meant to alleviate caregiving stress, the different dimensions of the concept must be considered.

Association between components of family caregivers’ sense of burden and types of paid care services provided in Japan

“…Although many of them reported that adult day care services contributed to the alleviation of the caregivers' burden, at least in some senses (e.g., perceived stress, anxiety, somatic complaints, and life satisfaction), they did not consistently show positive effects. More recently, Schacke and Zank (2006) concluded that the use of day care significantly reduced conflicts between caregiving and job requirements, caregiving and family needs, and recreational constraints.…”

Systematic review of respite care in the frail elderly

“…One focused on home respite services for frail elderly 139 and the other on day care for people with dementia. 140 The study of in-home services 139 found no difference between groups on carer burden. Although this intervention was a home help service providing assistance with ADLs, particularly personal hygiene and domestic tasks, it is presented by the authors as the main respite service available for carers in Spain.…”

“…The service was used by participants in the experimental group for an average of 3 days per week for 4 hours per day but it is unclear whether carers actually took advantage of this for respite. The other experimental study 140 was quite small, having only 18 and 19 participants in the experimental and control groups respectively (having had an attrition of just under 50% from baseline). There were differences in carer stress favouring the experimental group on some aspects of the measure, i.e.…”

“…Two were carried out in the US, 135,136 two in Japan 137,138 and three in Europe. [139][140][141] Two 136,141 compared two different models of respite care. In the study by Droes et al 141 users of a programme that involved day care plus extra support for the carer in terms of information, discussion groups and social activities were compared to users of day care only without the added support.…”

“…Only two studies 139,140 used a quasi-experimental design using a comparison group of non-users of respite services. Both of these studies were carried out in Europe (Spain and Germany).…”