Around 20 year ago, a research team at Penn State University began a research study with colleagues at Kent State and Rick Greene of the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services. The study was designed to look at the benefits that adult day care services could provide for seniors with dementia and for their family caregivers. The National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Mental health funded two separate studies.
The first study looked at family caregivers of patients with dementia and the possible benefits associated with enrolling their loved one in adult day services. The second study examined how the dementia patients themselves benefits from adult day services.
The Benefits for Caregivers & Patients
- Reduced stress
- Decreased symptoms of depression
- Patients were more alert
- Patients socially stimulated
The results of the study clearly demonstrated that adult day care services are helpful in reducing the level of stress on family caregivers. After three months of use, they also experience fewer depressive symptoms than those who did not use adult day care services. The benefits were still present after 1 year.
Caregivers in the Study
Family caregivers were extremely positive when evaluating the adult day care programs their relatives attended. The respondents reported that their relatives benefited from social interaction and cognitive stimulation.
They were asked to share their thoughts about common problems people worry about when considering enrolling a loved one in adult day care including, difficulty transporting the person to and from the facility and concerns that the senior might be harder to manage at home when the day had ended. Only a small number of those surveyed reported having these kinds of problems.
Additionally, caregivers experienced 66 percent less stress on days that their loved ones attended adult day care facilities compared to the times they did not.
Patients
Caregivers in the first study reported that their loved ones appeared to positively react to adult day care services too. They described the seniors as being easier to manage and more active and alert. They attributed this to social interaction and cognitive stimulation. Researchers believe that positive changes in family caregivers’ well-being also attributes to positive behavior in dementia patients.
Tags: Adult Day Care, Caregivers, Depression, Dimentia, Kent State, Penn State, Stress
