Differences in service attitudes and experiences among families using three types of support services

Abstract

One goal of support services for family members of Alzheimer's patients is to facilitate the use of other formal services. Few existing studies empirically test the relationship between support service use and the use of other community or residential services. This research describes the relationship between support and other service use by comparing families who used three types of support services: • Information and referral • Educational programs; and • Support groups. Data from in-person interviews with 127 family caregivers showed that families who used one of the three support services differed in the use of other services, service attitudes, past service experiences, and reasons for support service use. Results profile the characteristics of families who turn to different types of support services and illustrate the importance of past service characteristics for explaining current and future utilization. Information and referral (I & R), educational programs, and support groups are commonly provided support services for family members of Alzheimer's disease victims. These three support services share the common goal of facilitating and encouraging the use of other formal services for Alzheimer patients and their family members. Despite this goal, research on support services has seldom considered whether their use is related to the use of other services.