The purpose of the study was to learn more about the ways in which caregivers perceive the effects of adult day services. The goal was to help inform adult day providers about services family caregivers find useful. An ecological model was used as a framework. Data were collected from focus groups consisting of spouse and nonspouse family caregivers of past and current participants in two different program models of adult day services: adult day care and adult day health services. There were few differences in the way caregivers of past and current participants perceived adult day services. One major difference was that some caregivers of past participants perceived that the programs had failed to provide support to them after their family member passed away. Although spouse and nonspouse caregivers used adult day services for different reasons, the main reason reported by both was to keep their family member active. The perceptions of caregivers using the adult day care model differed little from those of caregivers who used adult day health services. One difference was that some caregivers saw the staff at the adult day care center as role models who taught them how to care for and accept dependent family members. Talking to family caregivers about their experiences with adult day services can provide practitioners with valuable insights about the services and activities that family caregivers find useful and those they may need to assist them in their efforts to care for impaired family members. Adult day providers need to understand what effect services and activities have on caregivers and family members to enable them to create programs that benefit both. / Graduation date: 2001

The study focused on the attitudes and beliefs regarding perceived and actual burden experienced by Latino caregivers and their use of formal support services. It also looked at the needs of Latino caregivers and explored their beliefs about why they had taken on the caregiver role, the responsibilities the role entailed, and coping skills used by these caregivers. Participants were obtained from two Alzheimer's caregiver support groups in the East Los Angeles area, and an adult day health care center in the high desert area of San Bernardino county. The author used both qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires. The findings suggest that high beliefs about responsibility to the family and low levels of service use may contribute to the stress and strain that these caregivers feel. Latino caregivers have been providing a significant amount of care without the help of sufficient formal services. Recommendations for social work practice, policy and further research are provided. Statistics for the study were generated by using SPSS Graduate Pack 13 for Windows.