Respite Care Options for Families Caring for the Frail Elderly

摘要

The paper discusses the types of respite care that are currently being offered to families caring for their elderly relatives or spouses. Included are descriptions of institutional respite care in nursing homes and hospitals; residential respite homes; day care services; in home care; and foster home care. Development of respite care programs needs to be considered within the context of a total system of community and social support services. Recent legislation which includes the provision of respite care is described as well as recommendations to improve access to such services. An annotated bibliography is included.