Adult day services: a service platform for delivering mental health care

The purpose of this study was to understand the degree to which mental health services targeting anxiety and depression disorders are offered by adult day services (ADS) centers in the US. In addition, researchers wanted to determine whether staffing and organizational characteristics are associated with the provision of medication management, individual counseling, and group counseling for participants with anxiety or depression.

Data were drawn from the MetLife National Study of ADS. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine which staffing and organizational factors were associated with the provision of services to treat anxiety and depression.

Approximately, three in four adult day programs provided medication management for the treatment of anxiety and depression while 38% provided individual counseling and almost 30% group counseling. Programs offering medication management were more likely to have more registered nurse (RN) service hours available per shift and higher costs. Programs that provided individual and group counseling for participants with anxiety or depression were more likely to have more hours of RN and social work services available and a lower percentage of participants who pay privately for services.

The results suggest that ADS are well positioned to act as a platform for delivering mental health care to older persons with anxiety or depression.