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36/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 36 out of 100. Costs and economics

Topic: Health services, long-term care and technology

Plain-language summary

A major tenet of gerontological practice and policy has been that community-based services relieve stress on family caregivers and delay or prevent institutionalization of frail elders. Evidence for benefits of community-based services is examined from four perspectives: (1) relief for family caregivers; (2) benefits to older clients; (3) delay or prevention of institutionalization; and (4) cost-effectiveness or cost-benefits of a service. Studies are grouped according to the type of service (in-home respite, adult day care, overnight respite, case management and multicomponent programs) and type of clients (dementia only or mixed). There are surprisingly few empirical studies overall and the reported benefits typically are modest. Methodological problems as well as providing relatively small amounts of service may have accounted for these findings. Studies in which clients and/or their families received adequate amounts of help showed more consistently positive outcomes. There is little evidence, however, to suggest that community services delay placement. More needs to be done to examine the benefits of innovative programs, and particularly to incorporate the dementia patient's perspective into these evaluations.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Zarit, S. H., Gaugler, J. E., & Jarrott, S. E. (1999). Useful services for families: research findings and directions. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199903)14:3<165::aid-gps966>3.0.co;2-o

Vancouver

Zarit SH, Gaugler JE, Jarrott SE. Useful services for families: research findings and directions. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 1999. doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199903)14:3<165::aid-gps966>3.0.co;2-o. PMID: 10202660.

BibTeX

@article{zarit1999-10202660,
  author  = {Zarit, Steven Howard and Gaugler, Joseph E. and Jarrott, Shannon E.},
  title   = {{Useful services for families: research findings and directions}},
  journal = {International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry},
  year    = {1999},
  doi     = {10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199903)14:3<165::aid-gps966>3.0.co;2-o},
  pmid    = {10202660},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199903)14:3<165::aid-gps966>3.0.co;2-o}
}

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How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

There are surprisingly few empirical studies overall and the reported benefits typically are modest.
Methodological problems as well as providing relatively small amounts of service may have accounted for these findings.
There is little evidence, however, to suggest that community services delay placement.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 36/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	1999 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 10202660)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	21 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100.
Total	36 / 100	—

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