Studying Adult Day Care’s Impact on Stress Levels
A Penn State researcher is looking the role of adult day care in helping family caregivers deal with stress. The National Institute on Aging awarded a $3 million grant to Steven Zarit, professor and head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, to study the effects of caregiving on family caregivers, according to the
Penn State newswire. He will examine people who care for family members with dementia and how adult day care impacts their stress levels.
Zarit will interview and collect saliva samples from caregivers on eight consecutive days to test self-perceptions of stress and physiological stress. Because adult day care is typically used three or four days a week, he will be able to gauge how stress levels fluctuate when day care is used.
Through his research, Zarit will be able to assess whether using day care truly improves the health of people suffering from dementia and their family members. He will work with 180 participants over three years, primarily with adult day care centers in New Jersey.