ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the nature of day care and its place in a long-term care system, examines some issues in the use of day care. The more positive social image of a community-based facility can be an important psychological consideration in planning day care. There are certain factors in the structure and operation of adult day care which have particular implications for the psychological well-being of the elderly people attending the centres. If adult day care is to take its full place in the continuum of health and social service programmes available to the elderly, then the effectiveness of the day care programme in attaining its objectives must be established. Parallel to the growth of day care is the growth of integrated longterm care systems which include day care as part of the system of care.
