UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies has received a grant for well over one million dollars from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to research Adult Day Services (ADS). The research project, “Adult Day Services: Cultural Contexts and Programming Effects,” will focus on understanding the ways that ADS programming affects clients.
More than 250,000 clients and family caregivers participate in more than 4,500 adult day centers across the country today. Adult Day Services provides a place for adults who need assistance during the day so they are able to continue living at home. By researching daily life in ADS, the Center for Aging Studies plans to inform service providers, consumers, policymakers, and health care professionals of the benefits and concerns that affect the quality of life and care in ADS.
Robert Rubinstein, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and Director of the Center of Aging Studies, is the primary investigator on the grant. Dr. Rubinstein will lead a research team that has extensive experience in aging research and represents the anthropology, sociology, psychology and gerontology disciplines and reflects the center’s interdisciplinary approach. The team includes Center for Aging Studies Associate Director Ann Christine Frankowski, researcher Mary Nemec, and researcher and project coordinator Gina Hrybyk. The researchers will conduct extensive personal interviews with ADS clients, family members and friends, directors, and staff and volunteers at facilities throughout Maryland to more fully understand the ADS experience.
