Where Would You Turn for Help? Older Adults’ Awareness of Community Support Services

First published in the Canadian Journal on Aging, this study has been recently released in the SEDAP research series (McMaster Social and Economic Dimension of an Aging Population). This study examined older adults’ awareness of community support services (CSSs) using a series of vignettes to describe common situations faced by older adults for which CSSs might be appropriate. In telephone interviews, older adults were read a series of vignettes and asked if they were able to identify a community organization or agency that they may turn to in that situation. The findings show that, using a vignette methodology, awareness of CSSs is much lower than previously thought. The most important sources of information about CSSs included information and referral sources, the telephone book, doctors’ offices, and word of mouth.

http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/sedap/p/sedap272.pdf