Influence of social services on well-being among the aged

Three services provided to aged individuals by the Aiken Area Council on Aging were evaluated by comparing service recipients with those on a waiting list to receive these services: (1) home delivered meals, (2) chores, involving weekly performance of housework, & (3) nutrition program, providing meals at central locations. The services are provided by the Council to enhance the self-sufficiency & well-being of aged recipients. To evaluate the services, 58 individuals, aged 59 to 95 (mean age = 73), who had been receiving at least one service regularly for at least 6 weeks (mean = 11 months) were compared to 16 waiting-list individuals. Well-being was measured by a structured personal interview of 21 health-related items from the OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire. The construct validity of the well-being measure was examined by relating it to two "objective" indexes of health -- Rs' reports of: (1) number of MD visits in last 6 months (r = .40, df = 57, p < .001), & (2) number of times they were unable to perform daily activities in last 6 months (r = .50, df = 56, p < .001). The service-recipient group was found not to differ from the waiting-list group in well-being. Additional analysis found that aged individuals with family living nearby were worse off than aged individuals without family living in Aiken County. Modified HA.