INTEGRATING THE FRAIL AND WELL ELDERLY - THE EXPERIENCE OF SENIOR CENTERS

This study examined the extent to which frail elderly are being integrated into multiservice senior centers in New York state. The data obtained from nearly 300 such centers indicates that directors agree in principle to accepting frail members but do not feel, in practice, they can handle more than 10 percent of their members being frail. They are more able to work with physically and sensorially impaired than with the mentally frail. Proper staff training and effective coordinative arrangements with other service agencies are good predictors of organizational capacity to integrate frail members. © 1988 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.