A milestone in the evolution of home health care for the elderly Focusing on one of our society's most pressing concerns--home health care for the elderly--this important new book examines the implications for consumers of long term care and reports on the efforts to use survey research to measure the consequences of home care for recipients and informal caregivers. Long-term care is a serious issue in the 1980s as the entire health system is being shaken by rapid changes in financing, technology, and patient and professional expectations; there are more people than ever before who require some home health care for long periods of time beyond that available from conventional medical systems. The far-reaching studies explored in this book provide a substantial intellectual, factual, and conceptual foundation to further the evolution of home care in directions that permit it to match the medical system on more even terms. Conducted by the Community Service Society of New York, this timely research combines field observation with quantitative analyses to answer questions; of special significance is the development of both the concept and the techniques for applying measures of quality of circumstances in health and social provision.