Empirical perspectives on services integration and aging: a review.

This article combines a review of social service literature with interviews of key informants on the issue of integrating services for the elderly into human services across the life span. Empirical findings concerning the relative benefits and drawbacks of age-integrated vs. specialized service organizational structures are emphasized. Surprisingly few empirical studies were identified. Instead of empirically based reports, the literature is largely comprised of polemics, which essentially restate long-standing positions on the preferred handling of integration. A persistent difficulty in discussions of federal and state service integration objectives has been the wide differences in definitions of "integration." The lack of data demonstrating that older persons benefit in integrated service systems, along with substantial progress in development of specialized services for the aged, suggest that aging advocates should be cautious in embracing age-integrated service integration proposals. Research within management information systems oriented toward client outcomes is necessary to gain valid knowledge of the merits of various integrated service models.