Abstract:

The purpose of this research, commissioned by an Area Agency on Aging in Pennsylvania, is to identify the factors that impact on the process of case management in urban and suburban settings. Random samples of clients receiving the same service in an urban and a suburban area were compared as well as direct observations made of case managers in these same locations. The results indicate that clients in the urban environment face individual and structural barriers that would increase the difficulty for case managers to access services on the clients' behalf. Workers in the two settings also face different environmental circumstances that impact on how they carry out the case management process.