Abstract
Home care service organizations need a means of gaining useful feedback about satisfaction with care from clients and their families. Interviews were conducted with 82 older adult clients and 52 family members about their satisfaction with home care. A subgroup of participants (n = 39) provided “contingent” satisfaction responses. Contingent responses reflect the duality of perceptions that clients and families convey about services. Three themes emerged as critical to understanding these types of responses: adept versus inept staff, predictable versus precarious scheduling, and responsive versus restrictive care plans. Understanding the reasons for contingent responses could help home care agencies to target quality improvement initiatives for individual clients and families.