Fostering Social Work Gerontology Competence

Book excerpt: Inspire the next generation of gerontological social workers The growing number of people over the age of 65 in the United States has increased the demand for social workers who are trained to work with the elderly—a demand that’s in danger of not being met. Fostering Social Work Gerontology Competence presents innovative techniques and strategies to help educators infuse aging content into their graduate and undergraduate curriculums in an effort to produce a new generation of social work practitioners who are up to the task of working with an older population. Recent surveys show that there has been a decline in the number of aging specialties and courses offered by schools of social work. Fostering Social Work Gerontology Competence offers a renewed focus on the promotion of gerontological social work education, presenting papers that grew out of the first National Gerontological Social Work Conference (NGSWC), held in 2003. This unique book is invaluable to anyone who educates future social workers, leads staff training sessions, and/or teaches continuing education courses on aging. Leading gerontologists examine teaching research, community collaboration, and social work competencies, while focusing on special populations and issues including end-of-life care, elder abuse, grief counseling, cultural diversity, cultural competence, and the effects of spirituality and social support on the well being of the elderly. Fostering Social Work Gerontology Competence examines: curricular and organizational change developing intergenerational projects involving older persons in the educational process uniting field practice with theory strategies to promote student interest identifying geriatric competencies intergenerational service learning developing an aging prepared community emerging trends in aging and health care end-of-life care and death education environmental issues affecting elder abuse victims mental health services for older persons in rural communities kinship care and much more Fostering Social Work Gerontology Competence is a vital resource for social work educators and practitioners, gerontology educators and practitioners, and students.