Students

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Innovation in Social Work Training Preparing
and Sustaining a Workforce to Care for Older
Adults Yeh, J., Joseph, B., Melly, J.,Volland P.
J.
Older Adults Trends into the Future
What Social Work is Doing
Evaluations and Findings, continued

• Demographics The population age 65 is
  expected to increase from 12.7 in 2000 to 20.3
  by 2050.
• Aging in urban settings 77.5 of all persons
  65 live in urban areas.
• Chronic Diseases Arthritis, hypertension, heart
  disease, cancer and diabetes are on the rise.

The New York Academy of Medicines Social Work
Leadership Institute is bolstering the social
work workforce by dispensing seed grants to
masters level social work schools to establish
an innovative field education model. This
national initiative, known as the Hartford
Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPAE),
is funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation to
engage students by exposing them to numerous
aging-related careers.

• Student Satisfaction with the HPPAE (n194)
• On a scale of 1-5, students, on average, rated
  that

Five Essential Components 1. University-Communit
y Partnerships composed of field agencies and
universities, who are responsible for designing,
implementing, evaluating the HPPAE 2. Field
rotation internships give students a richer
experience by moving them between two and five
different health and social service settings over
the course of one year 3. Competency-driven
education created by leading academics and
practitioners in the field, the Geriatric Social
Work Competencies are included in standards for
geriatric care and instruction 4. Expanded
field instructor role field instructors are
responsible for coordinating student learning
across programs and agencies for breadth and
depth 5. Focused recruitment involves
faculty, field practitioners, students,
graduates, and admissions officers to bolster
students 6. Leadership Deans and
Directors, faculty, and field instructors need to
take on new, more challenging roles to provide
active guidance and mentorship while
simultaneously supporting discipline-specific lear
ning opportunities that will enable students to
develop advanced leadership skills and the
capacity to positively influence the profession
in a variety of settings.
Workforce development

• Career interests (n191)
• Students from the program have a strengthened
  commitment to working with older adults and
  frequently return to the community to serve in
  the agencies that trained them.

• HIV/AIDS Seen prominently in urban settings and
  especially among African Americans and Latinos
  age 50.
• Health Insurance Older adults in urban areas
  (61.2) have private health insurance beyond
  Medicare.
• Mental Health The suicide rate of persons age
  65 and older is higher than for any other age
  group.
• Poverty Older adults in the suburbs have a 7
  poverty rate urban older adults, 14.
• Men vs. Women Women are living longer than men
  64 men per 100 women age 65 live in urban
  communities.
• Families More than 9 million families are
  informal caregivers in the U.S.

• Students became more interested in careers in
  aging
• 76 at pre-test
• 83 at post-test
• Of students seeking a job at graduation 85
  sought an aging related career.

• Students reported having interest providing a
  variety of care to older adults this program has
  broadened their interest in work settings.
• Employment
• 38 of students were employed in service to older
  adults (n264). Of these students
• 37 were employed for 1-3 years
• 21 employed for 4-6 years
• 12 employed for 7-9 years, and
• 4 employed for 10 years.
• 45 of students were employed by the agency in
  which they completed their internship (n191).

Wide spread recognition of the importance of
aging in social work

• The Hartford Partnership Program for Aging
  Education was first successfully implemented
  between 1999-2004 in six demonstration locations
  across the country, involved 11 schools and
  engaged over 150 community agency partnerships.
• From 2005-7, 35 programs were identified through
  a rigorous peer-review process and funded.

Long Term Impact

• Goals
• Increase the number of qualified social workers
  to work with older adults.
• Impact quality of care provided to older adults
  by creating a supply of competently trained
  social workers.
• Strengthen relationships with local providers and
  community agencies.
• Provide a broader array of aging-related field
  practicum sites.
• Integrate field / classroom via collaborative
  efforts.
• Enhance leadership development in the social work
  profession.
• Adopt this model as the NORM in training social
  workers in aging.

Funded sites as of 2007
1150
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Workforce Expertise with Older Adults

• Problems
• Todays number of professionals working with
  older adults is inadequate to meet the need in
  all healthcare disciplines.
• Curricula in professional programs do not place
  sufficient emphasis on geriatric training.
• Misperception of the scope of aging and career
  functions.
• Older adults consume more ambulatory care,
  hospital services, nursing home services, and
  home health services.

• Solutions
• Build incentives for students to enter aging
  fields, such as loan repayment programs or
  improving salaries.
• Develop training programs and provide on-going
  training opportunities to develop high-quality
  professionals.
• Launch marketing campaign to change perceptions
  of aging and related careers.
• To better serve older adults, social workers are
  effective in linking health care with appropriate
  human services.

In 2008, another 21 schools will be funded
totaling 37 of accredited schools of social work
(67 out of 181).
Evaluations and Findings

• Value to Community Agencies
• From 2005-2007, 521 community field agencies were
  engaged nationwide to provide internships for MSW
  students.
• Agencies and field instructors benefit from being
  linked to a formal university-community
  partnership which provide resources,
  opportunities for continued learning such as CEUs
  and seminars, and a trans-disciplinary network of
  providers.
• Agencies appreciated being involved with training
  the future workforce and some employed their
  students after graduating from the program.

Implications and Conclusion

• Opportunities remain to
• Recruit an increasingly diverse group of students
  into aging practice
• Graduate more social workers skilled to work with
  older adults
• Increase the leadership role of social workers in
  the community
• Incorporate macro practice as a component of
  working with older adults.

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• Students
• As of 2007, over 600 students have been trained
  using this model to become leaders in the
  workforce.
• In a sample, (n263)
• 63 were under age 30
• 91 female
• 82 Caucasian 7.5 African American 4 Asian
  American 5 Latino / Hispanic.

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