Texas Tech University

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• Aging Population Career Opportunities for Human
  Services and Health Sciences
• Presented by
• Shun-Tzu Lin, MS shun-tzu.lin_at_ttu.edu
• Karen L. Alexander, PhD karen.alexander_at_ttu.edu

• Texas Tech University

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Session Overview

• Highlight Career Opportunities
• Provide Rationale for Shortage of Workers
• Review Relevant Literature
• Upcoming Research Study Design
• Study Purpose
• Sampling
• Research Questions

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Example Occupations
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Future Needs

• Careers related to services for older adults have
  the highest projected employment growth rate by
  2014
• (Texas Workforce Commission, 2008)

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Statement of the Problem
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Current Situations

• Older populations (65) in the U.S. reached 35.9
  million in July 2003 or approximately 12 of the
  total population.
• (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005)
• Texas had over one million older populations in
  2000. Four counties ranked among the top 50
  counties in the U.S. which had the largest
  percentage of older populations
• Harris (252,895)
• Dallas (178,872)
• Bexar (144,398)
• Tarrant (120,585)
• (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005)

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Current Challenges

• Currently in the Texas high school curriculum,
  two courses related to aging studies are
  offered
• (Texas Education Agency, 2008)
• However, only three teachers in Texas taught
  Services for Older Adults during 2005-06
  academic year.
• These occupations may not be receiving an
  emphasis.
• (Public Education Information Management System,
  2008)

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List of Courses
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Review of Literature
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Attitudes toward Older Adults

• Older individuals are most likely negatively
  stereotyped by children aged 10 and 11,
  adolescents, undergraduates, and older adults
  themselves.
• (Falchikov,1990 Doka, 1985, 1986 Levin, 1988
  Sanders et al., 1990 Hummert et al., 1994)
• ImplicationStereotypes may limit interest in
  investigating these occupations.

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Attitudes toward Older Adults

• Individuals views on aging are formed by
  interactions with older adults during
  development.
• (Sanders, Montgomery, Pittman, Jr.,
  Balkwell,1984 Tan, Zhang, Fan, 2004)
• ImplicationMore positive interactions may
  increase an interest in occupations serving older
  adults.

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Changes of Attitudes toward Older Adults

• Two of the most effective approaches to change
  individuals attitudes toward older adults
• intergenerational service learning
• inclusion of materials on aging into high school
  and college curricula
• Intergenerational service learning creates
  meaningful interactions between generations.
• (Dorfman, Murty, Ingram, Evans, Power, 2004)

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Changes of Attitudes toward Older Adults

• For children,
• face-to-face interactions were found to be more
  effective than merely knowledge transfer about
  aging
• (Russell, Die, Walker, 1986)
• For young adults,
• have fewer stereotyped views and misperceptions
  of elders,
• more insight into elders lives
• greater appreciation for older people
• (Greene, 1998 Pine, 1997 Blieszner Artale,
  2001 Brown Roodin, 2001).

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Attitudes toward Working with Older Adults

• Factors affecting individuals career choices
  include
• had frequent interactions with older adults
• have taken gerontology courses/lessons,
• have taken care of an elder during childhood
• (Cummings, Adler, and DeCosters, 2005 Krount
  McKernan, 2007 Robert Mosher-Ashley, 2000)
• In Robert Mosher-Ashleys (2000) study, three
  highest factor ratings are found in undergraduate
  students
• work with elderly persons was the challenging
  nature of the work
• positive experiences with older adults
• the desire to work in a new field

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Gerontology Inclusion in Existing Curriculum

• Bonavias (2000) ten year review (1989-1999)
  indicated that
• New York State has been offering gerontology as
  an elective course under FCS curricula since 1989
• 137 of 318 teachers included gerontology in their
  courses
• only 3 of these teachers spent more than 18
  weeks covering materials on aging in their
  courses
• only four teachers taught the gerontology
  elective course
• especially, career opportunities in aging were
  not specifically addressed, such as Career
  Relationship, the Home Care Assistant, and the
  Entrepreneur

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AchieveTexas Resources
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College and Career Planning Guides

• Health Sciences, Human Services

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Programs of Study Models

• Health Sciences, Human Services

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Upcoming Research Study
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Purpose of the Study

• First, it seeks to understand how Texas high
  school students view about elderly and their
  attitudes about working with elderly after
  graduation.
• Second, it seeks to investigate whether Texas
  high school students have access and exposure to
  knowledge and training related to aging.
• Therefore, the research findings will
• add to the limited body of literature and
• aid the development of gerontology education in
  Texas.

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Sampling

• Subjects
• 9th to 12th grade students in Texas high schools
• Requirement
• Have taken or are currently taking courses in
  Human Services or Health Sciences career clusters
  prior to March 2009

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Sampling

• Recruitment
• Through high school teachers who teach courses in
  those two career clusters
• Study advertisement
• Teachers professional development conferences
• Electronic solicitations
• Research webpage

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Research Questions
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QUESTIONS???Thank you FOR ATTENDING!

• Texas Tech University