CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF AGING
AND HEALTH 2012 ANNUAL REPORT
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INFUSE GERIATRICS INTO CURRICULUM

1983

Geriatric Social Work Initiative: Curriculum

1998-present The Generalist Physician and Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training initiatives had underscored the central role of social workers in improving the health care of older adults. The Hartford Foundation therefore launched the Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI), the first component of which aimed to transform social work curricula with the Strengthening Aging and Gerontological Education in Social Work project at the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

A series of grants to CSWE, the accrediting agency for social work education, culminated in the National Center for Gerontological Social Work Education (Gero-Ed Center). This program embedded geriatric content in generalist courses, developed new courses in gerontology, and expanded opportunities to expose students to older adults.

In 2007, the Foundation funded an initiative to increase gerontologic competencies in the MSW advanced curriculum areas of health, mental health, and substance abuse. (www.cswe.org/CentersInitiative/GeroEdCenter.aspx)

Over the duration of the Hartford grants to CSWE, more than 1,500 social work faculty members have participated in gerontological competency-based training and 250 social work programs have infused such competencies into their curricula and program structure or developed a minor, certificate, specialization, or area of emphasis in geriatrics.

Offering separate courses in gerontology will not prepare an adequate number of students to meet workforce demands. Geriatric content must be infused throughout the curriculum.” Nancy R. Hooyman, PhD, MSW
Co-Director
CSWE National Center for Gerontological Social Work Education
(Top ) Patty Hunter, MSW, LCSW, Co-Director of the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education, at California State University in Chico, teaches concepts related to working with older adults.

(Below, left) Nancy Kelley-Gillespie, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Nebraska at Omaha, School of Social Work, helped to overhaul the school’s curriculum to infuse gerontological content.

(Below, right) Tracy A. Schroepfer, PhD, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Wisconsin, Madison, a Hartford Doctoral Fellow (2001-2003) and Faculty Scholar (2004-2006) dispels misperceptions about working with older adults in her lectures to social work students.
1998 (Above, left ) Ruth E. Dunkle, PhD, Professor of Social Work and Associate Dean at the University of Michigan, leads a geriatrics seminar for MSW students.

(Above, right) Gaynell M. Simpson, PhD, Assistant Professor at The University of Alabama and a 2009 Faculty Scholar (left) with her mentor, Letha Chediha, PhD, Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, a Faculty Scholar from 2000.

(Below) Master’s degree students and interns at Pacific Clinics, Pasadena, California, facilitate a support group among older adults who help each other to better manage life’s challenges.
The model of infusing geriatric competencies into the curriculum has been tremendously successful. Even students who don’t specialize in gerontological social work are exposed to that content.” Julia M. Watkins, PhD
Former Executive Director
Council on Social Work Education
www.cswe.org

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