Gerontology competencies: Construction, consensus and contribution.

The Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) in 2014 approved the first integrative "Gerontology Competencies for Undergraduate and Graduate Education"©. This article describes the background, thought development, guiding framework and consensus process for its construction. A modified Delphi method utilizing seven review rounds within three developmental cycles, with gerontology educators from 30 institutions, achieved input and consensus.

Mental Health Services for Older Adults: Creating a System That Tells the Story.

In 2004, voters in California approved Proposition 63 for passage of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). From that time until 2014, over $13 billion in the state's tax revenue was allocated for public mental health services. There is very little information available to answer critical questions such as these: How much of this amount was spent in the interests of older adult mental health? What benefits were gained from services delivered to older adults? This policy brief promotes recommendations for specific age-relevant indicator utilization and for an expanded system of uniform and transparent data for all types of MHSA-funded programs.

Older Californians and the Mental Health Services Act: Is an Older Adult System of Care Supported?

This policy brief summarizes findings from the first study to evaluate how California's public mental health delivery system has served older adults (60 years of age and over) since the passage of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) in 2004. Study findings indicate that there are unmet needs among older adults with mental illness in the public mental health delivery system. There are deficits in the involvement of older adults in the required MHSA planning processes and in outreach and service delivery, workforce development, and outcomes measurement and reporting.

Competencies in European gerontological higher education. An explorative study on core elements.

This study explores whether there is a common core of competencies in European gerontology education programs by doing a cross-comparison of five undergraduate-level programs. Content analysis of competency profile documents at the five European educational programs were studied using thematic analysis. Study results document that there indeed is a common core of elements in gerontological educational programs.

Team-Based Interprofessional Competency Training for Dementia Screening and Management.

As many as 50% of people satisfying diagnostic criteria for dementia are undiagnosed. A team-based training program for dementia screening and management was developed targeting four professions (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work) whose scope of practice involves dementia care. An interprofessional group of 10 faculty members was trained to facilitate four interactive competency stations on dementia screening, differential diagnoses, dementia management and team care planning, and screening for and managing caregiver stress.

A Practice Improvement Education Program Using a Mentored Approach to Improve Nursing Facility Depression Care-Preliminary Data.

Depression is common in nursing facility residents. Depression data obtained using the Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 offer opportunities for improving diagnostic accuracy and care quality.

Preparing the workforce for healthy aging programs: the Skills for Healthy Aging Resources and Programs (SHARP) model.

Current public health and aging service agency personnel have little training in gerontology, and virtually no training in evidence-based health promotion and disease management programs for older adults. These programs are rapidly becoming the future of our community-based long-term care support system. The purpose of this project was to develop and test a model community college career technical education program, Skills for Healthy Aging Resources and Programs (SHARP), for undergraduate college students, current personnel in aging service and community organizations, and others interested in retraining.

Social work knowledge of community-based services for older adults: an educational model for social work students.

Social workers are often the key link between older adults, their families and community-based services. Thus, knowledge about older adults and community-based care is imperative for social work practice. Evaluation data are provided on a national multisite effort (N = 353) from 35 schools to assure graduate social work student's competency related to community services for older adults.

Geriatric social work career tracking: graduates of the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPAE).

Despite a growing need for geriatric social workers, there is a question as to whether MSW graduates who are gerontologically prepared actually enter the workforce to serve older adults. By tracking MSW graduates who had special training in aging, this study aims to explore their job search and career experience. Findings show that most graduates located aging-related jobs 4 months postgraduation and remained committed to the field 1 to 2 years later.

Innovations in student-centered interdisciplinary teaching for general education in aging.

The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) General Education "Clusters" are innovations in student-centered undergraduate education focused on complex phenomena that require an interdisciplinary perspective. UCLA gerontology and geriatric faculty recognized the opportunity to introduce freshmen to the field of aging through this new initiative. In 2000, with support of the College of Letters and Science, the School of Medicine Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology created "Frontiers in Human Aging: Biomedical, Social and Policy Perspectives".

Strengthening field education in aging through university-community agency partnership: the Practicum Partnership Program.

The Practicum Partnership Program (PPP), an innovative field education model developed and implemented by six demonstration sites over four years (2000-2004), uses a structured university-community partnership, or consortium, as the foundation for designing, implementing, and evaluating internships for graduate social work students specializing in aging. This paper describes the site consortia and PPP programs, presents evaluation findings, and identifies future directions for the PPP. Student learning outcomes were positive and both students and consortia agencies reported positive PPP experiences.

Developing geriatric social work competencies for field education.

Preparing social workers to effectively practice with the growing older population requires the identification of geriatric competencies for the profession. The John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative provided the impetus and direction for a national strategy to improve the quality of preparation of geriatric social workers.

Racial/ethnic variations in veterans' ambulatory care use.

Objectives: We assessed racial/ethnic variations in patterns of ambulatory care use among Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care-eligible veterans to determine if racial/ethnic differences in health care use persist in equal-access systems.

Methods: We surveyed 3227 male veterans about their health and ambulatory care use.

Results: Thirty-eight percent of respondents had not had a health care visit in the previous 12 months.

Undergraduate knowledge of aging: a comparative study of biopsychosocial content.

This study assesses undergraduate knowledge of aging, distinguishing between types of deficits (ignorance vs. misinformation) and content areas as delineated by a biopsychosocial framework. Knowledge is examined as an outcome of taking an aging elective, while accounting for course rating and knowledge retention.

Accessibility and acceptability of the Department of Veteran Affairs health care: diverse veterans' perspectives.

Objectives: Diverse veteran's perspectives on the accessibility and acceptability of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) health services are presented.

Methods: The qualitative methodology uses 16 focus groups (N = 178) stratified by war cohort (World War II and Korean Conflict versus Vietnam War and Persian Gulf War) and four ethnic/racial categories (African American, Asian American, European American, Hispanic American).

Results: Five themes emerged regarding veterans' health care expectations: (1) better information regarding available services, (2) sense of deserved benefits, (3) concern about welfare stigma, (4) importance of physician attentiveness, and (5) staff respect for patients as veterans.

An international approach to community health care for older adults.

Worldwide population ageing, concomitant increases in disability rates, and changes in family health care systems require an examination of current service delivery to optimize use of societal resources in the future. This article examines a community health care approach suggested by research conducted by the World Health Organization Kobe Centre for Health Development (WKC). The WKC approach, which uses a cross-national perspective, envisions a community health care system that integrates health and social services and spans health promotion, primary care, and long-term care.

The health and functional status of US veterans aged 65+: implications for VA health programs serving an elderly, diverse veteran population.

As the US population is aging, so too is the US veteran population. Chief among the challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is developing health programs and services that mesh with the needs of an aging veteran population and therefore improve the health status of elderly veterans. Meeting this challenge requires an understanding of the health needs of the older veteran population, including health disparities that exist across racial ethnic populations.

Health and functioning among four war eras of U.S. veterans: examining the impact of war cohort membership, socioeconomic status, mental health, and disease prevalence.

This analysis examines the self-rated health and functioning of World War II, Vietnam era, Korean Conflict, and Persian Gulf War veterans participating in the Veteran Identity Program Survey 2001. The results indicate that although World War II veterans are more likely to report poor health status and functioning, Vietnam-era veterans report more difficulty with specific activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living than any other era of veterans. These relationships remain when controlling for race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disease prevalence, and mental health status.

The influence of military service on outpatient care use among racial/ethnic groups in Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.

This study examines race-specific military service effects on outpatient care utilization in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) using data from the 1992 National Survey of Veterans. The study population consisted of 4,791 male veterans. After controlling for predisposing, enabling, and need variables, black veterans were 3.

Community-based strategies for focus group recruitment of minority veterans.

Minority recruitment is crucial to successful clinical research and associated community-based outreach programs. Reaching and retaining a diverse sample is particularly challenging when research targets not only ethnic or racial minorities but also subcultural groups such as veterans of different war periods. We describe various strategies that address the special challenges of minority recruitment through our experience engaging an ethnically diverse sample of 258 veterans as part of an evaluation of ambulatory care services at Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities.

Racial variations in Department of Veterans Affairs ambulatory care use and unmet health care needs.

Our objective was to describe racial/ethnic variations in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ambulatory care use and its association with the presence of unmet health care needs. Using the 1992 National Survey of Veterans, we examined race/ethnicity and unmet health care need for ambulatory care users of VA and non-VA facilities. Black and Hispanic veterans were more likely to report any VA use.

Veteran identity and race/ethnicity: influences on VA outpatient care utilization.

Background: "Veteran identity" is defined as veterans' self-concept that derives from his/her military experience within a sociohistorical context. Veteran identity may vary by race/ethnicity because the sociohistorical context of the military experience varies by race.

Objectives: To explore veteran identity and how it varies by race/ethnicity, and to identify aspects of veteran identity that significantly influence preferences for, and use of, VA outpatient care.

A Geriatric Education Center Faculty Development Program Dedicated to Social Work to Social Work.

This paper describes the effort of the California Geriatric Education Center (CGEC) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to rectify the severe shortage of social work faculty trained in aging as reported in a recent national survey of schools of social work. The lack of gerontological social work faculty is a major barrier to the development of aging curricula in BSW and MSW programs. The CGEC Social Work Faculty Development Program (SWFDP) presents a model for faculty development in gerontology which addresses major issues in social work education.

A National Survey of Aging Curriculum in Schools of Social Work.

The present studv reports the results of a nationwide survey which examined the current status of gerontological education in B.S.W.