Bridging the gap: gerontology and social work education.

The following study was implemented to explore the potential for a four-week curriculum module in gerontological social work education to positively impact students' practice-related knowledge concerning older adults, as well as their attitudes toward elderly persons and interest in working with them. Pertinent literature was reviewed to conceptualize the building of a gerontology curriculum module that could be integrated into a pre-existing social work course. The module's design and content were reflective of its primary goal, which was to educate students about salient aspects of social work knowledge, skill, and practice with older adults utilizing experiential methods.

Enticing students to careers in gerontology: faculty and student perspectives.

Recognition of the increasing demand for gerontologically trained social work professionals prompted an investigation of the factors that attract undergraduate students to a career of working with older adults. Faculty (n = 10) and students (n = 10) from the disciplines of social work, nursing, consumer and family sciences, psychology, recreation, and business participated in focus groups addressing such topics as the inclusion of content on aging, influences on choice of major, perceptions of aging, and personal experience with older adults. Respondents perceived (a) limited course content on older adulthood, (b) existing course content focused on frailty and aging, (c) a pervasive lack of awareness of the aging of the population, and (d) the essential contribution of positive intergenerational contact from early childhood through the college years.