A Community Assessment of Gerontology Educational Needs And Employment Outlook Daniel J' VanDussen P

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A Community Assessment of Gerontology Educational
Needs And Employment OutlookDaniel J. VanDussen
PhD, Suzanne M. Leson PhD(c), RD LDand Meaghan
GallowayYoungstown State UniversityYoungstown,
Ohio
Introduction
Results
Table 3. Rank Order Skills And Experience
Desired In Applicants (n-76)
The growth of the of the older population has
created challenges and opportunities for
Youngstown State University graduates to provide
goods and services to older adults in a myriad of
settings. Youngstown State University is in the
process of building an interdisciplinary
undergraduate gerontology major. As a part of
the Universitys goal of community partnership in
the development of a Bachelors degree in
gerontology, a community needs assessment was
conducted. The Gerontology Community Advisory
Committee, the Gerontology Steering Committee,
and other key members of the Mahoning Valley
Gerontological community were involved in focus
groups, informal discussions, and survey research.

• 33.8 reported they were very likely or somewhat
  likely to enroll in a bachelors program in
  gerontology within the next 3 years.
• 43.6 reported they were likely or somewhat
  likely to enroll in a gerontology certificate
  program within the next 3 years.
• 42.7 indicated they would like to have YSU
  interns.
• Employers responded they would be hiring 1907 new
  employees over the next 5 years.

Table 1. Rank Order Topics Needing
Training (n-85)
Conclusion

• A high percentage of respondents indicated they
  would be hiring new graduates in gerontology and
  they would be interested in further education.
  Continuing education topics such as Alzheimers,
  behavior problems, legal issues, and health
  issues will be important to add to the
  gerontology program. It was interesting to note
  that doing a better job and personal growth
  were the most frequently reported reasons for
  furthering Gerontological education. This
  indicates that professionals who responded to the
  survey have a sense of altruism which is
  important in working with older adults.

Objectives

• The objectives of the study were to
• Determine the level and types of educational
  needs of the greater Mahoning Valley area
  employers.
• Discover the types of skills employers who work
  with older adults desire.
• Ascertain the expected employment opportunities
  over the next 1-5 years.

Methods
Data was collected during the fall semester of
2007 from 89 organizations whose primary focus is
to work with older adults. Records were
obtained through contacts of the Gerontology
program at Youngstown State University, and
through public records searches. Surveys were
sent to 303 organizations using the Dillman
method of survey methodology. After updating the
records, there were 21 unusable addresses. The
final response rate was 31.5.
Directions for Future Research
Table 2. What Respondents Hope To Gain From
Further Education (n-66)

• Future research focus on recruitment strategies
  to get professionals in aging to obtain further
  gerontological education.
• Future research should also examine why
  relatively few professionals in aging have
  obtained gerontological/geriatric education.
• Limited generalizability outside of research
  geographic area.

Results

• The sample was 37.1 male and 62.9 female.
• Respondents by profession were primarily
  administrators.
• 41.9 had a Bachelors Degree and 29.1 had a
  Masters Degree.
• 65.7 stated they would travel up to 1 hour each
  way for a gerontology certificate.
• Respondents had low levels of formal education in
  working with older adults.

Acknowledgement

• Pamela Mayberry, Ithaca College for allowing the
  use of the training rural health professionals
  survey.
• Dr. Ikram Khawaja, Dr. Qi Jiang, and Dr. Janice
  Elias for their support of this project.