Retooling for an aging America: The social work response

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Retooling for an aging America The social work
response

• Andrew Safyer, Ph.D.Dean and ProfessorAdelphi
  University School of Social WorkI gratefully
  acknowledge the following individuals for their
  assistance
• Peter Chernack, Cory Rieder, Pat Volland, Brad
  Zodikoff

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The social work profession faces many challenges
when responding to the IOM reports
three-pronged strategy to build capacity

• Shortage of social workers to meet the
  demographic imperative
• Those social workers who do work with older
  adults do not always have the necessary knowledge
  and skills
• Schools of Social Work often lack the resources
  and capacity to teach best practices in aging
• Aging is not always the population of choice
  among social work students
• Social workers have essential skills yet often
  unrecognized to older adults and their families
• The cost effectiveness of social work services
  needs to be made explicit to payers (Medicaid,
  Medicare)

3
Social Workers have unique skills to meet the
needs of older adults and their families

• Have expertise in bio/psycho/social/spiritual
  assessment
• Knowledgeable about both health and social
  services
• Are culturally responsive, trained in ethical
  decision making, and committed to social justice
• Provide case management services and community
  care
• Offer counseling, run support groups for
  caregivers, and deliver consumer education
• Are intergenerational specialists
• Provide client advocacy and palliative and
  end-of-life care

4
Social workers also contribute new knowledge and
test psychosocial intervention models

• Rotation model field placements in health care
  settings (Chernack)
• Masked depression in older adults (Francoeur)
• Well being of older adults, particularly those
  with chronic illnesses (Rozario)
• Assessing older adult needs for those aging in
  place (Tracy)
• Providers perceptions of barriers to geriatric
  mental health care (Zodikoff)

5
Social work education must provide sufficient
attention to knowledge on aging, health care, and
available resources

• Infusing foundation curriculum with aging content
• Developing specialized aging courses and
  concentrations
• Providing field experiences that expose students
  to diverse range of older adults in a variety of
  settings
• Focused recruitment of students to geriatric
  social work
• Engaging in university-community partnerships to
  serve as a catalyst to build capacity to address
  the needs of older adults
• Identifying and preparing prospective visionary
  leaders

6
Barriers to training and education

• Schools often do not always have faculty engaged
  in aging research
• Programs have limited resources to strengthen
  curriculum with aging content
• Students can have negative views and stereotypes
  of older adults
• Lack of financial incentives such as scholarships
  and loan forgiveness
• Limited institutional resources to sustain
  programmatic efforts once funding streams end

7
Programmatic efforts to build capacity Adelphi
SSWs experience

• Strengthen faculty resources (Hartford Faculty
  Scholars Professors Francoeur, Rozario,
  Zodikoff)
• Infuse aging content into foundation competencies
  (Hartford Geriatric Enrichment in Social Work
  Education Project Professors Rozario, Zodikoff,
  and Tracy)
• Incorporate aging content into advanced MSW
  courses (Hartford Funded MAC Project Professors
  Fenster, Joyce, Zodikoff, Rozario)
• Provide integrated field educational experiences
  across programs, populations, practice methods,
  and disciplines (Hartford Partnership Program for
  Aging Education Professor Chernack)
• Develop university-community partnerships to
  serve as a catalyst for spin off initiatives
  (Dean Safyer)

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Concluding thoughts Education

• Need for competency-based evaluation of the
  Schools curriculum and field initiatives
• Develop opportunities for specialization in
  gerontology
• Continuation of the rotation field model to
  ensure exposure to continuum of care
• Provide ongoing on-site trainings and workshops
  collaboratively with faculty and agency staff
• Develop a certificate program in aging
• Earmark scholarship awards through the Schools
  development campaign

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Concluding thoughts Practice

• Assess for co-occurrence of mental health
  problems, substance abuse, and physical illness
• Provide services that are derived from empirical
  support and practice experience
• Attend to the needs of special populations
• Promote interdisciplinary team membership in
  order to provide comprehensive services to older
  adults
• Engage in macro practice activities

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Concluding thoughts Research

• Contribute to the multidisciplinary knowledge
  base on aging issues
• Develop and test rapid assessment tools that are
  valid and reliable
• Design, implement, and evaluate well-controlled
  prevention and intervention outcome studies
• Support research infrastructure to human service
  agencies including training in evaluation and
  technology transfer

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Concluding thoughts Policy

• Advocate for health care reform as older adults
  are experiencing increasing out-of-pocket
  expenses
• Improve Medicare and Medicaid coverage to include
  billing for more psychosocial-related prevention
  and treatment services for social workers
• Support service innovations such as integrated
  care and gate keeping models
• Promote workforce development such as specialized
  credentialing opportunities for social workers in
  aging
• Advocate for loan forgiveness initiatives and
  other financial incentives

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References

• Berkman, B. (Ed.). (2008) Handbook of Social Work
  in Health and Aging. New York Oxford
  University Press.
• Berkman, B., Gardner, D., Zodikoff, B.
  Harootyan (2005). Social work in health care
  with older adults Future challenges. Families
  in Society, 86, 329-337.
• Council on Social Work Education Strengthening
  Aging in Gerontology Education Program (2001).
  Strengthening the impact of social work to
  improve the quality of life for older adults and
  their families A blueprint for the new
  millennium. Council on Social Work Education
  online. Retrieved on May 5, 2008 at
  http//depts.washington.edu/geroctr/Resources4/Res
  earchandResources/blueprint.pdf
• Institute of Medicine (2008). Retooling for an
  Aging America Building the health care
  workforce. Washington D.C. Academic Press.
• Rizzo, V. Rowe, J. (2006). Studies of the
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• Schneiderman, J., Waugaman, W., Flynn, M.
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• Sisco, S., Volland, P., Gorin, S. Social work
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• Zodikoff, B.D., Chernack, P. (June, 2006).
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• on Long Island A needs assessment report.
  Submitted to Mental Health Association of Nassau
  County, New York.