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Mandatory Interviews with Older Adults as an Undergraduate Social Work Education Strategy Integrating Generalist Practice Skills and Exposure to Older Adults
Abstract
Infusion of aging content into the baccalaureate social work curriculum has received increased consideration recently as a lack of student preparation to work with older adults and rising numbers of this population's need has come to light. Student resistance to working with this population has been well documented. Learning activities on an undergraduate level must meet multiple curricular goals such as teaching assessment skills across the life span. A qualitative content analysis of student interview assignments highlighted themes related to required exposure to seniors. Emergent themes included student inexperience, use of stereotypes of older adults, fear of aging, increased comfort in discussing sensitive or taboo topics, and self-discovery and realization of competence. Requiring interviews with older adults had positive outcomes for the small student sample studied. Implications for future social work education, research, and practice are discussed.
... Social work students' increased exposure to older adults has been found to positively affect students' attitudes and willingness to work with this population. Sowbel and Ernst (2005) found that mandatory undergraduate student interviews with older adults were an effective strategy in increasing student's positive attitudes toward the older adult population. In particular, Sowbel and Ernst (2005) used a sample of 50 undergraduate junior level social work students enrolled in the course Social Work Practice with Indiv ...
... The students were required to interview an older adult on three separate occasions and write a process recording, psychosocial assessment, reaction paper, and outline of the various helping skills used. The researchers found that the direct application of generalist practice skills, such as engagement, assessment, and interviewing, were effective in promoting student knowledge and attitudes about older adults (Sowbel & Ernst, 2005). One concern with this study is that participation in the interviews was mandatory for the students; thus, it is not clear how this may have affected the students' attitudes toward the project as well as the older adult respondents. ...
... Students' Knowledge, Confidence, and Competence A potential barrier to students' willingness to work with older adults is lack of knowledge, confidence, and perceived competence in working with older adults. Some studies have reported that students' often are concerned about their lack of experience working with older adults, or they are unfamiliar with older adults from diverse cultural backgrounds (Sowbel & Ernst, 2005). It is possible that students may feel discomfort with topics that might arise in work with older adults such as illness, death, self determination, and the contemplation of mortality (Waites & Lee, 2006). ...
The purpose of this study was to evaluate an experiential learning project with BSW students to see if their perceptions of older adults have changed. The project consisted of an oral history project and presentation that matched BSW students with older adults from diverse ethnic backgrounds to gather their immigration narratives. The study used a single group pretest posttest design with 17 BSW students enrolled in an integrative field seminar class. Using a series of inferential analyses, BSW students’ attitudes towards older adults, future career plans, confidence with working with older adults from diverse backgrounds, and geriatric competencies were examined. Overall, a significant increase in BSW students who had varying levels of participation in project perceptions of geriatric social work competencies between pretest and posttest were found. Students who both conducted and presented the oral histories of older adults also were significantly more likely to report future plans to work with older adults compared to students who did not. Exposing BSW students to aging and diversity content has important implications towards fostering student interest in pursuing social work practice with older adults and preparing them for culturally competent social work.
... Frequently, scholars reported and advocated for the integration of hands-on classroom learning (Raddon, Nault, & Scott, 2008). Exemplars range from introductory courses in which students generate, analyze, and write on data (Blakeman, 2016;Sowbel & Ernst, 2005) to advanced courses in which students complete research projects in conjunction with a community agency (Bach & Weinzimmer, 2011;Tolich, Scarth, & Shepard, 2015). Even when students do not complete entire projects, scholars often recommend teaching students through practicing interviews and reflecting on their experience (Roulston, 2012). ...
Given the importance of qualitative methods to social justice psychological research, qualitative methods training needs to begin at the undergraduate level. Faculty-led research projects are a prime opportunity for ongoing faculty supervision and extensive student growth. Based on our review of the literature and our teaching of 3 undergraduate students, we describe procedures for how to provide instruction for qualitative interview skills in 3 domains: procedural, interpersonal, and reflexive. Procedural learning is specific to practical issues, such as scheduling and recording. Interpersonal skills are about the human-to-human connection in the interview and maintaining rapport. Reflexive skills include the interviewer’s continued reflection on all aspects of the research. Based on real-life examples (captured via field notes, journals, and peer debriefing), the authors propose training procedures based on an emerging developmental framework across the 3 skill domains: procedural, interpersonal, and reflexivity. The developmental framework is derived from the observational data and includes 3 recursive phases that describe students’ learning trajectory: Phase 1: Directed Interviewer; Phase 2: Guided Interviewer; and Phase 3: Collegial Interviewer. At each developmental phase, we recommend student learning objectives and corresponding teaching strategies. The recommended teaching strategies serve to bolster qualitative research’s future impact in psychology.
For the next 30 years, population aging will impact many facets of our society. Of specific concern is future human resources in the aging sector and related health fields. Every year, high school students make decisions related to their future careers, but few express interests in a career in aging. The goal of this study was to explore high school students' interest in and perspectives of a career in the field of aging. The specific objectives of the study were to identify high school students' perspectives of older adults, explore their level of interest in an aging‐related career and understand the reasons for their level of interest for a career in aging. In this qualitative descriptive study, 41 French‐speaking students in Grades 10 and 11 from an eastern Canadian province participated in a total of five focus group discussions where an educational video complemented the semi‐structured interviews. Content analysis produced four common themes: perspectives of aging and older adults, exposure to aging in school, reasons for disinterest and increasing awareness and interest. Results indicate a lack of aging content or intergenerational activities in schools, whereas students made suggestions for better integration of aging content in the school curriculum. Future research with school guidance counsellors or educators would be beneficial in understanding aging content integration and student exposure to aging. Study limitations are also presented.
A ligand free, Pd-nanoparticle catalyzed synthesis of bis(heterocyclyl)methane derivatives is described herein. The advantages of this method lie in its simplicity, cost effectiveness and environmentally friendliness. The process is very green, as water is exploited as the reaction medium.
This article presents the results of research to identify factors contributing to the development of interest in employment in gerontological social work by undergraduate social work students who are diverse in age, ethnicity, immigration history, race, and life experiences. Recruitment and support of interest in gerontological social work of students who are bilingual and/or bicultural is essential to meet the needs of the increasingly larger and more diverse older adult population in the United States. The findings indicate that experiential learning and service opportunities including fieldwork and employment are especially important influences.
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The authors and their colleagues have sustained infusion of gerontological content across their social work curriculum since implementation of their CSWE-Hartford Foundation GeroRich project from 2002–2004. Based on experiences in our department, we recommend 10 steps that include (a) responding to anticipated faculty resistance, (b) identifying diverse community stakeholders, (c) listening to stakeholders from the beginning, (d) keeping stakeholders informed, (e) targeted revisions of syllabi, (f) compilation of gerontological scenarios, (g) collaborating with the college library staff, (h) developing a film library, (i) using speakers and resources from internship sites, and (j) looking for ingenious ways to motivate faculty.
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