the john a. hartford foundation geriatric social initiative

21
This article was downloaded by: [Central Michigan University] On: 08 October 2014, At: 08:42 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Gerontological Social Work Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wger20 The John A. Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Initiative Laura A. Robbins MS a & Corinne H. Rieder PhD b a Hartford Foundation , 55 East 59th Street, New York, NY, 10022, USA b Hartford Foundation , 55 East 59th Street, New York, NY, 10022, USA Published online: 12 Oct 2008. To cite this article: Laura A. Robbins MS & Corinne H. Rieder PhD (2003) The John A. Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Initiative, Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 39:1-2, 71-89, DOI: 10.1300/J083v39n01_08 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J083v39n01_08 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or

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This article was downloaded by [Central Michigan University]On 08 October 2014 At 0842Publisher RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number 1072954Registered office Mortimer House 37-41 Mortimer Street London W1T 3JHUK

Journal of GerontologicalSocial WorkPublication details including instructions forauthors and subscription informationhttpwwwtandfonlinecomloiwger20

The John A HartfordFoundation Geriatric SocialInitiativeLaura A Robbins MS a amp Corinne H Rieder PhD ba Hartford Foundation 55 East 59th Street NewYork NY 10022 USAb Hartford Foundation 55 East 59th Street NewYork NY 10022 USAPublished online 12 Oct 2008

To cite this article Laura A Robbins MS amp Corinne H Rieder PhD (2003) The John AHartford Foundation Geriatric Social Initiative Journal of Gerontological Social Work391-2 71-89 DOI 101300J083v39n01_08

To link to this article httpdxdoiorg101300J083v39n01_08

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor amp Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the ldquoContentrdquo) contained in the publications on our platformHowever Taylor amp Francis our agents and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy completenessor suitability for any purpose of the Content Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor amp Francis The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses actions claims proceedings demands costs expenses damagesand other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or

indirectly in connection with in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent

This article may be used for research teaching and private study purposesAny substantial or systematic reproduction redistribution reselling loansub-licensing systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden Terms amp Conditions of access and use can be found athttpwwwtandfonlinecompageterms-and-conditions

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Chapter 5

The John A Hartford FoundationGeriatric Social Initiative

Laura A Robbins MSCorinne H Rieder EdD

SUMMARY This article chronicles the development and implementa-tion of the John A Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Initia-tivendasha grantmaking program with total funding of $22 million as ofDecember 2001 The Foundation aims to improve the care of olderadults by increasing the capacity of social workers to care for them Thearticle describes a variety of grants to improve the gerontological train-ing of future social workers [Article copies available for a fee from TheHaworth Document Delivery Service 1-800-HAWORTH E-mail addressltdocdeliveryhaworthpresscomgt Website lthttpwwwHaworthPresscomgt copy 2002by The Haworth Press Inc All rights reserved]

KEYWORDS Geriatrics gerontology curriculum faculty develop-ment philanthropy practicum

Laura A Robbins is Senior Program Officer and Corinne H Rieder is ExecutiveDirector and Treasurer The John A Hartford Foundation 55 East 59th Street NewYork NY 10022

[Haworth co-indexing entry note] ldquoThe John A Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Initiativerdquo Rob-bins Laura A and Corinne H Rieder Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Gerontological SocialWork (The Haworth Social Work Practice Press an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc) Vol 39 No 122002 pp 71-89 and Advancing Gerontological Social Work Education (ed M Joanna Mellor and JoannIvry) The Haworth Social Work Practice Press an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc 2002 pp 71-89 Sin-gle or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service[1-800-HAWORTH 900 am - 500 pm (EST) E-mail address docdeliveryhaworthpresscom]

httpwwwhaworthpresscomstoreproductaspsku=J083 2002 by The Haworth Press Inc All rights reserved

101300J083v39n01_08 71

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As of December 2001 the John A Hartford Foundation has committedmore than $22 million to the expansion of geriatric social work education inthe United States While only four years have elapsed since the Initiativersquos be-ginning the authors were invited to write this chapter to document the pro-gramrsquos conceptual underpinnings and its early development

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative (see author notes) seeks tostrengthen and advance social workerrsquos practice with older adults by enhanc-ing schoolrsquos capacity to train aging competent social workers It is designed tobuild on the small cadre of geriatrically knowledgeable social workers and de-velop leaders for the future It is also developing an expanded infrastructure inacademic and professional organizations which can sustain a focus on theneeds of Americarsquos older adults

THE HARTFORD GERIATRIC SOCIAL WORK INITIATIVE

Today the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative collaborates with so-cial work education programs to prepare needed aging-savvy social workersand improve the care and well-being of older adults and their families Spe-cifically the Initiative

1 Cultivates faculty leaders in gerontological education and researchthrough a Faculty Scholars Program which supports the career devel-opment and research of talented faculty and a Doctoral Fellows Pro-gram which provides dissertation support mentorship and leadershipdevelopment for promising students

2 Creates excellent training opportunities in real-world settings through aPracticum Partnership Program which is developing and testing inno-vative aging-rich rotational field experiences for graduate students thatconnect communities and schools of social work and

3 Creates new gerontological curricula and other teaching tools througha Faculty Development Program which is strengthening the ability ofsocial work to develop integrate and teach aging content in new and ex-isting courses This is being accomplished through training informationexchange and dissemination and through a Geriatric Enrichment Pro-gram which is expanding the number and quality of aging courses andlearning experiences focused on aging at both the undergraduate andgraduate levels

72 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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BACKGROUND

The John A Hartford Foundation

The family fortune that provided the Hartford Foundationrsquos endowmentcame from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company known to generationsof grocery shoppers as the A amp P The Hartford Foundation was established in1929 by John A Hartford the companyrsquos president whose father had foundedthe A amp P grocery chain in the 1850s When John and his brother George whoserved as chairman of the A amp P board died in the 1950s the bulk of their es-tates were left to the Foundation Today the Foundationrsquos assets are nearly$600 million with annual grants this year totaling $27 million

In his wisdom John Hartford felt that future generations of Trustees shouldhave the freedom to determine the Foundationrsquos direction within the overallrubric of ldquodoing the greatest good for the greatest numberrdquo Since its foundingthe Foundation has concentrated attention on the health care field an areawhere its founder and subsequent Trustees felt ldquothe greatest goodrdquo could bedone for humankind

For the past 20 years the Foundation has increasingly focused on the chal-lenges of caring for our countryrsquos growing population of older adults Hart-fordrsquos Trustees and staff are committed to ensuring that both current and futurehealth professionals who treat older adultsndashdoctors nurses and social work-ersndashare well trained in geriatrics and gerontology The Foundation is also com-mitted to developing evaluating and disseminating models of improved careso that all older adults have access to effective and affordable health care ser-vices

Understanding the Need for More Aging-Savvy Social Workers

In 1998 one of the authors [LR] was primary care giver to three frail olderadults two parentsndashone with Alzheimerrsquos disease and one revolving throughhospitals and rehabilitation carendashand an aunt with diabetes and heart ailmentswho had recently lost her husband and who had no children Though trying tomeet their needs as best as possible it was clear after Aunt Tinarsquos third hospi-talization within two months of her husbandrsquos death that a better care systemwas needed In retrospect it is evident how lucky we were to secure the ser-vices of a geriatric social worker From the first moment of her involvementwith Aunt Tina the social worker improved Tinarsquos (and the authorrsquos) qualityof life and spared the health system and its payers unnecessary costs Tinarsquoslast years of life were safe and happy because of an excellent well-trained so-cial worker who understood the unique needs of older adults the network ofservices available to apply to these needs and who had the skills to be able to

Section II School Based Initiatives 73

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form and sustain a service plan that matched Tinarsquos needs with what was avail-able The challenges and benefits reflected in this personal experience havebeen echoed in the Foundationrsquos work during the last two decades

The John A Hartford Foundation has been supporting the development ofAmericarsquos geriatric care capacity since 1981 The more we have understoodthe complexity of services needed financing streams employed and the in-creasing diversity of the nationrsquos older adults the more it has become clear thatolder adults need professionals trained in assessment and service linkage tonavigate successfully through the health and supportive service systems In-creased numbers of elderly a move toward community-based care earlier hos-pital discharges and increased expectation of patientfamily responsibilitiesndashallhave pointed to a heightened need for geriatric social workers Further the needfor better approaches to helping older adults to maintain their independence anddignity has become increasingly clear It was natural then that the Foundationturned its attention to social work After all who knows the relationship of in-dividuals to systems better than social workers and who is better positioned togive a voice to older individuals

The Foundation began to have some experience with the social work pro-fession as part of its Aging and Health Program Through its support of primar-ily medically-oriented projects over the prior twenty years the Foundation hadincreasingly recognized that non-physician health professionals were key par-ticularly for frail elderly The Foundation thus began funding projects thatdemonstrated the efficacy of partnering nurses social workers physician as-sistants and paraprofessionals with primary care physicians in order to ad-dress the psycho-social aspects of elder patientrsquos care Then in response to aneed expressed by health care employers the Foundation supported the devel-opment of new approaches to training health professionals on how to be effec-tive team members for geriatric care Through these projects the Foundationgained an increasing appreciation for the important role of the social work pro-fessional

What also became apparent however was the distance between the geriat-ric knowledge base of existing social workers and that which would be neededto serve the growing number of older adults This prompted an exploration intothe ways to assist the social work profession build its geriatric capacity

The Exploration Process

Foundation staff began an exploration of geriatric social work Literaturesearches led to experts experts led to other leaders and conversations with na-tional social work professional organizations After six months of researchand the generous sharing of information and experience by interviews with ap-

74 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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indirectly in connection with in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent

This article may be used for research teaching and private study purposesAny substantial or systematic reproduction redistribution reselling loansub-licensing systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden Terms amp Conditions of access and use can be found athttpwwwtandfonlinecompageterms-and-conditions

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Chapter 5

The John A Hartford FoundationGeriatric Social Initiative

Laura A Robbins MSCorinne H Rieder EdD

SUMMARY This article chronicles the development and implementa-tion of the John A Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Initia-tivendasha grantmaking program with total funding of $22 million as ofDecember 2001 The Foundation aims to improve the care of olderadults by increasing the capacity of social workers to care for them Thearticle describes a variety of grants to improve the gerontological train-ing of future social workers [Article copies available for a fee from TheHaworth Document Delivery Service 1-800-HAWORTH E-mail addressltdocdeliveryhaworthpresscomgt Website lthttpwwwHaworthPresscomgt copy 2002by The Haworth Press Inc All rights reserved]

KEYWORDS Geriatrics gerontology curriculum faculty develop-ment philanthropy practicum

Laura A Robbins is Senior Program Officer and Corinne H Rieder is ExecutiveDirector and Treasurer The John A Hartford Foundation 55 East 59th Street NewYork NY 10022

[Haworth co-indexing entry note] ldquoThe John A Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Initiativerdquo Rob-bins Laura A and Corinne H Rieder Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Gerontological SocialWork (The Haworth Social Work Practice Press an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc) Vol 39 No 122002 pp 71-89 and Advancing Gerontological Social Work Education (ed M Joanna Mellor and JoannIvry) The Haworth Social Work Practice Press an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc 2002 pp 71-89 Sin-gle or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service[1-800-HAWORTH 900 am - 500 pm (EST) E-mail address docdeliveryhaworthpresscom]

httpwwwhaworthpresscomstoreproductaspsku=J083 2002 by The Haworth Press Inc All rights reserved

101300J083v39n01_08 71

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As of December 2001 the John A Hartford Foundation has committedmore than $22 million to the expansion of geriatric social work education inthe United States While only four years have elapsed since the Initiativersquos be-ginning the authors were invited to write this chapter to document the pro-gramrsquos conceptual underpinnings and its early development

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative (see author notes) seeks tostrengthen and advance social workerrsquos practice with older adults by enhanc-ing schoolrsquos capacity to train aging competent social workers It is designed tobuild on the small cadre of geriatrically knowledgeable social workers and de-velop leaders for the future It is also developing an expanded infrastructure inacademic and professional organizations which can sustain a focus on theneeds of Americarsquos older adults

THE HARTFORD GERIATRIC SOCIAL WORK INITIATIVE

Today the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative collaborates with so-cial work education programs to prepare needed aging-savvy social workersand improve the care and well-being of older adults and their families Spe-cifically the Initiative

1 Cultivates faculty leaders in gerontological education and researchthrough a Faculty Scholars Program which supports the career devel-opment and research of talented faculty and a Doctoral Fellows Pro-gram which provides dissertation support mentorship and leadershipdevelopment for promising students

2 Creates excellent training opportunities in real-world settings through aPracticum Partnership Program which is developing and testing inno-vative aging-rich rotational field experiences for graduate students thatconnect communities and schools of social work and

3 Creates new gerontological curricula and other teaching tools througha Faculty Development Program which is strengthening the ability ofsocial work to develop integrate and teach aging content in new and ex-isting courses This is being accomplished through training informationexchange and dissemination and through a Geriatric Enrichment Pro-gram which is expanding the number and quality of aging courses andlearning experiences focused on aging at both the undergraduate andgraduate levels

72 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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BACKGROUND

The John A Hartford Foundation

The family fortune that provided the Hartford Foundationrsquos endowmentcame from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company known to generationsof grocery shoppers as the A amp P The Hartford Foundation was established in1929 by John A Hartford the companyrsquos president whose father had foundedthe A amp P grocery chain in the 1850s When John and his brother George whoserved as chairman of the A amp P board died in the 1950s the bulk of their es-tates were left to the Foundation Today the Foundationrsquos assets are nearly$600 million with annual grants this year totaling $27 million

In his wisdom John Hartford felt that future generations of Trustees shouldhave the freedom to determine the Foundationrsquos direction within the overallrubric of ldquodoing the greatest good for the greatest numberrdquo Since its foundingthe Foundation has concentrated attention on the health care field an areawhere its founder and subsequent Trustees felt ldquothe greatest goodrdquo could bedone for humankind

For the past 20 years the Foundation has increasingly focused on the chal-lenges of caring for our countryrsquos growing population of older adults Hart-fordrsquos Trustees and staff are committed to ensuring that both current and futurehealth professionals who treat older adultsndashdoctors nurses and social work-ersndashare well trained in geriatrics and gerontology The Foundation is also com-mitted to developing evaluating and disseminating models of improved careso that all older adults have access to effective and affordable health care ser-vices

Understanding the Need for More Aging-Savvy Social Workers

In 1998 one of the authors [LR] was primary care giver to three frail olderadults two parentsndashone with Alzheimerrsquos disease and one revolving throughhospitals and rehabilitation carendashand an aunt with diabetes and heart ailmentswho had recently lost her husband and who had no children Though trying tomeet their needs as best as possible it was clear after Aunt Tinarsquos third hospi-talization within two months of her husbandrsquos death that a better care systemwas needed In retrospect it is evident how lucky we were to secure the ser-vices of a geriatric social worker From the first moment of her involvementwith Aunt Tina the social worker improved Tinarsquos (and the authorrsquos) qualityof life and spared the health system and its payers unnecessary costs Tinarsquoslast years of life were safe and happy because of an excellent well-trained so-cial worker who understood the unique needs of older adults the network ofservices available to apply to these needs and who had the skills to be able to

Section II School Based Initiatives 73

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form and sustain a service plan that matched Tinarsquos needs with what was avail-able The challenges and benefits reflected in this personal experience havebeen echoed in the Foundationrsquos work during the last two decades

The John A Hartford Foundation has been supporting the development ofAmericarsquos geriatric care capacity since 1981 The more we have understoodthe complexity of services needed financing streams employed and the in-creasing diversity of the nationrsquos older adults the more it has become clear thatolder adults need professionals trained in assessment and service linkage tonavigate successfully through the health and supportive service systems In-creased numbers of elderly a move toward community-based care earlier hos-pital discharges and increased expectation of patientfamily responsibilitiesndashallhave pointed to a heightened need for geriatric social workers Further the needfor better approaches to helping older adults to maintain their independence anddignity has become increasingly clear It was natural then that the Foundationturned its attention to social work After all who knows the relationship of in-dividuals to systems better than social workers and who is better positioned togive a voice to older individuals

The Foundation began to have some experience with the social work pro-fession as part of its Aging and Health Program Through its support of primar-ily medically-oriented projects over the prior twenty years the Foundation hadincreasingly recognized that non-physician health professionals were key par-ticularly for frail elderly The Foundation thus began funding projects thatdemonstrated the efficacy of partnering nurses social workers physician as-sistants and paraprofessionals with primary care physicians in order to ad-dress the psycho-social aspects of elder patientrsquos care Then in response to aneed expressed by health care employers the Foundation supported the devel-opment of new approaches to training health professionals on how to be effec-tive team members for geriatric care Through these projects the Foundationgained an increasing appreciation for the important role of the social work pro-fessional

What also became apparent however was the distance between the geriat-ric knowledge base of existing social workers and that which would be neededto serve the growing number of older adults This prompted an exploration intothe ways to assist the social work profession build its geriatric capacity

The Exploration Process

Foundation staff began an exploration of geriatric social work Literaturesearches led to experts experts led to other leaders and conversations with na-tional social work professional organizations After six months of researchand the generous sharing of information and experience by interviews with ap-

74 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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Chapter 5

The John A Hartford FoundationGeriatric Social Initiative

Laura A Robbins MSCorinne H Rieder EdD

SUMMARY This article chronicles the development and implementa-tion of the John A Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Work Initia-tivendasha grantmaking program with total funding of $22 million as ofDecember 2001 The Foundation aims to improve the care of olderadults by increasing the capacity of social workers to care for them Thearticle describes a variety of grants to improve the gerontological train-ing of future social workers [Article copies available for a fee from TheHaworth Document Delivery Service 1-800-HAWORTH E-mail addressltdocdeliveryhaworthpresscomgt Website lthttpwwwHaworthPresscomgt copy 2002by The Haworth Press Inc All rights reserved]

KEYWORDS Geriatrics gerontology curriculum faculty develop-ment philanthropy practicum

Laura A Robbins is Senior Program Officer and Corinne H Rieder is ExecutiveDirector and Treasurer The John A Hartford Foundation 55 East 59th Street NewYork NY 10022

[Haworth co-indexing entry note] ldquoThe John A Hartford Foundation Geriatric Social Initiativerdquo Rob-bins Laura A and Corinne H Rieder Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Gerontological SocialWork (The Haworth Social Work Practice Press an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc) Vol 39 No 122002 pp 71-89 and Advancing Gerontological Social Work Education (ed M Joanna Mellor and JoannIvry) The Haworth Social Work Practice Press an imprint of The Haworth Press Inc 2002 pp 71-89 Sin-gle or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service[1-800-HAWORTH 900 am - 500 pm (EST) E-mail address docdeliveryhaworthpresscom]

httpwwwhaworthpresscomstoreproductaspsku=J083 2002 by The Haworth Press Inc All rights reserved

101300J083v39n01_08 71

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As of December 2001 the John A Hartford Foundation has committedmore than $22 million to the expansion of geriatric social work education inthe United States While only four years have elapsed since the Initiativersquos be-ginning the authors were invited to write this chapter to document the pro-gramrsquos conceptual underpinnings and its early development

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative (see author notes) seeks tostrengthen and advance social workerrsquos practice with older adults by enhanc-ing schoolrsquos capacity to train aging competent social workers It is designed tobuild on the small cadre of geriatrically knowledgeable social workers and de-velop leaders for the future It is also developing an expanded infrastructure inacademic and professional organizations which can sustain a focus on theneeds of Americarsquos older adults

THE HARTFORD GERIATRIC SOCIAL WORK INITIATIVE

Today the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative collaborates with so-cial work education programs to prepare needed aging-savvy social workersand improve the care and well-being of older adults and their families Spe-cifically the Initiative

1 Cultivates faculty leaders in gerontological education and researchthrough a Faculty Scholars Program which supports the career devel-opment and research of talented faculty and a Doctoral Fellows Pro-gram which provides dissertation support mentorship and leadershipdevelopment for promising students

2 Creates excellent training opportunities in real-world settings through aPracticum Partnership Program which is developing and testing inno-vative aging-rich rotational field experiences for graduate students thatconnect communities and schools of social work and

3 Creates new gerontological curricula and other teaching tools througha Faculty Development Program which is strengthening the ability ofsocial work to develop integrate and teach aging content in new and ex-isting courses This is being accomplished through training informationexchange and dissemination and through a Geriatric Enrichment Pro-gram which is expanding the number and quality of aging courses andlearning experiences focused on aging at both the undergraduate andgraduate levels

72 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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BACKGROUND

The John A Hartford Foundation

The family fortune that provided the Hartford Foundationrsquos endowmentcame from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company known to generationsof grocery shoppers as the A amp P The Hartford Foundation was established in1929 by John A Hartford the companyrsquos president whose father had foundedthe A amp P grocery chain in the 1850s When John and his brother George whoserved as chairman of the A amp P board died in the 1950s the bulk of their es-tates were left to the Foundation Today the Foundationrsquos assets are nearly$600 million with annual grants this year totaling $27 million

In his wisdom John Hartford felt that future generations of Trustees shouldhave the freedom to determine the Foundationrsquos direction within the overallrubric of ldquodoing the greatest good for the greatest numberrdquo Since its foundingthe Foundation has concentrated attention on the health care field an areawhere its founder and subsequent Trustees felt ldquothe greatest goodrdquo could bedone for humankind

For the past 20 years the Foundation has increasingly focused on the chal-lenges of caring for our countryrsquos growing population of older adults Hart-fordrsquos Trustees and staff are committed to ensuring that both current and futurehealth professionals who treat older adultsndashdoctors nurses and social work-ersndashare well trained in geriatrics and gerontology The Foundation is also com-mitted to developing evaluating and disseminating models of improved careso that all older adults have access to effective and affordable health care ser-vices

Understanding the Need for More Aging-Savvy Social Workers

In 1998 one of the authors [LR] was primary care giver to three frail olderadults two parentsndashone with Alzheimerrsquos disease and one revolving throughhospitals and rehabilitation carendashand an aunt with diabetes and heart ailmentswho had recently lost her husband and who had no children Though trying tomeet their needs as best as possible it was clear after Aunt Tinarsquos third hospi-talization within two months of her husbandrsquos death that a better care systemwas needed In retrospect it is evident how lucky we were to secure the ser-vices of a geriatric social worker From the first moment of her involvementwith Aunt Tina the social worker improved Tinarsquos (and the authorrsquos) qualityof life and spared the health system and its payers unnecessary costs Tinarsquoslast years of life were safe and happy because of an excellent well-trained so-cial worker who understood the unique needs of older adults the network ofservices available to apply to these needs and who had the skills to be able to

Section II School Based Initiatives 73

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form and sustain a service plan that matched Tinarsquos needs with what was avail-able The challenges and benefits reflected in this personal experience havebeen echoed in the Foundationrsquos work during the last two decades

The John A Hartford Foundation has been supporting the development ofAmericarsquos geriatric care capacity since 1981 The more we have understoodthe complexity of services needed financing streams employed and the in-creasing diversity of the nationrsquos older adults the more it has become clear thatolder adults need professionals trained in assessment and service linkage tonavigate successfully through the health and supportive service systems In-creased numbers of elderly a move toward community-based care earlier hos-pital discharges and increased expectation of patientfamily responsibilitiesndashallhave pointed to a heightened need for geriatric social workers Further the needfor better approaches to helping older adults to maintain their independence anddignity has become increasingly clear It was natural then that the Foundationturned its attention to social work After all who knows the relationship of in-dividuals to systems better than social workers and who is better positioned togive a voice to older individuals

The Foundation began to have some experience with the social work pro-fession as part of its Aging and Health Program Through its support of primar-ily medically-oriented projects over the prior twenty years the Foundation hadincreasingly recognized that non-physician health professionals were key par-ticularly for frail elderly The Foundation thus began funding projects thatdemonstrated the efficacy of partnering nurses social workers physician as-sistants and paraprofessionals with primary care physicians in order to ad-dress the psycho-social aspects of elder patientrsquos care Then in response to aneed expressed by health care employers the Foundation supported the devel-opment of new approaches to training health professionals on how to be effec-tive team members for geriatric care Through these projects the Foundationgained an increasing appreciation for the important role of the social work pro-fessional

What also became apparent however was the distance between the geriat-ric knowledge base of existing social workers and that which would be neededto serve the growing number of older adults This prompted an exploration intothe ways to assist the social work profession build its geriatric capacity

The Exploration Process

Foundation staff began an exploration of geriatric social work Literaturesearches led to experts experts led to other leaders and conversations with na-tional social work professional organizations After six months of researchand the generous sharing of information and experience by interviews with ap-

74 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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As of December 2001 the John A Hartford Foundation has committedmore than $22 million to the expansion of geriatric social work education inthe United States While only four years have elapsed since the Initiativersquos be-ginning the authors were invited to write this chapter to document the pro-gramrsquos conceptual underpinnings and its early development

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative (see author notes) seeks tostrengthen and advance social workerrsquos practice with older adults by enhanc-ing schoolrsquos capacity to train aging competent social workers It is designed tobuild on the small cadre of geriatrically knowledgeable social workers and de-velop leaders for the future It is also developing an expanded infrastructure inacademic and professional organizations which can sustain a focus on theneeds of Americarsquos older adults

THE HARTFORD GERIATRIC SOCIAL WORK INITIATIVE

Today the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative collaborates with so-cial work education programs to prepare needed aging-savvy social workersand improve the care and well-being of older adults and their families Spe-cifically the Initiative

1 Cultivates faculty leaders in gerontological education and researchthrough a Faculty Scholars Program which supports the career devel-opment and research of talented faculty and a Doctoral Fellows Pro-gram which provides dissertation support mentorship and leadershipdevelopment for promising students

2 Creates excellent training opportunities in real-world settings through aPracticum Partnership Program which is developing and testing inno-vative aging-rich rotational field experiences for graduate students thatconnect communities and schools of social work and

3 Creates new gerontological curricula and other teaching tools througha Faculty Development Program which is strengthening the ability ofsocial work to develop integrate and teach aging content in new and ex-isting courses This is being accomplished through training informationexchange and dissemination and through a Geriatric Enrichment Pro-gram which is expanding the number and quality of aging courses andlearning experiences focused on aging at both the undergraduate andgraduate levels

72 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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BACKGROUND

The John A Hartford Foundation

The family fortune that provided the Hartford Foundationrsquos endowmentcame from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company known to generationsof grocery shoppers as the A amp P The Hartford Foundation was established in1929 by John A Hartford the companyrsquos president whose father had foundedthe A amp P grocery chain in the 1850s When John and his brother George whoserved as chairman of the A amp P board died in the 1950s the bulk of their es-tates were left to the Foundation Today the Foundationrsquos assets are nearly$600 million with annual grants this year totaling $27 million

In his wisdom John Hartford felt that future generations of Trustees shouldhave the freedom to determine the Foundationrsquos direction within the overallrubric of ldquodoing the greatest good for the greatest numberrdquo Since its foundingthe Foundation has concentrated attention on the health care field an areawhere its founder and subsequent Trustees felt ldquothe greatest goodrdquo could bedone for humankind

For the past 20 years the Foundation has increasingly focused on the chal-lenges of caring for our countryrsquos growing population of older adults Hart-fordrsquos Trustees and staff are committed to ensuring that both current and futurehealth professionals who treat older adultsndashdoctors nurses and social work-ersndashare well trained in geriatrics and gerontology The Foundation is also com-mitted to developing evaluating and disseminating models of improved careso that all older adults have access to effective and affordable health care ser-vices

Understanding the Need for More Aging-Savvy Social Workers

In 1998 one of the authors [LR] was primary care giver to three frail olderadults two parentsndashone with Alzheimerrsquos disease and one revolving throughhospitals and rehabilitation carendashand an aunt with diabetes and heart ailmentswho had recently lost her husband and who had no children Though trying tomeet their needs as best as possible it was clear after Aunt Tinarsquos third hospi-talization within two months of her husbandrsquos death that a better care systemwas needed In retrospect it is evident how lucky we were to secure the ser-vices of a geriatric social worker From the first moment of her involvementwith Aunt Tina the social worker improved Tinarsquos (and the authorrsquos) qualityof life and spared the health system and its payers unnecessary costs Tinarsquoslast years of life were safe and happy because of an excellent well-trained so-cial worker who understood the unique needs of older adults the network ofservices available to apply to these needs and who had the skills to be able to

Section II School Based Initiatives 73

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form and sustain a service plan that matched Tinarsquos needs with what was avail-able The challenges and benefits reflected in this personal experience havebeen echoed in the Foundationrsquos work during the last two decades

The John A Hartford Foundation has been supporting the development ofAmericarsquos geriatric care capacity since 1981 The more we have understoodthe complexity of services needed financing streams employed and the in-creasing diversity of the nationrsquos older adults the more it has become clear thatolder adults need professionals trained in assessment and service linkage tonavigate successfully through the health and supportive service systems In-creased numbers of elderly a move toward community-based care earlier hos-pital discharges and increased expectation of patientfamily responsibilitiesndashallhave pointed to a heightened need for geriatric social workers Further the needfor better approaches to helping older adults to maintain their independence anddignity has become increasingly clear It was natural then that the Foundationturned its attention to social work After all who knows the relationship of in-dividuals to systems better than social workers and who is better positioned togive a voice to older individuals

The Foundation began to have some experience with the social work pro-fession as part of its Aging and Health Program Through its support of primar-ily medically-oriented projects over the prior twenty years the Foundation hadincreasingly recognized that non-physician health professionals were key par-ticularly for frail elderly The Foundation thus began funding projects thatdemonstrated the efficacy of partnering nurses social workers physician as-sistants and paraprofessionals with primary care physicians in order to ad-dress the psycho-social aspects of elder patientrsquos care Then in response to aneed expressed by health care employers the Foundation supported the devel-opment of new approaches to training health professionals on how to be effec-tive team members for geriatric care Through these projects the Foundationgained an increasing appreciation for the important role of the social work pro-fessional

What also became apparent however was the distance between the geriat-ric knowledge base of existing social workers and that which would be neededto serve the growing number of older adults This prompted an exploration intothe ways to assist the social work profession build its geriatric capacity

The Exploration Process

Foundation staff began an exploration of geriatric social work Literaturesearches led to experts experts led to other leaders and conversations with na-tional social work professional organizations After six months of researchand the generous sharing of information and experience by interviews with ap-

74 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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BACKGROUND

The John A Hartford Foundation

The family fortune that provided the Hartford Foundationrsquos endowmentcame from the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company known to generationsof grocery shoppers as the A amp P The Hartford Foundation was established in1929 by John A Hartford the companyrsquos president whose father had foundedthe A amp P grocery chain in the 1850s When John and his brother George whoserved as chairman of the A amp P board died in the 1950s the bulk of their es-tates were left to the Foundation Today the Foundationrsquos assets are nearly$600 million with annual grants this year totaling $27 million

In his wisdom John Hartford felt that future generations of Trustees shouldhave the freedom to determine the Foundationrsquos direction within the overallrubric of ldquodoing the greatest good for the greatest numberrdquo Since its foundingthe Foundation has concentrated attention on the health care field an areawhere its founder and subsequent Trustees felt ldquothe greatest goodrdquo could bedone for humankind

For the past 20 years the Foundation has increasingly focused on the chal-lenges of caring for our countryrsquos growing population of older adults Hart-fordrsquos Trustees and staff are committed to ensuring that both current and futurehealth professionals who treat older adultsndashdoctors nurses and social work-ersndashare well trained in geriatrics and gerontology The Foundation is also com-mitted to developing evaluating and disseminating models of improved careso that all older adults have access to effective and affordable health care ser-vices

Understanding the Need for More Aging-Savvy Social Workers

In 1998 one of the authors [LR] was primary care giver to three frail olderadults two parentsndashone with Alzheimerrsquos disease and one revolving throughhospitals and rehabilitation carendashand an aunt with diabetes and heart ailmentswho had recently lost her husband and who had no children Though trying tomeet their needs as best as possible it was clear after Aunt Tinarsquos third hospi-talization within two months of her husbandrsquos death that a better care systemwas needed In retrospect it is evident how lucky we were to secure the ser-vices of a geriatric social worker From the first moment of her involvementwith Aunt Tina the social worker improved Tinarsquos (and the authorrsquos) qualityof life and spared the health system and its payers unnecessary costs Tinarsquoslast years of life were safe and happy because of an excellent well-trained so-cial worker who understood the unique needs of older adults the network ofservices available to apply to these needs and who had the skills to be able to

Section II School Based Initiatives 73

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form and sustain a service plan that matched Tinarsquos needs with what was avail-able The challenges and benefits reflected in this personal experience havebeen echoed in the Foundationrsquos work during the last two decades

The John A Hartford Foundation has been supporting the development ofAmericarsquos geriatric care capacity since 1981 The more we have understoodthe complexity of services needed financing streams employed and the in-creasing diversity of the nationrsquos older adults the more it has become clear thatolder adults need professionals trained in assessment and service linkage tonavigate successfully through the health and supportive service systems In-creased numbers of elderly a move toward community-based care earlier hos-pital discharges and increased expectation of patientfamily responsibilitiesndashallhave pointed to a heightened need for geriatric social workers Further the needfor better approaches to helping older adults to maintain their independence anddignity has become increasingly clear It was natural then that the Foundationturned its attention to social work After all who knows the relationship of in-dividuals to systems better than social workers and who is better positioned togive a voice to older individuals

The Foundation began to have some experience with the social work pro-fession as part of its Aging and Health Program Through its support of primar-ily medically-oriented projects over the prior twenty years the Foundation hadincreasingly recognized that non-physician health professionals were key par-ticularly for frail elderly The Foundation thus began funding projects thatdemonstrated the efficacy of partnering nurses social workers physician as-sistants and paraprofessionals with primary care physicians in order to ad-dress the psycho-social aspects of elder patientrsquos care Then in response to aneed expressed by health care employers the Foundation supported the devel-opment of new approaches to training health professionals on how to be effec-tive team members for geriatric care Through these projects the Foundationgained an increasing appreciation for the important role of the social work pro-fessional

What also became apparent however was the distance between the geriat-ric knowledge base of existing social workers and that which would be neededto serve the growing number of older adults This prompted an exploration intothe ways to assist the social work profession build its geriatric capacity

The Exploration Process

Foundation staff began an exploration of geriatric social work Literaturesearches led to experts experts led to other leaders and conversations with na-tional social work professional organizations After six months of researchand the generous sharing of information and experience by interviews with ap-

74 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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form and sustain a service plan that matched Tinarsquos needs with what was avail-able The challenges and benefits reflected in this personal experience havebeen echoed in the Foundationrsquos work during the last two decades

The John A Hartford Foundation has been supporting the development ofAmericarsquos geriatric care capacity since 1981 The more we have understoodthe complexity of services needed financing streams employed and the in-creasing diversity of the nationrsquos older adults the more it has become clear thatolder adults need professionals trained in assessment and service linkage tonavigate successfully through the health and supportive service systems In-creased numbers of elderly a move toward community-based care earlier hos-pital discharges and increased expectation of patientfamily responsibilitiesndashallhave pointed to a heightened need for geriatric social workers Further the needfor better approaches to helping older adults to maintain their independence anddignity has become increasingly clear It was natural then that the Foundationturned its attention to social work After all who knows the relationship of in-dividuals to systems better than social workers and who is better positioned togive a voice to older individuals

The Foundation began to have some experience with the social work pro-fession as part of its Aging and Health Program Through its support of primar-ily medically-oriented projects over the prior twenty years the Foundation hadincreasingly recognized that non-physician health professionals were key par-ticularly for frail elderly The Foundation thus began funding projects thatdemonstrated the efficacy of partnering nurses social workers physician as-sistants and paraprofessionals with primary care physicians in order to ad-dress the psycho-social aspects of elder patientrsquos care Then in response to aneed expressed by health care employers the Foundation supported the devel-opment of new approaches to training health professionals on how to be effec-tive team members for geriatric care Through these projects the Foundationgained an increasing appreciation for the important role of the social work pro-fessional

What also became apparent however was the distance between the geriat-ric knowledge base of existing social workers and that which would be neededto serve the growing number of older adults This prompted an exploration intothe ways to assist the social work profession build its geriatric capacity

The Exploration Process

Foundation staff began an exploration of geriatric social work Literaturesearches led to experts experts led to other leaders and conversations with na-tional social work professional organizations After six months of researchand the generous sharing of information and experience by interviews with ap-

74 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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proximately 30 experts patterns began to emerge While there had been a fewpioneers in the field and some periodic funding to stimulate the developmentof a geriatric social work capacity particularly from federal sources little con-sistent and dedicated attention had been given to this field Although there aremore than 600000 practicing social workers few were specially trained tomeet the needs of the elderly In 1987 the National Institute on Aging pro-jected the need for 40-50000 geriatric social workers yet barely 10 percent ofthat number existed In the absence of a deliberate effort to increase these num-bers the projected 60-70000 geriatrically-knowledgeable (or what we havecome to call ldquoaging-savvyrdquo) social workers needed by 2020 would not beavailable

The most compelling finding from our research however was the apparentmismatch between the need for geriatric knowledge by practicing social work-ers and the training that they received in this area The results of a survey by theNational Association of Social Workers1 found that 62 percent of social work-ers in practice said they needed aging information However research by Jo-anne Damron Rodriguez in 19972 found that less than 3 percent of socialworkers received training on older adults and their needs and illnesses Thisprofound disparity between the demand for and the current and future ag-ing-savvy social workers ultimately led the Foundation to its commitment tosupporting geriatric social work development

Once the need was clear the Foundation set out to explore whether its lim-ited resources coupled with its funding style and historic strengths were a goodmatch to address this need After more consultation with experts an advisorycommittee of eleven thoughtful and experienced social work educators andproviders were convened on July 301997 in New York City The collective333 years of experience represented in the room helped to narrow the scope ofa potential response to three areas enhancing geriatrics in the social work cur-riculum strengthening geriatrics for current social workers in practice and im-proving social work services for the elderly Commissioned white papers ineach of these areas by teams of social work practitioners and educators led theFoundation to conclude that the best starting point would be the education sys-tem If successful the other areas would be addressed in the future

During this program development phase one additional key point emergedThere was an important disconnect between social work practice and the col-leges and universities that educated and trained social workers3 The Founda-tionrsquos emerging program would need to bridge that gap as well

First Phase Testing Approaches Building Awareness

To date the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative has included six pro-jects three of which were contemplated at its outset In June 1998 the nine

Section II School Based Initiatives 75

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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members of the Hartford Foundationrsquos Board of Trustees reviewed a ProgramInitiative Proposal to strengthen geriatric social work With Trustee approvalthe proposed Initiative included endorsement of efforts to (1) develop facultymembers committed to research and teaching about the health and supportiveneeds of elders (2) develop field training sites necessary for students to gain a trueappreciation of the need for and rewards of geriatric social work and (3) build con-sensus on standards for geriatric social work training and a clearinghouse for geri-atric teaching tools Woven throughout would be an effort to strengthen theconnections between those institutions that provide care to the elderly andthose that educate the professionals who will go on to provide services Withthe Trusteersquos unanimous endorsement the Foundation launched the HartfordGeriatric Social Work Initiative

The three program areas delineated in the Foundation Proposal were tar-geted to address three obstacles to the development of geriatric social workersThese limitations and the Foundationrsquos program responses are outlined in thefollowing sections In the development of these efforts we benefited greatlyfrom the insights provided in a white paper written for the Foundation Edu-cating Social Workers for an Aging Society A Vision for the Twentieth Cen-tury (A Sharlach et al 1998)

Creating Awareness and Consolidating Resources

The Initiative awarded its first grant to the Council on Social Work Educa-tion (CSWE) the sole accrediting body for social work baccalaureate and mas-terrsquos programs In September 1998 the Foundationrsquos Trustees approved a$574988 grant over two years ldquoSAGE-SWrdquondashStrengthening Aging and Ger-ontology Education for Social Workndashwas created under the leadership of JoanZlotnik PhD then special assistant to the president at CSWE The projectsought to (1) assess current social work education materials for aging content(2) determine core competencies for MSW students specializing in aging aswell as minimum competencies that all BSW students should acquire to helpolder persons maximize their potential for well-being (3) identify and describeldquobest practices modelsrdquo in gerontological social work education and (4) de-velop a ldquoblueprintrdquo to move geriatric social work education from current ca-pacities to best practices

Project staff developed a network of interested educators conducted focusgroups of aging-interested and non-aging interested faculty and collected ge-riatric education materials In addition they commissioned a survey that re-sulted in a delineation of 63 aging-related competencies that all social workersshould have upon completion of their education as well as those that agingspecialists should have A Web site (wwwcsweorgsage-sw) and newsletter

76 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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served to share information broadly and project staff and others providedtechnical assistance to help programs interested in further developing agingcontent The CSWErsquos Web site now has a geriatrics section gerontologicalnews is often in its quarterly newsletters and the number of sessions dedicatedto social work at its annual meeting have increased In addition to the specificaging-related resources developed and gathered the SAGE-SW project soundeda call to alert CSWE members to the need to prepare for the rapidly aging societyin which their graduates will be working The project culminated in ldquoA Blue-print for the New Millenniumrdquo which provides an outline for an approach tosignificantly enhance geriatric and gerontological content into social work

Faculty ShortagerarrFaculty Scholars

The second grant funded in the Initiative began to create the next generationof academic leaders to help to address the needs of the aging population

In the absence of faculty to serve as mentors role models and leaders whocan advance the science of caring for older adults few students have the oppor-tunity to experience the richness importance and excitement of geriatric socialwork Also in the absence of geriatric faculty who can create new knowledgethrough their research improvements in care for older adults have been slow toevolve One goal of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative therefore is to createmore such faculty leaders The Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholars repre-sented the first step towards this goal It was designed to attract and retain out-standing junior faculty committed to geriatric social work At its inception theProgram identified four outcomes to

bull Build the leadership development and enhance the skills of ten HartfordGeriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars poised to become the next gener-ation of leaders in geriatric social work education

bull Increase the visibility and desirability of geriatric social work supportedby new knowledge generated and reported by the Scholars through pub-lications workshops and presentations at major conferences

bull Establish a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholarswho will continue their development beyond the scope of the project and

bull Create a network of Hartford Geriatric Social Work Mentors as an ongo-ing continuing vehicle for the development of further Scholars

In March 1999 the Board of Trustees approved a $2304856 grant to sup-port the Scholars program Designed and co-led by Barbara Berkman PhDHelen RehrRuth Fizdale Professor of Social Work at Columbia Universityand Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Washington-based Ge-

Section II School Based Initiatives 77

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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rontological Society of America the program protected time for faculty andprovided them with the skills that would enhance the likelihood of their suc-cessful emergence as leaders in the field Each of the named Hartford GeriatricSocial Work Faculty Scholars received two years of research support for a proj-ect focused on social work roles in improving geriatric outcomes to be carriedout in a community-based practice setting They had explicit faculty develop-ment plans with local sponsors committed to the scholarrsquos development at theirown institutions National geriatric social work mentors (chosen from amongthe fieldrsquos current leaders) also gave direction to the scholars The two sets ofmentors provided complementary guidance one targeted to institutional profes-sional success the other to national geriatric leadership development Finallythe Scholars participated in specially-created institutes to further develop theirleadership education research skills as well as networking A national solicita-tion and an able selection committee led to the selection of 10 highly talentedfaculty from 10 masterrsquos programs from around the country

During the course of the program these committed individuals have begun toemerge as leaders of the future and have collectively coalesced as a groupcharged to create change (A list of these Hartford Geriatric Social Work FacultyScholars and their projects can be found in Appendix A) In 2000 the Trusteesapproved an expansion of this program as described later in the chapter

Aging-Rich Practicum ShortagerarrPracticum Partnership Program

Because where social work students do their practica is a predictor of whatkind of job they seek it is no surprise that in the absence of gerontologically-ori-ented practica limited numbers of students opted for careers in geriatric socialwork The goal therefore of the Practicum Partnership Program (see AuthorNote) was to create more aging rich practicum sites and training experiencesDuring the planning process for this project an advisory panel identified thecharacteristics of an excellent geriatric practicum site These traits includedexposure to elderly across the continuum of care (see Appendix B for others)In turn a graduated process was designed to stimulate change in the masterrsquosprogramsrsquo practica First all deans and directors of masterrsquos programs wereprovided with the criteria and invited to respond with a two-page letter of inter-est outlining their institutionrsquos capacity to mount an aging-rich practicum pro-gram Sixty-four programs responded nearly half of the masterrsquos programs inthe country In retrospect this overwhelming response was the Foundationrsquosfirst indication that there was significant pent-up interest in geriatrics trainingthat only needed a vehicle for expression From these 64 schools 38 were in-vited to submit planning proposals and all invited schools did In March 1999

78 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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014

ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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014

social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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014

Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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the Foundation awarded the New York Academy of Medicine a grant underthe leadership of its Senior Vice President Patricia Volland MSW MBA toserve as the coordinating center for the 11 $50000 practicum planning proj-ects which were selected The award required the creation of a consortiacomprised of a masterrsquos program in social work and a minimum of five com-munity-based service providers at least two of which had to be new to theschool Further the criteria required that these practica include rotations forstudents so that they could experience the breadth of the service networkmuch as the older clients in the community would by working with a varietyof providers who served the whole continuum of older adults from well to frailelderly After nine months of planning and development of an implementationplan and site visits by the Foundation and coordinating center staff six of theplanning sites were selected to receive awards to support full implementation

Initially the Foundation had planned to support two years of implementa-tion However during the pre-grant site visits to what would become the im-plementation sites a few things became clear First successful institutionalchange would require more than two years of support Second each of the 11planning projects had developed something novel with the potential to in-crease the attractiveness and competence of graduating social workersFinally at each site visit there were students truly eager to participate in an ag-ing practicum Therefore the Foundation amended its plans and awarded threeyears of support to the six implementation sites (see Appendix C) and provideda pool of funds both to support the other planning grant schools to further de-velop their unique features and to allow interested students from each of theseschools to receive stipends to pursue aging practica Here again it was re-quired that they rotate in their field placements in order to be exposed to a spec-trum of agencies and older adults In addition to each of the sites thecoordinating center for the program was awarded additional support to reflectthe changes in the programrsquos implementation In total the Foundationawarded $2854694 to the six demonstration sites and the expansion of the co-ordinating center

Almost three years later it is still premature to describe the full scope of themodels and their effectiveness An evaluation of the program is being con-ducted by the New York Academy of Medicine As of this writing 96 studentshave graduated from the program and 126 others are currently enrolled Themajority of those who graduated have either accepted or are pursuing jobs inaging services It has also become clear that the community partners are eagerand happy to be included in the academic enterprise and that influencing thegraduate curriculum of their future employees is important to them

Section II School Based Initiatives 79

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

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APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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Second Stage Acceleration Expansion and New Directions

The response to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative surpassed theFoundationrsquos expectations It became apparent that a good deal of latent inter-est in geriatric social work surfaced rapidly catalyzed by the program Evenrecognizing that the availability of significant new funds through the Initiativerepresented a considerable attraction towards the area there were many ex-plicit and symbolic indicators of growing interest in the field For examplespecial committees or interest groups were formed within the major socialwork organizations including the National Association of Deans and Direc-tors the National Association of Social Workers and the Baccalaureate Pro-gram Directors In addition more social workers began attending the annualmeeting of the Gerontological Society of America meeting Because of thisvigorous national response as well as the number of applicants for each of theprograms and many individual communications to program and Foundationstaff the Foundation accelerated its funding in this area Beginning in 2000Hartfordrsquos Trustees authorized a second wave of projects The next three ma-jor projects were designed to (1) broaden the pipeline leading to faculty devel-opment (2) significantly expand technical assistance and faculty developmentcapacity in geriatric social work and (3) support the geriatric enrichment ofsocial work programs across the country These programs are described below

Leadership Development Adding Cohorts to the Faculty ScholarsProgram Adding the Doctoral Fellows Program

The Foundation understood that a critical mass of leadership faculty wouldbe needed to ensure continued strengthening of the field To this end two addi-tional steps were taken The first was a renewal of the Hartford FacultyScholars program in September 2000 of $5641227 to include an additionalthree cohorts of ten faculty again to be supported for two years each While theprogram was refined based on process evaluations of the first cohortrsquos activi-ties the basic structure remained the same By 2005 at the grantrsquos conclusionwe expect that 40 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty will have completedthe program and a vital national network of outstanding faculty leaders willhave been created

The second step also in September 2000 complemented the FacultyScholars project and sought to broaden the pipeline of talented future facultywho would become geriatric social work leaders With a five-year $2445146award to the Gerontological Society of America the Foundation directed itsresources towards doctoral candidates with geriatric academic career goalsThe Doctoral Fellows Program in essence was designed to interrupt a

80 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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by [

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08

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014

ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

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ded

by [

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higa

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] at

08

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ctob

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014

social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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by [

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rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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ded

by [

Cen

tral

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08

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014

APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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ded

by [

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tral

Mic

higa

n U

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rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

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nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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by [

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rsity

] at

08

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ctob

er 2

014

V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

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nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

ldquochicken-and-eggrdquo cycle which had limited entry into careers as academic ge-riatric social work faculty With few aging-focused faculty available to pro-vide financial support through research and teaching assistantships to doctoralcandidates few of these graduate students pursued an interest in aging Thesefuture faculty were then diverted towards those areas in which faculty mem-bers with financial resources were available The result has been few new fac-ulty in aging and a continuing and unhelpful cycle

The Hartford Geriatric Social Work Doctoral Fellows Program was de-signed to attract and support a cadre of outstanding future faculty who are in-terested in aging but who in the absence of such support might have theirinterests diverted to other fields It provides two years of dissertation supportfor each Fellow at $20000 per year which is matched by the equivalent of$10000 from the Fellowrsquos university The Fellowrsquos dissertations must addressways to improve the health and well being of older persons their families andcaregivers Like the Scholarrsquos program selection is based on the quality andimportance of the project proposed the applicantrsquos commitment to aging theirleadership potential and their universityrsquos commitment to their developmentBy the programrsquos conclusion 24 new faculty members in aging will have re-ceived support Again as in the Scholars program a deliberate network amongthe Fellows is being fostered Further program elements have been designedto overlap the Faculty Scholars activities to connect to the two cohorts of com-mitted (and we trust future) faculty leaders in geriatric social work The pro-gram is under the joint leadership of James Lubben DSW MPH Professor ofSocial Welfare and Urban Planning at the University of California Los An-geles and Linda Harootyan MSW Deputy Director of the Gerontological So-ciety of America

Building on SAGE-SWndashTraining Faculty Creating New Curriculum

Social work faculty from around the country responded strongly toCSWErsquos first project SAGE-SW They expressed a clear interest in improvingtheir ability to include aging in their courses The Councilrsquos Blueprint for theNew Millennium recognized the importance of incorporating the aging compe-tencies particularly at the basic foundation course level In response inMarch 2001 the Trustees again awarded a grant to the CSWE this time for$1480692 for three years The new Faculty Development project was de-signed with two major thrusts to (1) train faculty who teach the required basiccourses in social work programs to infuse geriatric content into their les-sonsndashwith a particular focus on baccalaureate programs and (2) continue todevelop collect and support the distribution of geriatric curricular materials to

Section II School Based Initiatives 81

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

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ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

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nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

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rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

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nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

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rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

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nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

social work educators across the country By the end of this grant under theleadership of Frank Baskind PhD Dean of the Virginia Commonwealth Uni-versityrsquos School of Social Work and CSWErsquos President more than 400 bacca-laureate and masters level social worker faculty will have learned how theycan infuse more geriatric content into the foundation courses of social workWith the assistance of master teachers participants in the Faculty Develop-ment seminars will learn to translate at least one of the competencies devel-oped in the initial CSWE grant into lesson plans In addition annual meetingsopen to any educator or practitioner interested in geriatric social work will re-inforce the network of interested individuals and further strengthen the fieldOnce again the response thus far has exceeded expectations While each Fac-ulty Development Institute was designed to accommodate 35 participants sev-eral of the Institutes have been oversubscribed with requests of up to 80applicants for the early seminars Doubtless some of the demand was stimu-lated by the Geriatric Social Work Initiativersquos other projects particularly thefinal new component of the Initiative the Geriatric Enrichment Program

The GeroRich Program

The final award in the second wave of funding our Social Work Initiativeresponded to social work education programrsquos interest in strengthening the ge-riatric content of their programs Again within the social work communitythere appears to have been significant pent-up demand for support in agingResponding to this interest the Trustees approved a three-year $5244254grant to CSWE this time directed by Nancy Hooyman PhD Professor of So-cial Work at University of Washington The project is to move social work ed-ucation and training towards a ldquotransformedrdquo gerontology curriculumndashonethat will have altered structure organization and learning outcomes so that itfully incorporates gerontology into social work training The Geriatric Enrich-ment Program will work to ensure that gerontological learning opportunitiesare embedded in all relevant learning experiences for students Challenged topropose ways in which every student in every year of training receives expo-sure to geriatrics baccalaureate schools and masterrsquos programs were invited tosubmit proposals for up to $30000 per year for two years In addition the pro-gram required participation for a third unfunded year Because of the Founda-tionrsquos desire to reach a broad spectrum of schools nationally the selectionprocess included a diverse range of programs including publicprivatesmallmediumlarge geographic diversity(including rural sites) and a rangeof innovations One hundred and three of the 611 eligible programs submittedproposals

82 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Two Phases A Hopeful Start

Between 1998 when the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative was de-veloped and December 2001 geriatric social work has become more visiblewithin social work education some 200 schools have some enhanced in-volvement in geriatric social work education and at least 130 agencies have de-veloped collaborations with education institutions Further each of theparticipating professional social work organizations have developed a mecha-nism to address aging issues At least $4 million from non-Hartford funding hasbeen directed by private sources to geriatric social work For example theHearst Foundation has awarded a total of $25 million in endowments for ge-riatric social work stipend support to 5 schools of social work Other Founda-tions such as the Archstone Foundation in California and the BurdenFoundation in New York have also made awards for geriatric social workenrichment to social work programs

Finally the Trustees and staff at the Hartford Foundation greatly appreciateand want to thank all those who have dedicated significant time and care to thedevelopment and execution of the Initiative and its constituent programsndashfromconsultants to program leaders to applicants and other funders Your contribu-tions have helped to create an environment in which older adults in the futurewill be able to have the benefit of well-trained knowledgeable aging-savvysocial workers

AUTHOR NOTE

We have chosen to use the term ldquogeriatricrdquo rather than gerontological to describeour Initiative While we understand that some in the social work community feel theseterms describe significantly different aspects of theory and practice related to olderpeople we prefer to use them interchangeably and do so throughout this article

The Practicing Partnership Program was originally called the Geriatric Social WorkPracticum Implementation Project

NOTES

1 Peterson D A amp Wendt P F (1990) Employment in the Field of Aging ASurvey of Professionals in Four Fields The Gerontologist 30 (5) 679-684

2 Damron-Rodriguez J Villa V Tseng H F amp Lubben J E (1997) Demo-graphic and Organizational Influences on the Development of Gerontological SocialWork Curriculum Gerontology and Geriatrics Education 17 (3) 3-18

3 Volland P Berkman B Stein G amp Vaghy A (2000) Social Work Educationfor Practice in Health Care Final Report New York Academy of Medicine

Section II School Based Initiatives 83

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX A

1999-2001 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Margaret Adamek PhDIndiana University School of Social WorkResearch project Barriers to Treating Geriatric Depression in Long-TermCare A Research Update

Denise Burnette PhDColumbia University School of Social WorkResearch project Self-Care of Chronic Health Conditions The Experience ofUrban African American Elders Self-Care

Letha Chadiha PhDGeorge Warren Brown School of Social WorkWashington University in St LouisResearch project Beyond Coping An Empowerment Intervention with Afri-can Americans Caregivers of Dependent Low Income Elders

Nancy Kropf PhDUniversity of Georgia School of Social WorkResearch project ldquoLetrsquos Talkrdquo A Intervention for Grandparents RaisingGrandchildren

Ji Seon Lee PhDFordham University Graduate School of Social ServicesResearch project Social Work Services and Patient Outcomes in Home HealthCare

Philip McCallion PhDSUNY-Albany School of Social WelfareResearch project An Evaluation of the FDCE Program for Spouse Caregiversof Persons with Dementia

Matthias Naleppa PhDVirginia Commonwealth University School of Social WorkResearch project Evaluation of Geriatric Task-Centered Case Management

Cynthia Poindexter PhDBoston University School of Social WorkResearch project HIV-Infected and HIV-Affected Elders Experiences strengthsand needs

84 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

Section II School Based Initiatives 89

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Stephanie Robert PhDUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social WorkResearch project Examining changes in publicly-funded long-term care ser-vices under Family Care-Wisconsinrsquos pilot long-term care project

Jeanette Semke PhDUniversity of Washington in Seattle School of Social WorkResearch project Community Residential Care for Older Adults with Neuro-psychiatric Disorders

2001-2003 Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars

Patricia Brownell PhDFordham University New York NYResearch topic Evaluation of the first elder abuse shelter in the US

Sandra Sue Butler MSW PhDUniversity of Maine Orono MEResearch topic Evaluation of the impact of the Senior Companion Program onelders and companions

Sherry M Cummings MSW PhDUniversity of Tennessee Nashville TNResearch topic Evaluation of an interdisciplinary geriatric mental health team

Charles A Emlet ACSW PhDUniversity of Washington Tacoma WAResearch topic Exploration of sources of social support for older adults withHIVAIDS

Betty J Kramer PhDUniversity of Wisconsin Madison WIResearch topic Study of providers of end of life care for frail elders in man-aged care

Hong Li MSW PhDUniversity of Illinois Urbana ILResearch topic Examination of the adequacy of informal and formal servicesused by rural demented elders

Section II School Based Initiatives 85

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

86 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

Section II School Based Initiatives 87

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

88 ADVANCING GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cen

tral

Mic

higa

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08

42 0

8 O

ctob

er 2

014

University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

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Yat-Sang (Terry) Lum PhDUniversity of Minnesota St Paul MNResearch topic Analysis of factors influencing well-being of nursing homeresidents

Ailee Moon PhDUCLA Los Angeles CAResearch topic A crosscultural study of factors that influence practice re-sponses to elder abuse

Michael W Parker DSWUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa ALResearch topic A study of long distance caregiving among US army officers

Tazuko Shibusawa MSW PhDColumbia University New York NYResearch topic A comparative study of partner abuse experienced by olderBlack Latina and Caucasian women

The ten Scholars were selected by a National Program Committee comprisedof Dr Amanda Barusch University of Utah Dr David Biegel Case WesternReserve University Dr Nancy Hooyman University of Washington SeattleDr Amy Horowitz Lighthouse International Dr Rosalie Kane University ofMinnesota Dr James Lubben University of California Los Angeles DrDeborah Padgett New York University and Dr Marsha Mailick Seltzer Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison

National Selection Committee

The National Selection Committee is comprised of

Dr Amanda Barusch University of UtahDr David Biegel Case Western Reserve UniversityDr Ruth Dunkle University of MichiganDr James Lubben UCLADr Deborah Padgett New York University

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

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APPENDIX B

Essential Components for Geriatric Field Practicum Education

Required Components

I Practicum sites with well developed basic and aging specific practice

A Readiness to provide quality educational experiencesB Leadership in aging services with a commitment to learningC Ability to enhance student knowledge of the aging population and theaging process and to support practice skill developmentD Ability to expose students to client experiences along the aging continuumE Ability to expose multidisciplinary practice

II Consensus between AgencySchoolStudent

A Goals of field practicum clearly definedB Learning objectives that incorporate the aging continuum effectivelyC Standards for student training with clearly defined educational outcomesD Clear communication and structured links betweenamong consor-tium members

III Competent field supervision

A Understanding of adult learning stylesB Ability to provide structured learning experiencesC Experience and knowledge of the aging process

Desired Components

IV Integrated learning opportunities that connect fieldcourse content

A Coordinated by field instructorB Jointly taught by field instructorfacultyC Peer (student) participationD Student opportunities to integrate fieldcourse content (ie class re-ports rounds practice based research case discussions in class)

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

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V Agency practicecourse content that reflects the current needs of the agingpopulation along the continuum

A Cultural diversityB Aging continuumC Multidisciplinary practice

VI Commitment to innovation by Council on Social Work Education stan-dards

APPENDIX C

Practicum Implementation Sites

Hunter College City University of New YorkNew York NYRose Dobrof DSWJoann Ivry PhD ACSW$325000 Three Years

State University of New York AlbanyAlbany NYRonald W Toseland PhDAnne E Fortune PhD$323640 Three Years

University of California BerkeleyBerkeley CABarrie Robinson MSSWAndrew Sharlach PhD$475000 Three Years

University of HoustonHouston TXVirginia Cooke Robbins LMSW ACPEllen Stevens-Roseman MSW DSW ACSW$325000 Three Years

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

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University of MichiganAnn Arbor MIRuth Dunkle PhDLily Jarman-Rhode MSW$325000 Three Years

Partners In Care FoundationBurbank CAW June Simmons LCSWJoAnn Damron Rodriguez PhD$475000 Three Years

Coordinating Center

New York Academy of MedicineNew York NYPatricia J Volland MSW MBA$606054 Three Years

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