Employment in nursing homes is projected to increase from 583,000 in 1973 to 1,036,000 in 1985. Substantially more workers are expected to be employed in nearly all occupations. The projected growth of 78% is faster than that expected in any segment of the health industry. Most nursing home employees are service workers. Two of these occupational…

Social variables that may be associated with mental health in geriatric severely mentally retarded individuals (N=10, mean age 59) were studied. The results indicated that as the frequency of staff resident noninteractions (while in physical proximity) increases, the amount of constructive behaviors exhibited by the clients decreases. (Author/PHR)

Availability of nursing home beds was a strong predictor of institutional care. Higher rates of community care occurred where there were greater expenditures for protective, legal, chore, day care and social/recreation services and, in which there were more older persons in poverty and fewer women working. (Author)

The 1975 to 1985 graduates of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry were surveyed to evaluate the influence on dental practice of a comprehensive geriatric dental curriculum introduced in 1980. Those who graduated before 1980 were more likely to be consultants in nursing homes than carrying out comprehensive care for this population.…

Family physicians may lack discriminatory ability to differentiate normal aging form disease states. To assess such ability, 53 aging-related indicators or symptoms were presented to 65 physicians in 3 family practice residency programs. Respondents classified each symptom as normal aging or disease. On average, residents classified 73.4% of…

The process of students' evaluation in medical schools has changed from a tutor-led evaluation system based on students' performance to a student-based evaluation that involves self-reflection and their level of change in skills and attitudes. At the McGill University Division of Geriatric Medicine, we developed an innovative system of evaluation…

Because of administrative difficulties, therapeutic services provided at a nursing home by Project Adapt, through the St. Louis (Missouri) Regional Community Placement Program, were discontinued. At 2-month intervals, from June through December, 1986, 10 residents from the home where services were discontinued were compared with 10 and 15…

The need for the incorporation of training in geriatrics and gerontology into basic medical and dental education has recently been recognized. Existing studies which attempt to measure the attitudes of medical and dental students toward the aged are extremely limited. As part of a larger study of attitudes and knowledge among 500 health workers,…

The development of trained manpower in gerontology for the delivery of health and social services to older adults in Pennsylvania is the focus of an ongoing adult education program at The Pennsylvania State University. This paper discusses the theoretical and methodological bases for this program, with emphasis on the importance of linking…

The purpose of this study is four-fold. First, to determine the current status of program offerings for the aging in selected institutions of higher education. Second, to ascertain if any programs designed to train personnel to work with the aging are currently being offered. Third, to determine what plans for future programs were being made by…

Students at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York taking a required clinical clerkship in geriatrics were surveyed before and after the clerkship on their knowledge of geriatrics, attitudes toward the elderly, and evaluation of the rotation. (Author/MLW)

A survey of U.S. dental schools to determine the status of geriatric dentistry in the curriculum is discussed. Evidence of growing commitment is shown by deans who plan to give geriatric dentistry increasing priority in the future and by the fact that all schools now teach geriatric dentistry in some way. (MLW)

Draws on two studies of the impaired elderly (N=332) to address the potential impact of public payments to persons providing in-home care for the impaired elderly. Findings suggest family members are heavily involved in support for the elderly and institutionalization is most often the result of nonfinancial factors. (Author/JAC)

Assessed long-term effects of a seminar on aging for first-year medical students (N=19) prior to medical school graduation. Compared to controls (N=28), seminar students held more favorable attitudes toward the elderly and perceived contacts with elderly patients in a more complex manner, suggesting lasting effects. (Author/JAC)

Death rates among those referred to project services were lower within the first six months after enrollment, and the mortality rate difference was maintained throughout the first year. Death rate differences were related to specific long-term care services recommended and received, and to initial functional health status. (Author)