The population of older adults is growing rapidly and there will be an increased need for psychological services for this population. Current estimates indicate a significant workforce gap such that all psychologists, regardless of specialty area, will likely be called upon to work with older adults. Education and experience in the care of older…

The increased number of older adults attributes to a rising need for future professionals to work in geriatric and gerontological fields. Understanding the influence of students' career choices is important. A study applying mixed method including both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted among students' taking a gerontology course…

A lack of knowledge in registered nurses about geriatric conditions is one of the major factors that contribute to these conditions being overlooked in hospitalized older people. In China, an innovative geriatric continuing nursing education program aimed at developing registered nurses' understanding of the complex care needs of hospitalized…

This study surveys elementary and secondary teachers in Taiwan and compares the findings with other studies conducted in America and Japan. The objective is to explore differences among teachers in Taiwan, Japan, and the United States in terms of their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, aging and the implementation of aging education in schools.…

The international community is facing the pressure of aging societies. In the United States of America, we will shortly be facing the aging of baby boomers, a dramatically large population expected to peak as senior citizens in 2030 at 70 million. Global societies are facing a crisis: lack of adequately trained and emotionally oriented personnel…

An intergenerational initiative was developed and implemented to enhance gerontology in the first course of the practice sequence. Seventeen students met with older adults (ages 82-98) in the classroom and at an assisted living facility. The evaluation of this older adult infusion project was conducted through two questionnaires and by the review…

The Knowledge of Memory Aging Questionnaire (KMAQ) (Cherry, Brigman, Hawley, & Reese, 2003) measures laypersons' knowledge of normal memory changes in late life and pathological deficits due to nonnormative factors such as adult dementia. In this study, we examined memory knowledge in community college and university students, caregivers, and…

Preparing youngsters for an aging society requires teachers who keep pace with health science research. The Stealth Gerontology[TM] program educates teachers regarding aging-related issues. The design and assessment of the program are reported in this paper. Teachers attended sessions including direct instruction and hands-on participation (e.g.,…

Past research and educational efforts in gerontological nursing have revealed that nursing care of the older person has received a low priority by practicing nurses and nursing students. To measure registered nurses' changes in knowledge about aging, nine registered nurses (mean age, 30.7 years, mean number of years nursing experience, 6.9)…

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…

This study assesses undergraduate knowledge of aging, distinguishing between types of deficits (ignorance vs. misinformation) and content areas as delineated by a biopsychosocial framework. Knowledge is examined as an outcome of taking an aging elective, while accounting for course rating and knowledge retention. A diverse body of UCLA…