This article reports the results of a study on the impact of an online meditation (OMP) program in building resilience and geriatric social work competencies among postgraduate social work students across contexts. The OMP was fairly effective (Cohen's d range=4.84-5.49, p[less than or equal to] 0.012), and students who participated in it…

Professional shortages of geriatrically trained social workers pose a barrier to mental health care for older adults. Integrating graduate social work interns into primary care settings may increase the availability of trained social workers. However, few studies provide guidance on how to develop an interprofessional healthcare placement focused…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how multicultural counseling students expressed their understandings about themselves and others in relation to diversity. The authors wanted to know how cognitive development, affective development, and sense of self-evolved during a multicultural counseling class to examine all aspects of growth.…

The BSW Experiential Learning (BEL) Program aims to infuse intergenerational content into the curriculum and recruit students to the field of social work by implementing face-to-face learning opportunities with older adults. This article discusses and compares the experiences of 4 diverse BEL projects that implemented gero-experiential learning…

Social work education and social work practitioners are being impacted by the significant increase in the older adult population. Most social work faculty members have not been teaching their students how to work effectively with older adults (Hooyman, 2006). Social work educators need to provide more effective gerontology instruction in order to…

As the "Baby Boom" population ages, the geriatric population will grow to be the largest cohort in history. Elders are considered to be members of a diverse population and, therefore, topics related to older adulthood should be addressed within multicultural training. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among counselor…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an experiential learning project with BSW students to see if their perceptions of older adults have changed. The project consisted of an oral history project and presentation that matched BSW students with older adults from diverse ethnic backgrounds to gather their immigration narratives. The study used a…

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among counselors' self-reported multicultural counseling competence and their attitudes of the geriatric population. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between participants' attitudes of the geriatric population and their self-reported multicultural counseling…

Mental health needs of older persons are projected to grow significantly over the course of the next years. Consequently, the need for training counselors to work with the aging population is presented. Addressed are 4 curriculum models, as well as areas of training related to geriatric counseling, that can be incorporated into counselor training…

Changing U.S. demographics and family composition are challenging social work education programs to reposition and reconsider how to prepare students for practice in the field of geriatrics. Implications for future social service and health care needs include ongoing training and education of students with competencies in serving geriatric…

Describes the "Peer Support System," which involved older people in the provision of improved mental health services, including education and service identification. The program consisted of recruiting and training 48 peer counselors, and conducting monthly health education workshops. Funded by the Administration on Aging, the project…

In spite of statistics that show that demographically there are increasingly more women than men as people age, and that epidemiologically women are more likely than men to utilize health services, most health services continue to be based on research and training that is both age and gender biased. Few mental health professionals are…

The authors stress the importance of counseling the elderly and indicate the lack of attention to this field. They make a series of suggestions to establish courses and practicums concerning gerontology. (SE)

The Geriatric Social Work Practicum Partnership Program was funded to attract graduate students to the field of aging and to strengthen field education in geriatric social work. Rotation was selected to achieve the program's goals to provide students with exposure to the spectrum of care in geriatric social work services. This paper describes the…