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National Social Work Survey and Aging Issues
Cynthia Stuen, PhD, DSW,
Senior Vice President for Education, Lighthouse International; Chair,
National NASW Specialty Practice Section on Aging
A sense of urgency, given the demographic landscape of our country, led NASW to conduct a benchmark national survey of licensed social workers to plan for future needs for our profession. Preliminary results of this study were presented at the Social Work Congress 2005, held in Washington, this past March.
As chair of the NASW Specialty Practice Section on Aging and a member
of the Expert Review Panel for this study, I wish to highlight a few of
the preliminary findings that have particular relevance to issues of gerontological
practice.
A mail survey, carried out by the University of Albany Center for Health
Workforce Studies, was conducted in fall, 2004. A random sample of 10,000
licensed social workers was selected because they represent frontline
practitioners, and because the state licensing lists provide a vehicle
to reach practitioners. The response rate to the survey was 49.4 percent.
A few key survey findings are as follows:
• The social work labor force is older than that of most professions
and occupations.
• The current social work labor force is expected to decrease significantly
over the next two years.
• A significant number of social workers provide services to older
adults and children, both vulnerable populations requiring specialized
knowledge and skill.
• Social workers have experienced increased demands in their work,
but decreased resources and supports in recent years.
In terms of the ‘aging’ social work labor force, nearly 30%
of the social workers are over 55 years of age, compared with 14% of the
US civilian labor force; which means that a disproportionate number of
social workers will leave the field in the next several years. Thirteen
percent of social workers plan to leave their current positions in the
next two years. Of those, 6% plan to retire, 5% plan to leave the field
but continue working, and 2% plan to stop working. Another factor of this
study reveals that the median age for social workers working in aging
is 50 compared to a median age of 46 among social workers serving children
and families.
Relevance For Serving Older Adults
Replacing these experienced older- aged cohorts of social workers will
be especially important in terms of serving the burgeoning older adult
population anticipated with the baby boom cohorts.
Seventy-five percent of social workers in this survey report that they
have older adults (55 years and over) in their caseloads and 24% report
that older adults comprise at least 50% of their caseloads. Yet, less
than 10% of respondents reported aging as their primary practice area.
There is clearly a need to provide more education to social workers in
age-generic practice settings, about the specialized skills required to
serve older adults. In the process, they may find themselves proud to
identify themselves as a gerontological social worker.
The Special Practice Section on Aging of NASW seeks to raise awareness
about the challenge and excitement in providing social work services to
older adults. We hope more social workers will join our network when they
renew their annual membership or join today by going online at www.socialworkers.org/sections.