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The Aging Imperative: Preparing the Social Work Labor Force
Patricia
Volland, MSW, MBA, Senior Vice President, Finance & Administration,
The New York Academy of Medicine, and Director, Social Work Leadership
Institute (left)
Sarah Sisco, MPH, MSW, Program Officer, The New York Academy of Medicine
(right)
An estimated 20 percent of the global population will be 60 years of age by the year 2030; this population will then exceed the numbers of those under the age of 60. Progressive medical treatments, public health practices, individual health behaviors and advances in scientific knowledge have extended the national life span. This progress is challenged by other significant changes: increased healthcare spending, increased medical and nursing home utilization, and, most significantly, an increase in individual living with persistent chronic conditions and disabilities. These changes disproportionately impact older adults.
As social workers dedicated to the health and well being of all persons,
we serve a critical role in meeting the needs of the “baby boomer”
generation as they begin to reach older ages. The National Institute of
Aging estimates the nation will require 70,000 trained, “aging savvy”
professional social workers by 2020; a 43% increase over the current social
work labor force. In addition, fewer than 3% of social work students currently
specialize in gerontology. It is imperative that social workers become
skilled leaders in the field of aging, and that we develop incentives
for students to make career choices that will result in social workers
with knowledge and skills to assist older adults and their families.
To address this problem, the John A. Hartford Foundation has invested
over $31 million to create a multifaceted education initiative that will
improve the capacity of schools of social work to train future generations
of social workers to meet the challenges of an aging society. Hartford’s
investments in students, faculty, new aging curricula, community-university
partnerships and educational tools have raised awareness and promoted
change.
As part of the Hartford’s Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI),
the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has developed training programs
for faculty to infuse aging content in the core curriculum. The Gerontology
Society of America has implemented two programs, the Faculty Scholars
Program and the Doctoral Fellows Program, to create a supply of faculty
who are highly competent to teach and conduct research in the field of
aging.
A key component of the GSWI is the Practicum Partnership Program coordinated
by the New York Academy of Medicine’s Social Work Leadership Institute.
The PPP was created to recruit students to the field of aging and increase
the number of aging-rich field practicum sites in MSW educational programs.
The Practicum Partnership Program (PPP) aims to promote partnerships between
universities and community-based organizations to accomplish this goal
for masters level social work students. Besides adhering to a set of core
competencies, the PPP setting promotes shared responsibility for learning
and provides students with financial support while experiencing a range
of aging-rich practicum settings. The PPP combines this rotation model
of education with essential core competencies to prepare students for
practice. Outcome-related knowledge, skills, and values are integrated
into PPP coursework to bolster the learning experience in the practice
environment.
A pilot program of the PPP, which involved six sites (11 MSW programs
and over 100 community agencies) nationwide, was implemented in 2000 with
great success. The PPP has resulted in improved relationships between
universities and local aging organizations—in fact, the number of
aging field placements increased by 43% at these sites. Over 400 competent
social workers have been trained in PPP sites, and 79.5% of PPP graduates
were working in the field of aging one to two years out of school.
As a result of the success of this pilot PPP initiative, the Hartford
Foundation, in partnership with the Social Work Leadership Institute at
the New York Academy of Medicine, will fund 60 graduate social work programs
during the next eight years to adopt high quality, aging-rich field experiences
for MSW students to further increase the number of graduate students who
specialize in gerontology and to develop new sites for fieldwork in aging
that become permanent components of social work education.
Other foundations have joined the Hartford Foundation to build capacity
and promote education and training for social workers to meet the aging
imperative. Atlantic Philanthropies has created the Institute for Geriatric
Social Work at Boston University School of Social Work to improve education
and policy links for global social work professionals. In addition, the
Hearst Foundation has established a scholarship program in several schools
of social work.
As always, part of the challenge of implementing significant changes to
social work curricula and training nationwide is being able to sustain
these changes over time. Promotion of diverse fundraising strategies,
dedicated advocacy and policy development initiatives and creative solutions
will further establish aging as a central part of the professional social
work experience.
The Social Work Leadership Institute at the New York Academy of Medicine
is committed to making certain these changes become the norm in social
work education and that public policies support the retention of qualified
social workers in the aging labor force. With the life spans of older
people ever increasing, ensuring that the social work profession is grounded
in sound research and practice becomes vital to us as professionals and
to the variety of clients we aim to serve.