Optimizing Geriatric Social Work Education: Program and Individual Characteristics That Promote Competencies

Abstract

Since 1998, the Hartford Partnership Program in Aging Education (HPPAE) has been implemented in over 70 graduate social work programs. This study examined whether program and individual student characteristics are associated with students' knowledge, skills, and values in aging. We conducted a secondary analysis of national program evaluation data. Results from hierarchical linear models indicated greater gains in knowledge of aging among full-time students, as well as students in programs that had defined field rotation models and/or that made greater use of geriatric social work competencies. Implications for efforts to enhance graduate social work education in aging are discussed.

Keywords:

• older adults
• aging
• program evaluation
• social work education
• field education

Notes

The authors extend gratitude to the principal investigators, key personnel, and students of the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPAE). The authors also thank the John A. Hartford Foundation and the New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute for their support of HPPAE evaluation research.