Graduate Social Work Students' Interest in Working with Older Adults

Abstract

This study examined Master's in Social Work students' (N = 304) interest in working with older adults following the use of case studies to infuse aging content into the foundation social work curriculum. Faculty members were provided with extensive materials to support their use of the cases with aging content in class. Compared to an earlier study, students were significantly more interested in working with older adults after they were exposed to the cases. Factors that predicted students' interest include age and attitude towards aging, specifically seeing older adults as having vitality. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• Social Work Education
• Aging Content
• Case Studies
• MSW Students
• Interest in Aging

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation as part of the Geriatric Enrichment in Social Work Education Project. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Linda White‐Ryan to the literature review.