Implementing a Gero-Infused Curriculum in Advanced-Level MSW Courses in Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse: An Evaluation

Abstract

This article presents evaluation results from a curricular innovation aimed at increasing the capacity of social work graduates to serve older adults in health, mental health, and substance abuse settings. Working as a team, faculty developed, incorporated, and evaluated gerontology-infused syllabi and teaching modules in multiple sections of the 3 courses, with 2 sections serving as a comparison group. Results indicated that students exposed to the gero-infused curriculum increased their age-related knowledge and self-competence from pre- to posttest, and achieved a greater increase in knowledge than did the comparison group. Implications of the findings to social work education are discussed.

Keywords:

• Gerontology
• mental health
• health
• substance abuse
• curriculum
• education

Development of gerontology teaching modules was made possible through a Gero Innovations Grant from the Council on Social Work Education Gero-Ed Center's Master's Advanced Curriculum (MAC) Project and the John A. Hartford Foundation.