The Future of Gerontological Social Work: What We Know and What We Don't Know about Student Interest in the Field

Abstract

As baby boomers age, social work leaders predict there will be a significant shortage of gerontological social workers to care for the older population. Research to explore this predicted shortage has focused on reasons why social work students do not appear interested in working with the older population. Most reasons cluster around three broad research constructs that include: (a) attitudes toward the older population, (b) knowledge about the older population, and (c) personal and professional experience with the older population. In this article the author presents a systematic review of current research to determine what we do and do not know about social work student interest in working with the older population.

Keywords::

• Older adults
• gerontological social work
• attitudes toward aging
• knowledge of aging