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Shepherd University

Shepherd’s BEL project aimed to increase student contact and comfort with older adults, as well as generate or strengthen interest in gerontological field education and social work practice. Through activities which invited elders into the classroom and assignments which send students out into the community, students had several opportunities to examine their beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about aging and to broaden their perspectives as they hear from and talk with older adults. Through in-class presentations and activities, first and second year students met older adults who were current or retired social workers or human service professionals in a variety of fields of practice. Participants discussed not only adulthood and aging, but a wide variety of issues concerning today's social workers. In the junior year, students learning about social work practice with groups facilitated mutual aid groups with older adults in assisted living and skilled nursing facilities throughout our community. Classroom discussions and course assignments helped students to integrate these experiences into their existing framework for understanding practice with older adults.

Courses that Included Experiential Activity:

  • Introduction to Social Work
  • Practice with Groups

Gero Practice Behaviors:

  • Assess and address values and biases regarding aging.
  • Respect and promote older adult clients’ right to dignity and self-determination.
  • Respect diversity among older adult clients, families, and professionals (e.g., class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation).
  • Address the cultural, spiritual, and ethnic values and beliefs of older adults and families.
  • Relate concepts and theories of aging to social work practice (e.g., cohorts, normal aging, and life course perspective).
  • Relate social work perspectives and related theories to practice with older adults (e.g., person-in environment, social justice).
  • Identify issues related to losses, changes, and transitions over their life cycle in designing interventions.
  • Support persons and families dealing with end-of-life issues related to dying, death, and bereavement.
  • Use empathy and sensitive interviewing skills to engage older clients in identifying their strengths and problems.
  • Adapt interviewing methods to potential sensory, language, and cognitive limitations of the older adult.
  • Administer and interpret standardized assessment and diagnostic tools that are appropriate for use with older adults (e.g., depression scale, Mini-Mental Status Exam).
  • Develop clear, timely, and appropriate service plans with measurable objectives for older adults.
  • Establish rapport and maintain an effective working relationship with older adults and family members.
  • Enhance the coping capacities and mental health of older persons through a variety of therapy modalities (e.g., supportive, psychodynamic).
  • Utilize group interventions with older adults and their families (e.g., bereavement groups, reminiscence groups).
  • Mediate situations with angry or hostile older adults and/or family members.
  • Use educational strategies to provide older persons and their families with information related to wellness and disease management (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, end of life care).
  • Apply skills in termination in work with older adults and their families.
  • Develop program budgets that take into account diverse sources of financial support for the older population.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of practice and programs in achieving intended outcomes for older adults.