|
ORLANDO, Feb. 20, 2008 — The School of Social Work at the University of Central Florida has been awarded $75,000 over three years from the John A. Hartford Foundation to develop an innovative program that prepares social workers to specialize in older adult care.
Called the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education, the program addresses the growing demand for social workers as the nation’s aging population is expected to more than triple by 2050. It will be launched at UCF this fall, with the first group of graduates expected in 2009.
The program is designed to encourage students earning a Master of Social Work to pursue careers in geriatric social work. Students who enroll in the program will receive a stipend while gaining experience working with elderly populations through a series of rotating internships.
The internships will be offered by a consortium of private and publicly funded agencies — including home-based care, community centers, hospitals, and assisted-living facilities — that provide aging services in Brevard, Flagler, Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties. By interning at several agencies, the students will be able to work with three elderly groups: older adults who are well, those who have functional impairments and those who are nearing the end of life and their families.
As students move through the internships, they will be expected to gain expertise in working with each of these groups, according to Jill Davis, director of field education and co-director of the program. Consequently, this will expand the teaching roles for agency field instructors.
“This internship approach has been validated empirically to increase student expertise and commitment in the field of geriatric social work in schools across the country,” said Denise Gammonley, assistant professor of social work and co-director of the program.
In Central Florida, there is already a great demand for social workers with expertise in aging adults.
“Approximately 17 percent of Central Florida residents are 60 or older,” Gammonley said. “We estimate that about 40 percent of these older residents have at least moderate social and health-care needs because of disabilities or poverty.”
Demand will only grow as the region continues to experience rapid growth, she added.
The UCF’s School of Social Work is one of 21 schools nationwide to receive the award. These schools will join 41 others around the country that have adopted the field education model developed by the New York Academy of Medicine’s Social Work Leadership Institute, with support from the Hartford Foundation.
To date about 600 students have graduated from Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education around the country, and 80 percent of them have gone on to pursue careers in the aging field.
— Karen Guin
Photo by Thomas Alan Smilie
|
