Research and Reports

2008 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report:
Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce
This report proposes a three-pronged approach to provide older adults and their families with the best possible healthcare, one of which is to increase the competence of all individuals in geriatric health care delivery via "significant enhancements in educational curricula and training programs." The Gero-Ed Center’s curricular infusion programs are congruent with the IOM recommendation; these programs provide faculty the tools to infuse gero competencies, content, and teaching resources in foundation and generalist curriculum with the aim of preparing all social work graduates with foundation gerontological competencies.
IOM Report (when page opens, click the blue "Sign In" button to download a free PDF report)
IOM Fact Sheet: Retooling for an Aging America (April 2008)

State of the Science: Professional Partners Supporting Family Caregiving
A report entitled “State of the Science: Professional Partners Supporting Family Caregivers” was published through the Journal of Social Work Education (JSWE) and the American Journal of Nursing (AJN). Full-text articles from JSWE are available online. The AJN edition is also available on the AJN Family Caregiving web page. These projects were made possible by funding from the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation.
Caregiving Report

Infusion of Gerontology Content in 2005 and 2006 Bachelor and Master of Social Work Accreditation Reports: A Content Analysis
CSWE Senior Scholar, Dr. John Rife of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro completed an extensive review, with permission, of accreditation self-study documents from 45 social work programs. This review is the first of its kind at CSWE, and its primary purpose was to document the frequency of gerontology related content in social work curricula. This study provides a baseline snapshot of the frequency and context of recent gerontology infusion.
Executive Summary (PDF)

A Blueprint for the New Millennium
How can the social work profession be prepared to meet the challenges of a growing aging population and build on the opportunities of these changing demographics? To answer this question, the former CSWE Strengthening Aging and Gerontological Education for Social Work Project (SAGE-SW) developed A Blueprint for the New Millennium to guide efforts to train social workers with geriatric competencies.
Blueprint on Aging (PDF)

Gero-Ed Census
The Gero-Ed Census maps the infusion of gerontology within social work programs across the United States by indicating which programs have participated in Hartford-sponsored geriatric initiatives, such as GeroRich, Hartford Fellows, Hartford Scholars, SAGE-SW FDIs, Gero-Ed Institutes, and/or CDIs. In addition to data from the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI), the Gero-Ed Census incorporates the CSWE Annual Statistics on gerontological education among accredited social work programs (see below for description of the CSWE statistics). These data will inform CSWE’s ongoing work, and the work of the Hartford Foundation, to target schools, through future program initiatives, which have not yet participated in gerontological infusion initiatives.
Gero-Ed Census

CSWE Annual Statistics
One of the Gero-Ed Center’s objectives is to analyze the current state of gerontology in social work education. Beginning with the 2004-2005 academic year, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) incorporated questions regarding gerontology in its ongoing data collection from its member schools (CSWE Annual Statistics). The inclusion of questions relevant to policy analysis and mapping of organizational change efforts in gerontological social work education will help to inform social work educators, policy-makers, and researchers about relevant academic program initiatives. These data are the primary source for the Gero-Ed Census and will be available each year in late spring.
CSWE Annual Program Statistics

Blueprint for Measuring Social Work's Contribution to Psychosocial Care in Nursing Homes: Results of a National Conference
In December 2004, a working conference of leaders from policy, government, social work, psychiatry, and nursing met to develop a plan to improve psychosocial care in nursing homes. This working conference, organized by the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR) in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Social Work and the Institute for Geriatric Social Work (IGSW), was funded by a grant to IASWR from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Blueprint for Measuring

The Shortage of Social Workers Caring for Elders and Their Families in Social Work, Aging and Public Policy: A Bulletin from IGSW and NYAM
This publication is the first in a series of Policy Bulletins from IGSW that will examine public policy issues concerning the provision of care in our rapidly aging society, particularly with respect to the profession of social work. This Policy Bulletin is a collaborative effort between IGSW, the National Leadership Coalition (a coalition of national leaders in social work education, practice, and policy), and The New York Academy of Medicine. In this issue we describe the gaps in our knowledge concerning the supply and demand for social workers serving elders and review the policy implications for our aging society.