We present a critically focused, semester-long community engagement project entitled "Intergenerational Connections" as a form of critical interpersonal and family communication pedagogy (CIFCP). The project utilized Zoom to connect small groups of undergraduate students in the US enrolled in a course on relational communication with…

University students, working with First Nations communities, need to build skills in culturally responsive practice. This study explores the experience of allied health students completing service-learning placements in First Nations communities. A qualitative post-placement study was undertaken. Semi-structured interviews were completed with…

The Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II is the leading measure of students' competency with older adults. Although the 40-item instrument has demonstrated strong internal consistency and congruent validity, the hypothesized four-factor structure has not been tested. We used confirmatory factor analysis with a sample of social work students…

The increase of the US older adult population requires additional professionally trained staff in health and social services. Exposing knowledge and skills of gerontology to address aging competency among student in higher education can better prepare for students' future educational and career planning. The aim of this study is to understand…

This study empirically tested the effectiveness of a brief, inexpensive aging simulation activity to educate traditional-aged students about sensory declines and their potential causes in older adulthood development. Students in a life-span development course wore specific props (e.g., thick gloves, earplugs, and obscured glasses) to simulate…

Demographic and labor force trends point to a critical need for professionals trained to work with older adults. The current study investigated factors associated with interest in aging-related topics and careers and knowledge of the opportunities that exist in the field of gerontology. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and…

The article theorizes that augmenting traditional humanities course work with documentary video-making can enhance and motivate learning. The English class profiled focused on aging and the lives of elders in an adult daycare center and a retirement community. Students documented elders' stories in video over 15 weeks. The instructor's goal was to…

An intergenerational initiative was developed and implemented to enhance gerontology in the first course of the practice sequence. Seventeen students met with older adults (ages 82-98) in the classroom and at an assisted living facility. The evaluation of this older adult infusion project was conducted through two questionnaires and by the review…

The authors and their colleagues have sustained infusion of gerontological content across their social work curriculum since implementation of their CSWE-Hartford Foundation GeroRich project from 2002-2004. Based on experiences in our department, we recommend 10 steps that include (a) responding to anticipated faculty resistance, (b) identifying…

Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ) was used to measure aging knowledge outcomes of 323 practicum students engaged in aging-focused practica at pre- and posttest across 11 universities. Significant improvement in knowledge scores (p = 0.0001) was found for graduates of the enhanced field education programs. Taking aging course work was a…

The Knowledge of Memory Aging Questionnaire (KMAQ) (Cherry, Brigman, Hawley, & Reese, 2003) measures laypersons' knowledge of normal memory changes in late life and pathological deficits due to nonnormative factors such as adult dementia. In this study, we examined memory knowledge in community college and university students, caregivers, and…

This article reports an evaluation of a GeroRich effort to increase age-specific content throughout bachelor and master-level social work curricula. A total of 426 students (128 BSWs and 298 MSWs) completed pre and posttests in 2004-2005, self-rating their aging competency using the Social Work with Aging Skill Competency Scale II (New York…

Perceptions of the aging process are of vital concern to the study of life span development. To investigate the effect of formal instruction about the aging process on students' perceptions, and to examine the relationship between performance on the Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ) and respondent variables (age, sex, school rank and major, course…

Interviews were conducted with home-bound elders who had participated in a three-month, college-based life histories project involving mentoring-reminiscence--reminiscing while occupying the role of mentor to a college student. Ten out of 12 reported that the process was enjoyable, and 4 reported significant improvements in self-image. (JPS)

The older adult population in America will significantly increase in the future. Older adults have important needs for recreation and leisure services (Beland, 2002). The author taught a class titled "Leisure Services for Older Adults" for over 24 years at the University of Florida. He has taught gerontology and recreation by teaching about life…