Resource Center

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education discusses the Geriatric Certificate Program (GCP) which represents a collaborative partnership leveraging existing educational courses, with new courses developed to fill existing education gaps, aimed at improving quality of care for older adults. It also describes examines the GCP's impact on knowledge, skills, clinical practice, as well as confidence, comfort, and competence in providing geriatric care.

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education highlights the important efforts of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), its volunteer leadership, and the workgroup that led to the development of the first integrative "Gerontology Competencies for Undergraduate and Graduate Education" for the field. This article shares the mandate issued by the AGHE Executive Committee and GSA Council, and it describes the background, thought development, guiding framework and Delphi consensus process undertaken.

As global adult populations increase, university programs are well-positioned to produce an effective, gerontology-trained workforce. A gerontology curriculum comprehensively can offer students an aligned career development track that encourages them to: (a) learn more about themselves as a foundation for negotiating career paths; (b) develop and refine career skills; (c) participate in experiential learning experiences; and (d) complete competency-focused opportunities.

This undergraduate student project published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education details the development of an innovative teaching tool and describes how Personas (fictional characters that are created through the amalgamation of physical, social, and psychological traits and have unique lived experiences) are used as part of an experiential learning assignment over the course of a semester. Student-generated Personas act to contextualize the broad course material, ranging from physical to mental health to environments to financial wellbeing in later life.

Building on a student-led digital storytelling project, this article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education suggests that expanding definitions of two core constructs of social work education and practice, experiential learning and cultural competence, can improve outcomes for diverse older clients by increasing competence in multicultural gerontology practice. Beyond describing a one-semester digital storytelling project that occurred in an undergraduate gerontology practice course, the article shares findings from the project's evaluation.

This case study describes Michigan State University's AgeAlive program and its path from inception to a recognized program with a clear vision and strategic plan. Concrete goals include a complete inventory of aging-related activity on campus, a virtual hub for networking and information exchange, educational opportunities for students and elders, and building new retirement pathways. Michigan State's experience may benefit others interested in developing similar programs by offering strategies for moving forward amidst challenges inherent in large-scale, research-intensive institutions.

Rhode Island College has spearheaded state-wide age-friendly initiatives while simultaneously fostering three principles of Age-Friendly Universities on its campus. This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education describes the initiatives implemented at Rhode Island College and the challenges encountered. Solutions to the challenges are suggested. The full article can be accessed with an OpenAthens account through your institution or with a Taylor & Francis Online account. 

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education presents findings from an exploratory study based primarily on interviews about intercultural gerontology curriculum with university-based stakeholders from Canada, the US, and Europe. Scaffolding learning, active learning strategies, experiential learning opportunities, teacher modeling, and internet-based learning are discussed as key to intercultural learning. An appendix includes a list of resources that may be useful to developing an intercultural gerontology curriculum.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) published "Older Adults: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes--2020" which includes the ADA's current clinical practice recommendations and is intended to provide the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals and guidelines, and tools to evaluate quality of care.

The STOPP/START Toolkit Supporting Medication Review, arranged by physiological systems, assists in the review of older adults' prescriptions (STOPP) and includes guidelines to alert the practitioner to the right treatment (START). It also has references to drug class duplication, drug-drug, and drug-disease interactions. The START tool highlights under-prescription or omission of clinically indicated, evidence-based medications. The Supplementary Material file has the full set of STOPP/START guidelines.