Resource Center

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education describes how health policy experts called for increasing geriatric mental health competencies for all mental health providers, including within Veterans Health Administration (VHA), to address the alarming supply and demand gap for geropsychology expertise within the United States. The VHA Geriatrics Scholar Program (GSP) Psychology Track was developed because there were no commercially available trainings in geropsychology for licensed psychologists.

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education describes the curriculum for a resident training intervention in Primary Care Collaborative Memory Clinics (PCCMC), outlines its underlying educational principles, and examines its impact on residents’ ability to provide dementia care. PCCMCs are family physician-led interprofessional clinic teams that provide evidence-informed comprehensive assessment and management of memory concerns.

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education presents a training that was developed for staff members at Medicare/Medicaid agencies to improve their knowledge and comfort levels in working on advance care planning (ACP) with their clients in a culturally competent manner. The training was developed to address the need to clarify the different types and purposes of ACP and to help develop the skills needed to work with clients of diverse cultural backgrounds.

This article published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education discusses the need to enhance medical education and training in Geriatric Medicine (GM) as the population of older adults increases. Faculty at two southeastern universities developed a Resident Award Summit, a two-day active learning experience, designed to expose family and internal medicine residents to GM principles and the various career options available in GM.

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.