Bringing Older Adults Into the Classroom: The Sharing Community Model

Abstract

This article describes an innovative model for teaching gerontological social work that has been introduced into the social work methods curriculum in the Department of Social Work at a college in northern Israel. The basic concept of the model is to create an alternative learning environment by including older persons as full participants in the classroom. As experts on old age, they provide social work students with a hands-on learning experience intended to facilitate their understanding of aging. The changing needs of this growing population place a complex and pressing burden on the social systems that provide services to older adults, and on the families that care for them. To meet these needs, it is predicted that there will be a substantial increase in the demand for social workers in the field of gerontology. At present, there is a shortage of social workers who wish to work with this population as a result of negative perceptions and stereotypes relating to old age. This calls for a different approach to teaching gerontological social work, one that will adapt the study of aging to today's older population while addressing the misconceptions and anxieties of social work students.

Reducing Ageism: Changes in Students’ Attitudes after Participation in an Intergenerational Reverse Mentoring Program

“…The findings suggest that stereotypes of aging may be lessened upon successful completion of the exercise and participation in the misconceptions discussion [51]. Hantman et al [52] conducted a study on the effectiveness of an intergenerational classroom during a yearlong social work course. The objective was to help students gain understanding and awareness of the aging process, interpersonal skills, age sensitivity, and enhance feelings of mutuality and equality, and they found that students developed in these areas, broke down barriers, and had a positive perspective change towards older adults [52].…”

“…Hantman et al [52] conducted a study on the effectiveness of an intergenerational classroom during a yearlong social work course. The objective was to help students gain understanding and awareness of the aging process, interpersonal skills, age sensitivity, and enhance feelings of mutuality and equality, and they found that students developed in these areas, broke down barriers, and had a positive perspective change towards older adults [52]. Another program, "Time After Time," included both creative and artistic based activities in which older adults interacted with younger people daily for several weeks.…”

Social Workers’ Attempts to Navigate Among the Elderly, Their Families, and Foreign Home Care Workers in the Haredi Community

“…Social work in Israel in the field of gerontology includes five main areas: (a) the elderly, (b) their families, (c) the elderly community, (d) social and health services, and (e) the larger social environment (Hantman, Oz, Gutman & Criden, 2013). The involvement of social workers in these areas is derived from the needs of the elderly population, according to the goals and values of the social work profession.…”

Validation of the Attitude-Older Adult and Aging-Visual Analogue Scales (At-O-A)

“…Those who are more knowledgeable about aging tend to have less ageist attitudes and are less anxious about aging themselves (Allan & Johnson, 2008). Educators have identified a variety of classroom activities (Knapp & Stubblefield, 2000;Ligon, Ehlman, Moriello, & Welleford, 2009) and approaches (Hantman, Oz, Gutman, & Criden, 2013) that may promote development of more positive attitudes.…”