Social Work has an essential role in caring for older adults. Social work plays a central role in improving the health care of older Americans by participating in the geriatric interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and other professionals. Although there are over 600,000 practicing social workers in the United States, few are specifically trained for geriatric practice. Significant demographic trends and changes in health care delivery have created an increased demand for geriatric social workers. The National Institute on Aging projected that in the year 2000, 40,000 - 50,000 geriatric social workers were needed. Less than 10% of that number were available. Despite this need, social work education has not adequately addressed the growing demand for geriatric social workers. In the 1990’s only 2.7% (938) of all masters in social work (MSW) students specialized in aging (Lubben, J., Damron-Rodriguez, J. & Beck, J., 1992). More troubling, is that of the remaining 97% of students, less than 2% took any aging-specific courses during their two-year MSW program. Furthermore, only 34% of graduate social work schools offered an aging concentration and only 33% of the remaining schools offered even one course in aging (Lubben, J., Damron-Rodriguez, J. & Beck, J., 1992). These findings were particularly striking given a survey by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), which found 62% of its responding members believe aging knowledge is essential to their practice (Peterson & Wendt, 1990).
The Center for Workforce Studies at NASW found that 75% of social workers report having older adults (55 years and older) in their caseloads. 24% of social workers acknowledged that older adults comprised at least 50% of their caseloads. The National Institutes of Health has increased their estimate on the number of professional social workers needed to serve this aging population. The 2006 estimate is a need for 60,000 to 70,000 social workers specializing in aging , indicating an increased demand for social workers. (As cited in NASW ToolKit2006.pdf)
- In 1998, The John A. Hartford Foundation introduced the Strengthening Geriatric Social Work Initiative to build upon the small cadre of geriatrically knowledgeable social workers and to develop leaders for the future. This was the first large-scale effort by a national foundation to address the need for geriatric social workers by building an infrastructure in academic and professional social work to sustain a focus on meeting the needs of older adults. Projects within this Initiative included:
- Development of faculty committed to teaching, research, and leadership in geriatrics.
- Geriatric field practicum development.
- Development of standards and best practice models for geriatric social work education.
The University of Oklahoma School of Social Work was a participant in the Strengthening Geriatric Social Work Initiative through its Social Work Aging Program. The goal of the program was to address the critical need for geriatric social workers. The School of Social Work developed more aging rich practicum sites as a permanent and ongoing component of the graduate social work educational process, strengthened existing resources in aging curriculum, and increased the number of MSW students electing to go into the field of aging.
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