Social Challenges and Social Gerontology Competencies

Abstract

The trend toward an aging population observed in Slovenia is one of the major problems as in other developed countries within the European Union. The goal of the paper was to analyse the state of the art of the field, and suggest a potential set of variables for measurement instruments with appropriate Social Gerontology (SG) competencies for educational programs. Using the mixed method approach, the aim of the paper was to observe and suggest the most (1) needed, (2) desired, and (3) obtained SG competencies for Higher Education Institutions. The results of analysis and measurements indicate how the opinion of our respondents intersects with 40 national factors recognized by gerontological social workers. We than categorized geathered data into ten factors, which represent potential set of variables for a new measurement instrument, showing frequencies that are proportional to the importance perceived by our respondents. Our preliminary research questions are: (1) Which (social and non-social) competencies are included in existing study programmes in Slovenia? (2) Which competencies are recognized by experienced workers as most important for enabling (future) students to effectively work with the elderly?