GERONTOLOGY & GERIATRICS EDUCATION最新文献

The authors created Geriatrics Connect (GeriConnect), a program for first-year medical students at NYU Grossman School of Medicine to learn about healthy aging by developing a 7-month long telephonic relationship with an older adult living in the community. Background and Objectives: Early exposure to geriatrics and older adults is instrumental to preparing future physicians to care for the aging population. The objective of this study was to evaluate how the GeriConnect program affected students' attitudes on aging and ageism. Design: Paired students conducted monthly telephone or video calls with a geriatric patient recruited from the NYU Internal Medicine outpatient practice and wrote required reflections on ageism. Participants: 99 first-year medical students at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Measurements: Student reflection essays were descriptively coded by five independent reviewers. Results: Thematic analysis revealed that many students had limited exposure to older adults prior to starting medical school, and suggested that the longitudinal relationships developed in the program improved students' understanding of aging and ageism. Conclusion: Establishing longitudinal telephonic relationships with older adults may be an effective method of enhancing student exposure to geriatrics and fostering more positive attitudes toward older adults.

In 2020, the UMass Lowell (UML) Age-Friendly University (AFU) campus administered the Age-Friendly Inventory and Campus Climate Survey (ICCS) in partnership with UMass Boston. The results identified a need for campus improvement related to "involving retired faculty in university activities" (AFU Principle 9). In response to this finding, an IRB-approved follow-up survey was distributed to UML retired faculty and emeriti professors, the end of which invited respondents to participate in one-hour virtual qualitative interviews to explore the research question: What are the perceptions of retired faculty and emeriti professors regarding AFU Principle 9? Emeriti professor interviews (n = 19) were held in 2021. Four researchers completed the content analyses, which revealed six major themes: promoting intergenerational learning (IGL) activities; considering emeritus group; being proactive; supporting continued UML relationships; meaning of emeritus and preferred engagement; actual and perceived benefits. The findings offer guidance as to how AFU principles can serve as a guide to benefit both retired faculty and emeriti professors, students, and the UML community through understanding of this untapped resource.

Ageism - stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination based on chronological age - is a highly prevalent yet underrecognized form of social discrimination with detrimental effects on healthy aging. Combating ageism is essential for creating an age-friendly society; however, there is no consensus on the optimal approach for doing so. In this manuscript, we posit that community-based participatory research holds promise for addressing and reframing community-level ageism, especially in underserved minoritized communities. To this end, we offer an implementable, adaptable process and model for building community-academic partnerships to combat ageism in diverse communities - using as an example the grassroots anti-ageist work of the University of Minnesota Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation's (CHAI's) Community Advisory Board (CAB). Here, we describe the formation and structure of the CHAI CAB, as well as the development, activities, and preliminary outcomes of its strategic initiative to create a community-led toolkit of resources for combating ageism in diverse cultural communities of the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. We believe our model can be useful for geriatric practitioners and educators to 1) uplift and empower diverse older adults in their communities; 2) promote health equity for underserved populations; and 3) provide rich community-based and experiential learning opportunities for future aging scholars and professionals.

Caring for older adults is often seen as less prestigious, less attractive, and even boring and frustrating by health care students. A cross-sectional study of 265 paramedical students examined their fear of death, anxiety about aging, knowledge of aging and gerontological care, perceptions of older adults, and how these factors relate to ageist attitudes and perceptions of working with older adults using path analysis. The study found that anxiety about aging, negative perceptions of older adults, and limited knowledge of aging and gerontological care were directly linked to hostile ageist attitudes. Fear of death indirectly influenced hostile ageist attitudes through negative perceptions of older adults. Additionally, anxiety about aging, hostile ageist attitudes, and negative perceptions of older adults were linked to negative perceptions on working with older adults. Benevolent ageist attitudes were not linked to negative perceptions of working with older adults but were associated with negative perceptions of older adults and less knowledge of aging. These findings suggest that enhancing students' knowledge and changing their perceptions of older adults and the aging process could effectively combat ageism in health care. Addressing ageist attitudes is crucial, as they are significantly associated with negative perceptions of working with older adults.

Purpose: The assessment of knowledge gain from educational interventions is a common practice in dementia care research. This study aimed to refine and validate the Changing Talk Scale (CHATS), a tool for assessing knowledge of effective and person-centered communication in nursing home staff. CHATS was integrated into the Changing Talk: Online (CHATO) education program to measure the knowledge gains resulting from it.

Methods: Test items for CHATS were created based on the 13 learning objectives of CHATO. These items underwent iterative revisions based on psychometric analyses across four pilot studies, culminating in two 13-item alternate forms. These forms were evaluated using psychometric analysis and linear mixed modeling with 664 staff members from 15 nursing homes across the US.

Results: The reliability of CHATS, measured by Cronbach's α, was .56 and .49 pre-education, and .70 and .77 post-education for the two forms respectively. The mean CHATS scores were higher for staff with higher education levels and increased after the CHATO, irrespective of staff or nursing home characteristics.

Conclusions: The development and validation of a test to capture knowledge requires the consideration of multiple aspects. CHATS effectively demonstrated knowledge gains from the CHATO intervention across various types of staff.

Trauma-informed care is mandated in long-term care settings in the United States; however, little is known about clinicians' perspectives on trauma-informed care educational needs. To address this gap, we gathered responses to closed- and open-ended questions from two samples who work with older adults: (1) hospice and palliative care staff (N = 279) completing a recurring bi-annual survey, and (2) clinicians from diverse settings (N = 242) responding to live polling during a Veterans Affairs (VA) national webinar. Results of qualitative and quantitative analysis revealed that both routinely screened for trauma history or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hospice and palliative care clinicians reported the least confidence in recognizing trauma and responding to trauma disclosures, while one-fifth of VA clinicians reported hesitancy to assess trauma history. Hospice and palliative staff were more confident in their knowledge of effects of trauma and applying the trauma-informed principle of "respect." Both groups expressed interest in additional training, specifically videos, case examples, toolkits, and attention to organizational and personal impacts of working with those with PTSD, aligning with SAMHSA recommendations. Findings identified focal areas for trauma-informed care curriculum; however, future work should fully assess current practices and gaps to inform practical, case-based, and self-efficacy focused curriculum development.

There has been a call to action to integrate the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) into health care education including interprofessional education. This brief describes a large-scale online interprofessional educational curriculum where students focus on SDoH of older adults through patient-centered, collaborative telehealth experiences. The curriculum was delivered to students (n = 417) from 17 programs within the Colleges of Health Sciences, Medicine, and Nursing at a large Midwestern academic medical center. Students completed all curricular activities in interprofessional teams, composed of five-six students with at least four professions. Student teams completed a series of three telehealth sessions over a 12-week period with 73 older adults living in communities (i.e. Community Health Mentors [CHMs]). CHMs' average age was 71.2 years and all were living with at least one or more chronic conditions. Students completed the Self-Reported Competence Identifying and Addressing SDoH before telehealth training and upon completion of the telehealth sessions. Students demonstrated significant increases in perceived confidence within the four SDoH competency domains: 1) identifying, 2) addressing, and referral to both 3) internal and 4) external resources. Reflection, faculty, and client feedback enhanced the student learning experience and outcomes.

Ungrading is a constellation of pedagogical practices that seek to recenter the educational experience of learners as individuals by using detailed feedback rather than grades to assess the achievement of learning competencies. Ungrading practices have been employed in multiple disciplines in response to various concerns about traditional grading, including the tendency of grades to signal the end of learning, the ineffectiveness of grades in assessing competencies, and equity concerns. While the use of ungrading in gerontological teaching and learning appears to be largely unknown, it may offer a potentially powerful and innovative way to support students in attaining and demonstrating AGHE's gerontological competencies. This should be a key concern of all gerontology educators as the main goal is to develop a qualified workforce who can be employed across the aging services sector. A form of ungrading known as grade anarchy was piloted in three master's level gerontology courses and student and instructor feedback was gathered to assess reactions to the pilots. Students were mostly supportive, reporting that they felt less stressed and more motivated to learn, while some preferred traditional grading as they perceived its structure was clearer. The instructor experienced a steep learning curve followed by the observation that ungrading was freeing for the instructor as well, allowing a more individualized approach to student learning that resulted in greater clarity with regard to learners' mastery of the selected AGHE competencies and the course learning objectives.

The Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) is a flagship education, training, and development program of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) focused on increasing the number and diversity of researchers in aging. We sought to assess the program's contributions to geriatric and gerontology education by examining the scientific productivity of 294 RCMAR scientists who received pilot funding from the program during the last complete grant cycle, 2018 to 2023. Across the 18 funded sites, the scientists obtained 53 NIH grants and 29 NIA-specific grants. They published 281 manuscripts, of which 141 were noted as direct outcomes of the pilot funding and support received through the program. Findings indicated that the RCMAR program in its last cycle succeeded in promoting education and scientific career development of researchers from diverse backgrounds and researchers focused on health disparities to conduct transdisciplinary social and behavioral aging research.