Journal of Gerontological Social Work最新文献

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals are living longer but facing increased barriers to access to care. To understand this discrepancy, we conducted a multi-phase needs assessment on the needs of LGBTQ older adults. Six hundred seventy-two individuals participated in the survey, which included six open-ended questions. Using thematic analysis, our findings point to critical challenges in healthcare access, including locating affirming and affordable providers, accessing social support, the availability of housing, and accessing legal services. Addressing these challenges requires gerontologists to engage in activities to remove barriers to care and generate innovative solutions to reduce health disparities.

To examine the relation between the implicit theory of ability, age stereotypes, and WM performance, the present study recruited a sample of 202 Chinese older adults (M_age = 71.17, SD = 7.27) who completed questionnaires and tasks. Mediation analyses revealed that the incremental theory of ability, both in memory and general ability, predicted WM performance indirectly through the mediation by self-stereotypes of aging. What is more, this effect was mediated by group stereotypes of aging and self-stereotypes of aging, demonstrating a serial mediation effect. These findings highlighted the significance of positive mind-sets in enhancing WM among older adults.

Abuse against older adults is an under-researched pathway to older adult homelessness. This paper fills a gap through a secondary data analysis of qualitative interviews with five providers and 10 clients from a homeless shelter serving older adults fleeing abuse. Drawing on a feminist ethics of care framework, we explored the role of care in participants' experiences of shelter life and what aging in the right place meant to them, identifying three themes: 1) cultivating trust and relationship-building between providers and clients; 2) caregiving, mutual care, and collective care among clients; and 3) lack of care and processes of repair.

This study examines the impact of life review interventions on depression, resilience, and overall well-being among older adults residing in institutional settings in Ernakulam, Kerala. Using a pre-post experimental design, 201 participants from 18 institutions underwent a structured 12-session life review intervention facilitated by trained social work students. Results showed significant improvements in depression, resilience, and overall well-being. The findings underscore the importance of addressing unresolved issues and nurturing ego integrity in later life. The study advocates for integrating life review interventions into standard care practices for older adults, highlighting interdisciplinary collaboration among geriatric social workers, psychologists, and healthcare providers.

Participant recruitment in dementia caregiver research is recognized as challenging. This article details the strategies, barriers, and successes of a recruitment approach of a clinical intervention trial for family caregivers of persons living with dementia. Throughout the study, we dealt with challenges both within and outside the researchers' control. These challenges included institutional barriers, community barriers, and individual barriers. To maximize our chances for success, we focused on building strong relationships between the research team and the participants. Using social workers as recruiters, maintaining frequent contact with participants, and flexibility in managing challenges promoted modest success in recruitment and retention.

This longitudinal cluster-randomized trial investigated older volunteers' changes following a 3-month training program. A total of 156 older Taiwanese volunteers in the community care centers participated in this study (n _training = 80, n _control = 76).   Older volunteers' skills/competency and psychosocial variables were assessed at baseline, one and three months. Results showed that trained volunteers significantly improved skills, motivation, self-efficacy, and work satisfaction, while untrained volunteers showed no improvements in self-efficacy or work satisfaction and experienced a decline in motivation . The results hightlighted that training is crucial for maximazing the positive impact of volunteering on older adults.

Unrepresented patients who lack decision-making capacity can remain in hospitals for weeks awaiting guardianship and subsequent discharge, resulting in medically unnecessary and costly extended stays. The guardianship process is complicated and requires collaboration between the medical and legal systems. The Rocky Mountain Regional Veteran Affairs Medical Center created a guardianship social worker position to improve the guardianship process by developing subject matter expertise, infrastructure, and standardized procedures. In this brief report, we provide preliminary data on the impact of a guardianship social worker. Time to guardianship completion, mean lengths of stay (LOS), counts of completed guardianships, and cost estimates were compared before and after the guardianship social worker position was created. The mean time to complete guardianships decreased from 121.9 to 69.8 days (p = .13), the mean LOS for patients awaiting guardianship decreased from 129.8 to 117.2 days (p = .39), and the yearly counts of completed guardianships increased from 2 to 9 (p = .002). Estimated inpatient cost savings per patient was $56,244. While promising, these preliminary data are limited by small case numbers and the unknown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term placement. Creating guardianship-focused social work positions has the potential to create efficiencies in the guardianship process.

Financial exploitation (FE) of older adults is a growing public health problem. Current estimates of financial exploitation show between 5% and 11% of older adults are victimized each year. This study examined an empowerment-centered financial coaching intervention. Program records and participant baseline and follow-up assessment data were used to detail program dynamics and investigate participant outcomes. Most SAFE participants were very satisfied or satisfied (91%) with the services they received. Participants also reported significantly less stress at the six-month follow-up. These findings demonstrate that empowerment-centered financial coaching interventions can successfully address FE in older adult populations.