For each approach students will practice relevant assessment and intervention skills, screen for consistency with social work values and ethics, assess fit with an empowerment orientation, and evaluate sensitivity to cultural diversity. In doing this, issues related to human development, generally, and specific concerns and problems of the later years, including social policies as they affect the aged, will be examined. This course is designed to provide students with a social theoretical perspective on the aging process which will aid them in understanding and analyzing social policies and treatment programs for aging persons. The course gives focus to the varying ethnic and cultural contexts within which individuals live and move in the later years. This will further aid students in distinguishing normative from non-normative patterns of aging.
Registration is restricted to concentration year students.
Students will learn the contemporary practices of empowerment social work with groups including those with purposes of therapeutic change, identity development, skill attainment, interpersonal support, rehabilitation, social control, or social action. Students will develop advanced practice skills through group leadership and group membership activities, observations, readings, discussions, and reflective journaling. Students will plan, initiate, lead, and evaluate a social work group in the field, work, or other pre-arranged setting. Recognizing group work as a key to achieving social justice, this course emphasizes work with populations at risk. Registration is restricted to concentration year students.