The certificate program in aging, offered by the School of Social Work, has been in place since 1980 and continues to attract a growing number of students in the Master of Social Work program. Knowing how to work with the elderly as a social work professional offers many opportunities in an era where that segment of the population has been steadily increasing. Course offers a framework for understanding the adult life stages from a life-span developmental perspective. This includes an examination of developmental tasks, dilemmas, and challenges influenced by a complex environment of cultural, economic, and political forces. Course provides a framework for understanding some of the most complex and controversial issues in the development of social policy in aging from pre-1930 to the 1990s and beyond.
Students examine the consequences of welfare policies and their immediate effects on the elderly.
A primary focus of this course is on content and process analysis of agency-based policies that affect older life. A variety of practica settings are available in this area of aging. The range of direct practice with and on behalf of the elderly is defined in terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of intervention. The social work roles and interventive skills used in case management are taught. In Spring Term of Year II, students in the Gerontology Certificate Program must also take one gerontology elective.