Shortage of social workers who specialize in aging

There is a well-established knowledge that shortage of professional social workers exists, especially social workers who possess expertise in aging. Several studies document a need for gerontological expertise, for improvements to social work degree programs in training social workers for careers in aging, and for engaging the interest of social work students to specialize in working with older adults. Consider the following findings from these studies:

• 62% of professional social workers report that knowledge of aging is required in their professional work (Peterson and Wendt, 1990), yet only 10.5% identified aging as their primary or secondary field of practice (Gibelman and Schervish, 1994).
• Only 39% of graduate social work programs offered specialized concentrations in aging or gerontological social work (California Geriatric Education Center, 1994).
• Nearly 25% of all graduate social work programs do not offer any courses in aging (Damron-Rodriguez, Villa, Tseng, and Luben, 1997).
• Only 8% of graduate social work students reported an interest in the field of aging (Work Force Data on Social workers 2001)
• Only 3% of graduate social work students (1,071) in 1996 specialized in aging or gerontological social work (Scharlach et al, 2000).

The National Institute of Aging estimates that 60-70,000 professionally trained social workers will be needed by 2020 to work with the older population. This is a 50% increase over the current workforce, which is estimated to be at 49,000 (Merck, 2000). In light of these projections and the current data on the workforce, there will not be an adequate number of professional social workers with expertise in aging to meet the needs of the population.

The development of the Practicum Partnership Program (PPP)

Fortunately, since 1998, vital new programs have been implemented in social work education with strong support from private foundations such as the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York City. The Hartford Foundation created The Geriatric Social Work Initiative, funding six programs designed to focus on varied aspects of social work education, including strengthening the graduate and undergraduate curriculum to include aging content, strengthening faculty research capability, and strengthening field education for aging specializations at the graduate level. For more information about these programs, visit the Foundation’s website at www.jhartfound.org.

Originally named the Geriatric Social Work Practicum Partnership Program, and recently shortened to the Practicum Partnership Program (PPP) is one program funded by Hartford, and the only one focused on field education and aging at the graduate level. Since 1998, the program has been a multi-year process of increasingly challenging Requests for Proposals and grant distribution, aimed to stimulate and ultimately, strengthen geriatric field education among MSW programs. In 1999, 11 one-year planning grants were awarded, and in 2000, six sites were additionally awarded three-year implementation grants. By the end of academic year 2003-2004, these demonstration programs had educated more than 350 students. Although the Hartford grants have ended, these initial programs continue to operate, which attests to these schools’ sustainability and success in a period of declining resources for social service and education.