Evaluating the Impact of a Hartford Gero-Rich Project on a Bachelor of Social Work Program

Abstract

In response to the greater need for professionally educated Bachelor of Social Work social workers to work with older adults, a multipronged approach was developed and implemented to infuse gerontology content into the undergraduate social work curriculum at a large state university in Texas. Efforts were made to help ensure that curricular and organizational changes would be sustained for the long term. These initiatives were funded by and were part of the national Hartford Geriatric Enrichment in Social Work Education Program. A quasiexperimental evaluation was conducted involving four cohorts of social work students. Findings demonstrate success in changing students' 1) career aspirations, 2) perceptions of faculty's knowledge of issues concerning older adults, 3) perceptions of their own knowledge of issues concerning older adults, and 4) perceptions of older adults.