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No abstract available for this article.

No abstract available for this article.

This article reports on the effectiveness of a university-based, teaching training project for older people affiliated with community senior citizens. The intensive 8-session program module emphasized curricula content in the areas of (1) pedagogical skills, (2) group dynamics, (3) aging process and (4) topical instruction. Comparative analysis of pre and post-program measures documents that the program succeeded in serving two purposes: a confidence-building function for the neophyte group leader and a skills-building function for the older person with some experience in teaching. Self perceptions of teaching ability were positively associated with older adult involvement in community senior center planning activities.

As society ages, the age profiles of religious congregants will also increase. Will students of religion have the necessary knowledge and normative orientations to work with the elderly? This article reports on a study that examined the perceptions, experiences and expectations of students of religion (N = 142) and their graduate counterparts (N = 216), by means of structured interviews.Rosencranz and McNevin's Aging Semantic Differential, Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz and original indices were used to operationalize the study variables. Results revealed more positive attitudes toward young than old people. Relatively low gerontological knowledge scores were realized as well as negative biases toward the aged. Positive correlations emerged between knowledge and attitudes toward older people as well as between knowledge and priority assigned to working with the aged. Positive attitudes were associated with an "increasing optimism" toward the years ahead. Study findings lead to curricula development recommendations for programs of study in institutions of pastoral instruction.

Higher education has not properly responded to employment needs in the field of aging. This paper suggests that any endeavor to infuse a gerontological component in the curricula of colleges and universities should take into account four basic propositions: the policy adjustments to the demographic "aging" of our society; the phenomenological reappraisal of an extended individual life cycle; the social-experimental quality of new gerontological social policies; and the emerging concern for ecological determinants of human behavior, as a means for generating alternatives to institutionalization. Employment needs and projections are related to the increasing demand for short-term training programs and the emerging interest in lifetime learning approaches to adult education.

The experiences of 31 Black and 19 Hispanic families caring for dementia victims at home were examined through data collected in two interviews six months apart. Caregivers'health status, mental well-being, attitudes towards caregiving, and use of informal and formal supports were measured. Data were also collected on the patient's degree of mental and physical impairment. The findings indicate that both groups maintain strong feelings of filial support for the aged and have actively involved informal support networks. Formal services are also used, although the attitudes towards them and the factors related to their use varied between the Black and Hispanic respondents. For both groups, the increased use of formal services at the second interview was related to a decrease in informal supports. Health of the caregivers did not appear to be affected although the Hispanics gave evidence of depression. The article discusses implications of these findings.

This study investigates the correlative connection between stated interest in community volunteer work and a number of social and demographic variables descriptive of a sample of aged individuals in a white, ethnic working-class neighborhood of Buffalo. Cross-tabulation of the questionnaire responses and subsequent multiple regression analysis identified a cluster of six attributes which can best predict such voluntaristic intent. They are: age, education, belief in self's capacity to serve others, interest in senior citizen activity, scope of social interests, and home ownership. Because the study is limited to general attitudes, it cannot predict actual participation in volunteer programs or activities.

This paper reports on a study of career preparation, personal expectations and interests, and workplace experience of Jewish professionals in the area of services to the elderly. Recent graduates (N = 216) of a major college of religions instruction were surveyed. The majority of respondents were practicing rabbis with additional subgroups representative of professionals engaged in reform Jewish education, communal service, and cantorial practice.Study findings confirm that respondents considered themselves best prepared to work with the young, moderately well prepared to work with middle-aged people, and least well prepared to work with the elderly. The vast majority were convinced that more courses in aging were necessary. Based on their current responsibilities, training in the subjects of death and dying, human relations, counseling the young, crisis intervention, gerontological counseling, and developmental psychology were accorded greatest importance.Results indicate that the issue of old age has been of considerable import to all graduates with greatest significance affirmed by Jewish communal service workers. Rabbis, on the other hand, stood out as refusing to differentially set priorities in terms of their wish to work with younger versus older people supporting an "age irrelevant" philosophy in their work within the synagogue. Findings reinforce views that rabbis and others Jewish professionals perceive that they have been less than adequately prepared to deal with a variety of life crises or problems that their congregants can be expected to face.

The six countries included in this overview are engaged in an active process of developing responsive home care programs. They are experimenting with new approaches in administration, coordination, client assessments, personnel training, methods of service delivery and personnel practices. Although the results of these experiments may not be always transferable to other countries, many particular innovations should be examined for the sake of dissemination and adaptation.

Our findings from a survey study of retired educators (N - 373) confirm that reasons for the retirement decision have changed over time. Long-term retirees were found to stress the influence of statutory imperatives in leaving the workplace, whereas the recently retired, and women in particular, were more likely to cite factors related to personal interest and life-style. Results suggest that university personnel programs engaged in retirement life planning need to be responsive to retirees' changing needs.

With the rapid expansion of the older population and the increase in the cost of medical care, community programs that focus on illness prevention and risk reduction for older persons become essential. Because senior centers are the natural meeting places for millions of older persons, they may be perceived as fundamental sites for the development of such programs. The findings presented here offer the results of an evaluation of an ongoing health education program presented in several large senior centers in the New York area. The program consisted of regular classes, health counseling, and health screenings offered by one health educator to more than 7,000 elderly between July 1985 and June 1986. The evaluation of the program, based upon a model that hypothesized a casual link between the program and the participants' resulting health status and health behaviors, indicated that the program did have positive effects. The most significant changes were in the reduction of specific health-risk behaviors among the program participants. In comparison to a group who had not participated in the program, the health education participants had significantly altered their diet, weight, and exercise level. Equally important is the fact that these persons attributed these changes to the health education program.

Comparative analysis of time series data (T1 = preprogram; T2 = postpro-gram; T3 = 6-month followup) collected for the first year class of an older adult teacher training program (N = 35; mean age = 69.1 years) documents that the elderly learn and retain materials learned at different rates. Variables such as age, sex, teaching experience, education, and race/ethnicity all potentially play a role in differentiating the learning process. Evaluation results further confirm that the initial acquisition of leadership skills by older adults is no guarantee that those skills will be maintained successfully over time. There may also be a false sense of confidence in some older learners that is gained simply by their having successfully completed an organized course of training. Study findings lead to recommendations emphasizing the importance of promoting resilient skills capacity in the teaching domain by older adults by means of a variety of skills-preservation program techniques inlcuding the provision of educational seminars, "retooling" sessions, and reunion programs subsequent to the offering of the initial teacher training program.

No abstract available for this article.

No abstract available for this article.

The rural aged are reported to experience a high level of health problems, inadequate housing, and poor incomes. Social services cannot handle the extent of real need, and federal legislation does not explicitly attend to the differential requirements of rural elderly. Education for this population group has been equally neglected. Based on the lifespan, lifelong, and andragogical models of adult education, this paper proposes an ecological-consultative continuum of education centered around the outreach functions by a multidisciplinary team. It starts with the resolution of day-to-day problems and then moves to resocialization and social competence levels.

Thb study inquires who deals more effectively with the elderly: workers of their same age or younger service providers? Findings tend to favor the latter: younger workers showed more positive attitudes toward their aged clients. They would also consult them and involve them more often in service programming than older workers.

A broadly defined "marketing" approoch to accountability in service delivery is proposed, with particular artention to consumerism as it underlies the idea of accountability in the field of aging. Five policy strategies, aimed at strengthening consumerism, are identified.

This study is a descriptive account of the results obtained by a set of three attitudes scales, as part of a larger study on the value concerns of two samples of Scandinavian elderly, one Danish and the other Norwegian. The measuring instruments were the Cantril Self Anchoring Scale, the Life Satisfaction Index-A and Rosencranz-McNevin's Semantic Differential. The results indicate that both samples are equally preoccupied with personal security rather than economic concerns. The Danish sample perceives greater congruence between life goals and achievements than the Norwegians. The Norwegians see their young as deviant from the modal ideology of the adult world, while the Danes perceive the young as drifters, but functionally efficient. No correlation was found between personal life satisfaction and acceptance of youth, a finding at variance with results obtained by the authors among previous U.S. samples of aged.

No abstract available for this article.

No abstract available for this article.

A sample of long-term care facilities utilizing ombudsman services was compared to facilities not in receipt of such mediation services. Independent assessment measures were derived from State Department of Health ratings and complaint statistics for long-term care facilities. Findings revealed that ombudsman-served facilities were not appreciably different from facilities not served by ombudsmen. Facilities served by ombudsmen, however, received a relatively higher amount of complaints than did the facility group not served by ombudsmen, particularly in areas not covered by statutory abuse reporting requirements. It is suggested that nursing home patient ombudsmen call attention to aspects of quality care not currently assured by other protective mechanisms.

No abstract available for this article.

Data obtained from a national population of state representatives of non-profit and proprietary nursing home associations (N =55) are used to identify normative stances taken by longterm care spokespersons. Findings fail to confirm the idea of community surveillance of patient care by nursing home ombudsmen on the part of proprietary long-term care association representatives. Non-profit spokespersons were significantly more likely to agree that long-term care staff, themselves, are not able to resolve all problems that arise in nursing homes. They also displayed a more elaborate view of functions to be assigned to nursing home ombudsmen as external monitors of patient care. Both proprietary and non-profit sponsors hesitate in accepting the full legitimacy of public scrutiny of institutional care practices. Findings imply that different community monitoring training requirements for patient representatives may be needed depending on the nature of institutional auspice.

Critical preconditions for effective program performance with vulnerable popula tions are service visibility and staff commitment. These factors may be especially important for patient representative programs serving the elderly in long term care institutions. Data collected from 210 residents in 14 skilled nursing and health- related facilities and 24 volunteer providers of nursing home ombudsman services suggest factors that may influence patient utilization of a mechanism for grievance resolution. Significant associations were found between both patient variables (age, education, sex, race) and facility variables (auspice, level of care, quality of care) and program awareness, service utilization, awareness of personal rights, and fear of retaliation. Patient representatives displayed intense altruisitc impulses, frustration with staff apathy in institutions and altered outlooks toward old people and institu tional care. Findings point to the value of personal advocacy with institutionalized aged populations, volunteer incentives and advocate career ladders, focused exper tise in selected health problem situations and flexible role behaviors in nursing home settings.

This study explores the social attitudes of three groups of adult males-young adult, middle-aged, and elderly-toward three, present-day youth groups (young people today, our boys in Vietnam, college students). Utilizing a semantic differential measure of attitude and testing for adult age group differences in attitudes toward the young, the study establishes that young adults are least accepting of youth, that elderly males are most accepting, and that middle-aged males assume an intermediate position between the other two age groups. These results suggest that acceptance of youth is a linearly increasing function of age. It was further observed that the subjects of this study, irrespective of their position on the adult age range, are significantly more positively inclined toward the young military in Vietnam than they are toward the generalized young or to college students. The latter receive the least favorable attitudinal ratings. The authors discuss a number of possible interpretations of the results obtained.

Research into retirement in higher education has largely been restricted to studies of male academics or else has not differentiated in its analyses between males and females. This paper documents gender-specific differences both prior and subsequent to retirement among educators in their views of retirement preparation assistance, employer responsibility in pre-retirement planning, and choice of post-retirement activities. Recommendations for future research and a suggested programmatic imperative for university employers are offered based on study results.

The concept of patient advocacy raises a range of perceptions when applied to long-term care. Analysis of national survey data on nursing home ombudsman programs documents three alternative formulations of advocacy subscribed to by constituent groups in the long-term care network: 1) individualized/developmentally-focused, 2) individualized/patients rights-focused, and 3) facility/patients rights-focused. Programmatic efforts will be required to address disparities in conceptions of appropriate advocacy orientation at the point of service delivery.

A study of an urban-based, Older Americans Act-funded volunteer ombudsman program clarifies roles nursing home ombudsmen adhere to and determines the extent to which such role prescriptions are also held by long-term care staff. Findings show that volunteers tend to adopt a therapeutic, supportive role model and are less often mediating agents or tough-minded advocates. Effectiveness of ombudsman programming is seen as contingent on proper recognition of the value of nonconfrontational strategies as well as legislative initiatives that will better merge ombudsman theory and practice.

A study of well-functioning administrative and professional men in the sixth decade of their lives revealed a reluctance to anticipate as well as to actually prepare for post-retirement life. The observed reluctance was rationalized in terms of three main themes: rampant inflation, a sense of life terminality, and a reaffirmation of the work ethos. The findings are discussed in terms of the centrality of the work orientation among higher occupational groups and the individual potential for emotional reinvestment in new role activities.