Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1980

Thesis Director

Paul D. Overton

Abstract

The purpose of this study was two-fold. The first was to investigate the gerontological educational background of persons presently working in the field of aging. The second purpose was to determine if there was a need for and interest in further training, and if so what particular topics the respondents would find most critical to their interests or beneficial to their work. The subjects were fifty-four persons involved in serving the over sixty-five population in a ten county area within the East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging, Area Five.

A three page questionnaire was used as the investigative instrument to collect data concerning the respondents' personal history, the type of service or program that their place of employment offered to older adults, their educational background, and whether or not the respondents had had any formal training (at least one course) in aging, or had attended a workshop, conference, or forum on some aspect of aging. The next part of the questionnaire consisted of forty-three items which the respondents were asked to rate according to their preference for additional study for themselves or their staff. The subjects were also asked to rate a list of seven means of obtaining further study, according to their preference, and to offer suggestions for additional topics which could be offered in a training program.

Data were secured from fifty-four respondents. This was a seventy-two percent return of the questionnnaire sent to individuals, directors and some staff of agencies, institutions, organizations, and a few educators in institutions of higher learning. The respondents were identified by three field representatives and the researcher as providing services or programs to the over sixty-five population.

The results of the study indicate a higher number of respondents, 48.8%, reported having had formal training in one or more fields of aging (regular quarter or semester course) than was reported in other studies. There was also a higher number of persons, 81.5%, who had participated in conferences, workshops, or forums dealing with various aspects of aging than was reported in the review of the literature.

The respondents indicated the greatest amount of interest in obtaining further study in the following areas: community resources; legislation; sources and amounts of income; interviewing techniques; developmental views of aging; personality and adjustment; role of attitudes toward the elderly; changes in memory and other cognitive processes; counseling theories and approaches; research on problems related to counseling needs of the elderly; problems in counseling the older adult; maintenance of identify; and legal problems associated with this age-group.

Other items frequently checked were analyzing aging and illness, health maintenance, psychology of the end of life, overview of the aging process and changes, practice in counseling skills, consumer affairs, financial planning, social relationships, housing, and leisure time activities for older adults.

The most of ten chosen methods of obtaining further study in the field of aging were workshop for credit, workshop for non-credit, and special extension courses.

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