Barbara D. Ames

Intergenerational Education and Service Programming: A Model for Selection and Evaluation of Activities.

The intergenerational approach is a proven method for education and service programming with older adults, children, and youth. However, the broad scope of intergenerational programming inherently makes it difficult to create general decision‐making processes or models for the selection of appropriate activities for diverse participants. We present a model for decision making in intergenerational programs that is adaptable to a wide variety of participant groups, sponsoring agencies, and program goals. The model emerged as we developed and conducted an intergenerational training program for caregivers of children and the frail elderly. It stresses the importance of involving all constituent groups in planning, delineates five program categories, and establishes four criterion levels for decision‐making regarding appropriate activities. The model will be useful to those planning and implementing intergenerational programs in a vareity of settings.

National Guard Service Members Returning Home After Deployment: The Case for Increased Community Support

National Guard service members and their families face unique circumstances that distinguish them from other branches of the military. In this article, we highlight unique National Guard needs and argue that more can be done by policy makers to help this population. We present the findings from a representative survey of Michigan citizens showing that public support exists for increased assistance for these service members. Using the multiple streams framework, we propose that policy makers currently have the opportunity to facilitate increased support for National Guard members and families. Specifically we suggest policy implications that feature the important role of state and local resources.

Public-Academic Partnerships: Working Together to Meet the Needs of Army National Guard Soldiers: An Academic-Military Partnership

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have greatly increased the number of veterans returning home with combat exposure, reintegration issues, and psychiatric symptoms. National Guard soldiers face additional challenges. Unlike active duty soldiers, they do not return to military installations with access to military health services or peers. The authors describe the formation and activities of a partnership among two large state universities in Michigan and the Michigan Army National Guard, established to assess and develop programming to meet the needs of returning soldiers. The process of forming the partnership and the challenges, opportunities, and benefits arising from it are described.

Educational Programming for Midlife Adults with Parent-Caring Responsibilities.

A major issue facing todays families is aging family members. Three factors compound this dilemma. First, the aging population is increasing both numerically and proportionally. Second, the middle generation, the traditional caretaking generation, is becoming older and fewer in number. Third, women are increasingly participating in the labor force. This research explored the use of adult education programming in addressing the needs of the midlife caretaking generation. The nonrandom sample consisted of 50 midlife offspring residing in three central lower Michigan counties. As part of a one‐to‐one interview, respondents were asked to indicate preferences for content and mode of instruction for topics related to adult child/aging parent relationships. Thirteen of the most frequently mentioned areas of concern and need were selected from current gerontological literature. If participants desired further information in the content area, one of six methods of instruction also were selected. The primary varia...

CONSUMER INFORMATION FOR OLDER LEARNERS: A FRAMEWORK FOR PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Effective development and dissemination of information for older consumers necessitates consideration of the older individual as learner and consumer within a larger interacting system. A framework for assessing the needs of the older learner/consumer is proposed. Recognition of the physiological and psychological characteristics of the elderly individual as both consumer and learner is the first dimension of the framework. The second dimension places the individual in context by exploring the impact upon older learners and consumers of components of the technological and social‐psychological systems. The final dimension of the framework emphasizes the importance of an and ragogical approach to the actual teaching process. A description of the research project from which the framework evolved is presented.

Child Nurturance: Patterns of Supplementary Parenting

Without consistent, long-term care, the human infant would not survive. In Western cultures, the family unit has traditionally been seen as the most advantageous and viable social context for meeting the biophysical and psychosocial needs of a young child. As a result, theorists and researchers have long been interested in the range of variability and consistency that may be found in both particular and universal family settings and the ultimate effect these characteristics have on human development. Moreover, there is growing interest, as well as growing concern, that there may be certain aspects of childrearing that are unique to, and dependent upon, the family as we have come to know it. Today, these are being more urgently examined in light of the rather dramatic social changes being experienced by families and other social institutions. It may be that resulting adaptations have mandated an increasing prominence in the supplementary parenting patterns described in the bulk of this volume.

Comment: Response to “The Voluntary One-Parent Family—Some Qualms”

Hoaglund identifies bioethical dilemmas which concern all of us. Using medical technology to create voluntary single parent families is indeed awesome. Regardless of recipient, custom ordering our children through AID has frightening implications on both the micro and macro levels. These implications are humorously illustrated in a story of Bernard Shaw and Isadora Duncan (Anderson, 1977, p. 41). Duncan suggested that they should have a child since her body and Shaw’s brain would be such a marvelous combination. To this Shaw replied, “Yes, madam, the snag would be if it had your brain and my body!” Indeed, there are many and much more serious potential snags.