Priscilla D. Allen

SERVICE LEARNING IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION: THE STATE OF KNOWLEDGE, PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICALITIES, AND PRACTICE CONUNDRUMS

This article reviews research-based knowledge about service learning in social work education. Student learning outcomes common to both service learning and social work education are examined, and the research-based literature on service learning in social work is analyzed. Service-learning practice issues in social work education are described: creating learning activities distinct from those required in field practica, managing conflicts of interest among students employed in the field, minimizing professional ethics violations, and assisting students who observe unprofessional practice behaviors. Recommendations for planning, implementing, and evaluating service-learning projects in social work education are provided to strengthen scholarship in this area.

Self-Reported Ageism in Social Work Practitioners and Students

In this study, we focus on self-reported ageism in college students and social service providers using the Relating to Older People Evaluation (ROPE; Cherry & Palmore, 2008). The ROPE is a 20-item questionnaire that measures positive and negative ageist behaviors that people engage in during everyday life. Participants included undergraduate and graduate social work students and practicing social service providers in the nursing home and mental health setting. Findings indicate that people of varying educational backgrounds and occupational experience in social services readily admit to positive ageist behaviors. Item analyses revealed similarities and differences between groups in the most and least frequent forms of ageism endorsed. Ageism as a social phenomenon with implications related to social work policy and practice is discussed.

Construct Validation of Physical Activity Surveys in Culturally Diverse Older Adults: A Comparison of Four Commonly Used Questionnaires

The purpose of this study was to establish validity evidence of four physical activity (PA) questionnaires in culturally diverse older adults by comparing self-report PA with performance-based physical function. Participants were 54 older adults who completed the Continuous Scale Physical Functional Performance 10-item Test (CS-PFP10), Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE), CHAMPS Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Adults, Yale Physical Activity Survey (YPAS), and modified Baecke questionnaire. The total PASE score, three outcome scores for the CHAMPS, and three summary indices for the YPAS were significantly correlated with total CS-PFP10 score. The modified Baecke exhibited no correlations with CS-PFP10 scores. The PASE, CHAMPS, and YPAS appear to be the most valid PA self-report questionnaires for culturally diverse older adults.

Correlates of Complaints Made to the Connecticut Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program The Role of Organizational and Structural Factors

Using Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program complaint data (N = 3,360) from all of Connecticuts 261 nursing facilities, this study investigated facility characteristics that may be correlated with resident complaints. Complaints per 100 beds and four subcategories of complaints established by the Administration on Aging (AoA) were the dependent variables. The presence of volunteers trained by the Ombudsman Pro-gram significantly predicted total complaints. At the bivariate level, profit status, size, location, citations, and the presence of a volunteer resident advocate were associated with the rate of complaints. However, multivariate analysis exposed a more complex pattern of relationships. The strongest model explained slightly more than 9% of the variance using the nine predictors. This indicates that other factors such as psychosocial characteristics of complainants may influence complaint reporting, rather than structural/organizational components of the facility.

Disaster Services with Frail Older Persons: From Preparation to Recovery

Hurricanes claim the lives of the frail elderly more than any other age group due to this population’s reduced health status and heightened dependence, especially for those institutionalized. Social workers are obligated and ethically compelled (NASW, 1996, Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Washington, DC: NASW) to meet this high-risk group’s disaster readiness and recovery needs as posed to them by unexpected meteorological crises like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike. This chapter critically assesses social works’ tested but largely unheralded traditional disaster roles, as well as new ones that are emerging in the wake of Katrina and in light of recent developments in the field of emergency preparedness. These mandate that the social work profession boost its capacity and capability to provide competent emergency services to ease the suffering of older individuals before, during, and after a crisis. Recommendations by the AMA, The American Red Cross, AARP, and various disaster and gerontological scholars are synthesized.

Contributions of Social Desirability to Self-Reported Ageism

The authors examined the role of social desirability in 445 participants’ responses to self-reported measures of ageism across two studies. In Study 1, college students and community adults completed the Relating to Older People Evaluation (ROPE) and a short form of the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-C SDS). Study 2 was a conceptual replication that included the Fraboni Scale of Ageism (FSA). Correlation analyses confirmed a small but significant relationship between scores on the positive ageist items and the social desirability scale in both studies. Ageist attitudes were correlated with negative ageist behaviors in Study 2. Implications for current views on ageism and strategies for reducing ageist attitudes and behaviors in everyday life are discussed.

Examining Change in Theory-based Physical Activity Beliefs of Culturally Diverse Older Adults

Using the theory of planned behavior as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to elicit the salient modal physical activity (PA) beliefs and to examine changes in the modal PA beliefs before and after a 16-week pilot PA intervention in culturally diverse older adults. Participants were 48 adults between the ages of 50 and 93 years (71% Black, 56% ≤ high school education, 65% ≤ US

Rights-based advocacy in long-term care : Geriatric nursing and long term-care ombudsmen

20,000 annual income) who were recruited for a pilot PA intervention. Beliefs were elicited before and after the intervention, and changes in the beliefs were analyzed qualitatively. Changes were detected in the modal beliefs. Future research should focus on interventions that target salient modal beliefs in this population to determine quantitative changes in ratings of beliefs and behavior.

Brij Mohan by himself

Abstract Both long-term care (LTC) ombudsmen and nurses are committed to advocacy, but often find themselves at odds due to fundamentally divergent orientation to patient care and advocacy issues within the nursing home setting. This paper compares these advocacy alignments, identifies areas of potential conflict, and provides grounds for cooperation and mutual support. Specifically, we argue that nursing advocacy, despite a theoretical bow to autonomy, is typically beneficent and can be limited by employment status, professional orientation, and subordination to dominant physician and administrative authorities. Conversely, LTC ombudsmen are guided by the autonomy principle, and are, by law, free of any conflict of interest with the resident. The paper concludes with a discussion of common goals that should be adopted by elder care nurses and ombudsmen in order to improve mutual understanding and communication that is essential to building partnerships that effectively and creatively solve issues that emerge from resident physical and socio-emotional problems.

Productive challenges and opportunities in work and retirement: background from the United States

A philosopher by raw definition means one who has a love of wisdom. Dr Brij Mohan has often been termed a social work philosopher, as he, indeed, is one who seeks knowledge with a passion while pondering the meaning of life, and its varied manifestation as reflected in his complex interpretations of social phenomena. Brij has a deep passion for the love of knowledge and the philosophy of science. His writing is poetic and provocative in terms of turning phrases on their head and contemplating the meaning from the inside out. He takes on injustice head-on and bravely faces a landscape that few have ventured. He is a journeyman, a philosopher, a father, a husband, and a prolific and profound force in the social work world whose work literally bridges the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. When I think about ‘‘Brij by himself’’, I think about all of the people he has influenced, the masses of students throughout his 35-year career, the international contacts that link continent to continent. I think about the paradox between a visible man and a prophetic and prolific writer and the solitude of someone whose mind never stops. I think of a man who takes each and every email as a vessel for further contemplation, who always responds to his friends with a personal greeting, and who remembers historical events with lessons for the present. I think of a man who loves Jean Paul Sartre and the existential reality, a man who has told me to endure, to hold on, and to remember that success is the best revenge. When one thinks of success, one is often reminded about resilience and the predilection to endure. Brij embodies these attributes. Part of Brij’s legacy is his predilection to counter internal and external politics and to endure and question power. Brij has outlived any other faculty at the School of Social Work by decades, has experienced more than eight deans at Louisiana State University (LSU) and has taught approximately one-half of all graduates since the beginning of his tenure. When I reflect on the topic ‘‘Brij by himself’’, I think of a man who has experienced challenges in a steadfast manner. I also think of his generosity. It is not often that someone shares so generously with so many, while putting himself out on a limb to protect his core values. Over the past nine years since I have worked with Brij, I have gained hundreds of insights into this man’s