The requested competing supplement will help expand the pool of social work faculty engaged in aging research. The proposed funding will allow a new cohort of fifteen junior and mid-career faculty from bachelor's and master's programs in social work to receive advanced training at a July 2006 summer institute, with the goal of enhancing their ability to develop an active research agenda and integrating teaching and research on aging in their curriculum. All follow-up activities (ongoing consultation, mid-year meeting, and follow-up institute) will be supported by another funding source.
Specific aims of the overall project include: (1) To increase social work faculty's knowledge, skills, and motivation for pursuing an active program of aging research. (2) To provide participants an opportunity to interact intensively with senior investigators and to promote the development of networking relationships among them. (3) To increase participants' awareness of NIA support available for conducting research in aging. (4) To increase the number of strong grant applications participants submit to the National Institute on Aging. The program will be promoted through a collaborative liaison with the Society for Social Work Research, Council for Social Work Education, and Gerontological Society of America. To date forty percent of participants have been from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds or have had disabilities; we remain committed to attracting and retaining a critical mass of women, minorities, and disabled faculty members. Institute topics include: Research Design, Measurement, and Analysis (Aloen Townsend), Evaluation of Interventions (Susan Hughes), Caregiving and Disabilities (Marsha Seltzer), Ethnicity and Aging (Keith Whitfield), Preparing Grant Applications (Chandra Mehrotra), and NIA Support Available for Aging Research (NIA staff). Program evaluation will be conducted to monitor implementation of proposed activities and to determine their effectiveness in achieving the intended outcomes. The co-directors and the participants will disseminate their NIA-supported activities via conference presentations, publications, and Web sites. Special attention will be given to sharing research findings and their implications with health and social service professionals who work with older adults and their families. This, in turn, will enhance the health status of older adults, especially those from populations underserved in the past. ? ? ?
| Mehrotra, Chandra M; Townsend, Aloen; Berkman, Barbara (2014) A National Training Program in Aging Research for Social Work Faculty. Educ Gerontol 40:242-247 |
