Social Work Practice With Older Adults by Jill Chonody and Barbra Teater presents a contemporary framework based on the World Health Organization’s active aging policy that allows forward-thinking students to focus on client strengths and resources when working with the elderly. The Actively Aging framework takes into account health, social, behavioral, economic, and personal factors as they relate to aging, but also explores environmental issues, which aligns with the new educational standards put forth by the Council on Social Work Education. Covering micro, mezzo, and macro practice domains, the text examines all aspects of working with aging populations, from assessment through termination.

Social Work Practice with Older Adults: An Evidence-Based Approach helps future social workers identify effective evidence-based treatment options for aging populations. It helps readers cultivate the skills needed to successfully engage, assess, intervene, evaluate, and provide advocacy at micro, mezzo, and macro levels to older adults and their families. Emphasizing intersectionality theory, the text encourages readers to consider the context and intersecting diversity factors of the older adult client and involve them in treatment decision plans, empowering older adults to select culturally preferred and highly meaningful care. Students also learn the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and interagency coordination. Each chapter features case studies and a guide for framing community resources and other helping services for clients. Additionally, the book highlights issues and opportunities social workers are likely to encounter, including aging in prison settings, homelessness and sexual health, end-of-life issues, macro practice advocacy skills, and more. Social Work Practice with Older Adults challenges students to synthesize contextual, intersectional, and biopsychosocial/spiritual assessments to create effective treatment plans and apply appropriate interventions to aging populations. It is ideal for students studying social work and related disciplines.

Older people are the biggest service user group for social workers and an increasing proportion of the population. In this refreshingly positive and practical textbook, Rory Lynch draws on years of practice and teaching experience to show how to achieve best social work practice with older adults. He takes a person-centred approach, which fosters respect by valuing the fact that elderly people have more lived experience than others. Exploring the key theoretical approaches and methods of intervention, this book helps social workers to identify, understand and facilitate their service users’ wishes for well-being and a fulfilling older age. Chapters are practice-driven, containing case studies drawn from a range of care settings, reflective questions and exercises. Mapping directly onto the key modules on the social work degree, this is essential reading for all student social workers, especially as they prepare to go on their practice placement. It is also valuable reading for qualified social workers. Rory Lynch is Lecturer in Social Work at Robert Gordon University.

Gerontological Social Work in Action introduces "anti-oppression gerontology" (AOG), a critical approach to social work with older adults, their families, and communities. AOG principles are applied to direct and indirect practice and a range of topics of relevance to social work practice in the context of a rapidly aging and increasingly diverse world. Weaving together stories from diverse older adults, theories, research, and practical tools, this unique textbook prompts social workers to think differently and push back against oppressive forces. It pays attention to issues, realities, and contexts that are largely absent in social work education and gerontological practice, including important developments in our understanding of age/ism; theories of aging and social work; sites and sectors of health and social care; managing risk and frailty; moral, ethical and legal questions about aging including medical assistance in dying; caregiving; dementia and citizenship; trauma; and much more. This textbook should be considered essential reading for social work students new to or seeking to specialize in aging, as well as those interested in the application of anti-oppressive principles to working with older adults and researching later life.

"This book, like its predecessors Days in the Lives of Social Workers and More Days in the Lives of Social Workers, highlights the experiences of social workers through first-person narratives. This volume focuses on professional social work in direct and indirect practice with and on behalf of older adults. The contributors to this book are social workers at the BSW, MSW, and doctoral levels. Here are some of the social work practice settings, roles, and topics you will read about: working in communities; hospitals, hospice, and home health; nursing home social work, administration, inspection, and advocacy; addictions, mental illness, and homelessness in older adults; Alzheimer s and Parkinson s diseases; international settings;gerontological research; policy and macro practice; social work student experiences in gerontology; centenarians and their secrets to long life. Gerontological social work is a growing and exciting practice specialty! The stories told by these gerontological social workers will transform your thinking about what this type of work entails. You will gain a better understanding of the issues facing older adults and their social workers, and you may be inspired to pursue this career path. This engaging collection will make a welcome supplement to the theory found in traditional textbooks. Organizations, Web sites, additional readings, and a glossary of terms are included to assist you in further exploring these areas of social work practice. Photographs by social worker/photographer Marianne Gontarz York are featured to expand your visual images of real people as they grow older."--pub. desc.

This second edition looks in detail at the role of the social worker who engages with older people. It enables the reader to develop the key skills required to understand the mental and physical needs of older people in society while encouraging plenty of discussion and critical, independent thought. Furthermore, this book is a source of contemporary research and offers the reader insights into government legislation and policy. It is an essential read for any student who wants to develop a distinctive focus on social work with older people.

"This book has a forward-thinking orientation that reflects the reality of aging with older adults throughout the aging life course... Dr. Youdin integrates an advanced clinical social work practice with in-depth knowledge of evidence-based practice as well asd geriatric medicine, psychiatry and gerontology." -- The Lamp Written by an expert in gerontological social work and curriculum development, this book provides a wealth of clinical information for social workers and other health care professionals who counsel older adults. It describes a strengths-based, empowerment approach to treatment that integrates theory, technique, advocacy, and social policy, and encompasses the tenets of human rights. The book's content has been tested in the classroom setting for a three-year period with advanced social work undergraduate and graduate students. The book examines various theories of aging including a contrast between the strengths-based person-in-environment theory and the pathologically based medical model of psychological problems. It advocates truly engaging with the older client during the assessment phase, and discusses a variety of intervention modalities. The psychological construct of stigma regarding aging is examined, along with the major psychopathological problems common to older adults. The book also considers Alzheimer's disease and dementia, medical problems of older adults and co-occurring psychological problems, substance abuse, older adult sexuality, elder abuse, and the vulnerabilities of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender older adults. Additionally, the book addresses mental health issues pertaining to residential settings and the aspects of death and dying that give older people concern. Extensive case studies, learning objectives, and discussion questions are featured in each chapter. The book also includes an instructor packet, PowerPoint slides, and an interactive PDF. Key Features: Provides a wealth of classroom-tested clinical information Espouses a strengths-based approach to treatment that integrates theory, technique, advocacy, and social justice Consistent with social work mandates for a human rights focus Presents extensive case studies, learning objectives, and discussion questions in each chapter Includes an instructors packet, PowerPoint slides, and interactive PDF

This book provides an up-to-date and authoritative overview of the development of social work with older people in the UK. The coherent structure draws together the key themes involved in working with older people, and clearly demonstrates how to translate these into real-life practice. Key features of the book include: - Establishes an understanding of the policy context within which social work takes place, with particular attention to key topics such as inter-professional collaboration and ethics. - Goes beyond other textbooks to challenge the restricted nature of social work practice, and adopts a positive view of its potential to benefit older people. - An engaging and practice-led approach which includes student-friendly features and detailed practice scenarios. - Satisfies the curriculum benchmarks and National Occupational Standards that structure social work training and practice. Written by a leading academic, this is a key text for social work trainees. Its analytical depth will ensure that it will also be valuable for students undertaking post-qualifying courses, and for those in related disciplines such as health and community care, social policy and social gerontology. Its practice-based and inter-professional approach will mean it is also useful for health and social care practitioners seeking to improve the quality of practice with older people. `Drawing on both theory and research as well as the author′s clear knowledge of current practice, this book is able to deal with practice realities in ways which many texts cannot. It offers social workers realistic options for how to approach their work′ - Karen Postle, University of East Anglia

Key Benefit: Presents a strengths-based approach of social work with older adults - Social Work with Older Adults, 4/eprovides a comprehensive treatment of a strengths-based approach to the major areas of social work with older adults. Key Topics: Discuss how to engage in differential assessment. Understand the design of intervention to treat a wide variety of challenges facing older adults. Market: For those interested in learning more about Social Work with older adults.

Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.