"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.

MORE DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, like its popular predecessor DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, illustrates through first-person narratives that there are no "typical" days in social work, but that professionally trained social workers take on a variety of roles. In this volume, there is more of a focus on macro roles than in the first, although this book also includes "micro"-level stories and illustrates ways in which social workers combine macro, mezzo, and micro level work in their everyday practice. Here are some of the social work practice settings and roles you will read about: * working on a national level * program development and management * advocacy and organizing * policy from the inside * training and consultation * research and funding * higher education * specialized roles in the court system * faith and spirituality * domestic violence * therapy and case management * employment and hunger This is social work! Political advocacy, agency management, sex therapy, play therapy, mediation, conducting domestic violence evaluations, writing grants, doing research, providing food for the hungry, and more--these are all roles that social workers can (and do!) play. This easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down book will make a welcome supplement to the theory found in traditional textbooks. Find out how social work managers and practitioners put theory into practice on a day-to-day basis. Organizations, Web sites, and additional readings are listed to assist readers in further exploring areas of social work that are interest.

Gerontological Practice for the Twenty-first Century meets the need for state-of-the-art information on practice approaches with older patients that are age-specific and empirically based, blend "micro" and "macro" views, and reflect current themes in the aging and social work fields. The book is designed as a text for students and as a professional resource for practitioners. Clearly written, the book offers an expert and comprehensive review of the current literature and focuses on issues relating to the most vulnerable older people. Gerontological Practice for the Twenty-first Century also features case illustrations throughout and brief end-of-chapter questions for review. The book has four parts. Part 1 reviews current and classic theories of aging and proposes an original framework for an integrative approach to practice with older people that incorporates both individual and policy-level interventions. The approach is based on current themes such as a life course perspective, heterogeneity, diversity, and inequality. Part 2 covers such common and important psychological problems among older individuals, as anxiety, depression, suicide, substance abuse, and dementia, and describes appropriate, evidence-based interventions. Part 3 considers the social psychological picture by discussing working with older families, end-of-life care, bereavement, and work and retirement. Part 4 focuses on core sociopolitical issues in the lives of older people: economic policy, poverty, health policy, quality-of-life concerns, and social services. Current, authoritative, and original, this single-volume gerontology resource will be of valuable use to graduate students and practitioners.

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 eminently practical book applies the task-centered model to gerontological practice across various settings (community based, hospital based, home healthcare, etc.). The book features in-depth coverage of specific client problems, such as physical or mental health, caregiving, home and personal safety, senior living, and long-term care arrangements. A series of task planners offer a menu of possible actions that can resolve or alleviate a designated problem.

"Practical coverage of driving, day care, support groups, and respite is particularly welcome. This is a good book to have available, not just for social work faculty and students, but also for those in the health sciences, psychology, and sociology. It will be a useful resource for professionals coping with the increasing problems for family and community that an aging population and the epidemic of Alzheimer's disease bring with them....Recommended. Lower-level undergraduate through professionals/practitioners."--Choice Beyond the immediate and devastating effects dementia can have on individuals and their quality of life are the strains that are placed on the families, caregivers, and communities that support them. Social workers are in a unique position to address all these issues at the same time that they provide care for individuals with dementia. To facilitate the entrance of social workers into this area of care, Carol B. Cox has edited a volume of expert articles on the biological, psychological, and social aspects of dementia. . Readers will learn the latest assessment instruments, as well as how to distinguish between Alzheimer's and non-Alzheimer's dementias. Intervention strategies for every stage of dementia are presented. The effects of culture and diversity on the treatment of persons with dementia are examined, including examples of successful programs from several countries. The benefits and drawbacks of adult day services, community care, and residential care are discussed. Finally, a discussion of the legal, financial, and psychological stresses faced by caregivers of those with dementia rounds out this much needed text.

This Second Edition of the Handbook addresses the evolving interdisciplinary health care context and the broader social work practice environment, as well as advances in the knowledge base which guides social work service delivery in health and aging. This includes recent enhancements in the theories of gerontology, innovations in clinical interventions, and major developments in the social policies that structure and finance health care and senior services. In addition, the policy reforms of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act set in motion a host of changes in the United States healthcare system with potentially profound implications for the programs and services which provide care to older adults and their families. In this volume, the most experienced and prominent gerontological health care scholars address a variety of populations that social workers serve, and the arenas in which they practice, followed by detailed recommendations of best practices for an array of physical and mental health conditions. The volume's unprecedented attention to diversity, health care trends, and implications for practice, research, policy make the publication a major event in the field of gerontological social work. This is a Must-Read for all social work social work educators, practitioners, and students interested in older adults and their families.

The growing number of older adults in the United States poses a significant challenge to families, healthcare systems, mental health services, and many other caregiving groups. Using the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative as a framework, this text evaluates critical policies and issues pertaining to older adults, identifying both the overall systemic inequalities currently working against older adults as well as specific areas that require updated policies and interventions. It calls for active attention to the implementation of science-based research, policy, and practices to promote health and well-being. Among the topics addressed: Family violence against older adults Disaster planning and preparedness Building financial capability for aging families Health needs of incarcerated older adults Closing the gap in healthcare services for older adults Social isolation and its effects on mental health and well-being A useful gerontology resource for students, social work scholars, and practitioners, Gerontological Social Work and the Grand Challenges advocates for justice and equal opportunity for older adults, and highlights important social issues that must be urgently addressed in the near future.