Judith L. Howe

Welcome to Cogent Gerontology, a new peer reviewed open access journal with a broad scope in the fields of gerontology and geriatrics. Aging is a global phenomenon. Our world is experiencing a cont...

My term as the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) has come to an end. It has been a very rewarding 11 years and I feel confident that the journal is in good shape when I hand over the reins to the highly capabl...

It is with profound sadness that the Editors note the death of Kathryn Hyer, PhD, MPP on January 1, 2021. She was a long-term Editorial Board member of Gerontology and Geriatrics Education and had ...

This special section features the voices of gerontology and geriatrics scholars at all stages of their careers reflecting on why age matters to them and how they have been shaped by mentors through...

(2020). Foreword: Teaching during a pandemic. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education: Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 290-290.

The Rural Interdisciplinary Team Training Program (RITT) is a team-based educational component of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Rural Health Geriatric Scholars Program. It is a workforce development program to enhance the geriatrics knowledge and skills of VA primary care clinicians and staff caring for older veterans in rural communities. The RITT workshop, accredited for 6.5 hours, is interactive and multi-modal with didactic mini-lectures, interactive case discussions and role play demonstrations of assessments. Clinic teams also develop and implement a small quality improvement project based on common challenges faced by older persons. This report is an evaluation of the effect of the RITT Program on geriatrics knowledge and team development as well as success in developing and implementing the quality improvement projects in 80 VHA rural outpatient clinics in 38 states.

The Veterans Affairs Geriatric Scholars Program ( GSP ) is a continuing professional development program to integrate geriatrics into the clinical practices of primary care providers and select associated health professions that support primary care teams. GSP uses a blended program educational format, and the minimal requirements are to attend an intensive course in geriatrics, participate in an interactive workshop on quality improvement ( QI ), and initiate a local QI project to demonstrate application of new knowledge to benefit older veterans. Using a retrospective post/pre survey design, the effect of GSP on clinical practices and behaviors and variation of that effect on clinicians working in rural and nonrural settings were evaluated. Significant improvement was found in the frequency of using evidence‐based brief standardized assessments, clinical decision‐making, and standards of care. Significant subgroup differences were observed in peer‐to‐peer information sharing between rural and nonrural clinicians. Overall, 77% of the sample reported greater job satisfaction after participating in GSP . The program is a successful model for advancing postgraduate education in geriatrics and a model that might be replicated to increase access to quality health care, particularly in rural areas.

(2018). Editorial Note. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education: Vol. 39, Clinical Education in Geriatrics, pp. 119-119.

There is a pressing need to upgrade the gerontological knowledge and skills of practicing social workers. Geriatrics and gerontology, as specialized fields of knowledge, have not been sufficiently integrated into formal academic training programs. There are major trends in the health care environment which impact on social work education, including technological advances, a shift from inpatient to outpatient and community care settings, increasing diversity of the older population, and client and family participation in decisionmaking. These trends necessitate social work education to emphasize new content areas in gerontology and the development of new skills in clinical, case management, care coordination, and teamwork. A significant obstacle to the preparation of future social workers to deliver the complex services needed by older adults and their families is a serious shortage of social work faculty in gerontology. Sustained and broad initiatives, such as the John A. Hartford Foundation funded Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars Program, are needed to develop academic and practice-based faculty in gerontology. This is crucial if social work is to maintain an important service role in the new millennium.