COMMUNITY‐BASED OUTREACH MULTIDIMENSIONAL GERIATRIC ASSESSMENT: A CLINICAL AND EDUCATIONAL MODEL

The shifting emphasis from institutionalto community‐based care for the elderly in Canada necessitates a new approach to geriatric assessment and education. Geriatric assessment outreach teams using a multidimensional clinical and educational model are described in the context of a regionally based geriatric program in Ottawa. This community‐based multidimensional model is compared to the traditional institutional‐based multidisciplinary team model, particularly in terms of its advantages and relevance for the approximately 33% of Canada's elderly living in small towns and rural areas. The educational model and training program for multidimensional geriatric outreach assessors are described. The clinical operations and advantages of the multidimensional model are fully described, particularly their critical role in community‐based assessment and triage to further specialized geriatric services.     

GERONTOLOGY CAREER PREPARATION AT THE ASSOCIATE DEGREE LEVEL FOR THE COMMUNITY‐BASED PRACTITIONER

This paper presents a 2‐year, associate degree curriculum as a basic model for training in gerontology. The curriculum was designed to assure that each student would gain the necessary background to pursue either a paraprofessional career in the field or advanced education at a 4‐year institution leading to a professional career. The curriculum accomplishes the first objective by incorporating courses that train students in the specific skills they will need, as determined by an investigation of the employment needs in the community. It accomplishes the second objective by including courses from traditional academic disciplines, such as the social and biological sciences, which provide a broad base of knowledge. The program is closely coordinated with and transferable to a university and can be initiated with a minimum of new personnel.     

GUIDELINES FOR ACHIEVEMENT OF LEARNER SATISFACTION IN GERONTOLOGICAL SHORT‐TERM TRAINING

As emphasis on intensive educational training increases, effective gerontological curricula and content planning to assure learner satisfaction are becoming more important. This article considers four key variables related to learner satisfaction: class size, seating arrangement, training methods, and participant motivation. Six guidelines for increased training effectiveness are suggested: preassessed and structured environment, planned group size to serve content and objectives, seating arrangements, discussion group utilization, preassessed learner attitudes, and continuous evaluation with necessary restructuring.     

COMMUNITY CO‐OPERATION IN BIBLE TEACHING

Even though classified as a new phenomenon, Islamic counseling is actually as old as the Islamic preaching activities among the people. It is because of counseling genuinely is an essential part from the religious activities as depict in a number of Islamic spiritual terminologies. For the context of Moslems society, the existence of institutionalize Islamic counseling occurred since the establishment of boarding schools. The increasing complexity of people's life is parallel with the increase of needs on the Islamic counseling.     

A MODULAR COURSE APPROACH TO IN‐SERVICE AND PRE‐SERVICE TRAINING IN GERONTOLOGY

In order to meet both in‐service and pre‐service training needs in gerontology, North Country Community College has developed an innovative one‐year certificate program. Under the assumption that persons working with the aged in a rural area must have a diverse group of skills to draw upon, the gerontology certificate stresses course work in: communication skills, culture variability, gerontology knowledge, management skills, and service skills. The curriculum approach taken is that of competency based education, with most of the skills courses put into a modular course format. After the first year of the certificate, 53% (N = 65) of the students in the certificate courses are adults or community professionals turning to this community college program to upgrade skills or acquire new ones. This certificate is beginning to meet the training needs in a rural area that were only previously addressed by occasional workshops for the human service practitioner.     

A VALID SELF‐APPRAISAL INSTRUMENT FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS

This study resulted from a concern that a valid and reliable self‐assessment instrument was needed for community college administrators. The instrument constructed included thirty performance dimensions. Administrators from three community colleges assisted in the establishment of the validity and reliability of the instrument. The process for developing a self‐assessment instrument for performance appraisal was validated. Implications for practice include a method for administrator self‐improvement of performance and the development of administrator training programs.     

UNIVERSITY‐BASED ADULT DAY CARE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND TRAINING: DESIGN,FUNDING, AND PROGRAMMATIC ISSUES

In the early 1980s, the College of Human Resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University began a visioning process to plan its educational agenda for the 21st century. One of the more pressing issues targeted for educational intervention was community‐based long‐term care. Ten years later, a licensed, Medicaid‐certified adult day health center is fully operational on the university campus, providing a myriad of research, teaching, and public service opportunities for faculty and students. Center design, funding, and programmatic issues are discussed.     

SELF‐DIRECTED LEARNING AMONG ADULTS ENROLLED IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Relationships between self‐directed learning projects of adults and the directed learning activities comprising a community college curriculum need to be developed and clarified. Learning projects are defined as a series of related episodes where individuals intentionally spend seven or more hours to gain and retain fairly certain knowledge, information or skills. Trained interviewers used a structured interview format to investigate a total of 290 learning projects conducted by 41 males enrolled in a community college. During the 12 months preceeding the interview, subjects completed an average of 7 learning projects, devoting an average of 285 hours to each learning project. The learning projects were self‐directed (56%), for immediate or future use (57%), not motivated by academic credit (79%), acquired information from another person (57%), and resulted in a large amount of knowledge gained (63%). The results suggest that, even when adults are enrolled in a formal academic program, their learning projects are self‐directed, intrinsically motivated, and pragmatically oriented. The findings imply that: (a) procedures to utilize intrinsic motivation could be more widely employed in curricula design; and (b) the teacher of adults would best serve students as a facilitator who guides and supports learning.     

PART‐TIME COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY: THEIR NEEDS FOR INSTRUCTION‐RELATED ASSISTANCE

An aura of controversy surrounds the proliferation of part‐time faculty members on community college campuses. The related literature provides evidence that part‐timers have fewer advanced degrees and years of teaching experience than their full‐time counterparts. Nevertheless, the increasing trend toward their employment shows no sign of slowing. As part‐timers comprise a growing proportion of community college faculties, and as they are recruited from nonacademic sources, opportunities should be provided for them to hone their pedagogical skills. The findings of a study undertaken at Arizona State University's Department of Higher and Adult Education reveal part‐timers’ needs for assistance and information in instruction‐related areas such as evaluation, handling paperwork, teaching community college students and community college philosophy. An instructional resource manual developed for part‐time faculty was perceived to be a viable method of providing assistance to part‐timers.     

EPILOGUE: SPACED‐RETRIEVAL MEMORY TRAINING IN AN ADULT DAY‐CARE CENTER

A memory‐impaired client at an adult day‐care center was trained to remember the name of a staff member using the spaced‐retrieval technique. After two brief training sessions, the client demonstrated long‐term retention of the target name. Retention was maintained at follow‐up testing 6 months later. Details of the unique aspects of this cognitive intervention, along with implications of this project for cognitive aging research in general, are discussed. In particular, the social and emotional components of memory‐ and cognitive training tasks are emphasized.     

IN‐SERVICE TRAINING IN GERONTOLOGY: A CASE STUDY OF STATEWIDE NEEDS ASSESSMENT

This report describes the design and conduct of a statewide training needs assessment based on joint state agency and university planning. Sample findings are presented for both the statewide population (N = 736) and various job function groupings. Differences in expressed training needs across job function groups are examined, and strategies for providing effective and efficient training are discussed.     

CO‐ORDINATING TRAINING SCHOOLS

Yeshiva high schools strive to educate and inspire their students. In addition to the formal educational curriculum, a large portion of these schools’ budget is spent on various types of programs in order to achieve these goals. The purpose of this study was to determine which elements of the high school program were perceived by students as influencing their religiosity. Three-hundred and fifty-five students completed an anonymous questionnaire, which had been developed based on 20 in depth interviews. Top responses: Judaic studies classes and individual meetings with teachers, while males listed mishmar (voluntary learning) and females chose shabbatonim (weekend retreats) as third choices.     

THE LEVELS OF DECISION MAKING IN MULTI‐UNIT COMMUNITY COLLEGE SYSTEMS

This study advances a foundation for future exploration of applied understandings of factors that influence decision levels in multi‐unit community college systems. The purposes of the study were to examine the levels at which decisions were made in nine selected decision areas, and to determine the relationship between (a) the levels at which decisions were made in systems, (b) the factors of institutional size and history, and (c) the number of system‐level personnel. The data for analysis were collected from 26 community college systems that were responsible for only a portion of higher education in the state, had a system‐level president or chancellor as the chief executive officer, and had a central office separate from the campuses in the system. The Aston method of collecting data from formal organizations was utilized to identify the formal structure and context of the systems. The major findings are that faculty‐ and student‐related matters are generally decided at the campus level and that major managerial matters are generally decided at the central‐office level.     

TRAINING AND ORIENTATION OF CERTIFIED OMBUDSPERSON VOLUNTEERS FOR LONG‐TERM CARE FACILITIES

We report findings on learner retention and satisfaction as a result of certified ombudsperson volunteer (COV) training. Specifically, two research questions were addressed. First, did individuals who completed COV training learn the content? The result of the analysis was significant. Second, were individuals who completed COV training satisfied with its content? Survey results indicated satisfaction with the content, format, and utility of the COV training. In addition, a review of the literature was conducted, and recommendations for further research are offered.     

THE EFFECT OF CLINICAL GERIATRIC TRAINING ON NURSES’ DREAM CONTENT

The dream imagery of 30 first‐year student nurses was monitored by self‐report questionnaires before and during their first clinical placements. Students randomly assigned to the geriatric group (N = 14) trained on a ward in a large metropolitan geriatric hospital. The remaining students (N = 16) were assigned to the medical‐surgical ward of a general hospital where exposure to dying is infrequent (the general clinical group). Analyses revealed no significant differences between the geriatric group and the general clinical group on death association and death symbolism content of their reported dreams. However, in contrast to the general clinical group, the geriatric group reported a significantly greater number of dream images associated with old age (geriatric association) in anticipation of their clinical experience. In addition, there was a significant decrease in geriatric associations for this group during the period of internship in the geriatric hospital.     

STATE OF PART‐TIME FACULTY SERVICES AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES IN A NINETEEN‐STATE REGION

The use of part‐time faculty by community colleges continues to grow. A study of 283 community colleges in the Midwestern states found a number of practices being used to assist part‐time faculty to become proficient teachers. Evaluation of these faculty revealed that there was much to be desired by over 40% of the colleges. Few merit recognition programs were found to exist. Most of the colleges in the study were planning to increase support services to their part‐time faculty in the future.