Rick Ezell, 70, is an avid cyclist and dedicated weightlifter, yet when he experienced some episodes of tachycardia (increased heart rate) it was initially dismissed by a cardiologist. It wasn’t until he was referred to an electro-physiologist who was a triathlete and understood how active Ezell is that he got a heart rate monitor and what he called, “standard diagnostics responses.”
“There is a marked bias to dismiss so-called minor issues among older adults. I think the prevailing attitude is that if you’re doing ok why be concerned with doing better,” he said.
Marsha Cohen, a retired nurse practitioner is an active 71-year-old woman whose biggest gripe, as she puts it, is that she is invisible or perceived as always needing help. “I’m not seen as competent with home repairs nor technology, nor does anyone think I can learn these (hello, there’s YouTube out there)! Plus, I want to tell people ‘How do YOU want to be treated when you’re older?’” she says.
Ezell and Cohen’s experiences are not unique even as the United States is getting older.
The U.S. population has aged for decades, driven by increased life expectancy[1], lower birth rates, and especially, the Baby Boomer generation. Boomers, born after the Second World War between 1946-64, have “changed the face of the U.S. population for more than 70 years” and continue to do so.
By 2034, older adults will outnumber children under the age of 18 for the first time in U.S. history. People stay in the workforce longer. They live longer and have health care needs for longer. And often, like Ezell and Cohen, they live active, varied lives.
The ever-aging population drives societal changes including health care and social services and raises many questions, such as:
- What happens to Social Security?
- How does the workforce change as people work longer?
- Will there be enough in-home care and assisted living facilities and health professionals?
- What about younger generations experiencing the “sandwich generation” phenomenon – that is taking care of parents even as they raise their children?
While these questions are asked, and as Ezell and Cohen can attest, the need for people with the expertise to work with older adults increases. However, a current shortage of social workers, nurses, doctors, pharmacists, physician assistants, and other professionals in the health and social care workforce specially trained to work with older adults makes that difficult. In social work alone, 55,000 geriatric social workers are needed — a number projected to double by 2050. Currently, only 5% of social workers are trained in working with older adults. Similar disparities between need and professionals trained to meet the need follow in other fields.
“We are at a juncture in our society, because of the Baby Boomer generation, where we have a ton of older adults who need services. They’re going to need care,” says Clinical Assistant Professor Jaime Goldberg. “Why not train our students across disciplines to provide that care?”
Broad Appeal and Workforce Needs
To address the need, the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, in conjunction with many other departments, has started an interdisciplinary undergraduate Certificate in Aging Studies.
“For students who are thinking about going into healthcare, students in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, OT, PT, speech and language pathology, genetic counseling, nutritional science – anything under the health umbrella – this could be beneficial for them,” Goldberg says.
“We also think that for students interested in social work, psychology, rehab psych, or law — especially elder law — even students in engineering,” (think of the design of pill bottles and labels, for instance) could benefit from this certificate.
Goldberg will chair the certificate program with an interdisciplinary team of colleagues from departments and schools across campus.
The aging certificate will provide students with comprehensive knowledge of the aging process from biological, psychological, and social perspectives. The broad, interdisciplinary curriculum is designed to complement the interests of students in several majors and to be as accessible to interested students from as many different schools or departments as possible.
“Our hope is that students who are interested in pre-health, pre-social work, psychology, or any place on campus really where students are interested in aging, that they could take one extra or two extra courses to get the certificate.”
Students will choose 12 credits of coursework, from nearly 30 courses. These include Core Courses, Policy and Systems, and more in-depth studies. The certificate utilizes pre-existing courses offered at UW-Madison. “We really tried to include courses that focused on aging, and not just classes that had perhaps a week on aging,” Goldberg said.
“I think it is important to introduce prospective caregivers to this information so that they can respond empathetically to the interactions they have with older adults and, potentially, offer helpful interventions based on knowledge,” Ezell said.
Designed to complement several degree programs, the certificate allows students to tailor their studies to their career interests with guidance from academic advisors. Social Work advisor Anna Gorman will act as the point of contact advisor for questions about the certificate.
Cross-campus, Interdisciplinary Priorities
The Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work is well-positioned to coordinate the certificate and address the growing need to interest and train students to work with older adults. Professor Stephanie Robert, who was Director of the School and envisioned this project, says, “There were a confluence of factors that made the timing right to pursue our school taking lead on the aging certificate. Our school has always had a strong group of faculty doing research related to aging — consistently more gerontological faculty than perhaps any other schools of social work across the country.”
When the chancellor announced opportunities for faculty to propose topics for strategic hiring, Robert joined with colleagues in other L&S departments to propose an aging initiative. Eventually, the chancellor announced campus funding for RISE-THRIVE, which, among other things, will include strategic hiring in aging across campus.
“We had already decided to do additional hiring in aging in the school,” Robert says. “We had recently hired a new tenure track faculty member, Dr. Weidi Qin, and were launching a search for a clinical faculty member in aging — our first clinical faculty member in this area. Once we hired Dr. Goldberg for this position, we knew she was just the right person to take over development of the certificate along with critical administrative assistance from Administrative Associate Director, Russ Portier.”
“With RISE-THRIVE funded and hiring searches underway, we hope that the number and breadth of classes with aging content across campus will grow,” Robert says.
More than a Job
In addition to marketable skills and professional preparation, the Certificate in Aging helps expand the cultural understanding of working with and caring for older adults as a burden, to a rewarding, even joyful privilege. One of the learning outcomes of the certificate is to identify and dispel commonly held myths and stereotypes regarding older adults and aging.
“Many communities have reverence for older adults. Caregiving is a responsibility and a privilege. It sometimes can be hard, but it is expected that we take care of our own, which is very different from this idea of burden,” Goldberg says.
A focus on aging also runs up against stereotypes that students, especially undergraduate students, have little interest in working in this area. However, most of the courses that focus heavily on different aspects of aging (within the certificate) are already in high demand and anecdotal evidence from the School of Social Work suggests students consistently get more from the courses than they anticipated.
One such course is Soc Work/Soc 422: Social Issues and Aging — a community-based learning class where students volunteer at least 25 hours working with older adults. Goldberg, who taught the class last year, says that at least a third of the class planned to continue to volunteer with older adults even after the class was over.
“They loved it. Many of them talked about going in with preconceived notions and myths and stereotypes about older adults that were squashed when they went through the course and interacted with the older adults that they were volunteering with,” Goldberg said.
“Many of them said, ‘You know, this helps me to understand my grandparents better and what they’re going through. This helps me to have more self-awareness and patience and empathy when I’m in a grocery store, and somebody in front of me in line is taking too long to count out their change.’”
Cohen and Ezell audited the class and provided invaluable perspectives.
“Given that I was 70 when I took the class, I wanted to understand more about the processes specific to aging at that time of life,” Ezell said.
Cohen added, “I wanted to meet students who would be working with elders and let them know about assumptions people have about growing older.”
For her part, Cohen is pushing the boundaries of aging in her daily life. She has a streak of purple dye in her hair to be more noticed; got two tattoos at the age of 70; backpacked to the rim of the Grand Canyon last fall; and rode RAGBRAI (bike ride across Iowa) a few years ago.
“Especially when you’re young, your knowledge about elders is what you’ve seen in your own life. Are those elders active, engaged, optimistic? Or are they negative, frail, self-centered? Although much about aging can do with health, much is also about attitude,” she said.
“For the younger person going into a profession working with older people, I would say just don’t make assumptions about that person’s abilities. A healthy-looking person can have deficits you don’t see; or an older adult can walk faster than you. Our abilities and outlook are as different as those much younger,” Cohen says.
Age is not just a number, but it is one component of who we are. Students who pursue this certificate will learn about how older adults are impacted by intersecting identities including age, race, ethnicity, gender, income, class, sexual orientation, and ability. They will understand the nature of aging as a combination of psychological, social, and biological processes. They will learn about the dynamics of aging and serving older adults amidst a society struggling to meet the challenges of demographic change, and hopefully, help us all value the vast complexities of aging and working with older adults.
The Certificate in Aging Studies begins this fall.
Takeaways
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- Any undergraduate regardless of major or college affiliation may earn this certificate.
- Courses are offered from a variety of departments, from social work and psychology, to kinesiology, economics, and nursing.12 credits to complete certificate from Core Courses (3);
- Policies and Systems (2-4); and Depth of Study (6-7).
- Students interested in declaring this certificate should contact Academic Advisor Anna Gorman through Starfish or by calling 608-263-3660.
- More information is available in the UW Guide.
[1] Life expectancy in the US dipped and was slow to rebound during the COVID 19 Pandemic but returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 even though it remains lower than comparable countries.