Transcript Strengthening Aging and Gerontology Education for Social

Resource Review for Teaching
Health Promotion & Aging
Section 3: The Role of Social Work
in Promoting Health
Victoria M. Rizzo, LCSW-R, PhD
Jessica Seidman, LMSW
Columbia University School of Social Work
The Social Worker’s Role
with Older Adults
 Social workers can help older persons
remain mobile & independent, thus
increasing the quality of life not only of
the aging individuals but their families
as well.
The Social Worker’s Role in Promoting
Health at the Community Level
 Provide assessment, counseling, and
referral services regarding health
promotion in clinical and multidisciplinary settings.
 Enhance information sharing &
research alliances.
The Social Worker’s Role in Promoting
Health at the Community Level
 Improve the competence of communities
to develop strategies for helping older
adults define and reach their goals.
 Participate in community management.
 Advocate regarding development &
maintenance of community
infrastructure.
The Social Worker’s Role in Promoting
Health at the Community Level
 Encourage better use of available
resources.
 Develop partnerships among key players
& stakeholders in the community.
 Promote economic developments that
will lead to better health practices
among the general population.
Social Work Models
for Promoting Health
 Social workers play an important role in
encouraging older adults to adopt
healthy behaviors and to integrate
health promotion into their lives.
 Challenges for older adults include:
lack of knowledge & motivation,
insufficient social support,
inaccessibility to programs, and policies
that promote unhealthy behaviors.
Social Work Models for Promoting
Health: Nutrition Model
 Social Worker Tasks: nutritional
assessment that includes information
about food consumption, medical
history, medications, financial
circumstances, mobility, & accessibility
to community institutions.
 Also, assess individual’s READINESS to
change nutritional behavior.
Social Work Models for Promoting
Health: Nutrition Model
Activities to address malnutrition:
 Dine & interact with older members of the
community.
 Deliver easy to make or ready-to-eat meals.
 Provide a microwave oven for simple meal
preparation.
 Advocate for provision of effective nutrition
services in health care facilities.
Social Work Models for Promoting
Health: Physical Activity Model
 Social workers can be active partners in the
community level development of physical
activity programs. Strategies that they can use
to promote physical activity for older adults
include:
 Create a community goal statement designed to
improve levels of physical activity among seniors.
 Form a community coalition or advisory unit
composed of representatives from different
community organizations to develop programs
focused on increasing older adults’ opportunities
for physical activity.
Social Work Models for Promoting
Health: Physical Activity Model
 Assess the community’s needs regarding
physical activity programs for older adults
and the opportunities available to establish a
program that meets those needs.
 Evaluate the accessibility & availability of the
community’s physical activity programs for
older adults.
Social Work Models for Promoting
Health: Physical Activity Model
 Establish a community plan for dealing with
barriers to seniors’ participation in physical
activities and improvements needed to boost
the participation of older adults in physical
activity.
 Publish a resource tool that lists all physical
activity programs in the community.
 Design a community campaign to inform
older members about how to achieve the
suggested amounts of physical activity.
Social Work Models for Promoting
Health: Physical Activity Model
 Offer older adults of the community a variety
of physical activity programs.
 Initiate physical activity programs and other
opportunities that are appropriate, both
culturally and in terms of physical location,
for the entire community.
 Remain committed to ongoing development
of programs and policies and to the
involvement of people who represent
different segments of the community.
Effects of Health Disparities
& Cultural Diversity
 Older members of minority groups
experience poorer health, are less
adequately insured, and often
receive disparate access to health
care when compared to members of
the non-minority group.
Effects of Health Disparities
& Cultural Diversity
 To address these disparities, social
workers must answer the following
questions about the interventions they
implement:
 What knowledge & attitudes prompt older
adults’ requests for services?
 What preconceptions of both older adults &
providers affect communication and
influence the provision of services?
Effects of Health Disparities
& Cultural Diversity
 What structure & financing of the health
care system would improve individuals’
access to care?
 What is the impact of social & community
factors on the delivery of health care
services?
Other Strategies for Promoting Health
Among Culturally Diverse Populations
 Engage the formal education system (public
schools) to teach cultural diversity.
 Integrate cross-cultural awareness in training for
all health care professionals.
 Build partnerships between health care systems
and communities to enhance the health
outcomes in diverse populations.
 Increase knowledge and collaborative work
between communities and research institutions.
Health Policy and Health Promotion
 In Active Ageing: A Policy Framework,
the World Health Organization (2002)
identifies several key policy proposals to
address the multitude of factors that can
impact the health of older adults.
 These include policies that impact the
economic influences on health, the
training of the health workforce, and
access to health care.