Research,Macro Practice and Aging in the Social Work Education Curriculum

Summary

This paper presents a model that used a macro emphasis for teaching research using older adults. Faculty developed the teaching model to address three key areas of concern in the education of Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students for generalist practice: (1) research, (2) macro-level practice, and (3) aging. The paper explores the nature of these concerns and draws upon previous literature to delineate a teaching model designed to strengthen these areas of generalist practice by integrating content on macro-level concerns and aging into the curriculum of a research course. The development and evaluation of the research course within the context of a community and college project are described, as are the benefits for students, the social work program and the community. Preliminary findings indicate some support for the use of such a model.