Creating Consortia across the Continuum of Care: Geriatric Social Work Field Education

Abstract

Despite the increasing demand for, and shortage of, well‐prepared geriatric social workers, there is currently no replicable geriatric social work field training model. The Geriatric Social Work Education Consortium (GSWEC) was developed as the United States' first regional consortium in geriatric social work field training geared to preparing leaders in the field of aging. GSWEC unites four graduate social work programs, five aging service organizations as Centers of Excellence, and 12 associate agencies in order to integrate graduate academic and field curriculum in geriatric social work, based on the continuum of geriatric care. The methodology involves a Systematic Research Synthesis to identify features of successful educational consortia. Bailey and McNally Koney's Community‐Based Consortia Development (CBCD) framework was selected to describe the features of GSWEC. The CBCD model is described and the literature is synthesized by the seven CBCD components: leadership; membership; environmental linkages; purpose; strategy; structure; and systems. The GSWEC model is presented by the CBCD framework as an innovative and replicable model for geriatric social work field education. Lessons learned highlight the importance of strong leadership, careful selection of partners, geographic equity, interpersonal relationships, phased development, and having a clear administrative structure.

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