Search results for ‘Subject term:"age discrimination"’ Sort:
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'But I don't want to retire'
- Author:
- TICKLE Louise
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 2.10.08, 2008, pp.16-17.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Despite the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 outlawing age discrimination in employment, the UK government have decided to interpret the wording of the EU directive in a manner that allows employers to apply a default retirement age of 65. Discusses the implications for social workers who want to continue to work beyond retirement age. The article highlights what older workers have to offer and also discusses the risk of discrimination claims.
Self-reported ageism in social work practitioners and students
- Authors:
- ALLEN Priscilla D., CHERRY Katie E., PALMORE Erdman
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52(2), February 2009, pp.124-134.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
This study investigates the prevalence of ageism in 4 different groups of social work students and practitioners. The groups were 63 undergraduate students, 27 graduate students, 19 nursing home social services staff, and 41 mental health system social workers, all based in Louisiana. All participants completed the Relating to Older People Evaluation, which lists 20 types of ageist behaviours and asks the subject to select how often they do each of them. The questionnaire listed 6 positive types of ageism (such as holding doors open for old people because of their age), and 14 negative types of ageism (such as sending birthday cards to an old person that joke about their age). The findings indicated that people of varying educational backgrounds and occupational experience in social work readily admit to positive ageist behaviours. The article discusses the implications of ageism in society and particularly in social work.
Assessing the “millennial self-care obsession” among social workers: #NotSoMuch
- Authors:
- MILLER J. Jay, GRISE-OWENS Erlene
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 21(6), 2021, pp.1399-1412.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Summary: Despite the importance of self-care to social work practice, misnomers about the construct persist. One misperception is that millennials are overly focused on self-care and engage in high-levels of self-care, to the detriment of performing work duties. This study examined the self-care practices of social work practitioners (N = 3079) in the United States. Researcher investigated self-care practices across five domains: Professional Support, Professional Development, Life Support, Cognitive Awareness, and Daily Balance. Findings: Overall, data suggest that social workers in all generations engaged in moderate amounts of self-care. Analyses revealed that millennials engaged in significantly fewer self-care practices related to Professional Support and Daily Balance, when compared to Generation X and Baby-boomer participants. While not statistically significant, millennials scored lower across all other self-care domains. Applications: This is the first known study to explicitly investigate generational differences in self-care within any professional discipline. Within the next five years, millennials will make up nearly 75% of the world’s workforce. Findings from this research suggest the need to reshape prevailing anecdotes about self-care and millennials. Further, data offer insights to organizations looking to better support social workers of all generations in engaging in self-care. (Edited publisher abstract)
Does age matter in the social care workforce?
- Authors:
- LIPMAN Valerie, MANTHORPE Jill, HARRIS Jess
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Long-Term Care, September 2018, pp.1-11. Online only
- Publisher:
- King's College London
- Place of publication:
- London
Context: With the population in England ageing, more people are living with complex physical and mental health needs and need care and support. As a result demand for care workers is increasing. Objective: This paper presents findings from qualitative research in England that aimed to explore the perspectives of frontline care workers, their managers and service users about what difference the age of the care workforce potentially makes at an individual, organisational or workforce level. Method: Interviews, semi-structured and face to face, in four local authority sites in England. Findings: Age plays a role in the perceived character of the care workforce. A commonly-held view is that life experience is one of the most valuable qualities a care worker brings to their role. While experience is generally valued, it may be framed as experience in care work, or more generally as life experience. Younger care workers may be often seen by older colleagues and service users as less reliable until they prove themselves. However, managers often identify enthusiasm and ability to accommodate change among younger care staff. Managers are interested in having an ‘age mix’ of staff beyond retention and sustainability issues. Limitations: The authors acknowledge the risk that the interview data may not be generalisable or totally representative of staff or care users; the study did not include directly employed care workers nor collect health-related information or personal narratives. Those employers who agreed to participate may be more committed to workforce development and value their staff. Nonetheless data are sector-wide and there are sizeable numbers of participants. Moreover, the views of users of social care and family carers are also included. Implications: The article provides views from a range of stakeholders in social care on whether age matters in this workforce. Instances of age discrimination or stereotypes affecting different ages were reported but also the opportunities in social care work for people to work in later life and to move to this work after other work or family experiences. The age of the social care workforce needs to be considered as part of workforce planning, tailoring skills development and value-based work commitment among all age groups, reducing physical demands, and providing flexible working conditions. (Edited publisher abstract)
Critical social work with older people in neo-liberal times: challenges and critical possibilities
- Authors:
- HASTINGS Sandra J., ROGOWSKI Steve
- Journal article citation:
- Practice: Social Work in Action, 27(1), 2015, pp.21-33.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This article argues that the United Kingdom is institutionally ageist, a situation compounded by the current neo-liberal consensus embraced by all main political parties. It explores the concept of ageism, the practise of discrimination against older members of society. Involved is a discussion of critical gerontology, the role played by society in creating the condition of, and how this contributes to, the problematisation of old age. The role of social work with older people is also problematised given the changes associated with the managerialism, resulting in bureaucracy and targets, and the ever increasing need to ration resources. Despite all this, the argument is for a critical practice, one which seeks to genuinely address the needs of older people as well as aiming to create a more just and equal society that refutes ageism. (Publisher abstract)
Social workers’ attitudes toward older adults: a review of the literature
- Authors:
- WANG Donna, CHONODY Jill M.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work Education, 49(1), 2013, pp.150-172.
- Publisher:
- Council on Social Work Education
Ageist attitudes toward older adults have been recognised as barriers to recruiting and training competent social workers. This article provides a systematic review of the literature that focused on social workers’ and social work students’ attitudes toward older adults and working with older adults. The authors sought empirical studies that used an attitudinal measure of ageism with a social work sample, and a total of 20 articles met the criteria. Characteristics of the studies’ participants, methodology, instruments, and results were evaluated. This article discusses the findings and offers implications for future research. (Publisher abstract)
The parameters of prejudice: knowledge of ethics and age bias
- Author:
- ROBERTS Jane M.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 50(3/4), 2008, pp.65-79.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Questionnaire data from 367 practising social workers from four US states were analysed, with the aim of testing the hypothesis that the greater the knowledge or professional ethics, the lower the likelihood of ageism. The results show that nearly 30% of the sample exhibited age bias, and that there was no significant association with knowledge of professional ethics or with age, gender, ethnicity or experience of working with older people. The limitations of the study and the implications for social work education and training are discussed. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580).
A social work perspective on how ageist language, discourses and understandings negatively frame older people and why taking a critical social work stance is essential
- Author:
- DUFFY Francis
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 47(7), 2017, pp.2068-2085.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
As populations age around the globe, social workers will have more and more contact with older people, particularly in the practice fields of health care and social care services. Language and dominant discourses associated with older people and ageing in politics, in the media and other institutions are often underpinned by ageism and fail to convey accurate accounts and understandings of ageing issues. In response to how this pervasive ageism plays out in health care and social care services practice settings, this paper argues that all social workers urgently ought to move beyond conventional social work, which is most dominant in practice, and embrace more aspects of critical social work in relation to ageing societies and working with older people. This is necessary to identify, critique and challenge ill-informed and oppressive language, labels and discourses used to describe older people and explain ageing issues. Embedding gerontological social work as core learning in social work education is essential to social work achieving what is required to achieve these goals. (Publisher abstract)
Age and dignity: working with older people
- Author:
- THOMPSON Neil
- Publisher:
- Arena
- Publication year:
- 1995
- Pagination:
- 155p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Aldershot
Offers a blend of theory and practice to help staff working with older people to achieve high standards of practice, taking as a starting point ageism and developing anti-ageist services.
Social work and case management in the UK: models of professionalism and elderly people
- Author:
- HUGMAN Richard
- Journal article citation:
- Ageing and Society, 14(2), June 1994, pp.237-253.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Discrimination against old age and work with elderly people are evident in the practices and organisation of caring professions, of which social work may be taken as an example because of its central role in community care provision. This article examines the implications for the status of professional social work with elderly people of recent proposals to develop the role of care manager in place of the case management model developed in Kent and elsewhere. It is argued that such a move drives from managerial concerns, which ignore the likely consequences for retrenching ageism and other forms of discrimination in services for older people. It is concluded that more careful consideration will be required concerning the context in which new professional models are being developed if these discriminations are not to be reproduced and reinforced, as well as the benefits from case management systems being lost.