Tamar Shovali

Eckerd College, a small, private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, FL, earned the Age-Friendly University (AFU) designation in 2019. Guided by the evidence-based Age Inclusivity Domains of Higher Education (AIDHE) model, we adopted a multifaceted approach to launch our AFU status and foster campus-wide awareness and engagement across the seven domains. The AIDHE model outlines that campus-wide strategies for this launch should focus on raising awareness, providing information and education, and assessing campus constituents. Our first goal was to raise awareness of age diversity, friendliness, and inclusivity on campus. A multi-tiered approach began by forming a coalition with The Inspired Network center for teaching, learning, and faculty development and engaging in conversations with administration and key staff from various domains, including advancement, OLLI, the Academy of Senior Professionals, admissions, and human resources. This was followed by an AFU Lunch and Learn for faculty, staff, and community members to raise broader awareness about our designation, highlight the value of working in an age-diverse environment, and assess attendees’ specific resource needs to inform future practices. To broaden student awareness, a Careers in Aging Month event was planned to provide information about AFUs and opportunities in the field of aging. Subsequently, an assessment of non-traditional student experiences at the college led to the development of a student club designed for this population. Our overarching strategy, other Age-Friendly initiatives aiding in this launch, and specific resource needs will be discussed.

This project intentionally fostered open, honest conversations about mortality by building an intergenerational Death Café, recognizing that such spaces are not inherently intergenerational. Undergraduates in a Death and Dying course, community members, and members of our university-affiliated Academy of Senior Professionals joined a series of Death Cafés in 2023 and 2024, with an average of 43 participants ranging in age from 18 to 84 years. Attendees were surveyed following each session about their frequency of engagement in discussions about death and dying in their daily lives, their perceptions of the value of intergenerational Death Cafés, whether they learned something new about death and dying, and whether their views on death and dying changed as a result of attending. Average responses indicate consistently high value and learning across all sessions, with a 12.2% increase in participants responding affirmatively that their views on death and dying changed. Nearly half of attendees reported rarely discussing death and dying in their lives, though such conversations increased slightly from 33.3% after the first café to 58% after the third café. Qualitative results indicate that each café built upon the last, shifting from initial openness and comfort (café 1), to refining the dialogue process and balancing perspectives (café 2), to encouraging deeper personal action and longer-term comfort with the subject (café 3). Clearly, meaningful intergenerational conversations about mortality can foster fulfilling and deeply human connections. The process of preparing and planning cafés will be discussed in this presentation.

Abstract Intergenerational relationships are necessary to prepare the workforce for careers in the field of gerontology. Intergenerational interaction and reflection have been shown to result in valuable skills, such as positive attitudes toward older adults, increased knowledge of aging and needs of older adults, genuine relationships with older adults and a greater appreciation for older generations, greater comfort with the idea of themselves aging, and high satisfaction when embedded into course curriculum. Intergenerational contact in the structure of undergraduate courses also has reciprocal benefits, such as recognizing commonalities, building appreciation and trust, and creating a sense of belonging between generations that can be lasting. Building on empirical evidence, an intensive three-week intergenerational relationships course for first year students using intentional integration with general education goals, while also training students in basic understanding of aging is described here. Students collaborated with the college’s Academy of Senior Professionals, a unique community of retired older adults engaged in lifelong learning, to develop a college-wide intergenerational event. Considerations, outcomes, and lessons learned will be reviewed.

Intergenerational programs have long been employed to reduce ageism and optimize youth and older adult development. Most involve in‐person meetings, which COVID‐19 arrested. ​​Needs for safety and social contact were amplified during COVID‐19, leading to modified programming that engaged generations remotely rather than eliminating it. Our collective case study incorporates four intergenerational programs in five US states prior to and during COVID‐19. Each aims to reduce ageism, incorporating nutrition education, technology skills, or photography programming. Authors present case goals, participants, implementation methods, including responses to COVID‐19, outcomes, and lessons learned. Technology afforded opportunities for intergenerational connections; non‐technological methods also were employed. Across cases, programmatic foci were maintained through adaptive programming. Community partners’ awareness of immediate needs facilitated responsive programming with universities, who leveraged unique resources. While new methods and partnerships will continue post‐pandemic, authors concurred that virtual contact cannot fully substitute for in‐person relationship‐building. Remote programming maintained ties between groups ready to resume shared in‐person programming as soon as possible; they now have tested means for responding to routine or novel cancellations of in‐person programming. Able to implement in‐person and remote intergenerational programming, communities can fight ageism and pursue diverse goals regardless of health, transportation, weather, or other restrictions.

The Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), the education member group of GSA, is the only national institutional membership organization devoted primarily to gerontology and geriatrics education. Its mission provides for development and sponsorship of initiatives to advance the field of aging through its focus on education in gerontology/geriatrics. AGHE first published the Gerontology and Geriatrics Curricular Standards over three decades ago – a document that has been an integral resource for implementing/revising programs in liberal arts, the sciences, and more recently, health professions. To meet the needs in the field for increased breadth and depth of content, the new 7th edition of the educational guidelines fully embraces competency-based education for gerontology, as the health professions programs have for years. Our first presenter will provide an overview of the new edition. The second presenter will focus on associate degree programs in gerontology and their unique contribution to higher education. The third will present on undergraduate programs in gerontology explaining how these programs give students an edge in today’s job market. The fourth presenter will address graduate programs in gerontology, describing master’s degree programs and doctoral degree programs in gerontology and aging studies. The fifth presenter will discuss health professions programs including geriatrics curricula for osteopathic medical education, gerontology/geriatrics curricula for health-related programs and the doctor of pharmacy degree programs. Presentations will provide expert recommendations for program development through mapping AGHE’s Gerontology Competencies for Undergraduate and Graduate Education to programs in higher education. Nina Silverstein will serve as discussant.

Mentor Up is a technology training program designed to reduce loneliness through technology training and intergenerational relationships. The program, which has similarities to Cyber Seniors, has been held at Eckerd College for four years and has traditionally been held in-person at a local Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC). During the pandemic we partnered with AARP to re-think the program and offer a modified version of Mentor Up on Zoom. Five one-hour one-on-one virtual technology training sessions led by 16 students were scheduled. Participants joined to ask questions about how to use features on their smartphones or how to navigate the Zoom virtual platform more effectively. The remote nature of programming allows for expanded 2021 participation, including AARP members across Florida and all three Westminster Communities of Florida in the area (CCRC, ALF, SNF). Participation rates, strategies to implement intergenerational programs on a virtual platform, and lessons learned will be highlighted.

As the field evolved, so too, has the Gerontology and Geriatrics Curricular Standards and Guidelines in Higher Education. The 7th edition is focused on the integration of the highly vetted AGHE Gerontology Competencies for Undergraduate and Graduate Education. Through this work we establish a set of standards and guidelines that provides the foundation for excellence in gerontology and health professions education at various levels and across a range of programs in the US and globally. The document provide a model for institutions of higher education in the development of new programs, a basis for program assessment and evaluation, guidance for academic or institutional reviews in existing programs, and a platform for what constitutes a program of study in gerontology/geriatrics or health professions programs for students, the public, and employers. An overview of the development of the 7th edition and suggestions for its use will be provided.

There is a 19-fold greater likelihood that children removed from parental care will be raised by a grandparent than any other caregiver. Theorists and practitioners highlight the importance of monitoring academic progress to understand the benefits of at-risk youth living in grandfamilies. Using a nationally representative dataset we examined academic performance for children in three caregiver (N = 814) categories: Grandparent (73.1%), Foster parent (12.7%), Other (nonfoster, nonkin/nonfoster; 14.2%), with significance testing across groups. Children were between 6-17 years with grandfamilies and foster families caring for significantly younger children compared to the “other” group. Overall, 76% of children were reported to have high academic performance in math and 79.6% had high academic performance in reading/writing. Grandparents were caring for a significantly higher proportion of non-Hispanic White children with statistically significantly higher reported academic performance in math and reading/writing compared to nongrandparents. Logistic regression model A showed for both foster parent (AOR 0.57, CI: .35-.91) and other (AOR 0.55, CI: .35-.86) caregiver groups were significantly negatively correlated with high math performance compared to grandparents. Model B showed the same statistically significant and negative relationship to reading/writing performance outcomes for foster parent (AOR 0.56, CI: .02-.35) and other (AOR 0.51, CI: .01-.32) caregivers compared to grandparents. Controlling for relevant caregiver and child variables both models suggest that children living with grandparents have 55% greater odds of high academic performance compared to children raised by nongrandparents. Findings support placement of children with grandparents. Supporting grandfamilies with appropriate social services will be reviewed.

•Nationally representative dataset of children living in nonparental care.•Compares academic performance of children in grandparental and nongrandparental care.•Grandparental care linked to greater likelihood of high academic performance.•Supports placement of children with grandparents. Much literature exists on social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for children in care of their grandparents (i.e., grandfamilies), however little is known about academic performance among children living in grandfamilies when compared to other types of nonparental care. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using secondary data from the United States 2013 National Survey of Children in Nonparental Care. We compare the academic functioning in math and reading/writing of school-aged children (N = 809) cared for by grandparents with two other types of nongrandparental caregivers. Using logistic regression models, we found that compared to children in care of their grandparents, children in care of foster caregivers and nonrelatives in nonfoster settings were approximately 45% less likely to have high academic performance in math and reading/writing. With this research we add to the literature on academic performance of children in out of home placement, setting the stage to compare arrangement options.

Approximately 2.6 million grandparents in the United States are primary caregivers for their grand children. We examine the relationship between grandparents' level of confidence and outcomes for the school-aged grandchildren under their care (n = 678). We found that the greater grandparents' level of confidence in obtaining and utilizing community services predicted higher academic performance for grandchildren. We discuss implications for child welfare practice and further research.