PERCEPTIONS OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY ABOUT THE NEED FOR GERONTOLOGY TRAINING

Abstract

America is aging, and quickly. Among the educational institutions that could address this critical issue, none are better suited than community colleges. Community colleges not only educate students but also respond to the emerging needs of the communities they serve. Previous studies have shown that few community colleges have developed an agenda for addressing the impact of aging on our society and that faculty and administrators may not be aware of the potential for expanding aging‐related programs. This study reports the responses of 703 community college faculty representing a broad variety of disciplines and educational backgrounds. As expected, the majority of faculty had little previous training in aging, included no aging content in existing courses, and were uncertain as to whether to include aging content in other courses that they taught. This uncertainty, however, must be tempered by the fact that 61% of the responding faculty were interested in attending a basic training program in aging. Such community college faculty interest and participation could enhance the introduction of aging materials into existing curricula and expand their other educational activities that would ultimately benefit older persons in the community.