Career Preparation: A Curriculum in Mental Health and Aging for Service Providers. Final Report

This document contains a final report of a project which developed a model multidisciplinary graduate curriculum in mental health and aging. The introductory chapter, "Career Preparation: A Curriculum in Mental Health and Aging for Service Providers" (Thomas A. Rich, et al.), includes background information and discussions of the curriculum development process, student characteristics, the project information dissemination process, teaching faculty, the evaluation process, and outcomes. The remaining 10 chapters describe each individual course developed for the mental health and aging graduate curriculum: (1) "Mental Health and Aging" (Thomas A. Rich et al.); (2) "Physical Change, Behavior and Aging" (Sue V. Saxon); (3) "Psychopathology and Aging I" (Larry W. Dupree and Victoria K. Dunn); (4) "Psychopathology and Aging II" (Victoria K. Dunn and Larry W. Dupree); (5) "Mental Health Assessment of Older Adults" (Thomas A. Rich and Susan Turner); (6) "Gerontological Mental Health Counseling I" (Calvin Pinkard and James R. Moon); (7) "Gerontological Mental Health Counseling II" (Jeffrey A. Giordano and Nan Giordano); (8) "Loss and Grief Counseling" (Mary Jean Etten); (9) "Mental Health Systems" (Maureen Kelly et al.); and (10) "Field Placement in Mental Health" (Victoria K. Dunn and Thomas A. Rich). Each course chapter gives information such as course objectives, descriptions, design, requirements, and suggested texts. In addition, information is provided for each session of the course. Session descriptions contain information such as content, key concepts, learning activities and laboratories, suggested readings, and audiovisual resources. The final chapter on field placement describes settings, students, and supervision. A reference list is included at the end of each chapter. (NB)