ATLANTA–Nancy Kropf, dean of the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions and professor of social work, has published guidelines for health care and social service workers to help their aging clientele in her book, “Evidence-based Treatment with Older Adults."
As the number and diversity of people over age 65 grow, professionals need a better understanding of the connections of physical, psychological and emotional health and social welfare in older adults.
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The book, written for mental health professionals and students interested in working with older adults, focuses on intervention and treatment techniques for mental and emotional health in older adults. With University of Tennessee professor of social work Sherry Cummings, Kropf defines five psychosocial interventions and matches each with research tested in clinical settings.
Kropf and Cummings take readers through the related interventions of cognitive behavior therapy and problem-solving therapy. They examine the use of two interview-style treatments in motivational interviewing therapy and reminiscence/ life history. They assess psycho-educational and social support interventions, which unlike the previous methods of intervention, rely heavily on group work. Each of the types of intervention is illustrated with case studies and followed with a chapter citing the research to support each type of intervention treatment.
The authors have extensive expertise as social work practitioners and researchers working with older adults. Kropf, a John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Scholar, has published nine books and more than 90 articles and book chapters on gerontology and social work. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). Cummings is also a Hartford scholar and Fellow of the GSA.
For more information about Kropf’s work with older adults, visit her profile on the Lewis College web site.