FACULTY-DEVELOPMENT IN ETHNOGERIATRICS

Faculty members in health professions educational programs are recogni zing the need for professional development that will enable them to pr epare their students to meet the needs of the increasingly culturally diverse population of older adults. Reviews of textbooks in Five healt h care disciplines and surveys of gerontological programs in the late 1980s revealed limited integration of ethnogeriatric information in te xtbooks and few models for ethnogeriatric curricula. The Stanford Geri atric Education Center and the affiliated gerontology/geriatric progra ms at San Jose State University have developed strategies for faculty development in ethnogeriatrics, two of which are conferences and minif ellowships. Three conferences have focused on curriculum content and i nstructional methodologies to teach students in health care programs f rom 11 disciplines the information and skills for cultural competence in ethnogeriatrics. Six months after the first conference, more than h alf of the participating faculty members who had expressed an intentio n to make curricular or instructional changes had made them. Five facu lty members from three states have taken the Minifellowship in Ethnoge riatrics which requires them to spend 60 hr in supervised study and 80 hr in individualized study to achieve the objective of increasing the ir competence in teaching ethnogeriatrics. Recommendations include pro moting faculty development through inter-institutional collaboration a nd obtaining continued or increased support for improving interdiscipl inary approaches and model development.