Aging: A survey of family therapists\u27 knowledge, involvement and interest in work with later life families

This study used a mail survey to assess family therapists\u27 interest, involvement and knowledge about work with elders and their families. The survey elicited therapists\u27 opinions about the perceived barriers to such work, relevant knowledge base and need for specific training, willingness to work in non-traditional settings, and the influence of personal variables on openness to such work. An embedded experimental design was included. Respondents were randomly assigned to alternate versions of two clinically oriented vignettes. The first vignette examined the effect of varying the chronological age of target clients on respondents\u27 assessment of the expected length of therapy. The second vignette examined the effect an elder\u27s reported mental status and place of residence on the likelihood of her inclusion in therapy. Data was analyzed by means of analysis of variance, multiple regression, and discriminant function analysis. Study findings include: (1) Respondents overwhelmingly believe specialized knowledge is necessary for effective clinical work with elders; (2) Respondents were not as knowledgeable about aging as they believe they should be; (3) The majority of respondents do not have extensive contact with later life families, but they have higher levels of involvement than have been reported for other psychotherapists; (4) Half of the respondents report a moderate to strong interest in gerontological clinical work; (5) Subjects report that fear of aging and lack of training are barriers to clinical work with elders; (6) Significant predictors of interest in gerontological clinical work included exposure to gerontological course work, actual work with elders, and a willingness to work in non-traditional settings; (7) Increasing the chronological age of target clients in a clinical vignette resulted in significant decreases in anticipated length of therapy; (8) Confused mental status and nursing home residence lowered respondents\u27 assessment of the relevance of an elder\u27s presence in therapy; (9) Discriminant function analysis identified variables which successfully classified respondents according to the extent of their involvement in later life clinical work. Results strongly support the need for the development of training initiatives to address the lack of theory, research and practice in this area