SDSU experts work together at the SDSU Center on Aging to improve quality of life for a growing senior population

In 1997, one in eight Americans was elderly, defined as 65 and older. By 2030, the U.S. Census projects this number will jump to one in five.

Such growth is called a “bulge,” and this one has been looming on the horizon for some time thanks to the post-WWII baby boom and advances in public health and medicine that have increased lifespans.

Experts predict this massive population shift will impact everything, from buildings to clothing design to product marketing. No segment of society will be unaffected by the change, least of all the elderly population itself.

“We have this stereotype of seniors,” says Siobhan Hancock, a graduate of the master’s program in gerontology at San Diego State University, and now the interim director of the Poway Senior Center. “The negative stereotype is that they’re crotchety, senile and somehow diminished because of their age. Well, all of that is changing.”

In addition to being the most numerous cohort of elders in U.S. history, the next generation of seniors will be more active, outspoken – and diverse – than ever before.

Though we have anticipated their arrival for years, we are nowhere near ready for them.

To drive this point home with his students, Jon Wong Min, SDSU professor of social work, likens the expanding senior population to a large ship coming into the harbor.

“In order for that ship to dock, we need to build a port. Right now our port is too tiny, so that ship is going to crash.”

No blanket approach

Although the majority of older adults live healthy, productive lives, there is an increased susceptibility to medical and financial issues. Several factors can diminish the gleam of the golden years by compromising quality of life.

Physical ailments can cause pain, render seniors bedridden and force them out of their homes into care facilities; mental afflictions like dementia can leave them vulnerable to elder abuse; isolation following the death of a spouse or the departure of children can lead to depression; and the cost of medication and inadequate planning can lead to financial hardship. Longer lifespans and diminishing public financial resources can compound these problems.

“All of these factors will be significantly amplified among minorities,” Min said. “Unfortunately, you see a very strong relationship between race and socioeconomic status.”

Seniors are living longer and fuller lives, and
staying active right until the end.
Photo by Isaac Sandlin

Because early behaviors, opportunities and attitudes contribute to overall well-being in old age, and these traits are often determined by cultural heritage, Min and his colleagues at the SDSU Center on Aging specialize in minority aging.

By working to understand the cultural factors that contribute to the quality of later life, they hope to fill the anticipated need for services with tailored programs and greater identification of elder abuse in cultures that tend to overlook it.

“Different minorities have a different perspective on what constitutes elder abuse,” said Mario Garrett, director of the SDSU Gerontology Department and Center on Aging. “For example, some ethnic groups see financial abuse differently from the way mainstream groups do, especially in communities where money is seen as family property.”

Researchers at the Center on Aging have identified other factors particular to minority elders. These include; unequal treatment from medical professionals; difficulty finding resources in a diverse urban community; and the tendency to become overwhelmed by multiple options when dealing with health and emotional issues.

Emeritus gerontology professor E. Percil Stanford started the center in the early 1970s as a place for researchers from diverse disciplines – epidemiology, behavioral science, nursing, and speech, language and hearing sciences – to work together on research to guide policymakers, caregivers, medical personnel and anyone else working with seniors.

“It’s a population that’s quite often not factored in during planning and policy development or when budgets for services are being allocated,” said Stanford, who currently serves as chief diversity officer for AARP. “When you’re dealing with any group that you don’t understand or you think is going to be expensive, the tendency is to ignore it.”

Since its inception, the Center on Aging has become a go-to resource for policymakers. In fact, the revised Older Americans Act of 1978 references work done there. It has also given rise to a formal gerontology program that allows students to concentrate academically on this emerging discipline.

Attracting the young

Most students don’t start out with the intention of working with seniors, so there is a shortage of professionals equipped to serve the population. In the realm of social work alone, Min says California’s 17 master’s degree programs don’t produce enough graduates to meet the state’s current demands, let alone the coming ones.

Although the gerontology program at SDSU is one of the largest in the country, it cannot meet growing demand.

Mario Garrett, director, SDSU
Department of Gerontology
and Center on Aging
Photo by Tom Farrington

A little exposure to the field goes a long way, however, and many students get hooked.

Garrett surveys students at the beginning and end of his introductory gerontology course for their opinions on the elderly.

“It’s a very interesting transformation,” he said. “At the end, there is really more of an appreciation of the history and significance of aging.”

One student who got hooked is Siobhan Hancock. Introduced to Alzheimer's disease while working for an attorney specializing in trusts and wills, she realized how aging issues impact just about everything in society.

As interim director of the Poway Senior Center, she oversees in-house and delivery meal provisions, social activities, and health and legal services to approximately 64,000 seniors in the region. Many of these people will live upward of 30 years following retirement.

“People are calling retirement the ‘Act Two’ of life,” she said. “Seniors are staying healthier and more active than in previous generations. They are 20 years younger than their chronological age.”

Poway Senior Center Interim Director Siobhan Hancock
visits with Agnes Wollman as she prepares for the weekly
bingo game. Photo by Lauren Coartney

Like Hancock, Garrett says that with adequate preparation, almost everyone can have a full life right until the end and emphasizes the need for more people to enter the gerontology field.

“Older adults are the ones that invested in our society and made this wealth possible,” Garrett said. “We have an implicit contract across generations to care for each other, which I think is the definition of civilization. Without it, we cannot survive and grow.”

Related information

• U.S. Census Elderly Projections
• SDSU Department of Gerontology
• National Center on Elder Abuse
• American Association of Retired Persons
• Older Americans Act
• SDSU School of Social Work

Credits

• Story by Lauren Coartney
• Story edited by Coleen L. Geraghty
• Graphics by John Signer and Jeff Ernst