GSA on Aging

Science and Storytelling: Older Adults Are Essential Workers: Ageism and Productive Aging

Older adults are essential workers, caregivers, and volunteers. They provide many services in the community as volunteer drivers for Meals on Wheels, tutors and mentors for school programs, and other meaningful roles. Ways to shape social policies and programs to optimally engage the growing human capital of the older population is a compelling issue. In addition to discussing her research career path as a social worker, Dr. Nancy Morrow-Howell talks with hosts Rita Xiaochen Hu and Hanamori Skoblow about why older adults are essential and productive members of the community and how we as a society can resist ageism. This podcast episode was inspired by the GSA 75th Anniversary Spotlight Article by Dr. Morrow-Howell and Ernest Gonzales, MSW, PhD, “Recovering From Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Resisting Ageism and Recommitting to a Productive Aging Perspective,” published in Public Policy & Aging Report.

Guest: Nancy Morrow-Howell, MSW, PhD, FGSA (Bio)—Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy, Washington University in St. Louis.

Hosts: Rita Xiaochen Hu, MSW (Bio)—Doctoral Candidate in Social Work and Psychology, University of Michigan; and Hanamori F. Skoblow, MS (Bio)—Doctoral Student in Human Development and Family Science, University of Missouri.

This podcast episode is supported by the GSA Innovation Fund: 75th Anniversary.

The Gerontologist Podcast: Emotional Labor of Home Health Aides with Dr. Emily Franzosa

Dr. Degenholtz interviewed Dr. Emily Franzosa at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the James J. Peters VA Medical Center about her paper on the emotional labor of home health aides. Her paper, “Who’s Caring for Us?”: Understanding and Addressing the Effects of Emotional Labor on Home Health Aides’ Well-being, published in the December 2019 issue of The Gerontologist, reports on focus groups conducted with groups of aides, finding that being close and having trusting relationships with clients were important to aides’ emotional well-being.  The conversation highlighted the importance of recognizing emotional labor and the limitations of the current system that do not reward or even explicitly acknowledge the psychological toll that caring can have on paid caregivers.  Dr. Degenholtz talked to his mother about the people who have cared for their relatives, including his uncle and his grandmother, and tried to parse out what motivates people above and beyond pay to do this challenging work.

Article (December 2019 Issue of The Gerontologist)

Disclaimer: This interview does not represent the views of the US Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.