Dassel Kara Bottiggi, Ewen Heidi, Carr Dawn, Manning Lydia, Leach Corinne, Fitzgerald Kelly
a Gerontology Interdisciplinary Program , University of Utah , Salt Lake City , Utah , USA.
Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2014;35(3):277-84. doi: 10.1080/02701960.2013.870901. Epub 2014 Jan 23.
An endless number of career trajectories are possible for gerontologists. With a growing aging population, our skills and areas of expertise are of high value to numerous industries. The purpose of this study is to describe the professional development and career trajectories of alumni of U.S. doctoral gerontology programs obtained through the Gerontology Education Longitudinal Study (GELS). Specifically, the authors examine how professional identification, doctoral program career preparation, and perception of job prospects affect alumni decisions to pursue "traditional" (i.e., academic) versus "nontraditional" (i.e., non-academic) careers. Results from the GELS revealed a fairly even split in the alumni sample of careers in traditional and nontraditional settings. The decision to pursue a traditional versus nontraditional career was not significantly associated with personal identification, doctoral program career preparation, or perception of employment options. These results suggest that the skill set obtained in doctoral gerontology programs is useful and is in demand in a variety of careers; therefore, doctoral programs may want to consider tailoring training to meet students' future career goals in both academic and non-academic settings.
老年医学专家有无数种职业发展轨迹。随着老龄人口的不断增加，我们的技能和专业领域对众多行业具有很高的价值。本研究的目的是描述通过老年医学教育纵向研究（GELS）获得的美国老年医学博士项目校友的职业发展和职业轨迹。具体而言，作者考察了职业认同、博士项目的职业准备以及对就业前景的看法如何影响校友选择“传统”（即学术）职业还是“非传统”（即非学术）职业的决定。GELS的结果显示，校友样本在传统和非传统职业环境中的分布相当平均。选择传统职业还是非传统职业的决定与个人认同、博士项目的职业准备或对就业选择的看法没有显著关联。这些结果表明，在老年医学博士项目中获得的技能组合是有用的，并且在各种职业中都有需求；因此，博士项目可能需要考虑调整培训，以满足学生在学术和非学术环境中的未来职业目标。
