VA San Francisco Health Care System, San Francisco, California, USA.
Wright Institute Clinical (PsyD) Program and Berkeley CBT Clinic, Berkeley, California, USA.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Mar;69(3):798-805. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17029. Epub 2021 Jan 16.
Older adults are more likely to seek mental health care through integrated care settings such as primary care. Currently, there exists a significant shortage of mental health providers trained in geropsychology and integrated care competencies. To address this need within the Veterans Health Administration, a national workforce development program was extended to include psychologists, which is called the Geriatric Scholars Program-Psychology Track (GSP-P). The GSP-P has two overarching educational program aims: (1) to improve geropsychology competencies of practicing VA psychologists, particularly those working within integrated settings (e.g., primary care) and (2) enrich psychologists' abilities to enact change in their clinical settings. Ninety-eight VA clinicians participated in the GSP-P, which includes a multi-day in-person course, from 2014 to 2018. Participants completed measures assessing confidence and self-reported knowledge in geropsychology and integrated care competencies pre-course and 3-months post-completion. Two-weeks post-course participants responded to open-ended survey questions regarding their perceptions of the course and potential applications of learning. Significant improvements in confidence in and knowledge of geropsychology and integrated care competencies emerged from pre-course to 3-months post-completion. Qualitative findings demonstrated that participants valued the face-to-face, integrated multimodal educational program. Findings provided insights regarding clinicians' planned application of the knowledge acquired, such as modifying treatments for older patients. Specialized workforce programs such as the GSP-P have a significant, positive impact on the care of older Veterans.
老年人更有可能通过初级保健等综合保健环境寻求精神保健。目前，受过老年精神病学和综合保健能力培训的精神保健提供者严重短缺。为了满足退伍军人健康管理局内的这一需求，一项全国性的劳动力发展计划扩大到包括心理学家，即老年学者计划-心理学轨道（GSP-P）。GSP-P 有两个总体教育计划目标：（1）提高退伍军人事务部从事临床工作的心理学家的老年精神病学能力，特别是在综合环境（如初级保健）中工作的心理学家；（2）丰富心理学家在临床环境中实施变革的能力。98 名退伍军人事务部临床医生参加了 2014 年至 2018 年的 GSP-P，其中包括为期多天的实地课程。参与者在课程前和完成后 3 个月完成了评估老年精神病学和综合保健能力自信和自我报告知识的措施。课程结束后两周，参与者对他们对课程的看法和学习的潜在应用回答了开放式调查问题。从课程前到完成后 3 个月，对老年精神病学和综合保健能力的自信和知识的显著提高。定性研究结果表明，参与者重视面对面的、综合的多模式教育计划。研究结果提供了关于临床医生计划应用所获得知识的见解，例如为老年患者修改治疗方法。像 GSP-P 这样的专业劳动力计划对老年退伍军人的护理有重大的积极影响。
