Dissemination and Promotion of Aging Information and Referral Products toMilitary Information and Referral Specialists

摘要

The purpose of the project was to enhance the capacity of military informationand referral (I&R) specialists to respond to the aging issues confronting military families and retirees. NASUA through its National Aging Information and Referral Support Center has developed products for the Older Americans Act I&R system which can assist military I&R programs respond to aging issues in military families. Selected products were disseminated and promoted to the military I&R specialists and were accompanied with technical assistance and training to encourage their utilization. Three major areas have emerged as the priorities for aging assistance with Military Family Support Service Center's I&R specialists: (1) Assistance in becoming more knowledgeable about how to handle the needs of older military retirees; (2) Assistance in becoming more knowledgeable about current caregiving needs and how to respond to inquiries; and (3) Assistance in becoming connected to the aging services system when the older relative of the military member is not eligible for military social or medical services. A major finding is that the needs of the Military Family Support Service Center staff are for basic information on how to identify and locate aging services. The second major finding is that they perferred to receive training materials and information that can be used in individual self-directed training rather than having the project staff do training sessions for them.