Social Work Practice with Ethnically and Racially Diverse Nursing Home Residents and Their Families

The first of its kind, this volume is a critical companion for service providers who work with African American, American Indian, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican American, and Puerto Rican elders and their families in nursing homes and other care settings. These groups are likely to use nursing homes in larger numbers as cultural shifts, such as higher divorce rates and increased outside-of-home employment for females, transform traditional family dynamics. Contributors are experience social workers, and most belong to the specific ethnic or racial group that is the focus of their chapter and have also provided nursing home services to this group. They provide a wealth of demographic, historical, cultural, and practice information crucial to understanding and providing services to older adults and their families.

Many nursing home residents experience physical and/or cognitive debilitation and increased dependence as older adults, and cultural and situational differences create variations in how these changes are experienced and addressed. In this volume, contributors touch upon all of these areas, as well as ways in which prejudice and discrimination have shaped intergenerational and other relationships for members of specific ethnic and racial groups. Little has been written about the characteristics, needs, and experiences of racially and ethnically diverse nursing home residents and their families and requirements for culturally competent social work practice. Written by social workers for social workers and other service providers, this book fills a gap in a rapidly growing area of gerontological service and provides a truly comprehensive examination of cultural and practice phenomena.

Patricia J. Kolb is a gerontological social worker and sociologist with extensive experience in social work practice, teaching, administration, and research. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Lehman College, CUNY and is strongly committed to developing and disseminating knowledge pertaining to diversity of experiences in later adulthood.
Patricia Kolb is an associate professor at Lehman College, of the City University of New York. She holds a M.S.S.A. in Social Work and and M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the New School. Since 1973, she has worked in the field of geriatric social services, with responsibilites that have included direct practice, supervision, teaching, administration, and program planning.