Oral life history narratives are a promising method to promote person-centered values of personhood and belonging. This project used resident oral history interviews to educate staff members in an assisted-living setting about personhood. A single group pre-post test design evaluated impacts on 37 staff members to assess their use of resident videotaped oral history interviews and impacts on their perceived knowledge of residents. Perceived knowledge of residents declined (p = .003) between pretest and posttest. Older staff members were less likely to view a video. Staff members are interested in resident oral history biographies and identify them as helpful for delivering care. Oral history methods might provide an opportunity for staff members to promote personhood by allowing them to expand their understanding of resident preferences, values, and experiences.
Gathering oral histories allows BSW students to learn and apply person-centered care principles through individualized social engagement with older adults. Thirty-three undergraduates enrolled in generalist practice took part in a semester long service-learning project gathering oral histories of older adults. A mixedmethods pre/post quasi-experimental design with a comparison group of BSW students engaged in service-learning in other settings evaluated the effects on student attainment of geriatric social work competencies, comfort engaging with older adults, and career interest. Relative to the comparison group, oral history students demonstrated statistically significant gains in values, assessment, intervention, and aging services geriatric competence. Competence related to values had the strongest effect size. Student comfort with older adults and career interest did not change. Although analysis of students’ critical reflections indicated that learning to communicate with cognitively impaired older adults was challenging, findings suggest that participant understanding of the aging process expanded.
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