Career Pathways in Applied Gerontology
Graduates are needed in a variety of educational, health care, government agency, community, and private practice settings:
- Community, human services, and religious organizations
- Health care and long-term care institutions
- Federal, state, and local government agencies, including the aging network (Older Americans Act)
- Schools (e.g. working with grandparents who are raising their grandchildren)
- Retirement communities
- Academic and other education and research settings
- Professional organizations
- Business and industry
- Developing programs such as health promotion, senior theater groups, intergenerational activities and leisure and recreation for older adults
- Providing direct care to frail, ill, or impaired adults in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and adult care or home care programs
- Counseling older adults and their families about issues of caregiving, employment, death and dying, or mental health
- Advising older clients about estate planning and investments, financing long-term care, or housing options
- Conducting research on the aging process and diseases associated with aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease or osteoporosis
- Analyzing issues related to older adults, such as retirement opportunities, income maintenance, the health care system, and housing alternatives
- Planning, administrating, and evaluating community-based services and service delivery systems for older adults
- Teaching courses on aging to college and university students, health care professionals, and older adults
- Advocating with or on behalf of older adults before legislative bodies or in institutional settings
- Designing products to meet the special interests and needs of older persona
- Advising business, industry, and labor regarding older workers and consumers