Public Assistance Employees' Perceptions of Older Adults and Caregivers Who Apply for Benefits

Local, state, and federal agencies must be prepared to assist with the changing needs of an aging client population. The purpose of this study was to investigate public assistance employees' perceptions of older adults who apply for benefits. The study examines the relationship between individual employees' knowledge of aging, attitudes about older people who apply for assistance and their personal experience with caregiving. One hundred and six public assistance workers from 7 counties completed the Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz II and a semantic differential scale that was designed to assess attitudes about subgroups of older applicants. Results indicate that attitudes about “grandparents raising grandchildren,” “spousal caregivers” and “non-relative caregivers” were positively correlated but that attitudes about “social service clients” and “older adults” were not. The correlation between employees' attitudes and knowledge about aging was mildly positive and significant for “older adults,” but the same association did not emerge with the other subgroups. These findings imply that the delivery of social services to older adults can be enhanced by on-the-job training which integrates information, and experiential learning, thus promoting positive attitudes about the diversifying elderly population.