CASA Faculty Partnership with the Stanford Geriatric Education Center (SGEC)

Nancy Hikoyeda and others at health fair People in a doctor's office

CASA Partnership with SGEC in Ethnogeriatrics

The purpose of the CASA partnership with SGEC is to increase the competencies of SJSU students in ethnogeriatrics, that is, to understand and address culturally specific issues that arise during the course of providing health care services to older adults. The training is embedded in the curriculum of the following programs of study at CASA: Nursing, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, and Social Work.

Issues related to working with culturally diverse elders tend not to be addressed in typical curricula used to train health care providers. This can lead to disparities in health care and health outcomes for diverse groups of elders. Ethnogeriatrics is a term used to describe ethnically and culturally relevant education and practice among those who provide health care services to older people.

Research, Curricula, and Training

Over the years, CASA faculty members have been instrumental in generating knowledge in ethnogeriatrics through the development and dissemination of research articles, ethnogeriatric curricula, and presentations on a variety of topics including:

  • Ethnicity and the Dementias
  • Diabetes and mental health among ethnic elders - Curriculum
  • Cultural competence when working with older adults- Ethnogeriatrics training
  • Understanding the impact of Health Literacy issues among ethnic elders

View the Cultural Competence training videos created by SJSU faculty.

The Cultural Competence training consists of four separate but related presentations on: Demographic imperatives and Health Disparities; Barriers to Health Care, Cultural Health Beliefs and Practices, and the LEARN model as a tool for improving cross-cultural communication. The fifth video, geared primarily for instructors, depicts the facilitation of an in-class discussion of a Case Study using the LEARN model [pdf].

Click on the following links below to see archives of some of the seminal reviews done by SGEC faculty

Related Links

See the following links for more information on aging-related work at CASA and SGEC