Meghan Marty

Beginning this Sunday, May 10th HBO is showing a series of documentaries called "The Alzheimer's Project." I haven't seen any of them yet, but I hear from colleagues on geropsychology listservs that they are "powerful and well produced."

I had never heard of the "conscious competence" theory of learning before, but I've run into it twice in the past week (the universe must be telling me something!). Apparently, it's unclear as to who first developed this model and exactly how many stages are involved (see this website for more information). The basic framework is the following...

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence - The person is not aware of the existence or relevance of the skill, nor of any skill deficit.

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence - The person is aware of the existence and relevance of the skill, as well as deficiency in this area. This stage is uncomfortable for most (nobody likes feeling incompetent!).

Stage 3: Conscious Competence - The person can perform the skill, but it takes a lot of effort and concentration.

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence - The person becomes so practiced at the skill, it begins to feel like "second nature."

So far, graduate school has felt like one long period of conscious incompetence. It seems worse at the beginning of the semester when I'm starting new classes, new practicum rotations, and new phases of research projects. Then, just as I begin to feel like I have some idea of what I'm doing, we start a new semester all over again. This spring I've been focusing on taking a lot of deep breaths to calm my inner critic. I'm also pretty good at exercising to deal with stress. I'd love to hear about what other graduate students do to cope with their own conscious incompetence.

Most people don't like thinking about, let alone actually planning for, the end of their lives. The legal aspects of end-of-life planning are confusing, even for those who think their wishes are clear (see How Clear Are Your Last Wishes). Fortunately, there are many resources on the web that can help to make the process more understandable. Here are a few to check out:

1) The Mayo Clinic: has definitions for living wills, advance directives, and treatment decisions that need to be made

2) Caring Connections: program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, has links to state-specific documents and information on how to talk with your loved ones

3) Five Wishes: a popular living will document with easy-to-understand language

I've gotten a few questions recently on how one becomes a geropsychologist. While there are many paths leading to a career in geropsychology, here is one of the most efficient routes:

1) Get a bachelor's degree in Psychology: if not Psychology, another social science (e.g., Sociology) or physical science (e.g., Biology) is also helpful, as long as you take enough Psychology classes to get a basic, broad understanding of the field.

2) Get a doctorate degree in Psychology: if you'd like to go into clinical work, you'll need to complete a program in Clinical or Counseling Psychology. With a bachelor's degree, these programs usually take 5 - 6 years to take classes, write a dissertation, and complete one year of internship. The internship year is typically the last year of one's program and involves full-time clinical work.

3) Get a post-doctoral ("post-doc") position: In order to gain enough supervised clinical experience to be eligible for licensure or additional research experience (and rack up publications), many people choose to do a post-doc. Depending on what your goals are, this could take 1 - 3 years to complete.

Some people (myself included) decide to work or get a master's degree before entering a PhD program. This can add several years to the process, but is often very valuable experience.

Division 12 II of the American Psychological Association (APA) has a lot of useful information for students in geropsychology. APA Division 20 has a comprehensive list of graduate programs that provide specialization in adult development and aging.

Earlier this week, I gave a presentation at our local senior center that was designed for older men who are recently widowed or divorced. The purpose of the presentation was to discuss:

-relationships in later life
-what is "typical" after the loss of a spouse/partner
-how to decide whether you are ready to date again
-strategies for getting what you want.

In my Psychology of Aging II class the semester, we've been learning about late-life development as well as common concepts of "successful" aging. I'm always interested in learning about older adults who defy the dreary stereotypes of late life and seem to be aging well. This story about the oldest college basketball player ever is one example of a remarkable senior who is doing just that.

I've been in my PhD program for just over 3 semesters now. Last year was a huge transition for me and it took a while to adjust to being a student again and living in a new part of the country. But what made the transition go more smoothly were the other students in my program.

We had our PhD applicant interviews last week. As I was getting to know each of the applicants, I thought about what it was like to be in that position two years ago. It's a bit of a leap of faith to pick up and start a new life in a new city where you know no one, which is what many of us do for graduate school.

I feel really lucky to have found a program where I've been able to form great friendships. Very often, the support I get (and give) to my peers (some of whom are in the photo) is what has helped me through the inevitable rough spots of progressing through a graduate program.

The Council of Professional Geropsychology Training Programs (CoPGTP) has created an evaluation tool using the Pikes Peak Geropsychology competencies. The purpose of the tool is twofold: (1) for psychologists to evaluate their on-going training needs and (2) for supervisors to evaluate geropsych graduate students' development during a training program.

The 16-page list of competencies is daunting, for geropsych professionals at any level. However, when we discussed the document in my Clinical Geropsychology II class, my classmates and I were pleasantly surprised at how much knowledge and experience we are gaining through our program.

Dr. Ken Pope has compiled a cross-disciplinary list of over 100 links to complete copies of codes, guidelines, and standards for psychotherapy and assessment.

Older adults have a disproportionally high rate of completed suicide as compared to the general population, but relatively little is known about the extent to which coping styles and beliefs serve as protective factors against suicide in this population.

We had a group of community-dwelling older adults complete questionnaires on coping, reasons for living, and suicidal ideation. Some of the findings include:

- Suicidal ideation had a significant negative relationship with both problem- and emotion-focused coping and a significant positive relationship with dysfunctional coping.

- Suicidal ideation had a significant negative relationship with survival and coping beliefs, responsibility to family, child-related concerns, and total reasons for living score and a significant positive relationship with fear of suicide.

The findings suggest that a full assessment of coping styles and reasons for living should be part of a thorough evaluation of at-risk older adults. Future research should test the extent to which interventions that bolster coping skills and reasons for living reduce suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors.