I just spent a great few days at the BSG 2012 conference at Keele University and got chatting to a few colleagues. We talked about the kind of research we are currently involved in when someone asks: so don’t you call yourself a gerontologist?
Mmmh, no I don’t.
So I started to wonder why I don’t, after all, I am at the BSG…maybe I am having a bit of an identity crisis…
I have been a member of the BSG since 2006, a member of the BSG executive since 2010 and I am currently the treasurer for the society. Most of my professional and research career has been around ageing and older people. But still I tend to avoid the word gerontology. And talking to some friends and colleagues at the BSG, it appears I am not the only one.
I think part of the reason is that I my educational background never focused solely on gerontology, but is of a very multi-disciplinary nature. I have a background in nursing and I have worked predominately with older people in my professional career; I undertook my PhD at a School of Health Professions and Rehabilitation Sciences but focused on older people living with a chronic lung disease; and I have been and currently am involved in research projects including older people (both directly and indirectly) and in fact this is a thread by which I link all my professional and research career experience together. And since gerontology is very diverse discipline including people from a variety of professional and academic backgrounds, this really should not be the reason to why I hesitate calling myself a gerontologist.
So after some reflection, I think the bit that I struggle most with, is the fact that the vast majority of people (both the general public, friends and often other academic colleagues) don’t know what the word ‘gerontology’ means.
Geront… what? What is that?
Well I am interested in experiences of ageing, health and chronic illness in later life
Aha, OK.
Interestingly, people don’t seem to have this problem with ‘geriatrics’. Maybe because we, the general public, adopted the word to describe older people in a negative way or maybe more importantly, it’s a term associated with medicine. (I could diverge here and have a discussion on the issue of the medicalisation of old age and illness and social gerontological ideas of ageing, but I won’t… maybe for another blog).
So maybe what we, as gerontologists, need to do is to embed the word ‘gerontology’ into the public conscience and we can only do this by ‘spreading’ the word. So what am I? I am a gerontologist with an interest in experiences of health and chronic illness in later life. Identity crisis over.
suevenn said:
Very interesting and thought provoking. Like you I have struggled and debated (mostly with myself) about what I am and how to present myself to others. To muddy the waters further, when asked what I do, I never know whether to say I am a Sociologist, Gerontologist, Social Gerontologist, or simply a Researcher, and then wait to be asked what I do research in. What I do is research, what I am is someone who is interested in older people. If I say I am a Gerontologist I usually end up by qualifying it. But whilst I am proud to say I am a Gerontologist, I also struggle about whether we should be ‘labelling’ ourselves as such – by doing so are we not defining our discipline by the people we are studying, and is that not then counter to what we believe, that is that we should not treat all older people as a homogeneous group?
Some friends of mine recently told me they had offered to pay for their daughter’s undergraduate course at University, as long as she studied a ‘proper’ subject. She has chosen to do Sociology and so will not receive parental support. It’s hard to know whether I was more upset at their disownment of their daughter, at their misperception of our discipline, or simply that after ten years of friendship they still didn’t know what I do for a living!
So I think we are facing a bigger crisis about the discipline as a whole. At the recent AGM of the Academy of Social Sciences, Peter Taylor-Gooby urged us to be proud of our discipline and introduce ourselves firstly as Social Scientists (and I know, it’s yet another title….) But having also just come away from the BSG conference in Keele, where there was a palpable sense of a strong community of people interested in the well being of older people, I am going to stick with ‘I am a Gerontologist’.
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veronikaw said:
And even more food for thought! Thanks Sue! I do think that our area of research is a lot more complex than some other ‘proper’ and ‘straightforward’ academic disciplines like medicine or physics (I never knew there was such a thing as in ‘improper’ academic subject! Good for your friend’s daughter to do what she wants to do despite of the financial consequences!). What is really nice to know is that I am not the only one struggling with this, as for a long time I did think it was just me having an identity crisis!
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Mo Flynn said:
Try being a Gerontologist when you are not a researcher or a clinician!
I am CEO of a hospital with a background in social work and M Sc in Gerontology. Most importantly I am completely committed to developing and delivering top class care for older people. I took the step of defining myself as a Gerontologist 15 years ago and although many people still can’t define that title they know I am into older people..maybe that’s all that we can ask for
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Vinetta said:
Try being a Gerontologist when you are from a teaching background! I am now wondering what I am going to do with the knowledge I am in earnest to share.
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Evelyn Marin said:
I have a minor degree on social communications and a master degree on Gerontology. I seriously need help on this. I don’t know what else should I study to specialize in this area. I have an identity crisis right now too..If someone can help me I would really appreciate it evelynmarin@gmail.com
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Mo Flynn said:
evelyn it is perhaps less what you study and more what you do in your working life that will define what you specialise in.
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Evelyn Marin said:
Yes Mo, you are right. I have been working on social communications field for about 10 years. In my country I can only find jobs for nursing and I am not a nurse. I am going to move to Ottawa-Canada on May and I would love to work on gerontology field but I see the opening jobs: administrator, social worker, nurse… So..I feel like I have a new knowledge but I don’t know how to find a job..that’s why I thought about getting more training
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Ayoola Ashiru said:
A nice write up? For example am a fresh graduate intending to study gerontology for my masters.Amazing this is Nigeria people are not familiar with the word “gerontology” and are often not interested in anything that has to do with the old people but am determined to go ahead and be a voice to enlightened them more and probably open a new research angle for professionals in Africa. http://www.ayoolaashiru.blogspot.com is what I have started with
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nivedita das said:
very good go ahead…I am a gerontologist from New Delhi.India. associated with so many NGO and shelter homes for older adult.In the beginning i also face the problem as people are not very serious about the problem facing by the elder member of the family but now a days the situation has changed and they started felling the importance of my subject and call me for advise.So it will take some time but in future this discipline will get its recognition and will become a necessity.
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cassandra hill said:
I have been a gerontologist for almost ten years many times when I met someone and state who I am they are unaware of gerontology. We as gerontologists must speak up and educate society on who we are and what we do.
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Catherine Van Son said:
My entire career as a nurse has been devoted to older adults. I decided several years ago that I was a nurse gerontologist. I wanted the field of gerontology to have nursing acknowledged, and the field of nursing to recognize our expertise with older adults. I don’t know anyone else who uses the title. @geronurse_notes
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