Older Adults and Long-term Care

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Nationwide, the Census Bureau estimates that more than 10,000 people turn 65 every day. This demographic shift has been increasing rapidly since 2010, fueled largely by aging baby boomers. At the current pace, more than one in five United States residents, including in North Carolina, will be 65 or older within the next decade. In fact, the state’s population is aging so quickly that by 2030, three-quarters of North Carolina’s 100 counties are expected to have more adults aged 60 and older than children aged 17 and younger.

Given that this new landscape will bring both challenges and opportunities, faculty at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work remain committed to innovative scholarship that strengthens the future well-being of our aging population. Since the late 1980s, when the School’s research program was born, our faculty have been at the forefront of developing solutions that address aging care needs in a range of areas, including Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias; functional daily living activities; medical and mental health; housing; and death and dying. These efforts have included Professor Emeritus Gary Nelson’s launch of the Center for Aging Research and Educational Services (Cares) in 1987 to improve the lives of aging and vulnerable adults — including people with disabilities — and their families in North Carolina. Over the years, our scholars have been instrumental in the study of Black Americans’ social welfare, including around issues of caregiving and aging in rural communities.

Today, our social work faculty continue to lead federal- and state-funded studies to assess how aging adult needs can be met with care in the home, in the community, in assisted living, and in nursing home settings. Kenan Distinguished Professor Sheryl Zimmerman continues to lead much of this work. As co-director of the Program on Aging, Chronic Illness, and Long-Term Care at UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and as associate dean for research and faculty development at the School of Social Work, Zimmerman has invested more than 25 years of scholarship to better understand the long-term care services and support that adults need to age with dignity.

Attention to these older adult and long-term care issues will continue to intensify under the guidance of the nation’s Center for Excellence in Assisted Living at UNC, which transitioned to its new home within the School of Social Work in 2023. As the newly named CEAL@UNC, the center, with Zimmerman as executive director, focuses on advancing the well-being of the people who live and work in assisted living through research, practice and policy. In just the past year, the center has provided a statement for the Congressional Record to the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, while issuing recommendations for improved care and outcomes for the industry; provided comments on the National Plan for Aging; and contributed to the 2024 National Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Study.

In this issue of our Impact Report, you’ll read about two projects focused on improving the health care of older adults. One examines the geriatric mental health workforce, particularly when it comes to behavioral health care training within family medicine and internal medicine geriatric fellowship programs. Another details a new national center that aims to support states in evaluating and enhancing their plans for dementia-related care.

With older adults living longer, our School of Social Work faculty are increasingly working with partners across the country to grow the aging care workforce and to develop more proven practices and policies that enhance the health of older adults, especially those with acute and chronic health problems.

by Susan White and Matthew Smith