Launching an interdisciplinary “International Summer School on Ageing” (ISSA) : Aims, methodology and outcomes

• Despite the increasing availability of gerontological training programmes, knowledge of theircontents, characteristics, methods and outcomes remains limited. However, the transitionfrom multidisciplinarity to interdisciplinary orientations is now fundamental to such training,providing participants from diverse academic orientations and professional backgrounds withopportunities to interact ‘across boundaries’. In response to recommendations of the EUFuturage Road Map for European Ageing Research (2011) concerning training and careerdevelopmentneeds of future cohorts of practitioners and scholars in aging, an InternationalSummer School on Ageing (ISSA) was developed in 2012. Its aim was to initiate the practicalimplementation of some of the capacity building goals identified by Futurage. The design andstructure of the ISSA was informed by the experience of Canada’s Summer Programme inAgeing - run by the Institute of Aging of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – and bythe cross-border academic training activities organized by Lund University (Sweden) inScandinavian countries. As Italy has lacked a tradition of comprehensive, interdisciplinarytraining programmes in gerontology, the Italian National Institute of Health and Science onAgeing undertook to launch the inaugural ISSA. In this article, the core aims andmethodology of the ISSA are presented, together with an analysis of its main outcomes, asmeasured by participant evaluations. These are discussed in the context of internationaldebate on this topic.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Annan medicin och hälsovetenskap -- Gerontologi, medicinsk/hälsovetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Other Medical and Health Sciences -- Gerontology, specialising in Medical and Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Annan hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Other Health Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Gerontologi

Gerontology

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)