It is with great pride that the Psychologists in Long Term Care (PLTC)
have sponsored The Professional Educational Long-Term Care Training
Manual, and now its second iteration, Geropsychology and Long Term Care:
A Practitioner's Guide. Education of psychologists working in long-term
care settings is consistent with PLTC's mission to assure the provision
of high-quality psychological services for a neglected sector of the
population, i.e., residents in nursing homes and assisted-living
communities. To this end, direct training of generalist psychologists in
the nuances of psychological care delivery in long-term care settings
has been a major priority. It is a tribute to the accelerating nature of
research in long-term care settings that a revision is now necessary.
After all, the Professional Educational Training Manual's initial
publication date was only in 2001. However, in the intervening years,
much progress has been made in addressing assessment and intervention
strategies tailored to the needs of this frail but quite diverse
population. It is so gratifying to be able to say that there is now a
corpus of scientific knowledge to guide long-term care service delivery
in long-term care settings.