A CAAR Progress Report

In the initial stages of the Center's development, we have prioritized the collection of a comprehensive database on Coastal Carolina's current types and levels of interaction with OA/Rs, and the identification of potential avenues of improvement in the future. Toward those ends, during our first year of operation in 2003-2004 we conducted three major studies in order to authoritatively establish the most meaningful and effective priorities for the CAAR's work.

First, in the fall of 2003 we used a CCU Faculty Survey and other institutional data to establish a statistical baseline of the number of academic programs that offer course content or other program components on OA/R-related topics, and to what extent OA/Rs are involved in instructional and academic support roles at the University. We also tracked how many OA/Rs took for-credit courses and non-credit short courses offered by CCU. One Center goal is to increase both the quantity and quality of such mutually beneficial interactions, and we will work closely with all four CCU colleges and the Continuing Studies Program - and particularly with the Psychology and Sociology Department's Gerontology Certificate Program - to achieve those ends.

Second, in the spring of 2004 we supplemented and analyzed previously collected data regarding which community agencies, businesses, and organizations provide what services to OA/Rs, and with what results. The primary purpose of this OA/R Organization Survey was to ascertain how many OA/R needs are currently being adequately served by such organizations, and how often and where gaps or overlaps in needed services exist. The CAAR will now use this information to serve as a catalyst for improved services by partnering with those community facilities, by providing training for initial credentials and continuing professional development for those facilities' staffs, and by helping to develop new or expanded higher educational programs, as needed.

Third, later last spring the Center conducted a comprehensive OA/R Needs Assessment Survey in Horry and Georgetown counties. The Grand Strand is a powerful magnet for retirees from other parts of the country, and this in-migration pattern will only grow larger as the "Baby Boom" generation starts reaching retirement age in the next five years. This CAAR survey established not only up-to-date evidence of OA/Rs' considerable economic and sociocultural impact on CCU's service area, but also what their primary personal, social, and educational needs and interests are, and to what extent those needs are currently being satisfactorily served from their perspectives. We plan follow-up interrogatories to zero in on the most important unserved needs and interests of OA/Rs in this region, and determine how the CAAR and CCU can directly meet those needs or partner with other Grand Strand community resources to do so.

[NOTE: Summary findings from these three studies can be found on this website under the "Survey Results" heading.]