The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Simulat-ion
Techniques
Aid Workers
To Plan Ahead
For
Retirement-
A grant by the U. S. Office of Edu-
cation to explore the use of simula-
tion and gaming techniques to aid
workers in planning ahead for their
retirement years has been announced
by Edwin F. Shelley, chairman of the
employment and retirement committee
of the National Council On the Aging.
Simulation techniques are already in
wide use in educational and training
situations, Mr. Shelley said. Under the
NCOA project simulation will be directed
toward allowing a pre-retiree see
his problems as realities.
"The need for planning well in advance
of retirement is recognized," Mr.
Shelley pointed out, "but authorities
are not always in agreement about the
actual points at which specific decisions
should be made. Industry, unions and
government agencies have instituted
pre
- retirement counseling programs
over the last decade aimed at older
workers who will be facing the haz-
ards of reduced income and job activity.
Instruction is also provided on
financial planning, health care, living
arrangements and the use of leisure.
"Too often, though, these programs
fail to give the older workers a real
feeling for what it will be like to be
a retired person nor do they make the
problems seem urgent enough to make
plans early and systematically," Mr.
Shelley continued.
NCOA's project will study the adap-
tation of simulation techniques to re-
tirement education following analysis
of the literature on retirement prepara-
tion and establishing the dimensions or
problems to be included in a simula-
tion model. There will be some preliminary
instructional simulations, and
exploratory field testing with selected
groups of older workers.
The research, according to Mr. Shelley,
will be carried out by Norman
Sprague of the NCOA staff and by Dr.
Sarane Spence Boocock of the department
of social relations at the Johns
Hopkins University.
The National Col. i.il On the Aging
is a national, voluntary agency pro-
viding leadership services for organiza-
tions and individuals concerned with
the field of aging, it is a non-profit,
non-governmental organization that is
supported by grants from foundations,
contributions from individual compa-
nies and unions and membership fees.
July, 1967 THE HEALTH BULLETIN 13