Social Work Competencies in Palliative and End-of-Life Care

Abstract

Social workers from clinical, academic, and research settings met in 2002 for a national Social Work Leadership Summit on Palliative and End-of-Life Care. Participants placed the highest priority on the development and broad dissemination of a summary document of the state-of-the-art practice of social work in palliative and end-of-life care. Nine Summit participants reviewed the literature and constructed this detailed description of the knowledge, skills, and values that are requisite for the unique, essential, and appropriate role of social work. This comprehensive statement delineates individual, family, group, team, community, and organizational interventions that extend across settings, cultures, and populations and encompasses advocacy, education, training, clinical practice, community organization, administration, supervision, policy, and research. This document is intended to guide preparation and credentialing of professional social workers, to assist interdisciplinary colleagues in their collaboration with social workers, and to provide the background for the testing of quality indicators and "best practice" social work interventions.

Social Work Should Be More Proactive in Addressing the Need to Plan for End of Life

“…Social workers in palliative and EOL care are responsive to the need for death preparation as evidenced by the development of professional competencies and standards of practice (Gwyther et al, 2005;Kramer, 2013). Yet there remains a need for wider attention to earlier planning for death.…”

Wisdom in quiet observation: hospice palliative social work

“…Instead, I discovered specific competencies offered to guide a social worker within their hospice palliative care practice (Bosma et al, 2009;Christ & Sormanti, 2000;Sheldon, 2000). These competencies included "advocacy, assessment, care delivery, care planning, community capacity building, evaluation, decision-making, education and research, information sharing, interdisciplinary teamwork, and self-reflective practice" (Bosma et al, 2009, p.2 Particular attention was paid to intervention and treatment planning, noting social workers not only provide psychosocial support for the dying, but provide leadership and supervision for other disciplines (Gwyther et al, 2005). Gwyther et al (2005) recommend these competencies should be noted in any social worker's practice as one may "inevitably work with clients facing acute and/or long term situations involving loss, life limiting illness, dying, death, grief, and/or bereavement" (p. 88).…”

“…These competencies included "advocacy, assessment, care delivery, care planning, community capacity building, evaluation, decision-making, education and research, information sharing, interdisciplinary teamwork, and self-reflective practice" (Bosma et al, 2009, p.2 Particular attention was paid to intervention and treatment planning, noting social workers not only provide psychosocial support for the dying, but provide leadership and supervision for other disciplines (Gwyther et al, 2005). Gwyther et al (2005) recommend these competencies should be noted in any social worker's practice as one may "inevitably work with clients facing acute and/or long term situations involving loss, life limiting illness, dying, death, grief, and/or bereavement" (p. 88). A social worker's knowledge in anticipatory grief and bereavement assists the patients and families before and after death, and other disciplines defer to social workers for direction in those aspects.…”

“…Social workers in any stream of social work will encounter clients who have been affected by grief and loss and as such should receive instruction in that area (Christ & Sormanti, 2000;Gwyther et al, 2005;Sermabeikian, 1994). Social work students should be provided opportunities to cultivate being present and compassionate with dying individuals while recognizing their own grief responses and support self-care is important to their wellbeing (Rushton et al, 2009).…”

“…Social work students should be provided opportunities to cultivate being present and compassionate with dying individuals while recognizing their own grief responses and support self-care is important to their wellbeing (Rushton et al, 2009). Incorporating identified competencies in social work curriculum provides a basic understanding of the role of a social worker in social palliative care, further research and support in this area continues to be challenging as there are few social workers in northern BC who specialize in hospice palliative care (Bosma, 2009;Gwyther et al, 2005). Undergraduate and graduate courses addressing cultural competency with emphasis on Aboriginal, First Nation, Metis and Inuit culture should become mandatory for social workers, nurses, and all medical professionals, in order to implement holistic practice interventions for indigenous peoples.…”