Setting an agenda for social work in end-of-life and palliative care: an overview of leadership and organizational initiatives

This article describes leadership efforts within social work to promote, enhance, and shape the future of social work practice, education, and research in end-of-life and palliative care. The background and outcomes of the Project on Death in America, Open Society Institute's Social Work Leadership Development Award Program, and the 2002 Social Work Leadership Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care are reviewed.     

Setting an Agenda for Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care

Abstract

This article describes leadership efforts within social work to promote, enhance, and shape the future of social work practice, education, and research in end-of-life and palliative care. The background and outcomes of the Project on Death in America, Open Society Institute's Social Work Leadership Development Award Program, and the 2002 Social Work Leadership Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care are reviewed.     

All aboard: advancing the social work research agenda in end-of-life and palliative care

Social workers in all practice areas have the potential to contribute to the National Agenda for Social Work Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Care. The purpose of this article is to invite social work practitioners and researchers to identify research needs and work with others to address them. We offer a conceptualization of the broad scope of social work's involvement in end-of-life issues, and articulate the difference between end-of-life care and end-of-life issues in social work. Suggestions are offered to advance the national research agenda.     

All Aboard

Abstract

Social workers in all practice areas have the potential to contribute to the National Agenda for Social Work Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Care. The purpose of this article is to invite social work practitioners and researchers to identify research needs and work with others to address them. We offer a conceptualization of the broad scope of social work's involvement in end-of-life issues, and articulate the difference between end-of-life care and end-of-life issues in social work. Suggestions are offered to advance the national research agenda.     

The Social Work Assessment Tool (SWAT)

This paper reports on the last of three National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization initiatives to move hospice and palliative care social workers into the patient/family outcomes arena: the development of the Social Work Assessment Tool. The experience of a team of practitioners and researchers is described, including results of two pilot studies and subsequent SWAT revisions. The major focus is on the current model performance improvement project, in which 19 social workers from 14 hospice and palliative care programs used the SWAT with 101 patients and 81 primary caregivers for a median of 44 days. Quantitative analysis indicated significant improvement in SWAT scores for patients from the first to the second social work visit (t = -2.60, df = 47, p .01). Qualitative interviewing of the social workers indicated some lack of readiness in the field to conduct quantitative outcomes measurement. Additional measures are needed in addition to the SWAT, including qualitative measures, and measures of mezzo and macro practice. Participants indicated that the SWAT was appropriate for use with economically and culturally diverse clients.     

Shaping the future of social work in end-of-life and palliative care

The second Social Work Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care was held from June 1 to June 3, 2005. Sixty representatives of more than 35 social work and other professional organizations with a commitment to improve care for the terminally ill, dying, and bereaved, attended and formulated key priority directions and initiatives that will further the field.     

The Social Work Assessment Tool (SWAT)

Abstract

This paper reports on the last of three National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization initiatives to move hospice and palliative care social workers into the patient/family outcomes arena: the development of the Social Work Assessment Tool. The experience of a team of practitioners and researchers is described, including results of two pilot studies and subsequent SWAT revisions. The major focus is on the current model performance improvement project, in which 19 social workers from 14 hospice and palliative care programs used the SWAT with 101 patients and 81 primary caregivers for a median of 44 days. Quantitative analysis indicated significant improvement in SWAT scores for patients from the first to the second social work visit (t = ?2.60, df = 47, p .01). Qualitative interviewing of the social workers indicated some lack of readiness in the field to conduct quantitative outcomes measurement. Additional measures are needed in addition to the SWAT, including qualitative measures, and measures of mezzo and macro practice. Participants indicated that the SWAT was appropriate for use with economically and culturally diverse clients.     

The Thanatological Movement

Abstract

The second Social Work Summit on End-of-Life and Palliative Care was held from June 1 to June 3, 2005. Sixty representatives of more than 35 social work and other professional organizations with a commitment to improve care for the terminally ill, dying, and bereaved, attended and formulated key priority directions and initiatives that will further the field.     

Developing practice tools for social workers in end-of-life care

This article describes the National Association of Social Workers' (NASW) strategies for providing social workers with important practice and policy information about palliative and end-of-life care. With funding from a Soros Foundation's Project on Death in America grant, NASW developed practice standards, a Web-based continuing education course, and drafted a new policy statement to guide social workers in end-of-life care practice. The article provides an in-depth view of the development and scope of these resources for professional social workers.     

Regulation and Risk in Social Work: The General Social Care Council and the Social Care Register in Context

The 2000 Care Standards Act led to the setting up the GeneralSocial Care Council (GSCC) as the new governing professionalbody for social workers and other social care employees in England.¹The GSCC published national Codes of Practice for social carestaff and their employers in 2002, whilst 1 April 2003 saw theintroduction of the Social Care Register. The stated aim ofthese developments is to protect the public, improve the qualityof care offered by social workers and increase public confidencein the profession. However, such intentions disguise the increasein regulatory control that the GSCC and social care employershave gained over the workforce—intrusions that have metrelatively little criticism. By locating these developmentswithin a broader social context, one in which risk and its managementare at the forefront of contemporary social policy and practice,this paper argues that underlying the debate is a climate offear and distrust in which there is a tendency to view peopleas either vulnerable, dangerous or both. Such a degraded viewof the subjects of social work also pertains to social workersthemselves, who are simultaneously seen as assessors of risk,at risk and as a risk.     

A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training

Sakaguchi H, Sewpaul V. A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 192–202 © 2009 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article draws on a one‐year study visit to the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa, interviews with field supervisors and students in Japan and reviews of the national frameworks of education in Japan and in South Africa. In doing so, the authors identify the similarities and differences in social work education across the two countries and they explore some of the historical and socio‐cultural factors that might account for the differences. There are some identifiable peculiarities in social work education in Japan, especially with the coalescing of care work and social work education. The lack of differentiation between care work and social work makes it difficult to narrow the scope of social work education and practice. National social work standards have been approved in South Africa and regulatory frameworks for social work education and practice have been long accepted, thus rendering ‘social work’ a protected title and a profession that is more entrenched compared with social work in Japan. The codes of ethics in Japan and South Africa are discussed with specific reference to their control functions in South Africa. The article concludes by discussing these comparisons in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education.     

Developing Practice Tools for Social Workers in End-of-Life Care

Abstract

This article describes the National Association of Social Workers' (NASW) strategies for providing social workers with important practice and policy information about palliative and end-of-life care. With funding from a Soros Foundation's Project on Death in America grant, NASW developed practice standards, a Web-based continuing education course, and drafted a new policy statement to guide social workers in end-of-life care practice. The article provides an in-depth view of the development and scope of these resources for professional social workers.     

An early example of brief strengths‐based practice: Bertha Reynolds at the National Maritime Union, 1943–1947

Bertha Reynolds, one of the foremothers of social casework, is known for her commitment to social justice and the struggles of poor and working people. Her ideas about brief strengths‐based practice, which she taught when she supervised social workers at the National Maritime Union between 1943 and 1947, are less well known. She presented these ideas with case examples in her book Social Work and Social Living, a work that includes a critique of society, social policies, and the social work profession. The author contends that Reynolds was ahead of her time in her conceptualization of brief treatment.     

Assessing the Quality of Knowledge in Social Care: Exploring the Potential of a Set of Generic Standards

Social care policy and practice draw on multiple sources ofknowledge. In order to help practitioners and policymakers identifyand act on the basis of high quality evidence, ways of assessingthe quality of this knowledge are needed. Part of the answermay lie in the use of a set of generic standards. To test thepotentiality of this approach, one document from each of fivecore domains of social care knowledge was selected and assessedindependently by three researchers using a set of generic standardsdeveloped within a study commissioned by the Social Care Institutefor Excellence. Critical reflections on feasibility and addedvalue were recorded. Each reviewer successfully applied theset of standards to each document, but faced problems with interpretationand the identification of source-specific standards. Use ofthe TAPUPAS schema forced consideration of the strengths andweaknesses of each document and broadened the common notionof quality and quality assessment to sources beyond the traditionalresearch domain. This small-scale testing suggests the potentialof the schema to enable assessments of quality to be appliedacross knowledge sources within both social care and other applieddiscipline areas such as health and education. As with any qualityassessment tool, training in its use is required.     

Care Management and Professional Autonomy: The Impact of Community Care Legislation on Social Work with Older People

Correspondene to Mark Lymbery, Centre for Social Work, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. e-mail: Mark_Lymbery{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary The 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act appearedto herald a new dawn for social work with older people, whichhad previously been a relatively neglected and undervalued areaof social work practice. The legislation proposed a new rolefor social workers as ‘case managers’, with considerableautonomy and flexibility about the way in which the ‘casemanager’ responded to need. By the time community carepolicy was implemented, the role of ‘case manager’had been transformed into that of ‘care manager’,with a focus which emphasized procedural and managerial requirementsrather than a more flexible professional practice. This paper explores the extent to which this shift has substantivelyaltered the nature of social work practice with older people.It outlines key theories of professions and their applicabilityto social work, and critically analyses the impact of the ‘newmanagerialism’ within social services departments. Thepaper also examines the nature of social workers' practice witholder people following the impact of community care legislation,and concludes that the impact on the social work professionhas been to locate an increasing control of practice with socialwork managers, with potentially serious consequences for thecontinuation of a distinctive social work role in relation toservices for older people.     

Developing visibility for aging in social work: the first NGSWC

In March 2001, the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Strengthening Aging and Gerontology Education for Social Work (SAGE-SW) project published an action agenda for social work and aging (CSWE/SAGE-SW, 2001). CSWE SAGE-SW, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation from 1998 to 2004, had several charges in the first phase of funding, including the gathering of data through a thorough review of literature, focus groups, surveys and a variety of activities to garner expert input. This agenda, often referred to as the Blueprint, identified a number of serious issues regarding the lack of attention, preparation, leadership and interest in aging within the social work profession. It also provided some recommended actions to address these issues and help set the stage for the creation of the National Gerontological Social Work Conference. What were the issues at hand and why might a National Gerontological Social Work Conference (NGSWC) address some of these issues?     

Child care social work and the role of state employees

Provision of statutory social work services to children and their families has a long and contentious history as conflicting ideas about appropriate interventions, in what is still largely characterized as the private sphere of the family, define the terrain for practice. More recently, staff in social services departments have had to meet the challenges of contemporary practice at a time of major restructuring. Implementing the National Health Service & Community Care Act 1990, and meeting the demands of Audit/Social Services Inspectors, leaves departments struggling to meet externally imposed criteria focused on particular interpretations of the nature of economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector. In general staff have had to respond to competing imperatives as they offer services in ways that reflect shifting priorities, priorities that are inevitably shaped by ideological, political, economic and technological agendas as well as by professional concerns. In the process the role and task for social work is once again being redefined. This paper seeks to challenge dominant narratives, through exploration of the contemporary context for practice, and reassert the importance of social work input even as individuals' working lives change around them.