Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care最新文献

This prospective one-year cohort study aimed to assess the feasibility and outcomes of a routine psychosocial screening at patients' admittance to specialist inpatient palliative care. Patients admitted to an academic palliative care ward were routinely screened for self-reported distress and psychological morbidity, psychosocial stress factors, and subjective need for help from psychosocial professions. Cognitive impairments were the most common patient barrier to screening. Screenings were completed in 138 of 428 patients (32%). Based on established cutoffs, distress was indicated in 89%, depression in 51%, and anxiety in 50% of these patients. The burden on next-of-kin emerged as the most prevalent stress factor (73%). One-half of the patients disclosed a subjective need for help (53%). Possible depression (p = .023), anxiety (p < .001), and subjective need for help (p < .001) correlated positively with a higher amount of time spent by psychologists and creative arts-based therapists with small to moderate effects. Patients who completed the screening were attributed with a higher amount of time by social workers than patients who did not (p = .004), but there were no relationships between screening results and social work. Results suggest the potential of screenings for the allocation of specialist psychosocial care during specialist palliative care; however, barriers to screening do exist.

As the number of veterans with dementia continues to increase, support services for those veterans and their caregivers must also increase. Caregivers of veterans with dementia often report high levels of emotional distress in the form of anxiety, exhaustion, and burden that negatively impacts their health and quality of life. This brief descriptive report highlights a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) project in which a social worker trained in palliative care, teaches stress-reduction to caregivers through individual counseling and virtual groups. In two years, 39 caregivers received individual assessment and counseling focused on stress-reduction. Also, five group webinars were held on the topic of self-care that averaged 17 caregivers per group. 24 caregivers completed a survey and results suggested that stress-reduction and self-care may be viable target areas of intervention for caregivers of veterans with dementia in both individual and group formats. More research is needed in this area to improve our knowledge of how stress may be reduced for caregivers and what type of interventions may be effective to help caregivers reduce stress and improve their self-care.

In the context of end-of-life practices in Turkey, the researchers considered it important to reveal the need for hospice care in Turkey since the number of palliative care units is low and they do not meet the needs, hospice care services are absent, and intensive care units are misused in parallel with these deficiencies. The researchers addressed the subject with a phenomenological qualitative approach. The views of healthcare professionals and patient relatives who cared for terminal cancer patients. In the context of the environment of death preferences were of interest. The study was conducted in the city center of Manisa, one of the 30 metropolitan cities located in the western region of Turkey. Of the 23 participants, 18 were healthcare professionals working in the field of oncology, and five participants were primary caregivers who lost their loved ones with terminal cancer. The caregiver family members were the family members who provided care to the terminal cancer patient with their own means at home and accompanied the patient's treatment process, since there was no hospice care. A semi-structured interview guide was utilized for the in-depth interviews. Data were transcribed by the researchers and coded in MAXQDA 2020, subjected to thematic analysis, and divided into units of meaning. At the final stage of the study, the units of meaning were combined, and four basic themes were revealed: the conceptualization of the environment of death preferences, the problems caused by death in the hospital, the necessity of hospice care, and hospice care for caregivers. The study results demonstrated that hospice care was an essential need in Turkey, and the workload of hospitals would decrease, and hospital resources could be used efficiently in the presence of hospices. At the same time, it was understood that hospices were services making it easier for terminal cancer patients and their caregivers to face death with peaceful expectations.

The present study is aimed at examining the wellbeing of palliative care workers in India (n = 114) with special reference to work related variables. The World Health Organization's five item wellbeing index was used to measure the wellbeing of the respondents. In general, the wellbeing of the respondents was found to be good. Furthermore, the age of the respondent (p < 0.001), gender (p < 0.05), work setting (hospital vs. non-hospital) (p < 0.05), work environment (p < 0.01), recent unemployment (job loss) (p < 0.01), years of experience in palliative care (p < 0.05), number of hours of work per week (p < 0.05), and the number of clients who died in the previous month (p < 0.01), were all found to be associated with the wellbeing of the respondents. Specifically, young and female respondents, those engaged in hospital based palliative care, having a poor work environment, facing recent unemployment, having less experience, working for more number of hours, and having more number of patients dying in the previous month, all had a lower level of wellbeing. The implications for social work practice have also been discussed in detail.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19) dramatically increased the number of stressors on healthcare workers, including palliative care practitioners. Restrictions and increased demands on time made it difficult for the UMass Memorial Health palliative care team to utilize preexisting wellness strategies. In response to team members' stress reactions, a buddy system intervention was conceived and implemented to restore a sense of connection and self-efficacy (Phase 1). Our objective with this quality improvement project was to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the buddy system and evaluate staff attitudes toward this intervention. After four months, feedback from team members informed redesign to a more structured buddy system (Phase 2). A mixed-methods design of this project included a qualitative online survey along with quantitative data collection with the Professional Quality of Life Scale V (ProQOL V) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) during Phase 1. Phase 2 was also evaluated quantitatively with ProQOL V and BRS. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of this project to enhance qualitative data on staff attitudes and beliefs. Of the 12 study participants, 10 completed all phases of the study. Participants reported the buddy system was a useful, easy-to-implement intervention for mitigating personal distress and compassion fatigue (CF) by providing a strong sense of support and connection to team members.