Social Work and Cancer: The Unique Contribution of Social Workers

This special issue is the culmination of work undertaken in a long-term, academic–practitioner partnership that began over a decade ago. Supported by interdisciplinary oncology networks and long careers in hospital social work and later in academia, a research agenda has been pursued that explored the scope of oncology social work practice in Australia. The motivations for this agenda included the need to increase its visibility, the encouragement of practice-based research, and the contribution of social work perspectives to the wider knowledge base of oncology practice. An imperative in this agenda was the repositioning of social understandings that emphasised differing world views and ontological stances in the psycho-oncology field. Health and social inequalities, social justice perspectives, socioecological frameworks, and wide-lens views of individual circumstances were all part of reconceptualising “the social” in psychosocial care and giving this greater prominence through practice research and evidenceinformed practice. Within the competitive environment of the health sector, social workers as members of interdisciplinary teams need to ensure that their unique contribution to patient care is clearly communicated, well articulated, and informed by ontological stances that bring other perspectives to the bio-medical lens. Although a body of international literature about oncology social work existed, particularly from the US, there was very little published about Australian practice. From the results of our early research, it was clear that the social work oncology workforce was a highly skilled but small group who were interested in undertaking research into their practice (Pockett et al., 2016). Workforce issues are researched further in this special issue with recommendations that social workers be acknowledged as key providers of psycho-social care in oncology with formal recognition of advanced training. Australian oncology social workers are active in such groups as the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) and have their own well-established society, Oncology Social Work Australia and New Zealand (OSWANZ), and we are grateful to many members of these groups for their participation and ongoing support of the various studies we have undertaken. The call for papers encouraged social work practitioners and academics to submit papers about their practice, which would contribute to the national and international body of knowledge in the field. We believe that this collection of papers achieves this aim, bringing together research findings about the social circumstances of those affected by cancer, including patients, family members, health professionals, and social workers. These findings inform practice and bring new insights into service delivery, collectively representing an emerging critical mass of expertise in the field. New insights into the cancer experience of groups that are harder to reach and about which little has been written are presented including those with head and neck cancers and young people in non-metropolitan areas. Taken-forgranted assumptions are challenged in an exploration of the gendered experiences of fathers of children in paediatric oncology. Interdisciplinary practice, gaps in policy, and the occasional, unarticulated roles of oncology social workers are also discussed. Most importantly, respectful, relational working with First Nations peoples emphasises culturally