Defining Core Competencies for Generalist-Level Palliative Social Work.

Context: Care provided to seriously ill patients by frontline social workers is a component of generalist-level palliative care. The core competencies for high-quality generalist-level palliative social work are necessary to promote training curricula and best practices but have not yet been defined in the U.S.

Mentoring the Next Generation of Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care: The Zelda Foster Studies Program.

As Americans live longer with chronic illnesses, there is a growing need for social workers with the knowledge and skills to deliver quality palliative care to older adults and their families. Nevertheless, there remains a critical shortage of social workers prepared to provide quality palliative and end-of-life care (PELC) and to maintain the field into the next generation. Formal mentorship programs represent an innovative approach to enhancing practice, providing support and guidance, and promoting social work leadership in the field.

Chronic cancer: bringing palliative care into the conversation.

Palliative care is a treatment model that aims to relieve patient suffering and improve quality of life, and is essential for those living with chronic cancer. However, most palliative care referrals are made as a last resort when all other treatment options have failed. This article argues that social workers have an important role in early palliative care discussions because of their unique skill set.

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.

Clinical social work education in palliative and end-of-life care: relational approaches for advanced practitioners.

This paper describes the first post-Master's program in the US in end-of-life care for social workers. Developed at the Smith College School for Social Work, this program used innovative relational methods in student recruitment, curricular design, supervision, and leadership development, based upon input from the faculty, students, and field supervisors. Collaborations emerged with funders, agencies, and programs nationally.