Literature Review

Oncology social workers' involvement in palliative care: Secondary data analysis from nationwide oncology social workers surveyPalliative & Supportive Care; by Ting Guan, Karlynn BrintzenhofeSzoc, Alyssa Middleton, Shirley Otis-Green, Tara Schapmire, Makeeta Rayton, Krista Nelson, Michael L Grignon, Brad ZebrackResults: Responses from a secondary data set of 243 oncology social workers involved in palliative care results in a 6-factor solution comprising 34 tasks. These factors were identified as: Therapeutic Interventions for Individuals, Couples, and Families; Facilitate Patient Care Decision-making; Care Coordination; Assessment and Emotional Support; Organization and Community Service; and Equity and Justice.Significance of results: The findings can be used to develop job descriptions and education for social workers employed in palliative cancer care. The clear role descriptions also make social work visible to other professionals in palliative oncology. By clarifying the roles of oncology social workers, this study contributes to the improvement of palliative care delivery and enhances interprofessional collaboration within cancer care teams.

Psychosocial distress screening among interprofessional palliative care teams: A narrative review Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, by Chelsea K Brown and Cara L Wallace; 4/23/24With increased need for palliative care and limited staffing resources, non-social workers are increasingly responsible for screening for urgent psychosocial distress. The National Consensus Project guidelines call for all palliative care team members to be competent in screening across domains. ... Although an abundance of validated screening tools exists for outpatient oncology-specific settings, there is minimal guidance on psychosocial screening tools intended for specialty palliative care. The most oft-cited tools have been met with concern for validity across diverse palliative care populations and settings. ...  

Global assessment of palliative care need: Serious health-related suffering measurement methodologyJournal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Xiaoxiao J Kwete, Afsan Bhadelia, Héctor Arreola-Ornelas, Oscar Mendez, William E Rosa, Stephen Connor, Julia Downing, Dean Jamison, David Watkins, Renzo Calderon, Jim Cleary, Joe Friedman, Liliana De Lima, Christian Ntizimira, Tania Pastrana, Pedro E Pérez-Cruz, Dingle Spence, M R Rajagopal, Valentina Vargas Enciso, Eric L Krakauer, Lukas Radbruch, Felicia Marie Knaul; 4/16/24Inequities and gaps in palliative care access are a serious impediment to health systems especially low- and middle-income countries and the accurate measurement of need across health conditions is a critical step to understanding and addressing the issue. Serious Health-related Suffering (SHS) is a novel methodology to measure the palliative care need and was originally developed by The Lancet Commission on Global Access to Palliative Care and Pain Relief. ... The discussion encompasses opportunities for applying SHS to future policy making assessment of future research priorities particularly in light of the dearth of data from low- and middle-income countries, and sharing of directions for future work to develop SHS 3.0.

The association between social connectedness and euthanasia and assisted suicide and related constructs: systematic review BMC Public Health, by Emma Corcoran, Molly Bird, Rachel Batchelor, Nafiso Ahmed, Rebecca Nowland, and Alexandra Pitman; 4/16/24 Background ... Methods ... Results ...Conclusions: Our findings for all age groups are consistent with a those of a previous systematic review focussed on older adults and suggest that poor social connectedness is not a clear risk factor for EAS or for measures more distally related to EAS. ...