Social work in health care
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Soc Work Health Care · Jan 2004
Creating a social work link to the burn community: a research team goes to burn camp.
Social work faculty and graduate students conducted focus groups with 52 burn-injured adolescents from three burn camps to explore perceptions of their camp experience. Three themes emerged from data analysis that suggest burn camps play an important role in participants' lives. Camp is a place where burn-injured adolescents: (1) feel "normal" and accepted; (2) acquire insight in regard to self and meaning in life; and (3) gain confidence, increase self-esteem, and develop empathy. This project highlights how the use of qualitative research methods with grassroots organizations such as burn camps can serve as a link to greater social work involvement with this community.
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Soc Work Health Care · Jan 2003
Surrogate decision-making: judgment standard preferences of older adults.
This qualitative study examines the judgment standard preferences of older adults related to surrogate decision-making for medical treatment. Thirty community dwelling adults over the age of 60 were presented with scenarios that depicted three decision-making standards, two of which are the predominant legal standards (substituted judgment and best interests), and a proposed third standard that allows the surrogate to consider the interests of the family in the decision-making process (best judgment). Half of the sample preferred substituted judgment, five preferred best interests, and ten chose best judgment. Selected cases are presented that demonstrate the themes associated with each judgment standard preference.
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Soc Work Health Care · Jan 2003
Rising from the ashes: stories of recovery, adaptation and resiliency in burn survivors.
Burn-injured people are confronted with enormous challenges in their recovery process on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Despite the magnitude of trauma, there has been a dearth of research exploring adult burn survivors' perception of their experiences. ⋯ Influences that impacted their experiences such as perceived memories, time, and age when burned were distinguished from the multiple themes of losses to identity, life style, relationships and physical functioning as well as themes of adaptation, coping and resiliency. Drawing from the burn survivors' stories of recovery can provide insights for social workers and other health care professionals in serving this compelling population more effectively.
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Soc Work Health Care · Jan 2003
Are they grieving? A qualitative analysis examining grief in caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
Although there is an abundance of caregiving literature, there is a paucity of research that examines the grief reactions of caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Qualitative research methodology was utilized to identify themes about the grief reactions expressed by caregivers. Results found that although some caregivers reported that they were not grieving, there was still a strong sense of loss in their descriptions of their caregiving experience. Additionally, for the caregivers who reported that they were grieving, their grief was characterized by multiple losses that accumulated during the disease process.
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Soc Work Health Care · Jan 2002
Case ReportsTranslating psychosocial insight into ethical discussions supportive of families in end-of-life decision-making.
A large number of Americans would rather rely on family and friends more than their physicians about end-of-life care and decisions. Moving beyond traditional clinical ethics and its dyadic focus on the physician-patient relationship, this article presents an approach to ethical decision-making at the end of life that is more inclusive of the patient's family and has the potential to advance social work practice in end-of-life care. Initial attention is given to how psychosocial and bioethical perspectives and practices interact to shape understanding of moral issues in end-of-life decisions. ⋯ Specifically, focus is on exploring the ethical dynamics of family systems that impact the decision-making process and translating psychosocial insight into ethical discussions that are supportive of families. The case of a patient with sudden and unexpected brain death and without advance directives demonstrates one family's unresolved grief and illustrates how its members were helped to reason morally about end-of-life choices. Contributions of a social worker and bioethicist are illustrated.