Columbia University Press Hospice Social Work (End-of-Life Care: A Series)

The first text to explore the history, characteristics, and challenges of hospice social work, this volume weaves leading research into an underlying framework for practice and care. A longtime practitioner, Dona J. Reese describes the hospice social work role in assessment and intervention with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and the community, while honestly confronting the personal and professional difficulties of such life-changing work. She introduces a well-tested model of psychosocial and spiritual variables that predict hospice client outcomes, and she advances a social work assessment tool to document their occurrence. Operating at the center of national leaders' coordinated efforts to develop and advance professional organizations and guidelines for end-of-life care, Reese reaches out with support and practice information, helping social workers understand their significance in treating the whole person, contributing to the cultural competence of hospice settings, and claiming a definitive place within the hospice team. Review This book is well organized and readable and benefits from occasional examples of individual cases, sometimes from the author's own experience.--Choice This new book significantly adds to the growing literature on social work and end-of-life care. Social work educators, clinicians, and researchers would be well served utilizing this comprehensive text. Dona J. Reese provides a historical perspective for new hospice social workers, but also offers substantial content for the seasoned team social worker. The chapter on self-care should be required reading for all hospice/palliative social workers.--Sherri Weisenfluh, LCSW ACHP-SW, Hospice of the Bluegrass About the Author Dona J. Reese is an associate professor at the School of Social Work, Southern Illinois University. She is a former hospice social worker and former Social Worker Section Leader for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, and she has worked with colleagues to advance the field through the National Hospice Social Work Survey and the Social Work Assessment Tool (SWAT).