Defining Core Competencies for Generalist-Level Palliative Social Work

Sitting with you in uncertainty: a reflective essay on the contribution of social work to end-of-life care

Death may be the only certainty in life, but for palliative care patients and their carers, it is anything but. How long is there left? Will a hospice bed be available? What new loss (big or small), will tomorrow bring? Research suggests that the poor management of uncertainty in palliative care can significantly impact patient outcomes as well as the experience of bereaved families. Social workers cannot mitigate this uncertainty, but they can support individuals to recognise and engage with it. Often, this can create tensions with their personal instinct to remove distress, as well as their professional drive to 'fix things'. By overcoming these challenges and embracing their ability to find ways forward 'in the midst of the messy stuff', they model a constructive mode of behaviour that patients and other multidisciplinary professionals can then mirror.

Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care: Development and Implementation of a New National Training Program

Background: Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (ESPEC) is a nationally scalable continuing education program designed to improve the knowledge and skills of frontline health social workers caring for patients with serious illness. Objectives: This article describes ESPEC's rationale, development, and initial implementation. Design: Following the creation of consensus-derived core primary palliative care competencies for health primary care social workers based on the eight domains of palliative care outlined in the National Consensus Project Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, an evidence-based curriculum was developed. This was used to develop a hybrid training model with a self-study component, synchronous instructor-led skills-based training, leadership training, and mentorship. The interactive curriculum incorporates patient scenarios highlighting the health social work role. Training targets high-impact skills-the biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment, advance care planning, family meetings, and interprofessional communication-and professional development. Settings/Subjects: ESPEC was launched in the United States in collaboration with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN). Results: The preliminary launch demonstrated high user acceptability, positive ratings for content and format, and gains in knowledge and competence. Conclusions: Data suggest that ESPEC can increase health social workers' knowledge and confidence as providers of palliative care interventions. National dissemination is ongoing.

Oncology social workers' involvement in palliative care: Secondary data analysis from nationwide oncology social workers survey

OBJECTIVES

Social workers are vital in delivering psychosocial services in palliative care, yet their specific roles in palliative oncology remain undefined. This study aimed to delineate the current practice role of oncology social workers involvement in palliative care in the United States.

METHODS

This study utilized a cross-sectional design and involved secondary analysis of data from a nationwide survey focused on workforce conditions for oncology social workers. The participants were social workers who were directly involved in providing care to cancer patients and delivering palliative care services. They completed an online survey in which they indicated the relevance of 91 tasks related to their practice. The survey also collected individual demographic and work-related characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis was used to achieve the study objective.

RESULTS

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. All 6 factors demonstrated good internal reliability, as indicated by Cronbach's alpha scores above 0.70.

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.

Some differences between social work, spiritual care, and psychology: Content variance in end-of-life conversations

OBJECTIVES

Within the multidisciplinary team, there can sometimes be lack of clarity as to the specific different contributions of each of the psycho-social-spiritual professionals: social workers, psychologist, and spiritual caregivers. This study examined the content of their end-of-life conversations with patients.

METHODS

A total of 180 patients with terminal cancer received standard multidisciplinary care, including conversations with a social worker, psychologist, and spiritual caregiver. After each patient's death, these professionals reported using a structured tool which content areas had arisen in their conversations with that patient.

RESULTS

Across all content areas, there were significant differences between social work and spiritual care. The difference between social work and psychology was slightly smaller but still quite large. Psychology and spiritual care were the most similar, though they still significantly differed in half the content areas. The differences persisted even among patients who spoke with more than 1 kind of professional. The 6 content areas examined proved to subdivide into 2 linked groups, where patients speaking about 1 were more likely to speak about the others. One group, "reflective" topics (inner and transpersonal resources, interpersonal relationships, one's past, and end of life), included all those topics which arose more often with spiritual caregivers or psychologists. The second group, "decision-making" topics (medical coping and life changes), was comprised of those topics which arose most commonly with social workers, bridging between the medical and personal aspects of care and helping patients navigate their new physical, psychological, and social worlds.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

These findings help shed light on the differences, in practice, between patients' conversations with social workers, psychologists, and spiritual caregivers and the roles these professionals are playing; can aid in formulating individualized care plans; and strengthen the working assumption that all 3 professions contribute in unique, complementary ways to improving patients' and families' well-being.

Social work practice in perinatal palliative care: an overview

Social workers in Perinatal Palliative Care (PPC) play an essential role in caring for birthing people carrying a baby with a life-limiting condition and their families. Perinatal palliative care is consistent with social work values concerning fostering quality of life and promoting social justice and access to care. Social workers play a multidimensional role in providing a holistic approach to caring for the birthing person, baby, and family. Although social workers may be part of an interdisciplinary care team, their role is not defined solely by the goals of the greater team, nor has it been discussed in depth in the perinatal palliative care literature. The purpose of this paper is to describe the knowledge, values, and skills essential to the role of the social worker in a hospital-based perinatal palliative care team. A case study will be used to illustrate the relevant practices, and implications are outlined.

High-quality patient-centered palliative care: interprofessional team members' perceptions of social workers' roles and contribution

A core tenet of interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) is that efficient and effective teams are critical for the delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care. Although palliative care has a history of excellent care, increasing demands and larger patient loads are challenging teams to adapt and strengthen team functioning in hospital settings. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the IPCP contributions of advanced palliative social workers (PSWs) through the eyes of their colleagues. Twenty-four interprofessional palliative care (IPPC) team members from other professions (i.e. nurse practitioners, physicians, physician assistants) from 16 hospitals across the U.S. participated in 20-minute semi-structured interviews. The Patient-Centered Clinical Method (PCCM) was used as a conceptual model to aid in the interpretation of the data. This model illuminated the centrality of PSWs' role in building and sustaining a therapeutic alliance between the patient and the IPPC team, through assessing and promoting care that centers the patient's experience with illness, creating space to initiate, process and revisit difficult healthcare conversations and helping to modulate the pace and intensity of emotionally laden discussions. PSWs also support the therapeutic relationship with the IPPC team by providing continuity and connection across and during the hospital experience and supporting the well-being of the IPPC team. This study offers novel insights into how PSWs contribute to patient-centered IPPC and furthers the articulation of the role of PSWs in hospital settings.

End-of-Life Needs of Dying Patients and Their Families in Mainland China: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

To map the current research status and understand existing findings regarding end-of-life care needs in Mainland China.

METHOD

First-hand, empirical studies on the needs of dying patients and/or their families in Mainland China were searched in Web of Science, Scopus, Proquest, Taylor & Francis Online and CNKI in December 2019. Findings were synthesized.

RESULTS

A total of 33 (10 qualitative) studies were involved. Chinese dying patients and their families had physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs and needs for knowledge and information. Prevalent needs of dying patients were mainly symptom control and decent look, being treated kindly by professional caregivers, family accompany, dignity, and comfortable environment. Families mainly need healthcare professionals to take good care of patients and wishes for information, knowledge, and facilities to help themselves become better caregivers.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings lay the foundation for effective and tailored services for Chinese clients and provided insights for future investigations.

Development of an intervention (PICASO) to optimise the palliative care capacity of social workers in Flanders: a study protocol based on phase I of the Medical Research Council framework

INTRODUCTION

An important challenge for future palliative care delivery is the growing number of people with palliative care needs compared with the limited qualified professional workforce. Existing but underused professional potential can further be optimised. This is certainly the case for social work, a profession that fits well in multidisciplinary palliative care practice but whose capacities remain underused. This study aims to optimise the palliative care capacity of social workers in Flanders (Belgium) by the development of a Palliative Care Program for Social Work (PICASO).

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This protocol paper covers the steps of the development of PICASO, which are based on phase I of the Medical Research Council framework. However, additional steps were added to the original framework to include more opportunities for stakeholder involvement. The development of PICASO follows an iterative approach. First, we will identify existing evidence by reviewing the international literature and describe the problem by conducting quantitative and qualitative research among Flemish social workers. Second, we will further examine practice and identify an appropriate intervention theory by means of expert panels. Third, the process and outcomes will be depicted in a logic model.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval for this study was given by the KU Leuven Social and Societal Ethics Committee (SMEC) on 14 April 2021 (reference number: G-2020-2247-R2(MIN)). Findings will be disseminated through professional networks, conference presentations and publications in scientific journals.

Defining Core Competencies and a Call to Action: Dissecting and Embracing the Crucial and Multifaceted Social Work Role in Pediatric Palliative Care

While social workers are a well-established, part of the pediatric palliative care team, this manuscript presents the first published definition of the core competencies of a pediatric palliative care social worker. National experts in the field, guided by the pediatric special interest group of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Network (SWHPN), worked together to articulate, and define core competencies. As the field of pediatric palliative care (PPC) continues to grow and develop, these competencies will help to better delineate the specific skill base of social workers in PPC. Such competencies may also create clearer role definition for emerging PPC social workers, guide training, clinical supervision, and mentorship in the field. They can also support improved interdisciplinary practice by assisting interprofessional colleagues in understanding and articulating the critical role of social workers as part of the PPC team. Additionally, such competencies may contribute to the growing development of role descriptions necessary for the hiring of social workers onto growing PPC teams, while also providing a framework for the creation and support of curricula centered on the subspeciality education and training of the next generation of PPC social workers.

Development of an Innovative Interprofessional Palliative Care Student Learning Collaborative

BACKGROUND

Training all clinicians in primary palliative care has been proposed as one solution to hospice and palliative care workforce challenges. With palliative care's focus on interprofessional practice and collaboration, interprofessional education is optimal to teach foundational palliative care principles.

AIM

To develop, pilot, and evaluate an innovative interprofessional primary palliative care student learning collaborative.

METHODS

An interprofessional faculty and clinician team developed a semester-long palliative care interprofessional learning collaborative program that was delivered in a hybrid format. The National Consensus Project's Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care were used as the framework for the program content. Pre-post measures of palliative and end-of-life care-specific educational needs and post-program evaluation were used to evaluate the program.

RESULTS

The program was piloted with 25 student participants from 10 health professional programs. Participants reported gains in knowledge post-program participation. Post-program evaluation comments were positive and the interprofessional design was regarded as a strength of the program.

CONCLUSION

Incorporating interprofessional learning into a palliative care curriculum may be an effective way to strengthen palliative care teams, as greater exposure to the diverse approaches of each team member can increase the appreciation and understanding of everyone's critical role to play in providing excellent palliative care.

Learner Experiences Matter in Interprofessional Palliative Care Education: A Mixed Methods Study

CONTEXT

Interprofessional collaboration is needed in palliative care and many other areas in health care. Pallium Canada's two-day interprofessional Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative care Core courses aim to equip primary care providers from different professions with core palliative care skills.

OBJECTIVES

Explore the learning experience of learners from different professions who participated in Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative care Core courses from April 2015 to March 2017.

METHODS

This mixed methods study was designed as a secondary analysis of existing data. Learners had completed a standardized course evaluation survey online immediately post-course. The survey explored the learning experience across several domains and consisted of seven closed ended (Likert Scales; 1 = "Total Disagree", 5 = "Totally Agree") and three open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test tests, and qualitative data underwent thematic analysis.

RESULTS

During the study period, 244 courses were delivered; 3045 of 4636 participants responded (response rate 66%); physicians (662), nurses (1973), pharmacists (74), social workers (80), and other professions (256). Overall, a large majority of learners (96%) selected "Totally Agree" or "Agree" for the statement "the course was relevant to my practice". A significant difference was noted across profession groups; X² (4) = 138; p < 0.001. Post-hoc analysis found the differences to exist between physicians and pharmacists (X² = -4.75; p < 0.001), and physicians and social workers (X² = -6.63; p < 0.001). No significant differences were found between physicians and nurses (X² = 1.31; p = 1.00), and pharmacists and social workers (X² = -1.25; p = 1.00). Similar results were noted for five of the other statements.

CONCLUSION

Learners from across profession groups reported this interprofessional course highly across several learning experience parameters, including relevancy for their respective professions. Ongoing curriculum design is needed to fully accommodate the specific learning needs of some of the professions.

Connecting the Dots Between Theoretical Knowledge and Clinical Practice: A Palliative Care Social Worker Process Improvement Project in an Acute Hospital Setting

For palliative care social workers, utilizing clinical practice theories in an acute hospital setting can be challenging but important. This article describes a process improvement project designed to increase intentionality in the implementation and documentation of social work interventions. It details the process of identifying major social work domains, interventions deployed and how the interventions specifically connect back to clinical practice theory.

How can social workers be meaningfully involved in palliative care? A scoping review on the prerequisites and how they can be realised in practice

Palliative care is a holistic practice using a multidisciplinary approach in addressing multidimensional needs. Although the social aspects surrounding the end-of-life phase suggest a place for social work in it, the profession is often inadequately involved in daily practice. This contrasts strongly with the potential meaningful contributions of social workers in this field. To date, no comprehensive list of prerequisites for meaningful social work involvement in palliative care exists. This review aims to gain more insight on the prerequisites for meaningful social work involvement in palliative care and how to realise them in practice. It could therefore provide pathways for future intervention development in enhancing the involvement of social workers and maximising their contributions in palliative care. A scoping review methodology was used. A systematic selection of peer-reviewed articles ranged from 2000 to April 2021 – out of the electronic databases Web of Science, Scopus and Pubmed – was conducted. The 170 articles that met the eligibility criteria were analysed for relevant content using open and axial coding processes. The findings are reported according to the PRISMA-ScR checklist. The nine prerequisites listed in this review concern the level of individual social work capacities and the level of contextual factors structuring social work practices. A majority of articles have, however, focused on the level of individual social work capacities in a rather specialist view on palliative care. Future research should further address the contextual level of social work involvement in the broader practice of death, dying and bereavement.

Advancing interprofessional education in communication

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this training project is to develop and host Interprofessional Communication courses to improve interdisciplinary communication in oncology care. The initial national course was held in a virtual format and included pre- and post-course participant data. The curriculum was developed with support from the National Cancer Institute.

METHODS

A virtual two-day course was held to equip nurses, social workers, and chaplains with vital communication skills in oncology practice, so that they could return to their home institutions and teach communication skills to other healthcare professionals, with the intention of making improved communication a quality improvement goal. Fifty-two participants were selected through an application process to attend the virtual course in two-person interprofessional teams (e.g., nurse and chaplain, or social worker and nurse). The Interprofessional Communication Curriculum was based on the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care's eight domains of quality palliative care. The six online modules developed by the investigators were presented in lectures, supplemented by discussion groups, role plays, and other methods of experiential learning.

RESULTS

Pre- and post-course results identified areas of communication, which are a priority for improvement by oncology clinicians. Participant goals identified specific strategies to be implemented by participants in their settings.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

The need for communication training was clearly demonstrated across professions in this national training course. Participants were able to apply course content to their goals for quality improvement in cancer settings.

Navigating Design Options for Large-Scale Interprofessional Continuing Palliative Care Education: Pallium Canada's Experience

To be effective, palliative care education interventions need to be informed, among others, by evidence and best practices related to curriculum development and design. Designing palliative care continuing professional development (CPD) courses for large-scale, national deployment requires decisions about various design elements, including competencies and learning objectives to be addressed, overall learning approaches, content, and courseware material. Designing for interprofessional education (IPE) adds additional design complexity. Several design elements present themselves in the form of polarities, resulting in educators having to make choices or compromises between the various options. This article describes the learning design decisions that underpin Pallium Canada's interprofessional Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care (LEAP) courses. Social constructivism provides a foundational starting point for LEAP course design, as it lends itself well to both CPD and IPE. We then explore design polarities that apply to the LEAP courseware development. These include, among others, which professions to target and how to best support interprofessional learning, class sizes, course length and content volume, courseware flexibility, regional adaptations, facilitator criteria, and learning methods. In some cases, compromises have had to be made between optimal perfect design and pragmatism.

Roleplay as an Educational Strategy in Palliative Care: A Systematic Integrative Review

INTRODUCTION

Simulation activities, such as roleplay, have become established in undergraduate and graduate education in several subjects of healthcare. The objective of this study was to synthesize the evidence available in the literature on the use of roleplay as an educational strategy in palliative care.

METHODS

Using the method proposed by Whittemore and Knafl, this integrative systematic review was carried out based on the following guiding question: "What is the available evidence in the literature on the use of roleplay as an educational strategy in the teaching of palliative care?" The databases used for the selection of articles were the following: Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and LILACS. There were no limitations regarding the year of publication or language.

RESULTS

The articles (n = 34) were grouped into 3 categories, according to the purpose of roleplay use: 1) Use of roleplay as an educational strategy to teach communication in palliative care; 2) Use of roleplay as an educational strategy to teach the communication of bad news, and 3) Use of roleplay as an educational strategy to teach end-of-life care.

CONCLUSION

Roleplay has been employed in the teaching of palliative care in order to develop skills related to communication and to the provision of end-of-life care. These educational activities have mainly been directed to healthcare students and professionals. Future investigations should further evaluate the efficacy of this teaching strategy, based on studies with more robust designs that allow the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships.

Expanding the Palliative Care Workforce during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Evaluation of Core Palliative Care Skills in Health Social Workers

Background: Meeting the needs of seriously ill SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) patients requires novel models of deploying health social workers (SWs) to expand the palliative care workforce. To inform such expansion, understanding the current state of health SWs' core palliative care skills is necessary. Methods: Following minimal training, health SWs in one New York City hospital were surveyed about their frequency, competence, and confidence in using core palliative care skills. Results: Of the 170 health SWs surveyed, 46 (27%) responded, of whom 21 (46%) and 24 (52%) had palliative care training before and during the COVID-19 surge, respectively. Health SWs reported a "moderate improvement" in the use of three skills: "identify a medical decision maker," "assess prognostic understanding," and "coordinate care." There was "minimal decrease" to "no improvement" to "minimal improvement" in competence and confidence of skill use. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that educational initiatives can improve health SWs' use of core palliative care skills.

Expanding the Interdisciplinary Palliative Medicine Workforce: A Longitudinal Education and Mentoring Program for Practicing Clinicians

CONTEXT

The disparity between gaps in workforce and availability of palliative care (PC) services is an increasing issue in health care. To meet the demand, team-based PC requires additional educational training for all clinicians caring for persons with serious illness.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the educational methodology and evaluation of an existing regional interdisciplinary PC training program that was expanded to include chaplain and social worker trainees.

METHODS

From 2015 to 2017, 26 social workers, chaplains, physicians, nurses, and advanced practice providers representing 22 health systems completed a two-year training program. The curriculum comprises biannual interdisciplinary conferences, individualized mentoring and clinical shadowing, self-directed e-learning, and profession-focused seminar series for social workers and chaplains. Site-specific practice improvement projects were developed to address gaps in PC at participating sites.

RESULTS

PC and program development skills were self-assessed before and after training. Among 12 skills common to all disciplines, trainees reported significant increases in confidence across all 12 skills and significant increases in frequency of performing 11 of 12 skills. Qualitative evaluation identified a myriad of program strengths and challenges regarding the educational format, mentoring, and networking across disciplines.

CONCLUSION

Teaching PC and program development knowledge and skills to an interdisciplinary regional cohort of practicing clinicians yielded improvements in clinical skills, implementation of practice change projects, and a sense of belonging to a supportive professional network.

Navigating the Transition from Advanced Illness to Bereavement: How Provider Communication Informs Family-related Roles and Needs

Person-centered, family-oriented services are integral to palliative and end-of-life care. Effective communication with providers informs the quality of the dying experience for patients and how families fare in bereavement. This paper reports findings from a study exploring how communication and care in the later stages of an advanced illness influence family caregivers' well-being in bereavement. A concurrent triangulation design was used to analyze data collected during semi-structured interviews with 108 recently bereaved caregivers from a single hospice agency in Western New York. Findings from this study suggest that family caregivers assume the role of interpreter and advocate while engaged in both formal and informal communication with health care providers at the end of care-recipients' lives. Findings also suggest that families are more likely to feel emotionally prepared for loss and grief when health care providers are available to communicate in a concise, consistent, and compassionate manner. The results illuminate the important connection between communication during the transition from late-stage illness to end-of-life care and preparation for bereavement. The paper concludes with a discussion of how findings from this study align with recent concerted efforts to establish standards and competencies for social work education and practice in palliative care.

Optimizing the role of social workers in advance care planning within an academic hospital: an educational intervention program

Advance Care Planning (ACP) promotes communication to help patients express future health-care preferences and goals for their medical care. Social workers (SWs) are trained to facilitate complex conversations and assist in various ACP tasks across clinical settings. This three-part mixed-method interventional study implemented a comprehensive education and training program for SWs of a large academic hospital, which used pre- and post-training evaluations, chart review, and qualitative data from debrief sessions to examine ACP skills and confidence, and assess the number of ACP conversations initiated with patients. Self-reported level of preparation to facilitate ACP conversations improved significantly (n = 26; pre 36% versus post 82%; p < .05). A 4-month post-intervention chart audit showed an 8.69 fold increase in the number of initiated ACP conversations. Qualitative analysis identified key themes regarding barriers and enablers of initiating ACP conversations during standard care from the perspective of SWs.

Efficacy of Motivational Interviewing to Enhance Advance Directive Completion in Latinos With Chronic Illness: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

End-of-life (EOL) care for Latinos with chronic illness is a critically important problem. Latinos with chronic illness suffer worse health outcomes and poorer quality of care due to various issues occurring in care delivery systems. Latinos are less likely than non-Hispanic whites to prepare an advance directive (AD) for health-care decision-making that impacts treatment decisions for when EOL is near. Advance care planning (ACP) interventions tailored specifically for Latinos have rarely been implemented.

OBJECTIVE

The primary aim examines whether a motivational interviewing (MI) intervention increased rates of AD documentation among older Latinos. The secondary aim was to examine whether MI improved communication with providers and family members.

METHODS

We pilot tested a randomized controlled trial with older Latinos >50 years with one or more chronic illnesses, including cancer. Participants were randomly assigned to usual care (UC) receiving ACP education alone versus treatment (TX), which received ACP education, plus MI counseling including interactive decisional support, emotional support, and barrier navigation.

RESULTS

Results of logistic regression indicate TX group participants were significantly more likely to document an AD than UC, however were less ready to talk with health-care providers or family members. Those reporting navigational barriers for talking about dying is difficult showed a significant negative relationship for AD completion even with significant intervention effects.

CONCLUSION

When using MI to motivate individuals toward ACP EOL conversations other factors are important to consider. Further research is needed, especially among Latinos to understand best practices for ACP education and counseling for EOL care.

What are social work students being taught about palliative care?

OBJECTIVE

Palliative social workers have taken steps to increase the numbers of social workers trained and competent to deliver effective psychosocial palliative care. Despite these developments, masters of social work (MSW) programs have only begun to develop curricula preparing students for entry-level practice. This study sought to determine the type and extent of content areas included in MSW courses dedicated to palliative care or with content related to palliative care practice.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted. All 248 accredited MSW programs in the United States and 32 programs in Canada were invited to participate. Participants were asked to name the courses in their MSW program that were dedicated to, or included content on, palliative care, and submit the syllabi for these courses. Data comprised course content for each class session and required readings. A grounded theory approach was used to identify the topics covered.

RESULT

Of the 105 participating programs that responded to the survey, 42 submitted 70 syllabi for courses with at least some palliative care content. There were 29 topics identified. The most common topic was grief, loss, and bereavement, followed closely by behavioral and mental health issues, and supporting family and friends; cultural perspectives and advance care planning were also common topics. For the 10 syllabi from courses dedicated to palliative care, supporting family was the most common topical area, followed closely by interprofessional practice and advance care planning.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Although there are many challenges to introducing palliative care content into MSW programs, including unqualified faculty and competing course material and electives of equally compelling content, there are model curricula for dedicated palliative care courses. With the large growth of palliative care programs, the time is ripe to add specialty palliative care courses and to add palliative care content into existing courses.