Social workers provide a compassionate presence and reassure hospice patients and families they are not alone in their journey.

Some Ways Hospice Social Workers Support Patients, Families

When a person with serious illness chooses hospice with Care Dimensions, their care team includes a social worker who can help the patient and family cope with the social, emotional, and practical challenges related to terminal illness and guide them and their family throughout their end-of-life journey.

Here are three ways that a social worker can help support hospice patients and their families during this challenging time. 

1.  Assessing and planning: The hospice social worker conducts an initial assessment to help identify patients’ and families’ social, emotional, and physical needs. This assessment will enable the social worker to assist with: 

• Identifying available resources 
• Eliciting what is important to the patient, and how the hospice team can use that information to help the patient and family make the most of this time 
• Determining if the patient has written their health care wishes in an advance directive and shared those with family/designated health care agent

“Listening carefully is so important in the assessment phase,” says Care Dimensions Social Worker Katherine Pike. “What is the patient or family member telling me between their words, or why have they chosen to tell me what they have? There’s always a reason, and it’s not always presented in a neat package. The social worker provides an empathic presence and time and space, in hopes the individual feels comfortable to share more.”

2.  Making connections: Social workers help hospice patients and families navigate the end-of-life journey by helping them connect with needed resources such as:

• Private-pay help in the home to assist in the care and comfort of the patient and family (care beyond what hospice provides)
• Meals-on-Wheels
• Transportation
• Additional hospice services, including complementary therapies (massage, pet, music, and reiki), volunteers, and caregiver support and education 

“Many families and caregivers have that feeling of ‘not knowing where to begin,’” notes Blair Smith, social work coordinator for Care Dimensions. “They are not even sure of what questions to ask. Social workers help illuminate a whole realm of considerations for patients and families. Often, it allows patients and families to be hopeful about what end of life may look like and how to realize those hopes.”

3.  Providing emotional and psychosocial support: In hospice, we care for the whole person – spirit, mind, and body. Social workers provide a compassionate presence and reassure patients and families they are not alone in their journey. Talking with a hospice social worker can help:

• Prepare the patient and family for what to expect at end of life
• Encourage conversation and expression of feelings during a precious time
• Provide an opportunity for healing, reconciliation, and growth

“When social workers speak with loved ones and caretakers about what to expect at the end of life, many people have experienced being present at the moment of death,” says Smith. “Others, understandably have not, and have described feeling foolish not knowing what happens. Having things described can provide huge relief for loved ones.”   

“Whether I meet with a patient/family just once or over weeks or months, the most important thing I can do is to create a feeling of connection and openness/availability in the first few moments of meeting them,” adds Pike. “I might encourage the patient/family to share what challenges they have faced in the past and highlight their strengths in those instances. There are many opportunities to find even small anchors for patients/family to feel less alone and learn or trust in something new to them.”

Social workers are key members of the interdisciplinary hospice team. End of life is a precious and critical time of life. Social workers help patients and their families focus on what matters most. 

If you or a loved one needs support for a serious illness, contact our Referral Center at 888-287-1255, or visit https://www.caredimensions.org/care-services/refer-a-patient.cfm. 

About the author
Mary Crowe, LICSW, ACHP-SW, C.D.S., CDP, is Director of Professional and Community Education at Care Dimensions.