Palliative Care, Social Work and Service Users: Making Life Possible

This unique book provides a rare look at social work and palliative care from the perspective of the service user. It is also the first to investigate specialist palliative care social work from this viewpoint. Drawing on new original research, the authors examine service users? experiences of social work and palliative care, investigating in particular the effects of culture and difference on this experience and analyzing care based on the users? remarks. The writers then link service users? comments to broader debates and developments in social work and consider the relevance of the book's findings to the formation of policy and practice. A groundbreaking text, Palliative Care, Social Work and Service Users will be of particular interest to social work professionals, palliative care workers, researchers and policy makers. Foreword by Dorothy Rowe. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part One: The Background to Palliative Care Social Work. 1. Palliative Care: A new perspective. Part Two: What Service Users Say. 2. Becoming involved with palliative care. 3. Starting the palliative care social work journey. 4. What does the social worker do? 5. What service users value most. 6. Working with difference. 7. Exploring outcomes: evaluating specialist palliative care social work. Part Three: Developing the Discussion. 8. Accessing specialist palliative care social work: a broader image problem? 9. The problem of referral. 10. The nature, strengths and weaknesses of practice. 11. Theory and practice. 12. Specialist palliative care social work: a service in the shadows? 13. Issues for the future. Appendix 1: How we carried out the research. Appendix 2: The interview schedule. References. Subject index. Author index.