Registration Open for SWHPN Webinar: From Practice to Publication
From Practice to Publication: A Discussion with Ellen Csikai
(Editor of The Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care)
A SWHPN Webinar
Ellen Csikai
Featuring: Ellen Csikai, LCSW, MPH, PhD
Professor, School of Social Work
The University of Alabama
Moderator: Grace Christ, SWHPN Chair
Thursday, December 8, 2011
1:00-2:00 PM Eastern
This webinar will explore:
● The practical nuts and bolts of translating practice experiences into manuscripts for submission to an academic journal
● The specific types of manuscripts and topics featured in recent issues of The Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care
● The process of submitting, revising and publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts in social work and other professional journals featuring innovative practice in end-of-life and palliative care
● Resources for practitioners, researchers and educators preparing manuscripts for publication
Ellen Csikai, LCSW, MPH, PhD, is the Editor of The Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, Professor of Social Work at the University of Alabama, and a board member of the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN). She has published extensively on issues relating to social work in end-of-life care, health care, bioethics, and professional ethics. Csikai was previously a recipient of the Social Work Leadership Development Award from the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America and was a key advisor in the formation of SWHPN. She holds PhD, MPH, MSW and BSW degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.
Register today. This webinar is $15 for SWHPN members and $45 for nonmembers.
Registration Open for Emerging Issues in Palliative Care: Practice, Policy & Research
Registration is now open for this SWHPN co-hosted conference:
“Emerging Issues in Palliative Care: Practice, Policy & Research”
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 from 6PM-8PM
Cardozo Law School
55 Fifth Avenue @ 12th Street, NYC Room 204
CO-SPONSORS
Yeshiva University, Wurzweiler School of Social Work
Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN)
Westchester/New York State Southern Region Collaborative for Palliative Care
Columbia University School of Social Work
Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service
Program
(Registration and refreshments begin at 5:15)
Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW, Associate Professor, Wurzweiler School of Social Work – Yeshiva University; Vice Chair, Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network, “Opportunities and Challenges for Palliative Care”
Mary Beth Morrissey, Ph.D, MPH, JD, Post-Doctoral Associate, Hartford Risk and Resilience Project, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service; Chair, Collaborative for Palliative Care,“Interprofessional Ethics Training: New Palliative Care Laws and Systems of Care”
Fran Eichholz Heller, MSW, Senior Social Worker, Palliative Care Consult Service, NewYork Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, “From the Trenches: Integrating Policy into Practice”
Grace H. Christ, PhD, Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work; Chair, Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network, “9/11: Lessons Learned About Long-Term Survivorship”
Fee: $25
Students (with valid ID): No charge, but must pre-register.
Fee must be paid no later than date of event.
CEUs: 2 hours (NYS and NJ)
Click here to access the registration form online.
New Issue of Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care Available Now
Journal of Social Work in End-Of-Life & Palliative Care, Vol. 7, No. 2-3, 01 Apr 2011 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online. Members of the Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) have free online access to the journal. Not a member? Join now.
The new issue contains the following articles:
Editor’s Introduction, Ellen L. Csikai
Pages: 111-112, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593147
Reflections
Death Part Three (It Never Ends), Mary Kennan Herbert
Pages: 113-113, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593148Bereavement Therapy, Mary Kennan Herbert
Pages: 114-114, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593149Helping Older Widows Rebuild Their Lives, Colleen Barros & Lee Mountain
Pages: 115-120, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593150
Peer-Reviewed Articles
An Assessment of Hospice Bereavement Programs for Hispanics
Pablo Arriaza, Shadi S. Martin & Ellen L. Csikai
Pages: 121-138, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593151Support After Stillbirth and Its Effect on Parental Grief Over Time
Kerstin Erlandsson, Karin Säflund, Regina Wredling & Ingela Rådestad
Pages: 139-152, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593152A Qualitative Study of Advice From Bereaved Parents and Siblings
Amanda L. Thompson, Kimberly S. Miller, Maru Barrera, Betty Davies, Terrah L. Foster, Mary Jo Gilmer, Nancy Hogan, Kathryn Vannatta & Cynthia A. Gerhardt
Pages: 153-172, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593153Perceived Self-Competency Among the Recently Bereaved
Rebecca L. Utz, Dale A. Lund, Michael S. Caserta & Brian deVries
Pages: 173-194, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593154Providing Support at Time of Death From Cancer: Results of a 5-Year Post-Bereavement Group Study
Paul G. Clark, Drucilla S. Brethwaite & Sabine Gnesdiloff
Pages: 195-215, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593156Risks for Complicated Grief in Family Caregivers
Angela Ghesquiere, Yamile M. Martí Haidar & M. Katherine Shear
Pages: 216-240, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593158Disoriented Grief: A Lens Through Which to View the Experience of Katrina Evacuees
Pamela A. Malone, Elizabeth C. Pomeroy & Barbara L. Jones
Pages: 241-262, DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593159Bereavement, Cognitive-Emotional Processing, and Coping With the Loss: A Study of Indian and Japanese Students
Braj Bhushan, Surender Kumar & Susumu Harizuka
Pages: 263-280
DOI: 10.1080/15524256.2011.593160
Remembering 9/11 and Reviewing the Film “From the Ground Up”
Often palliative care professionals ask, “What does 9/11 have to do with hospice and palliative care?” As many of you know, I directed an intervention with families of firefighters who were killed in the World Trade Center attacks, following many of these families over the past 10 years. We have published three book chapters on the topic and one article in a palliative care journal that describes the intervention and the knowledge we developed from the families’ experiences. See FDNY Crisis Counseling and Grief and Bereavement in Contemporary Culture. Our 9/11 intervention with the FDNY was preceded by a clinical trial of a family-focused intervention at Memorial Sloan Kettering with families in which one parent was terminally ill with cancer. In this cancer related intervention, we provided parent guidance to help families prepare for the loss of a parent, following up afterward for one year. These two interventions have given us research and practice experience with both expected loss and sudden traumatic loss. In this blog I wanted to share with you a few of our “lessons learned” about the similarities and differences between the two.
A film I recently reviewed, “From the Ground Up,” made by five FDNY widows, beautifully illustrates three important features of the widows’ experiences after the WTC attacks. I recommend it for learning and for teaching. The film will be publicly release next week. See a description at the end of this post.
First, the widows describe how the chaos, confusion, and complexity of the early hours, days, and weeks following the tragedy lengthened the time required for them and their children to actualize and accept the loss. They provide helpful details about how difficult it was to acknowledge the loss, to admit that it had in fact occurred, though logically they understood what had happened. The inability to find remains for many, the gruesome circumstances when remains were found, the ambiguity of the situation, and the catastrophic totally unimaginable destruction and dimensions of the disaster (nearly 3,000 died) made that first step in mourning difficult and time consuming. So, even though we began with the families at six months after the World Trade Center attacks, they were still experiencing great shock amidst their grief and horror. At the same time and in parallel with grief, they were getting about the business of being effective single parents to grieving children. The delay was caused by these external conditions that required much more time for internal adaptation. This evidence challenges some recent bereavement research that suggests timelines like six months for grief recovery. While researchers acknowledge they are not studying traumatic loss (e.g., one of the most widely received bereavement studies focuses on samples of spousal loss from illness in older adult widows and widowers), mental health practitioners can inappropriately apply such timelines to other ages and death circumstances.
The impact of concurrent and cumulative stresses are not to be underestimated in terms of the timing and complexity of the process required to adapt to them. We know that when a loss is expected from illness, much of the acceptance of the reality of loss can occur in family members before the death actually occurs, even in children and certainly adolescents. In fact, our cancer studies showed that family members experienced some relief after a long and arduous illness process. Although the death of a family member from illness can have traumatic aspects, the illness provides opportunities for families to prepare for the loss in their day-to-day lives by absorbing and integrating information in small doses over time. This encourages palliative social work to make use of the preparatory time in illness to foster communication and normalization of family members’ experiences as they may enter more fully into the grieving process long before the patient’s death.
Second, the perspective of the widows in the film 10 years after the attacks highlights the fact that some losses you never really get over, but you do learn to live with them. It was instructive and helpful that, although it has been 10 years since that catastrophic loss, they became tearful and experienced anew the sadness of that event and its impact on their family. I myself cried on seeing their pain and remembering their profound losses. Yet they spoke with remarkable conviction and strength about their determination not to live their lives in these “dark spaces” but to honor their husbands’ sacrifices by living a productive and generous life helping others as well as themselves. This challenges the notion that such emotion after 10 years is inappropriate or necessarily an example of pathology. It seemed rather an accommodation to the reality of a profound loss that was shared by so many people and had such an enormous impact on their families and indeed on all of us.
Third, the movie illustrates how a productive, full, generous, and joyous life can coexist with experiencing the pain of profound loss. It’s not either/or. One of the widows talks about how pleased she is that she can now feel sadness about the losses of others and share in their happiness as well. All described efforts to honor the loss of their husbands through helping others. These two processes can operate in tandem. In communicating with some of the FDNY families leading up to the 10th anniversary, I have been enormously impressed and gratified by their continuing ability to integrate this experience, inventively solve the problems it has created in their lives and develop a satisfying and productive way forward for themselves and their children.
On this important anniversary we all experience sadness and many thoughts and emotions about that catastrophic event. It brings up different memories for each of us. But this film helps us to celebrate the resilience of the human spirit and appreciate the healing power of community of which we are an integral part. We help folks walk through these enormously challenging situations, experience and learn from them, and turn again to life.
This is an excellent film that provides important insights into the grief process following sudden catastrophic loss.
FROM THE GROUND UP: 10 Years After 9/11
“The brave are those who see imminent danger and still walk into it.” That’s how Maureen Fanning, widow of NY Firefighter, Captain Jack Fanning, describes the selfless sacrifice the FDNY made on September 11, 2001. 343 New York City firefighters died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The bravest of the brave; they were fathers, sons, brothers, and most were husbands.
“FROM THE GROUND UP: 10 Years After 9/11″ is a tribute to those people, telling the story of five widows of FDNY firefighters, and celebrating the myriad contributions these 9/11 families continue to make to their communities as a way to honor lost loved ones. It is the story of trying to make sense of madness, of comforting their children and mourning their losses while the world watches. It’s the journey, taking two steps forward and one step back, through tears, depression and laughter, to triumph through tragedy.
By Beth & George Gage, 31 minutes. More details plus a trailer are at http://www.gageandgageproductions.com/legacy_911.html
Register Now for September Webinar: Cultural Proficiency in Care at the End of Life
Cultural Proficiency in Care at the End of Life
A SWHPN Webinar
with Karen Bullock, PhD, LCSW
Karen Bullock
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
1:00-2:00 PM Eastern
This webinar will explore:
- How cultural diversity can create variation in patients’ values, family structures and functioning
- The importance of cultural competency and proficiency through standards of care and understanding socio-demographic factors that define culture
- Applying cultural values and patterns to practice in order to develop care plans for patients that best address the needs of specific populations
Registration is $15 for SWHPN Members and $45 for nonmembers.After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing instructions for joining the webinar.
Hear from the Experts on the SWHPN Discussion Forum
This month on the SWHPN member discussion forum, SWHPN members are reading posts from Karen Bullock on Cultural Proficiency in End-of-Life Care. Karen is Associate Professor at North Carolina State University, Department of Social Work. She is a John A. Hartford Faculty Scholar in Geriatric Social Work and received a Social Work Leadership Development Award from the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America. Her professional interests are health care disparities and cultural competence in the delivery of mental health service and clinical practice with individuals, couples, and families. She has published and presented extensively, holds a research and clinical appointment at Hartford Hospital and serves on the board of SWHPN, the NASW National Committee on Race and Ethnic Relations (NCORED) and the CSWE Council on Leadership Institute (CLD).
This topic will explore:
- How cultural diversity can create variation in patients’ values, family structures and functioning
- The importance of cultural competency and proficiency through standards of care and understanding socio-demographic factors that define culture
- Applying cultural values and patterns to practice in order to develop care plans for patients that best address the needs of specific populations
We want to hear from you. Not a member? Join now.
During July, SWHPN members heard from Deborah Waldrop onDecision Making in Advanced Illness. Waldrop is Associate Professor at the University of Buffalo School of Social Work and earned her MSW from Syracuse University and her PhD together with a certificate in Gerontology from Oklohoma State University. Prior to her academic appointment, she spent 20 years as a social worker in various health care settings. Waldrop now conducts research to facilitate change in end-of-life care and help older people and their families faced with difficult decisions in some of the most vulnerable moments of life.
Posts in July focused on:
- An overview of decision making in current health care settings.
- Current resources in and implications of decision making for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.
- Factors that influence decision making, including familial relationships, symptom advancement throughout the course of an illness, access to care, age, lethality, comorbid conditions and available treatment.
Coming this year in the Hear from the Experts Series:
September—Palliative Care & Dementia, Sara Sanders
October—Bereavement, Annie Banks
November—Spirituality & Palliative Care, Shirley Otis-Green
December—Mentoring, Barbara Head
SWHPN’s Tracy Schroepfer Appointed to NQF Palliative and EOL Care Project
Dr. Tracy Schroepfer
Congratulations to Social Work Hospice & Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) Board Member and Executive Committee Member Dr. Tracy Schroepfer on being appointed to the Steering Committee of the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Palliative and End-of-Life Care project. The purpose and mission of this special NQF project is to identify and endorse measures for public reporting and quality improvement for palliative and end-of-life care.
NQF is a nonprofit organization aiming to improve the quality of U.S. health care through the following priorities:
- Building consensus on national priorities and goals for performance improvement and working in partnership to achieve them;
- Endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance; and
- Promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.
Click here for additional information on the Palliative and End-of-Life Care project from the NQF website.
Dr. Schroepfer’s involvement in the Palliative and End-of-Life Care project puts SWHPN in the company of NQF’s broad membership base with expertise in health care, which includes consumer organizations, public and private purchasers, physicians, nurses, hospitals, accrediting and certifying bodies, supporting industries, and health care research and quality improvement organizations.
Dr. Schroepfer is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Social Work and is affiliated with the University’s Institute on Aging, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Center on Patient Partnerships, and Department of Population Health Sciences. She is a recipient of the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar Award, a national award that provides support for one of her current research projects: the development of an instrument to assess the psychosocial and spiritual needs of terminally ill elders.
Dr. Schroepfer has done extensive research on improving the care provided to those who are terminally ill, determining the best strategies for meeting the psychosocial, cultural and spiritual needs of terminally ill elders, as well as reducing the health disparities faced by medically underserved communities in Wisconsin. Dr. Schroepfer is president of the national Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work. She has authored or co-authored 20 journal articles and two book chapters.
Call for Abstracts: EAPC 7th World Research Congress
The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) has issued a call for abstracts for the 7th World Research Congress of the EAPC to be held in Trondheim, Norway, June, 7-9, 2012. Abstracts should present innovative data in palliative care research. Click here to find abstract submission criteria and the abstract submission system.
The abstract submission deadline is 15 October, 2011.
The EAPC scientific committee has announced that plenary lectures will be delivered by the following international experts:
Irene Higginson: “Dying at home – is it better: what have we learned and where are we going?”
Gary Rodin: “Research on psychological and social factors in palliative care: Contributions, controversies and impact on the field”.
Eduardo Bruera: The Vittorio Ventafridda lecture: “The development of a field over 25 years: Most important findings and impact”.
Just shoot me… No, wait. On second thought, maybe don’t
Perhaps it’s the dementia setting in, but we have been remiss in posting this interesting piece from the Huffington Post on Alzheimer’s, aging, and changing expectations from life. The author, Michael Friedman, is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s schools of social work and public health.
He writes of his perception of memory loss in youth, at the time viewing death as a preferable to dementia, and how this perception has changed over time. While he initially instructed his wife to “just shoot me” if full Alzheimer’s set in, as he grew in age he began to appreciate a different meaning in life and see that there can still be quality life for those suffering from Alzheimer’s. He references John Zeisel’s book “I’m Still Here” in describing some of the more positive ways of living with Alzheimer’s:
“Although many people in the early and mid-stages [of dementia] are devastated by the growing loss of important abilities and develop mood or anxiety disorders, others have ‘full’ lives that include the pleasures of friendships, love and sex; the satisfaction of participation in social and communal activities; and even the discovery of new interests. In fact, some experts on dementia maintain that diminished cognitive functions result in the release of capabilities that have been suppressed by the very cognitive abilities that are now in decline – particularly the willingness to take creative risks and the openness to human affection and intimacy.”
It certainly begs us to question how we would all feel if dementia creeps in when we reach old age and how we may appreciate life differently. Would we, like Dylan Thomas, choose to “not go gentle into that good night,” or would we just be at peace, living with dementia?
Hear from the Experts: Social Workers’ Experience of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act
Every month, SWHPN members have the opportunity to delve into a specific topic relevant to social work in hospice and palliative care with a national social work expert in that area. These experts graciously share their time and knowledge by hosting an online discussion forum dedicated to the issue under consideration. SWHPN members can access current and past Hear From the Experts Series through the member discussion forum. In May, Pam Miller and Susan Hedlund are facilitating a discussion on Social Workers’ Experience with Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act.
In 1994, Pam Miller and Susan Hedlund were living and working as social work educators and/or clinicians in end-of-life care when Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to pass legislation to legalize the Death with Dignity Act. As such, Pam and Susan were among the health care professionals, researchers, and educators working with terminally-ill individuals who now had a legal option to pursue Death with Dignity. This month, they share with us their experiences as social workers faced with this controversial, relatively unknown and untested legislation. They will explore questions pertaining to this topic, including:
- How has this legislation changed the end-of-life landscape for patients and professionals?
- What were their personal and professional journeys as this new paradigm unfolded?
- What are our legal and ethical obligations as social workers working with individuals who may contemplate this option?
- What does Death with Dignity mean for the other professionals on our interdisciplinary teams and what does that mean for the social worker on the team?
Pam Miller and Susan Hedlund have over a decade of experience grappling with the effects of this legislation, and both have served on Oregon’s Task Force to Improve the Care of Terminally Ill Oregonians, convened by the Center for Ethics in Health Care. The goal of the task force is to promote excellence in the care of the dying, and its work has included the development of professional standards related to the Death with Dignity Act and two guidebooks for care of the dying.
Pamela Miller, PhD, MSW, is a Professor of Social Work at Portland State University, with practice experience across numerous settings, including hospice, home care, nursing care facilities and family practice clinics. Pam also serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, to which SWHPN members have free online access.
Susan Hedlund, MSW, LCSW, is Director of Social Services at Hospice & Palliative Care of Washington County, in addition to her roles as an Instructor at Portland State University’s School of Social Work and at Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Medicine. She is the 2009 recipient of the American Cancer Society and Association of Oncology Social Work’s Quality of Life Award.
Not a SWHPN member? Join today.
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