Across the world, social workers play an essential role in the delivery of important end of life care to many people. Some of the social workers are considered as palliative care social workers, working in specialized services in this area of support; where they encounter people experiencing the end of life decisions.
Research questions
1. In all dynamics of life, why are social workers considered the best people to assist individuals in making the end of life decisions?
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Hypothesis 1: Social workers play a key role in helping people make decisions about end of life, especially when it comes to the elderly or those depressed; thus, they are considered more competent in the delivery of such services.
Hypothesis 2: Social workers are trained to handle various aspects that affect life; therefore, they tend to play a significant role in helping people to make decisions about end of life by understanding the possible consequences or what can be avoided.
2. How are social workers trained to guide patients and families in navigating the many challenges and pitfalls as well as identifying opportunities that help them with the difficult process of end-of-life decisions regarding planning, managing mental and understanding their patients’ treatment plans?
Hypothesis 1: Across the world, almost all social workers are trained professionally by equipping them with knowledge and skills that will help them handle patients, especially aiding them in making decisions about end of life.
Hypothesis 2: Despite other health care practitioners knowing to help in decision making concerning the end of life decisions, it is evident that social workers possess the expertise required to advise patients in making such decisions because of their knowledge in that specific area.
3. What specific advice should a social worker give to a patient during the end of life decisions to avoid causing more harm to the individual?
Hypothesis 1: Although social workers are trained to offer advice to patients in end of life decisions, they are, however, expected not to cause more harm to the patient by advising them on the negative side of life, but instead focus on helping them positively.
Hypothesis 2: despite assigning social workers the roles of giving the end of life advice to the patients, they are strongly prohibited from interfering with individual’s life; thus, they should stick to their professional roles rather than deviating from their assigned responsibility.
The proposal seeks to establish the specific roles that social workers play at the end of life decisions. The research questions will help in guiding the research to determine what roles social workers play in assisting in making decisions concerning the end of life. Importantly, the study will focus on communication strategies employed by social workers while delivering their service to the patients. They are required to provide a piece of safe and non-judgmental advice to the person by weighing all their options to determine the outcome of their decisions. The researcher ought to establish and understand that they need to support their choices no matter what it is by use of self-determination as their core value. Another important aspect to focus on is family dynamics, which should be put into consideration by the social workers while advising the end of life patients. Indeed, situations often arise in which inconsistent views are given within the family; thus in the event the team identifies that they get mixed messages from the family, they are compelled to set up a meeting to get all the dissenting family members in the same room for an open discussion. As a result, it will help the social workers to come up with an amicable solution while giving the end of life decisions.
