Russell Jessica, Quaack Karly
Communication Studies, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA.
The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts, Austin, Texas, USA.
J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care. 2021 Oct-Dec;17(4):278-295. doi: 10.1080/15524256.2021.1910107. Epub 2021 Apr 18.
Social workers play an integral role in end-of-life planning and patient outcomes, and yet how social workers approach such conversations with patients is not well understood. The current study employed a cross-sectional design to examine social worker planned communication about end-of-life care using a multiple goals framework. Recruited from online listservs, a content analysis was conducted with social worker curated plans ( = 20) for end-of-life conversations. Plans were coded for topics and content alignment with instrumental, identity, and relational goal types. Topics found were related to eliciting patient goals and the utilization of written resources. A substantial percentage of social workers also noted the inclusion of other parties in the conversation. Findings suggested that content was predominately instrumental (i.e. task-oriented) with an overwhelming majority adhering to multiple conversational goals. Plan content affords insight to occupational orientation and prioritization during conversations with patients. Further, identifying how the majority of planned responses integrate multiple goals simultaneously gives credence to existing research regarding enhanced conversational effectiveness when social workers are present on the palliative care team.
社会工作者在临终规划和患者预后方面发挥着不可或缺的作用，然而，社会工作者与患者进行此类谈话的方式尚未得到充分理解。当前的研究采用横断面设计，使用多目标框架来审视社会工作者关于临终关怀的计划性沟通。从在线邮件列表中招募人员，对社会工作者精心策划的20份临终谈话计划进行了内容分析。对计划进行编码，以确定与工具性、身份认同和关系性目标类型相关的主题和内容一致性。发现的主题与引出患者目标和书面资源的利用有关。相当比例的社会工作者还指出谈话中纳入了其他各方。研究结果表明，内容主要是工具性的（即任务导向型），绝大多数人坚持多个谈话目标。计划内容有助于洞察与患者谈话期间的职业取向和优先事项。此外，确定大多数计划性回应如何同时整合多个目标，为现有的关于姑息治疗团队中有社会工作者时谈话有效性增强的研究提供了支持。
