Zebrack Brad, Zhang Anao, Ghazal Lauren V, Francis-Levin Nina, Brandon Rachel E
School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Cancer Control. 2025 Jan-Dec;32:10732748251353081. doi: 10.1177/10732748251353081. Epub 2025 Jun 19.
The conditions in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age affect a range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes, and contribute to social needs across the cancer control continuum. To address these needs, advance the quality of cancer care, and achieve health equity, cancer care clinicians must possess comprehensive knowledge and skills to mitigate the effects of social determinants of health on patient outcomes. This knowledge should also encompass an understanding of how racism, sexism, and discrimination - along with exposures to trauma - also influence patient behaviors and outcomes, given evidence of their effects on population health. For over 100 years, social workers have comprised an essential workforce that is duly educated and trained to identify social needs and improve patient outcomes within the context of health care service delivery, and cancer care in particular. Oriented to an ecological framework, social workers are adept at identifying and mitigating the negative effects of the social determinants of health on individual knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, with the intent of improving results for people at risk for or diagnosed with cancer. Social workers are professionally trained for organizing communities, understanding and intervening upon social systems (including families, organizations, and institutions), providing emotional support and mental health counseling, and advocating for programs and policies that best serve patients, families, and communities. Thus, social workers play a critical role in service delivery across the cancer control continuum.
人们出生、生活、学习、工作、娱乐、信仰及衰老的环境会影响一系列健康、机能和生活质量结果，并在整个癌症控制连续统一体中引发社会需求。为满足这些需求、提高癌症护理质量并实现健康公平，癌症护理临床医生必须具备全面的知识和技能，以减轻健康的社会决定因素对患者治疗结果的影响。鉴于种族主义、性别歧视和歧视以及接触创伤对人群健康的影响已有证据，这种知识还应包括对它们如何影响患者行为和治疗结果的理解。100多年来，社会工作者一直是一支重要的劳动力队伍，他们经过正规教育和培训，能够在医疗服务提供，尤其是癌症护理的背景下识别社会需求并改善患者治疗结果。以生态框架为导向，社会工作者善于识别并减轻健康的社会决定因素对个人知识、态度、信念和行为的负面影响，旨在改善有患癌风险或已确诊患癌人群的治疗结果。社会工作者接受过专业培训，能够组织社区、理解并干预社会系统（包括家庭、组织和机构）、提供情感支持和心理健康咨询，以及倡导最有利于患者、家庭和社区的项目和政策。因此，社会工作者在整个癌症控制连续统一体的服务提供中发挥着关键作用。
