Evaluation research on social work interventions: a study on the impact of social worker staffing

This study examined the impact of social worker staffing on depression and health-related quality of life (QOL) of end-stage renal disease patients on hemodialysis. Social workers in most dialysis units work a 5-day week. Patients are usually dialyzed three times per week. Patients on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule have access to their social worker 3 days a week, while the Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule patients have only 2 days; that is, contact with the social worker is reduced by one third for those patients. Findings demonstrated that those patients who had access to the social workers one third less time had statistically significant poorer QOL on 4 of the 5 domains measured, and had clinically indicated levels of depression. Findings reinforce the importance of the social worker in the life of the dialysis patient.