A social work perspective: attitudes toward end-of-life planning

Area of Science:

• Social Work
• Gerontology
• Public Health

Background:

• End-of-life planning is crucial for patient autonomy and quality of care.
• Social workers play a vital role in facilitating end-of-life discussions and planning.
• Understanding social workers' attitudes is essential for improving end-of-life care support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine social workers' attitudes toward end-of-life planning.
• To identify factors associated with these attitudes, including personal and professional elements.
• To explore differences based on practice areas (health/aging vs. others).

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study with 844 social workers.
• Data collected on health care proxy completion, personal comfort with end-of-life issues, training, and demographics.
• Regression analyses used to identify significant predictors of attitudes.

Main Results:

• Personal completion of a health care proxy and personal comfort were significant factors influencing attitudes.
• Years of social work experience also showed a relationship with attitudes.
• These personal factors remained significant regardless of the social worker's practice grouping.

Conclusions:

• Personal factors, such as having a health care proxy and comfort level, are more influential than professional aspects in shaping social workers' end-of-life planning attitudes.
• The findings highlight the importance of addressing personal readiness for social workers involved in end-of-life care.
• A notable age difference between health/aging and other practice groups suggests potential workforce challenges in aging services.