Exploring the Lived Experiences of Rural Hospice Social Workers in Navigating "Cracked" Systems

Social workers often encounter health and resource disparities and caregiver challenges in support of hospice patients and families. Social workers also play a critical role in navigating systems and confronting systemic barriers. Their input regarding macro practice is invaluable, though there is not much literature pertaining to end-of-life disparities as experienced from the social worker point of view. There is also limited research from the hospice social worker perspective, with little pertaining to those providing care in rural areas. To address these gaps, this phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of rural hospice social workers to better understand their role in these matters. Data collection occurred through in-depth unstructured qualitative interviews. A total of 19 rural hospice workers participated in the study. There were four main themes identified: systemic issues in hospice settings, resource and geographic barriers, tensions and benefits of interprofessional collaboration, and hospice work environment. Based on these findings, recommendations for hospice social work practice, research, and policy include support of and elevation of the voice of hospice social workers on the interprofessional team, assessment of resource barriers to improve hospice social work interventions and improve quality of life for dying persons, education of hospice administrators to understand best ways to support hospice social, and implementation of policy change to expedite access to caregiver resources at end of life.