Focus AreasSocial workers provide essential psychosocial support to terminally ill patients and their families. They also provide counseling, case management, and advocacy services for the dying in numerous other agencies and institutions. However in spite of this important practice role, social workers have reported gaps in their graduate and postgraduate level training in end-of-life care.
A national survey currently in press identifies the professional development needs of social workers in the following areas: 1) clearer definition of roles and functions; 2) better preparation at the master's level; 3) continuing education for advanced knowledge and skills; 4) ongoing program innovation and evaluation; and 5) development of a solid infrastructure of leaders in the field. Greater numbers of social work practitioners and academicians must develop scholarly agendas for teaching, research, and practice in end-of-life care. In doing so, national leaders in the care of the dying and bereaved will emerge, serving as role models to whom professionals can turn for problem solving, knowledge, and development.
The PDIA Social Work Leadership Development Awards aim to promote innovative research and training projects that reflect a collaboration between schools of social work and practice sites that will advance the ongoing development of social work practice, education, and training in the care of the dying. These awards promote the visibility and prestige of social workers committed to end of life care and enhance their effectiveness as academic leaders, role models, and mentors for future generations of social workers.
View the website created by SWLDA recipients.
