An investigation: A social worker's perspective to the small-scale long-term elderly palliative care and services in Taipei area

• Main Authors: Fang-ping, Liu, 劉芳屏
• Other Authors: Ming-ke, Chiu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/6jh252

碩士 === 玄奘大學 === 社會福利與社會工作學系碩士在職專班 === 102 === This studyaims to investigate the social workers’ perception ofhospice palliative care and services at a small-sizeelderly care center in Taipei city. More specifically, this study looks into the social workers’ working experiences of what difficulties they encounter, such as limitations of palliative service transport. In addition, the perception involves a wide range of issues, including human’s ecology and ecological environment, and palliative medical ethics. This study adopted qualitative research design, special attention paid to the depth interviews. As a result, there were eight participants, including full-time, freelance social workers in Taipei area. The main findings of this study derived from the interviews of the social workersreveal that the participants of thesocial workers are equated with professional knowledge and skills needed for hospice palliative care and services but somehow they cannot fulfill what the job requires because of constraints. Examples of these include that there is a tendency to downplay the role of social workers in identifying the prognosis in elderly patients referred to hospice palliative care, misconception and distrust between the social workers and patients’ families, and medical decisions which are often made by patients’ family members rather than by the social workers. As such, the factors affect them to provide the patients the effectiveness and care and services. Furthermore,those obstacles include some other ecological aspects; the hospice institutions undermine the personal values and beliefs of social workers which has impeded the transport palliative services. Second, in medical paternalism, decisionsof hospice care are best left in the hands of doctors. Third, in environmental ecology, due to urbanization, the place of death has been in the hands of hospice institutions. Finally, small-size private organizations decide whether or not to put elderly patients into hospice on the basis of the costs or profit. The social workers in this study were found to work mainly as an information provider and as company for the elderly patients and for the families of the elderly patients. Last but not least, the findings of this research hope to shed resourceful insights into the under-researched area.