Syllabus

Master of Social Work

SSW-670 Grief, Loss, and Death in Social Work Practice

Credits - 3

Description

Social workers in multi-level settings encounter clients across the life course facing life limiting illness, dying, death, grief, loss, and bereavement. In this course, students are introduced to the perspectives of dying individuals and their families, grievers, and those who provide professional caring services. Current trends in palliative and end-of-life practices as outlined by the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine, and the NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End-of-Life Care are discussed. Students are exposed to contemporary and cross-disciplinary death and grief literatures with a critical eye towards how these reflect practice that is health promoting, improves quality of life and attends to the total care of the patient and family. Ethical decision-making, advocacy and the rights of clients are explored. Additionally, students will reflect upon how their life experiences, cultural beliefs, personal assumptions, and values inform and ‘make sense’ of practice situations with dying and grieving clients.

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

School of Social Work Program Outcomes:

Graduates of the UNE SSWO will demonstrate knowledge, skills, and leadership in the following:

1. Practice social inclusion to enable people, populations, and communities to fully participate in society, enhance human bonds in the context of cultural diversity and ensure improved quality of life and equitable resource distribution. EPAS Competencies 2 & 3
2. Engage in culturally-informed relationship building, being respectful of the complexity and diversity of contexts and circumstances. EPAS Competencies 3 & 6
3. Utilize theories of human behavior, social systems and social inclusion when offering interventions with people and their environments. EPAS Competency 8
4. Promote ethical reflection, critical consciousness and shared decision-making based in social work values and with consideration of the broader contexts of the world in which we live. EPAS Competency 1
5. Balance the roles of helpers, activists, and advocates through collaboration with communities to build healthy and sustainable resources. EPAS Competencies 2, 5, & 6
6. Engage as critical consumers and producers of research as it relates to assessment, intervention and evaluation of clinical and community practices. EPAS Competencies 4, 7, 8 & 9
7. Practice person-centered and collaborative community partnerships across diverse settings. EPAS Competency 6

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, students will:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of palliative, end-of-life care and bereavement principles and practices and how they are influenced by differential and development factors across the life course, and also individualized according to each patient and family; Program Outcomes 1, 2, 3 EPAS 2, 8
2. Demonstrate knowledge of how definitions of health (e.g., culture of medicine, WHO definition of health) influence approaches to palliative, end-of-life and bereavement practices as well as how they impact disparities across class and culture in gaining access to quality of life care; Program Outcomes 3 EPAS 2
3. Apply a range of cross-disciplinary theories of grief and loss to practice with grieving clients and utilize advanced knowledge of relational and empowering theories for practice with individuals, families, and communities faced with circumstances of loss, death and grief, and with health care organizations that deliver services to this diverse population; Program Outcomes 1, 2, 3 EPAS 6, 8 
4. Apply knowledge, skills and cultural humility with dying and grieving clients and families that are sensitive to their diverse beliefs and customs associated with death, loss, and grieving; Program Outcomes 1, 2 EPAS 2
5. Apply knowledge of medical ethics and decision-making methods for examining ethical dilemmas that surface in end-of-life and palliative care, and with grieving clients and families; Program Outcomes 6 EPAS 1
6. Demonstrate competent, empathic and culturally sensitive communication skills for having difficult conversations with seriously ill and dying clients and their families, and with grievers; Program Outcomes 1, 2, 5 EPAS 2
7. Demonstrate self-reflective practice evidenced by the capacity to identify, explain, and reevaluate underlying assumptions, values and beliefs that affect work with dying and grieving client systems; Program Outcomes 4, EPAS 1
8. Demonstrate knowledge of the value of interdisciplinary teams in palliative care and end-of-life practice including appreciation for the different and complementary knowledge, skills and values of other health caregivers; Program Outcomes 7 EPAS 1, 8

Assignments

Online Small Group Discussions: (Due each week; 24% of grade). Students will be asked to post 2-3 comments per week.

Reflective Journals: In this course, you will be required to post every week in a reflective journal (visible to only you and your instructor) on specific reflection questions relating to the week’s topics. Your Reflective Journal entries will be assessed using the Reflective Journal Rubric.

The journal assignment will alternate between an art assignment and a reflection on readings and their relevance to your practice. 

The Week 7 reflection entry will be a substantive one. You will select 3-5 peer-reviewed articles and other readings covered during the semester that changed or transformed your views on death, loss, or grief. You are encouraged to find at least one article from the literature that is of particular interest to you. These readings may have had an overall or generalized effect (for example approaching dying clients more openly or with less fearfulness) or may focus on a particular area of interest (for example physician assisted suicide or unrecognized grief). Online multimedia from the course content may also be included but they do not replace a reading selection. The paper should include the following:

1. Introduce the topic to be discussed
2. Review articles chosen and describe their common themes
3. Discuss how and why these particular readings/experiences affirmed, changed or transformed your previous thoughts, opinions, and/or assumptions
4. Discuss and envision how your newly acquired knowledge has affected or will affect your future practice
5. Conclude with a reflective commentary.

All readings must be APA cited and included in your reference list. You may cite articles other than those chosen to discuss that reinforce or contradict your choices.

Written Assignment, An Analysis of a Short Story, (Due Week 3; 8-10 pages; 20% of grade) is based on a choice between three fictional readings, Whither Thou Goest, a short story by Richard Selzer (1998) or High Speeds or The Sum of our Parts, short stories in Chris Adrian’s (2008) story collection or A Better Angel. Students will critically analyze selected content from the story that reflects readings and class materials covered in the course thus far. Students are expected to integrate scholarly references from books, journals, and other academic reading in the body of their paper to support their discussion (6-10 references). Students are encouraged to enhance their analysis of the story with personal reflections and viewpoints. Students may select another short story or chapter for this assignment however it must be pre-approved by the instructor by Week 2.

Grading Policy

The School of Social Work uses the following grading system for all courses with the exception of field education courses. Students are expected to maintain a “B” (3.0) average over the course of their study. Students with less than a GPA of 3.0 will be placed on academic probation. Students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 in order to receive their Master’s Degree.

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Assignment	Point Value	Percent of final grade
Written Paper	200 points	20%
Weekly Discussion Participation	400 points (50 points x 8 weeks)	40%
Weekly Reflective Journals	280 points (40 points x 7 weeks) + 120 points (Final Reflection)	40%
Total	1,000 points	100%

Grade Scale

Grade	Points Grade	Point Average (GPA)
A	94 – 100%	4.00
A-	90 – 93%	3.75
B+	87 – 89%	3.50
B	84 – 86%	3.00
B-	80 – 83%	2.75
C+	77 – 79%	2.50
C	74 – 76%	2.00
C-	70 – 73%	1.75
D	64 – 69%	1.00
F	00 – 63%	0.00