Impact of brief communication training among hospital social workers.
Hospital social workers are often the fulcrum of communication between physicians, patients, and families especially when patients are facing life-threatening illness. This study aims to understand the impact of a brief training for hospital social workers. The training is designed to improve communication skills and self-efficacy, as well as lessen fears of death and dying. Repeated-measures tests were used to assess outcomes across three time points. Twenty-nine university-based hospital social workers participated. Results trended in the desired directions. Communication self-efficacy improved immediately following the training, and this was sustained 1 month following training completion. Although participants were relatively experienced, improvement was still demonstrated and maintained suggesting brief communication training is promising for hospital social workers across the career.
a School of Medicine, Division of Gerontology , University of Maryland-Baltimore , Baltimore , Maryland , USA.
Morgan
M
Bunting
b School of Social Work , University of Maryland-Baltimore , Baltimore , Maryland , USA.
John G
JG
Cagle
D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012947:Social Work / Q000193:education; D000068217:Social Workers / Q000523:psychology*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*
Continuing education; end-of-life care; palliative care; self-efficacy; social work