by Eva Sheehan
July 7th 2023
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Every cancer story is different. Adjunct Professor Susan Hedlund MSW, LCSW, OSW-C and co-editors Bryan Miller, Grace Christ, and Carolyn Messner recently published their book, Oncology and Palliative Social Work: Psychosocial Care for People Coping with Cancer. The book delves into the convergence of cancer and palliative care which is "whole person care" or holistic care for seriously ill people. This is a very important practice for cancer care as it shares qualities of hospice care–optimizing comfort, reduction of stress, and emotional or spiritual support.
Hedlund has been a long time oncology social worker and developed a specialty in palliative care. The idea to move these concepts farther upstream in oncology care made good sense to her. Currently she supervises adult oncology social workers at OHSU.
“Historically at the SSW, along with a previous faculty member, Dr. Pamela Miller, we proposed and implemented the Palliative and End of Life Care elective in the SSW more than 10 years ago, which I continue to teach,” she explains.
It started with a request to write a second edition of the Oxford University Press's Handbook of Oncology Social Work: Psychosocial Care for People with Cancer (2015). Two of the original three editors approached Hedlund and another colleague about co-editing. These conversations began about four years ago, and as they planned, Hedlund proposed the idea of integrating palliative care concepts into the text as well.
Hedlund mentions that while planning for this book and recruiting authors, the Black Lives Matter movement occurred along with the pandemic. She and the other editors immediately felt a need to write about the great disparities in care that the pandemic revealed, as well as a need to write about oncology and palliative care social work practice during a pandemic. In addition, the editors intentionally identified and recruited social work authors of color to contribute to all thirty chapters.
The book is pieced into four sections each composed of five-to-eight thematically connected chapters. The topics go above and beyond the typical discussions of basic treatment and diagnosis to highlight a number of contemporary and critical issues, including but not limited to equitable care. The authors give clear attention to systemic racism, cultural competence and cultural humility, and the vulnerability of diverse patients, including those with severe mental illness and informal caregivers. Oncology and Palliative Social Work: Psychosocial Care for People Coping with Cancer ventures where authors often do not go to challenge clinicians to think critically about what we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about oncology and palliative social work.
This book provides an opportunity for oncology and palliative care social workers to consider practice at an advanced level. It is practical, skills based, and provides emerging data on both the value of integrating palliative care into practice, but also the value of incorporating social work concepts into healthcare.
Hedlund reflects, “The writing process challenged us to be thoughtful about who we recruited and what we included in the text. I encourage you to read the book so that you may consider the benefits of incorporating the knowledge gained from these authors into your own ethical practice approaches and professional discourse.”
Susan’s book is impactful. She steers social work towards a more holistic line of practice; one that focuses on the individual person and their unique set of circumstances while fighting cancer. Her practice focuses on the multifaceted needs of each person rather than focusing solely on treating the disease.
To preorder Susan’s book, follow this link (discount code: susan). To learn more about Susan and her work, you can visit here.