Resumen

Palliative care day services are complementary to institutional services and aim to improve the quality of life of ill people and their loved ones by offering them care and services in a holistic manner using a humanistic and community-based approach. In these services, social workers play a central role in accompanying people facing serious illness through individual, marital, family and group intervention. As part of a research project on innovative practices in five palliative care day services in Quebec, Canada, five social workers were interviewed to document their roles, practices, and most used approaches within these services, as well as to gather their perception of the effects of their support for patients and their families. An inductive analysis of the qualitative data was conducted following Thomas' (2006) method. The presentation will describe how the roles of support, facilitator and referral are actualized in the practice of social workers and will offer examples of the application of the main approaches advocated in their work, that are the systemic, strengths-based, narrative and empowerment approaches through the different intervention modalities possible in palliative day care services. The presentation will also illustrate how, through their accompaniment, social workers promote the empowerment of people in palliative care. The presentation will also highlight the particularities of intervention in palliative care day services where informal activities become a powerful lever for intervention in social work and where interdisciplinarity favors co-intervention to promote a real holistic approach for people. Finally, this presentation will also provide an opportunity to learn more about palliative day care services, which are places of welcome, socialization, recognition and demystification of the end-of-life, death, and bereavement by enabling people to come to terms with this final stage of life, while respecting their own rhythm.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Palliative care, palliative care day services, community-based approach, individual intervention, family intervention, group intervention, demystification of the end-of-life

Resumen

Seventy-five to 90% of individuals affected by mental illness do not receive the treatment they need, largely due to the shortage of mental health professionals. Common Mental Disorders (CMDs) like depression and anxiety constitute a large part of the disease burden of mental illness and can be effectively treated with low cost, low resource psychosocial interventions delivered by trained paraprofessionals. Social Work Education can contribute to closing the treatment gap for mental illness by training their BSW students to deliver evidence-based interventions for CMDs during their field education experience and meet a critical need in their communities.\ Given the severe global shortage of “specialist mental health care providers” and the enormity of the need for mental health treatment, a viable solution to fill the mental health treatment gap is to move from reliance on highly trained mental health care providers to a system that will utilize paraprofessionals trained in evidence-based interventions.\  To this end, the World Health Organization (WHO) has initiated the Mental Health Global Action Program (mhGAP). The mhGAP was developed for scaling up services for mental, neurological, and substance use disorders (MNS) in low-income contexts. We are advocating for BSW students to be trained to provide evidence-based, non-specialist-delivered treatments for CMDs during their field education experience. In the US alone there were 61,907 students in BSW programs in 2020 (CSWE, 2021), and with each of these students completing 400 hours of fieldwork, the social work education community had access to 24,762,800 hours within that school year. Based on this average, and the estimate of one full time professional working 2,080 hours a year, schools of social work potentially have access to the equivalent of over 11,000 people across the country working full-time to provide psychosocial interventions as a front-line response to CMDs in a supervised and standardized environment.\ \ 

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Field Education, Mental Health, Treatment Gap, Scalability, Psychosocial Treatment\ 

Resumen

Numerous studies have shown racial/ethnic disparities in mental health service utilization and an association between immigration factors and mental illness. However, interventions derived from predominantly non-Hispanic White samples may inadequately address the needs of non-White Americans, consequently exacerbating these disparities. This issue prompted the establishment of the California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP). Through collaborative endeavors, CRDP aims to achieve mental health equity among five priority populations in California: African American, Latino, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander, and LGBTQ+ communities.CRDP Phase I was dedicated to identifying the specific needs of these populations, while Phase II (2017-2022) sought to implement population-specific interventions. In the context of Phase II, the "Integrated Care Coordinators (ICC)" program was formulated for Asian and Pacific Islander communities, focusing on Korean and Vietnamese individuals. This program, designed to mitigate mental health disparities, provides culturally and linguistically competent navigation services in integrated health settings.This presentation delves into the CRDP project's origins and the outcomes achieved by the Korean ICC program. By illustrating diversity as a foundational value and practical principle in mental health, it accentuates the influence of collaborative social action on improving service quality and mental health outcomes for Korean Americans. Moreover, the presentation showcases quantitative analysis outcomes based on Korean ICC program participants (N=102), revealing statistically significant enhancements in psychological distress (t (97) = 6.98, p \\< .001) and functional outcomes (t (59) = 3.55, p = .001).Given the ongoing surge of hate violence directed towards Asian immigrants and the disproportionate consequences of the pandemic on ethnic minority populations, the significance of health and mental health practices that embody diversity, collaboration, and social action amongst academia, mental health professionals, and community-based organizations is more vital than ever. This presentation underscores these principles' significance in elevating marginalized communities' well-being.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Diversity-centered practice, Korean Americans, mental health outcomes, collaboration and social action

Resumen

Canadian youth have the highest rates of mental health (20%) and substance use (12%) concerns, and the most unmet mental health care needs. Parents of youth who die by suicide describe challenges finding appropriate youth\ mental health\ care, poor quality of care, and inadequate involvement in their youth’s treatment. For sexual and gender minority youth and Black Indigenous People of Colour, there are higher suicide risks associated with racism and discrimination. The aim of this study was to examine how parents caregivers describe systems of care that engaged with their youth prior to the suicide to improve service access, quality of\ mental health\ care, and reduce rates of suicide in youth. Participants were eligible to participate if they were a parent/caregiver of a youth under 26 who died by suicide in the last 5 years. Recruitment was through bereavement centres, and we conducted virtual semi-structured interviews. We analyzed data using thematic analysis. The sample included 17 participants (n=12 mothers, n=5 fathers), and we identified the following themes: (1) it is important to make youth voices heard, (2) there is a need to reduce stigma, (3) schools need to address bullying, (4) anti-racism policies are inconsistently applied, (5) suicidal youth are often too low risk for hospital and too high risk for community agencies, (6) there is a need for more compassionate care, (7) consent and privacy laws exclude caregivers who are usually the most important source of support, and (8) there is limited support for parents. Our study identified eight themes connected to bullying, racism, stigma, discrimination, quality of care in different systems, equitable access to services, family involvement, inequitable policies, and service gaps. These findings have implications for social workers who are one of the largest mental health professions in North America.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Youth, suicide, parents, systems of care, social work