Listening: A Psychosocial Intervention in an End-of-Life Case of Trauma and Emotion in the “Space” of a Residential Care Facility

Abstract

ABSTRACT Interviewing and listening are important social work skills with which to address psychosocial concerns in end-of-life health care. This article examines the context of social work practice in end-of-life care through a single case study, drawn from social work palliative health care practice, which integrates both clinical/psychological and social theory understandings/insights for the social worker. For individuals at the end of life who experience hopelessness, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts, psychosocial factors of their health care and even the arrangement of their living spaces in the hospice or residential care facility environment may contribute to their anxiety. The need for social workers in palliative health care to recognize the delicate nature of the relationship between hope, place, and trauma is emphasized in order to inform the provision of social work care for dying patients whom social workers seek to serve.