1)  Post an explanation of the impact religion or spirituality can have on patients’ perceptions of health and health outcomes. Then, explain how religion and spirituality might influence patients’ experiences of illness, healing, resilience, and death. Explain the potential impact of your personal views about religion or spirituality on providing services to a patient. Finally, explain ways you might improve your understanding of others’ views about religion and spirituality. Be specific and use examples to illustrate your points.

RESOURCES:

Gehlert, S., & Browne, T. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of health social work (3rd ed.). Wiley.

Chapter 13, “Religion, Belief, and Spirituality in Health Care” (pp. 279–301)

Anderson, S. O., & McGuire, J. K. (2019). Personal faith and professional ethics: Best practice with the families of sexual and gender minority youths.Links to an external site. Social Work, 64(4), 365–372. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swz030

Spirituality, religiousness, and mental health: A review of the current scientific evidence – PMC (nih.gov)
USE CASE STUDY BELOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

• 2) Post a description of the cultural factors that you might consider in providing service to the individual and/or family described in the case. Explain the course of action a medical social worker should take to appropriately respond to the cultural factors illustrated in the case. Be sure to support your statement by referring to the NASW Code of Ethics and/or the Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care Settings.Resources: 

Gehlert, S., & Browne, T. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of health social work (3rd ed.). Wiley.

• Chapter 12, “Communication in Health Care” (pp. 249-277)
• Abulhab, A., & Pinto, R. M. (2022). Teaching note—Critical issues in sign language interpretation for social work practice.Links to an external site. Journal of Social Work Education, 58(4), 809–816. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2021.1977753

Gottlieb, M. (2021). The case for a cultural humility framework in social work practice.Links to an external site. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work: Innovation in Theory, Research & Practice, 30(6), 463–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2020.1753615

National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers.Links to an external site. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of…

• National Association of Social Workers. (2016). NASW standards for social work practice in health care settingsLinks to an external site.. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?filet…

See Standard 4, “Cultural and Linguistic Competence.” Case Study 1

Case Study Grace

Grace is a 74-year-old divorced White female with three adult children and a same-sex partner of 30 years. The two older children don’t speak to her because they blame her for their parent’s divorce, but the youngest child has a good relationship with her and her partner. 

Grace is in the intensive care unit following a sudden illness and is unable to consent to surgery. She has not designated her partner with medical power of attorney. Therefore, her two older children are taking over decision-making and leaving the partner out of that process. The youngest child supports including the partner in the decision-making process. 

As the social worker, you are brought in to discuss options with the family. What do you say?