Tara Schapmire

University of Louisville | UL · School of Medicine

Objectives Social workers are vital in delivering psychosocial services in palliative care, yet their specific roles in palliative oncology remain undefined. This study aimed to delineate the current practice role of oncology social workers involvement in palliative care in the United States. Methods This study utilized a cross-sectional design an...

Oncology and Palliative Social Work: Psychosocial Care for People Coping With Cancer (OPSW) illustrates the need for integrating early palliative care for patients with cancer and the important role social workers have in providing psychosocial support services across the cancer trajectory. There is a convergence of oncology and palliative social w...

The purpose of this book is to explore the state of the art related to interprofessional palliative care practice and education, focused on the unique synergy of interprofessional palliative care teams that is greater than the sum of the work of the distinct professions on the team. The palliative care team often overlaps across professional bounda...

While oncology social workers are the primary providers of psychosocial services, they vary in what they do and how they work across different cancer care settings. Standards of Practice suggest that there exists a core or universal set of activities and tasks that are grounded in the values and principles of social work and apply across all settin...

Background: The interprofessional education exchange (iPEX) provides education, training, and mentoring to select interprofessional faculty trainee teams for development and implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) in palliative oncology. Objective: To evaluate the impact of the iPEX project on trainees' self-efficacy in IPE skills and I...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate participants’ feedback related to their experience in the Interprofessional Education Exchange (iPEX) program, a training initiative for faculty development in interprofessional oncology palliative care education. Participants voluntarily submitted a written reflection using a guide. The research team used...

PURPOSE Literature on moral distress among oncology social workers (OSWs) is sparse. The aim of the current study was to examine the prevalence of moral distress and its domains of influence, and to identify demographic and work-related characteristics associated with moral distress among OSWs. METHODS Data came from the Oncology Social Work Compe...

The extent to which oncology social workers (OSWs) are available and adapting to disruptions in service delivery throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown. Objectives: The purpose of this report is to outline the initial impact of COVID-19 on oncology social work practice during the first six months of the pandemic. Methods: As part of a nationwi...

Background/Purpose There is much interest in screening for and treating psychosocial distress in cancer patients; however, little is known about if and how psychosocial services are provided for patients demonstrating significant levels of distress. Oncology social workers (OSWs) are the primary providers of psychosocial care for cancer patients an...

We describe an effort to improve the care of Medicaid and uninsured individuals through a three-way partnership between a Medicaid managed care insurer, front-line providers, and an academic university. The project provided annual funding over eleven years, for research, pilot programs, and demonstration projects. Projects were provider-driven in d...

In an effort to improve participation of younger breast cancer survivors in end of life (EOL) discussions and planning, this study evaluated the impact of The Shady Pink Elephant EOL educational series on participants’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors towards palliative care and EOL wishes. Data was gathered at baseline (pre survey and registrati...

A fragmented workforce consisting of multiple disciplines with varying levels of training and limited ability to work as a team often provides care to older adults. Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential for preparing practitioners for the effective teamwork required for community-based, holistic, person-centered care of the older adults. D...

This study explored the impact of an oncology palliative care clinical experience with older adults on social work learners. A three-member research team conducted a qualitative content analysis of reflective writings. 27 Master of Science in Social Work students enrolled in an interprofessional palliative oncology curriculum and completed a reflec...

A systematic review was conducted to explore published quantitative and qualitative research describing patient-reported outcomes of palliative telehealth intervention studies. Multiple databases were searched for articles published between January 2006 and May 2016, which met study criteria. Methodological quality was assessed using Cochrane Colla...

Background: Multiple common susceptibility loci for breast cancer (BC) have been identified/confirmed in Caucasian women. Combination of these SNs into a polygenic risk score (RS) could improve risk stratification and provide guidance for preventive and screening strategies. However, due to differences in allele frequencies of genetic variants, tum...

Objective: Data from the Health Retirement Study (HRS) were used to test a conceptual model integrating stress and coping, conservation of resources, and life-course theories, to investigate predictors of depression symptoms over eight years among a nationally representative sample of older adults ages 50–91. The main investigative questions were:...

The needs of an aging population and advancements in the treatment of both chronic and life-threatening diseases have resulted in increased demand for quality palliative care. The doctors of the future will need to be well prepared to provide expert symptom management and address the holistic needs (physical, psychosocial, and spiritual) of patient...

Interprofessional communication is key to effective palliative care provision. Palliative care providers must have effective communication skills not only for patient/family interactions but also for interactions and collaboration with team members and other professionals involved in the patient’s care. The Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality...

Objective: Telehealth interventions have proven efficacy in healthcare, but little is known about the results of such interventions in palliative care. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate caregiver outcomes related to palliative telehealth interventions. Materials and Methods: We searched multiple databases for articles published between J...

Patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer commonly experience signi•cant changes in quality of life (QoL) and levels of symptom distress. It is not known if a telehealth intervention would mitigate these changes. To evaluate the impact of a telehealth intervention on QoL and symptom burden in patients undergoing initial treatment for h...

For students of the health care professions to succeed in today's health care environment, they must be prepared to collaborate with other professionals and practice on interdisciplinary teams. As most will care for patients with cancer, they must also understand the principles of palliative care and its integration into oncology. This article repo...

Abstract Background: Interprofessional education is necessary to prepare students of the health professions for successful practice in today's health care environment. Because of its expertise in interdisciplinary practice and team-based care, palliative care should be leading the way in creating educational opportunities for students to learn the...

Objective: A model of psychosocial care specific for patients with multiple myeloma and their caregivers has not yet been proposed. We sought to develop a model of care that considers the specific profile of this disease. Method: The authors, representing a multidisciplinary care team, met in December of 2012 to identify a model of psychosocial ca...

Background: End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) train-the-trainer workshops prepare participants to teach ELNEC content to others. In 2010, researchers in Japan developed and validated the End-of-Life Nursing Education Questionnaire (ELNEQ) to measure the impact of ELNEC workshops on participants' readiness to teach the content. Obje...

The purpose of this phenomenological exploration was to describe the lived experiences of persons diagnosed with advanced cancer who receive Medicaid. Themes emerged from the transcribed interviews of 10 participants in accordance with the cancer trajectory. Before diagnosis, participants were uninsured or underinsured and had more severe symptoms...

The purpose of this study was to explore the ability of Distress Thermometer (DT) scores to discern important differences in quality of life scores among women with breast cancer. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network's DT, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), and a demographic questionnaire were completed by 111 women r...

With the growth of the older adult population increasing at an exponential rate, caring for this population has become increasingly difficult. As many choose to age in place (i.e., in the home environment), both the public and private sectors are being forced to respond. The emergence of home health care and the employment of home care aides is one...