Social Work Practice in Home Health Care

Through Social Work Practice in Home Health Care, social workers will discover a unique “how-to” approach to social work practice in home health care agencies. You will find a historical perspective on home health care and clinical interventions to help you improve home health care for your patients. A wide range of clients, such as the developmentally disabled, post-hospitalization patients, the physically disabled and chronically impaired of all ages, the mentally ill, the terminally ill, newborn infants and their mothers, abused older adults, and abused children are in need of appropriate services that lead to positive and helpful results. Through Social Work Practice in Home Health Care, you will discover how to tailor your practice to meet the needs of individual clients and improve their quality of life.

Current and comprehensive, Social Work Practice in Home Health Care provides you with successful methods and suggestions to find resources that clients need in order to face certain life challenges, such as abuse, neglect, poverty, malnutrition, uninhabitable housing, dysfunctional family situations, sensory deprivation, isolation, caregiver stresses, and alcohol and drug abuse. This unique book offers you techniques that can be used with any client base, including:

• learning from the successes and failures of others through case studies of twelve home health care agencies

• understanding problem areas of home health care and how clinical interventions can be used to help you make a difference in challenging situations

• analyzing staffing trends and clinical patient care policies regarding social work services to better assist individuals and their families in identifying, resolving, or minimizing the problems that often accompany an illness

• screening your clients who are in need of social work interventions, such as individuals suffering from depression over an amputation or debilitating heart attack

• implementing educational programs that provide systemic knowledge about medicare to improve your services to the elderly

  Social Work Practice in Home Health Care provides you with insightful information on everything from staffing, recruiting, and training home health care workers to obstacles that you may encounter, such as the lack of knowledge about social workers among physicians and the public, to help you provide better services to your clients. You will discover how to improve your skills in psychosocial assessment, counseling and decision making, discharge planning, community resources, and supervision to help you adjust your practice and offer positive and effective suggestions to each individual client.