Interprofessional caring of children of cancer patients in palliative care –perspectives of doctors and social workers

• A palliative cancer diagnosis in a parent has a major impact on many aspects of their children’s lives. Studies show that professionals do not seem to offer relatives, in general, much attention in the palliative fieldAim: To explore how doctors and social workers handle children of cancer patients in order to understand the possibilities and difficulties in supporting children in specialized palliative home care in Sweden.Method: Qualitative semi-structured interviews of five doctors and five social workers in Skane. Interview length 57-73 minutes. A detailed description of their latest working day. Sociologically inspired content analysis, inspired by Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of capital, position, power and fieldResult: Doctors and social workers had limited contact with children to cancer patients. Meetings were an organizing structure for the working day. Due to hierarchical positions, doctors often set the agenda for interprofessional teamwork and directed the collaboration between doctors and social workers. Doctors and social workers seldom met patients’ children. Doctors only met children when information about parents’ cancer diseases was needed. Social workers were responsible for psychosocial issues, but only especially vulnerable families and their children were prioritized. Patients defined contact between professionals and children. Parents had the primary responsibility for their children. Meetings between children and professionals were conditional on parental permission. Even when permission was granted, physical meetings seldom took place. Children were often not at home when professionals visited the patient; often home visits during the day shift. Patient’s death meant sparse professional contact with children.Conclustion: Doctors and social workers were subject to the structural frame and a medical logic, which limited their interactions with children of cancer patients. The organization of the clinic facilitated exclusion of patients’ children as the focus area for professionals. Children were dependent on both their parents and professionals, who had the power to include or exclude them from the parent’s illness situation

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Bourdieu, Children as relatives, doctors, social workers, palliative oncology, interview study

Publication and Content Type

kon (subject category)

ref (subject category)