Family Caregivers of Older Adults: NASW Standards for Social Work Practice

Amy Berman, RN, BSChris Herman, MSW, LICSWJamie Huysman, PsyD, LCSWNora O’Brien-Suric, PhD

Today’s Session

• Aging demographic shift• Importance of family caregivers• New standards from NASW• Importance of caring for the Caregiver• Your call to action

The Aging Demographic

• Happy Birthday, Boomers• Doubling of Older Adults• Skewing Older

Need for Family Caregivers

• Backbone of health care (IOM)• 42 million caregivers• Contributions exceed $450 million/yr• What happens when unsupported?

Professionals Supporting Family Caregivers

• Grant to AARP Foundation• Partnership [AoA, NASW, FCA]

1. Prototype Caregiver Support2. Social Work Practice Standards3. Increase Consumer Demand4. Inform Policymakers

Social Work and Family Caregiving

• Family systems• Person-in-environment framework• Micro-, mezzo, & macro-level interventions• Strengths perspective

Goals of the NASW Standards

Project beneficiaries = family caregivers• Enhance social work practice• Educate the public• Advocate for family caregivers

Development of the Standards

• Gerontological social work competencies• State of the Science symposium (2008)• Social work expert panel• NASW member survey• Public comment period

Standards Content (handout)

• Introductory material• Twelve standards• Resource list

Dissemination of the Standards

• November 2010 release• Use of multiple NASW channels• Promotion by partners: • Central role of social work expert

panel

Putting the Standards into Practice

• Presentations, publications, & web• National & international audiences• Students & practitioners• Supervisors & administrators• Other professionals & service providers• Family caregivers• Social work curricula & field placements• Continuing education & employee training• GECs & other organizations

Family Caregiver Alliance Webinar

Title: NASW Standards for Social Work Practice with Family Caregivers of Older AdultsPresenter: Sandra Edmonds Crewe, PhD, ACSW, MSWDate: July 29, 2011Archived audio recording & slides: www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=2491

Social Work Expert Panel & Other External Advisors

Patricia Brownell, PhD, MSWCatherine A. Clancy, PhD, LCSWJoAnn Damron-Rodriguez, PhD, LCSWSandra Edmonds Crewe, PhD, ACSW, MSWLorraine Hedtke, LCSW, PhDForrest Hong, PhD, LCSW, C-ASWCMJamie Huysman, PsyD, LCSWPhyllis Mensh Brostoff, CISW, ACSW, CMCNora O’Brien-Suric, PhD, MAMiriam Sterk, LCSW, C-ASWCMCynthia Stuen, DSW/PhD, ACSW, LCSWAmy Berman, BS, RNRita Choula, BSSusan Reinhard, PhD, RN, FAANTracy R. Whitaker, DSW, ACSW

Accessing the Standards• Single copy:

www.socialworkers.org/practice

• Multiple copies: www.naswpress.org

Attention to the contributions, strengths, needs, and goals of family caregivers of older adults is integral to social work practice.

–NASW Standards for Social Work Practice with Family Caregivers of Older Adults (2010), p. 17

The Standards…“The Times They Are A’ Changing”

Our Roles As:Advocates of the StandardsAdvocates of Older AdultsAdvocates for Ourselves

Honor The Elders Through Sacred Fire

Native American wisdom: • Is deep, profound, simple and true.• Focuses on healing wounds, and

bringing peace through good feelings, not fear.

The standards are our fire

What Do the Standards Mean to Us as Professional

Caregivers?• Consistency & integrity• Warmth and safety• Awareness--we can no longer be naive!

Standards and the Changing Healthcare Environment

• Define minimum expectations in practice• Corrective experience for healthcare• Enrich performance and efficacy

The Roadmap for Professional Caregivers

• Standards provide information for different systems to:– Deliver consistent care– Support quality of care and integrity

Feeling the Fire: Integrating Standards into Profession

• Monitoring performance not sufficient• Need for sustained improvements• Role of governance

Putting the Standards into Practice

The $64,000 “Burning” Question: Are implementing the Standards more

work in times where we are asked to do much more with much less?

Can They Be Successful If We Don’t Keep Our Fire Burning?

• ACO’s• Hospital Admissions• Readmissions

• Medicare Expenditures• Too Much Work• So much Falling on us

Burnout, Compassion Fatigue and the Standards

• Boundaries and Mind-Body-Spirit Health• Our personal ship needs to be seaworthy • Creating own Standards of Self Care

Ethical Imperative to Support Our Own “Sacred Fire”• NASW Clinical Standards only part of

the Quality of Care Story

The Fire That Burns from the Standards

• Our ongoing self care• Professional development plans• Seeking out mentoring, tutoring,

supervision or training opportunities

A Sioux Story

Importance of the NASW Standards

1. Provides guidance for meeting the needs of a growing population

2. Ensures competent & appropriate care

3. Raises awareness of the professionalism of social workers

The ChargeHelp caregivers receive the assistance

they need and elevate the professionalism of social workers by:

• Incorporating these standards into your practice, and

• Disseminating the standards to other social workers and agencies providing care to older adults and their caregivers.