Analysis of End-Of-Life Content in Social Work Textbooks

This article reports on a project designed to improve end-of-life (EOL) care in social work education. The project’s goals were to develop and use EOL-related content guidelines to conduct a critical review of textbooks frequently used in social work. A descriptive study design was employed using content analysis and quantification of the content in 50 texts, selected from a list of over 700 books. Ten content areas considered essential for competent social work practice in situations involving EOL care comprised only 3% of the total text. Results demonstrate a significant opportunity for improvement of EOL content in social work textbooks.