End-of-Life and Palliative Care Curricula in U.S. Social Work Graduate Programs

Social workers have a high probability of relating to clients with terminal illnesses and their families. Yet, end-of-life education in U.S. graduate programs of social work has been somewhat limited. A recent guideline by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) sets standards for social work practice in palliative and end-of-life care. This article presents the results of a 2012 survey of U.S. social work graduate programs to determine curricula offerings in end-of-life and palliative care. Results suggest that the majority of graduate social work programs are addressing the NASW guidelines; however, less than half of students participate in the offering(s).