Social Work Reflection Paper - Essay Example

The objective of the project was to determine if the social workers could draw a distinction between personal values and those of patients and their families. Another objective was to determine how the role of social work could change in the midst of a treatment. Finally, the last objective was to allow social workers to identify their comfort levels regarding the end of life discussions. The evaluation was divided into three activities. This paper presents a reflection on how my group responded to the activities, how the objectives were met, and implications of this exercise for my practice as a social worker.

Activity 1, Activity 2, and Activity 3 were end of life care, comfortable and dignified death, and completing the five wishes respectively. Activity 1 involved a scenario of Mr. Cortez, who is connected to ventilator 24 hours following gunshot wounds. Additionally, Mr. Cortez cannot feed on his, so he is given food through tubes. Moreover, the patient is sore and cannot make any purposeful movement. The group responded to the scenario guided by a number of issues including personal values, factors that bar families from making healthcare decisions, and application of social work expertise in the situation.

As the discussion went on, I noted a number of important factors. For instance, the main barriers to decision making by families include culture, religion, the inability of the patient to air his opinion, and language/comprehension. Additionally, from the activity, it emerged that not everyone is comfortable with discussing end of life issues and initiating end of life with the family of the patient. For example, Sarah Welsh and Roy found it hard to talk about death and initiate the end of life conversation with the family.

Nevertheless, the group responded well to the activity, and one of the strengths demonstrated was the ability to convince and encourage one another to uphold the duties of a social worker. For instance,