AOSW Connections
Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief
Amy Colver, MSSA, MA, LISW
Editor
Katherine Easton, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C
AOSW Communications Director
Brittany Hahn, LCSW
Managing Editor
Patricia Sullivan
Contribute Today!
To submit a story or information for inclusion in a future issue of AOSW Newsletter, contact Amy Colver or Katherine Easton on the list above.
2025 Themes
February: Workplace & Culture
May: Therapeutic Techniques
August: Palliative Care
November: Caregivers
February 2017
Volume 3 | Issue 1
President's Message
President's Message: Around AOSW
I’m writing my first message as your AOSW President in early January, when the leafless winter landscape facilitates an open view. The clarity has inspired me to ponder how AOSW’s foundation feeds our strategic priorities. There are many people engaged in this work, and I want you to envision yourself as a member of this team.
In Uncertain Times, You Provide Hope
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
–Wendell Berry (2011)
AOSW Conference
Conference Committee Update
Hello from 2017 AOSW 33rd Annual Conference planning headquarters! The 2017 Conference Committee is busy finishing the details of our upcoming conference in beautiful Denver, Colorado, and we’re so pleased to announce the following new additions to this year’s conference.
Committee Updates
Conference Committee Update
Hello from 2017 AOSW 33rd Annual Conference planning headquarters! The 2017 Conference Committee is busy finishing the details of our upcoming conference in beautiful Denver, Colorado, and we’re so pleased to announce the following new additions to this year’s conference.
Research Report: Should I Engage in Research? Twelve Questions to Assist Oncology Social Workers
Over the last year we have witnessed unprecedented efforts to increase oncology social workers’ engagement in research. The first Post-Conference Research Institute held at the 2016 AOSW Conference, the recent call for applications for the Patient-Centered Research Collaborative (PCRC) for Psychosocial Oncology and the announcement of the creation of a new Special Interest Group (the Social Work Oncology Research Group, chaired by Dr. Elizabeth Rohan) are clear examples of the key role research has for the future of our field. The complexity of contemporary cancer care requires a carefully coordinated collaboration between oncology social workers, researchers and other healthcare professionals, with the goal to develop evidence-based practice and to foster outcome-based investigations that promote quality of care (Institute of Medicine, 2008, 2013; Oktay et al., 2016).
Director's Report: Education
I look forward to serving as the AOSW Education Director and I thank you, the membership, for giving me this opportunity. As I am writing this article, the newness of 2017 is still here—I haven’t even written my first check and put 2016 on it yet—so it is in the of spirit of what’s new in 2017 for AOSW that I excitedly share a combined vision come to life.
Education
Director's Report: Education
I look forward to serving as the AOSW Education Director and I thank you, the membership, for giving me this opportunity. As I am writing this article, the newness of 2017 is still here—I haven’t even written my first check and put 2016 on it yet—so it is in the of spirit of what’s new in 2017 for AOSW that I excitedly share a combined vision come to life.
Clinical Content
Depression, Hopelessness and Suicidal Ideation in Oncology
Depression, hopelessness and thoughts about death are not uncommon in oncology patients. The estimated prevalence of major depression is 16 percent for people with cancer. Minor depressive disorders, including dysthymia and adjustment disorders, is reported to affect up to 22 percent of people with cancer (Mitchell, Chan, Bhatti, Halton, Grassi, Johansen, & Meader, 2011) although prevalence varies widely with cancer type, treatment phase and method of diagnosis (Krebber, Buffart, Kleijn, Ryepma, deBree, Leemans, Verdonck-de Leeuw, 2014). Depression has been associated with prolonged hospital stays, increased physical distress, poorer treatment compliance, lower quality of life and increased desire for hastened death (Fitzgerald, Lo, Li, Gagliese, Zimmerman, & Rodin, 2015).
Sexuality SIG: Serving Gay and Bisexual Men With Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common male malignancy. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 161,360 new cases and over two million survivors in the United States in 2017. While prognosis is good for men whose prostate cancer is caught early, treatments can cause a number of side effects, including difficulties with erections, ejaculation, low desire, urinary incontinence, bowel incontinence, urination with orgasm (climacturia) and painful intercourse.
SIG Updates
Sexuality SIG: Serving Gay and Bisexual Men With Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common male malignancy. According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 161,360 new cases and over two million survivors in the United States in 2017. While prognosis is good for men whose prostate cancer is caught early, treatments can cause a number of side effects, including difficulties with erections, ejaculation, low desire, urinary incontinence, bowel incontinence, urination with orgasm (climacturia) and painful intercourse.
Radiation Oncology SIG: Breaking Down Barriers to Care
As oncology social workers, we work closely with cancer patients and their families through radiation treatment. During radiation, most patients are treated five days a week either in an inpatient or outpatient setting. This allows us a unique opportunity to work closely with patients on issues they face such as transportation, applying for benefits, adjustment to illness, supportive counseling and much more. However, one of the most common challenges we see is financial difficulty.
Research
Research Report: Should I Engage in Research? Twelve Questions to Assist Oncology Social Workers
Over the last year we have witnessed unprecedented efforts to increase oncology social workers’ engagement in research. The first Post-Conference Research Institute held at the 2016 AOSW Conference, the recent call for applications for the Patient-Centered Research Collaborative (PCRC) for Psychosocial Oncology and the announcement of the creation of a new Special Interest Group (the Social Work Oncology Research Group, chaired by Dr. Elizabeth Rohan) are clear examples of the key role research has for the future of our field. The complexity of contemporary cancer care requires a carefully coordinated collaboration between oncology social workers, researchers and other healthcare professionals, with the goal to develop evidence-based practice and to foster outcome-based investigations that promote quality of care (Institute of Medicine, 2008, 2013; Oktay et al., 2016).
Member Spotlight
Member Spotlight: Christabel Cheung, PhD Candidate, MSW
How long have you been an oncology social worker?
My career in social work began with a foundation of eight years of direct practice experience focused on gerontology in various health care, hospital and multicultural community settings, as well as one year serving as field consultant/lecturer on the teaching faculty in the School of Social Welfare at University of California, Berkeley. In my last social work practice role, I served as executive director for San Francisco Village, a nonprofit that is part of the national movement for healthy aging in place. Prior professional social work roles include a mix of nonprofit management and medical social work roles at the American Society on Aging, Mental Health Association of San Francisco, Self-Help for the Elderly and San Francisco’s Department of Aging & Adult Services, and San Francisco General Hospital.