COVID-19 Resources
AOSW has assembled the following resources to assist you during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Click on one of these links to go directly to those resources:
COVID-19 Webinar Series
These webinar recordings are free to AOSW members, minus the cost of CE.
Clinical Guidelines for Working with Cancer Patients During a Pandemic
Speaker: Jillian Bissar, LCSW-S
This presentation focuses on professional considerations and clinical guidelines for competent practice, prevention for burnout and compassion fatigue, as well as how to utilize existing clinical skill sets to address the unique challenges present in providing coping and practical supports to cancer patients during a crisis.
Advance Care Planning in a Pandemic
Speaker: Shirley Otis-Green (Collaborative Caring)
The COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder of the challenges we face in providing goal-concordant care to all those we serve. Nuanced conversations regarding a patient’s values, beliefs and preferences lay the foundation for person-centered, family-focused and culturally sensitive care. As our health care system seeks to respond to the surge of patients requiring the attention of ever-more-stressed providers, the importance of the role of oncology social work has never been more evident. There are tremendous opportunities for creativity, leadership and advocacy during times of crisis.
Ethics, Inequity and Pandemic: Challenges for Social Workers
Speaker: Christina Bach (University of Pennsylvania/Oncolink)
Utilitarian foundations for decision-making are well-circulated in the press, but this framework can lead to moral distress and moral injury. See how bioethical principles and social work core values apply to the pandemic, with an ethical lens on social distancing and privilege.
Caring for Yourself and Caring for Others During a Disaster/Pandemic (Webinar Recording)
Speaker: Susan Hedlund, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW
Coping with COVID-19 (Blog Series)
By Oncolink
Comprehensive Updates on Financial Insurance & Resources During COVID-19
by Triage Cancer
What Cancer Patients, Survivors and Caregivers Need to Know about the Coronavirus
by Cancer Support Community
Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Toolkit for Emotional Coping for Healthcare Staff (TECHS)
by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
AOSW Membership Director Kerry Irish has created a number of guided meditation videos to help with stress reduction and relaxation, including:
Perks and Freebies for COVID-19 Healthcare Workers (provided by AOSW Fellow and Past-President, Catherine Credeur, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW).
Webside Manner: Maintaining “Palliativeness” During Video Visits (Video)
For those of you facing the challenges of trying to provide video-therapy, this webinar is a training video created for a study to help the palliative care clinicians learn about "webside manner" when doing the study telehealth visits. The video includes a nice summary of some of the considerations when conducting a virtual visit, which are broadly applicable to clinicians in psycho-oncology.
The co-PIs for the PCORI-funded study are Jennifer Temel, MD, and Joseph Greer, PhD. The is Comparative Effectiveness of Early Integrated Telehealth versus In-person Palliative Care for Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer
Thank you to Joe Greer for sharing this resource.
CancerCare Connect® Education Workshops:
The New Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidelines for People Coping with Cancer (podcast)
The New Coronavirus (COVID-19): Updated Guidelines for People Coping with Cancer - CE for live webinar only. AOSW is a collaborating organization on all our CancerCare Connect® Education Workshops and we provide CEs for social workers for free on the live Workshops.
“It Is Harrowing. It Is Daunting. It Is Overwhelming”: The Mental Toll of Coronavirus Is Crushing Medical Workers. They’re trained to handle death, but even so, doctors say the sheer volume of dying patients is devastating. “Unless you work in health care,” says one, “you cannot even begin to fathom what is occurring on a daily basis.”
by Diana Falzone for Vanity Fair, April 19, 2020
That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief: The Coronavirus Pandemic has led to a Collective Loss of Normalcy
by Scott Berinato, March 23, 2020, Harvard Business Review (courtesy of Bryan Miller, LCSW, OSW-C)
On Coronavirus Lockdown? Look for Meaning, Not Happiness.
Why cultivating “tragic optimism” will help us weather this crisis — and even grow from it.
by Emily Esfahani Smith, April 7, 2020, New York Times (courtesy of Sara Goldberger, MSSW, LCSW-R)
Ms. Esfahani Smith is the author of “The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed With Happiness.”
Cancer & COVID-19 Resource Packet
by Imerman Angels
Documents/Resources:
- Coping with COVID-19: How to Support Your Patients and Yourself Mentally and Emotionally, by ASTCT Social Work SIG, May 5, 2020
- National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) COVID-19 Resource and Information Guide
- The National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope With the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (courtesy of Bryan Miller, LCSW, OSW-C)
- 7 Science-Based Strategies to Cope with Coronavirus Anxiety, courtesy of Bryan Miller, LCSW, OSW-C
- How to Stop Worrying - Headspace.com (courtesy of Bryan Miller, LCSW, OSW-C)
- Psychology Today: 7 Ways to Cope With COVID-19 - Practical Methods to Reduce Your Stress Today (courtesy of Bryan Miller, LCSW, OSW-C)