Did COVID-19 change the interventions provided by oncology social workers in the epicenter of the pandemic? A natural experiment.

Background: Throughout history, the field of medical social work has been shaped by epidemics and pandemics. As COVID-19 rapidly overwhelmed the healthcare system in 2020, oncology departments found that space, staff, and funds were reallocated to address patient needs during the pandemic. Traditional outpatient services were required to operate with reduced resources, with special attention to additional measures to protect workers and patients from exposure to the virus. Little is known about how these changes affected the nature of the practice of oncology social work.Methods: We compared data on OSW interventions for three months (March-May) 2019 to the same period in 2020. Mount Sinai Downtown Cancer Center's Department of Social Work routinely collects data on services provided by social workers using a validated instrument. As NYC became the epicenter of the COVID-19 in March 2020, the comparison of these time periods creates a natural experiment to examine whether and how the presence of the virus impacted the services provided by OSWs.Findings: There was little difference in the number of encounters that took place between the two time periods (2186 encounters in 2019 and 2084 encounters in 2020); however, there were notable differences in the types of interventions. While interventions involving supportive counseling decreased in 2020, we identified a significant increase specific to bereavement counseling.Conclusion: The study shows a remarkable consistency in the volume and types of services provided by OSWs, in spite of the radical increase in stressors they experienced during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest that the OSWs did not allow these stressors to interfere with their work with patients. This study demonstrates how routine use of an instrument to measure OSW interventions can be used to examine services provided over time and to evaluate potential influences of external factors.

Oncology social work intervention index (OSWii): An instrument to measure oncology social work interventions to advance research.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: There is much interest in screening for and treating psychosocial distress in cancer patients; however, little is known about if and how psychosocial services are provided for patients demonstrating significant levels of distress. Oncology social workers (OSWs) are the primary providers of psychosocial care for cancer patients and their families, yet there is no widely-used and empirically-validated instrument that captures the range of interventions provided by OSWs. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the Oncology Social Work Intervention Index (OSWii), designed to measure interventions provided by OSWs, and the results of testing the instrument. METHODS: We conducted a content analysis of data collected by the Association of Oncology Social Work's Project to Assure Quality Cancer Care (APAQCC). We analyzed 3,194 responses from an open-ended question that described social work interventions following a distress screen. Five investigators coded the data in an iterative process to enhance instrument validity. The resulting instrument measuring OSWii was piloted with 38 oncology social workers across 156 individual cases. RESULTS: OSWs who piloted the OSWii spent a majority of time (72%) engaging in clinical interventions. The user assessment revealed that data entry was rapid, the instrument was easy to use, and the content was relevant to the cancer treatment setting. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Using a standardized instrument that reflects OSWs' clinical interventions is critical for researchers to examine the impact of psychosocial interventions on patient outcomes. This index may also advance the translation of scientific findings into patient-centered psychosocial cancer care. This pilot test suggests that the OSWii is both scalable and useful.

Drinking behavior among older adults at a continuing care retirement community: affective and motivational influences.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this pilot study was to describe patterns of alcohol consumption among continuing care retirement community(CCRC) residents and to explore the role of drinking motives and affective states on drinking context and consumption. METHOD: We utilized a phone-based daily diary approach to survey older adults about their daily alcohol consumption, context of drinking (e.g. drinking alone), positive and negative affect, and their motives for drinking. Data were analyzed descriptively, and regression models were developed to examine associations between sociodemographic factors, affect, drinking context and motives, and alcohol consumption. RESULTS: CCRC residents drank most frequently at home and were alone almost half of drinking days on average, although the context of drinking varied considerably by participant. Problem alcohol use was rare, but hazardous use due to specific comorbidities, symptoms and medications, and the amount of alcohol consumption was common. Respondents endorsed higher social motives for drinking and lower coping motives. Social motives were associated with decreased likelihood of drinking alone, but negative affect was associated with decreased likelihood of drinking outside one's home. Coping and social motives were associated with greater consumption, and higher positive affect was associated with lower consumption. CONCLUSION: Among CCRC residents, alcohol use may be socially motivated rather than motivated by coping with negative affect. Future research should examine other motives for drinking in older adulthood. Evaluation of older adults living in CCRCs should include attention to health factors beyond problem use as other forms of hazardous use may be common in CCRCs.

Premenstrual symptomatology and alcohol consumption in college women.

OBJECTIVE: Because research has indicated women may be at increased risk for alcohol-related health problems, identifying risk factors for alcohol use among college women has become increasingly important. Previous studies report a relationship between premenstrual symptoms (PMS) and alcohol consumption among women seeking treatment for symptoms; however, results have been inconsistent among nonclinical samples. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between premenstrual symptomatology and alcohol consumption in a sample of college women. METHOD: Women (N = 193) from a large urban university consented to complete an assessment battery of health behavior questionnaires which included a retrospective assessment of PMS severity and typical weekend and weekday alcohol consumption during the past year. RESULTS: Results revealed that PMS severity significantly predicted annual weekday alcohol consumption but did not predict annual weekend alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests the relationship between PMS and alcohol consumption exists in nonclinical samples of college women who are relatively early in their drinking careers, before the development of severe alcohol-related problems. Thus, premenstrual symptomatology may be an important risk factor for alcohol consumption among college women. Education on the relationship between PMS and risk for alcohol misuse may provide beneficial information for both alcohol prevention and intervention efforts on college campuses and may be helpful in identifying women at risk for heavy alcohol consumption and alcohol problems.

Spiritual coping, family history, and perceived risk for breast cancer--can we make sense of it?

Differences in spiritual beliefs and practices could influence perceptions of the role of genetic risk factors on personal cancer risk. We explored spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions among women with and without a reported family history of breast cancer. Analyses were conducted on data from 899 women in primary care clinics who did not have breast cancer. Structural equation modeling (SEM), linear, and logistic modeling tested an interaction of family history of breast cancer on the relationship between spiritual coping and risk perceptions. Overall analyses demonstrated an inverse relationship between spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions and a modifying effect of family history. More frequent spiritual coping was associated with lower risk perceptions for women with positive family histories, but not for those with negative family histories. Results support further research in this area that could influence communication of risk information to cancer genetic counseling patients.