Skip to Content

Disclaimer

Disclaimer
MDS makes every effort to publish accurate information on the website. "Google Translate" is provided as a free tool for visitors to read content in one's native language. Translations are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate. Neither MDS nor its employees assume liability for erroneous translations of website content.

International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Main Content

Social Work

The Role of the Social Worker

The social worker is part of a multidisciplinary team, helping patients and their families cope with the psychosocial ramifications of movement disorders. 


The work is based on the premise that these diseases impact the patients and the family system. Reducing patient and family stress inherent in chronic progressive degenerative diseases requires maximizing the patient and family's strengths, coping resources, and capabilities. 

During clinic visits or other contacts, the social worker evaluates patient and family functioning, including patient and family members' emotional state, their perception of the specific disease and incurred losses, the existence and use of social support, caregiver issues, and family coping needs at different stages of the disease and their stage in the life cycle. 

Listening to patients and families forms the basis of the social worker's counseling strategy at many critical transitions: the diagnostic moment, when genetic status is disclosed, when conflicts based on frontal lobe dysfunction occur, when disease progression signals loss of roles and independence, when caregiver burdens increase, or when a change in living arrangements is necessary. 

The social worker: 

  • Helps the patient and family reorganize and adjust to new needs 
  • Provides information about disease progression and coping skills 
  • Facilitates access to community resources, health insurance programs, planning for home care or community-based housing options 
  • Counsels patients and their family members individually, as couples, and as families 
  • Provides short-term crisis intervention and long-term supportive counseling 
  • Conducts a range of group work experiences for patients, caregivers, and other family members. Group work may be based on educational models that provide information and support, dynamic, or use cognitive behavioral techniques. They may be short-term, "one-off" sessions or long-term support groups. 

 


Contributed by Jennie Posen MSW, Rena Frohner MSW, Amy Chesire LCSW-R, MSG, Deborah Thorne, LCSW

 

 

Resource Type

Please wait while we gather your results.

Social Work

We use cookies to give you the best possible experience with our website. These cookies are also used to ensure we show you content that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, you are agreeing to our use of cookies to improve your user experience. You can click the cookie settings link on our website to change your cookie settings at any time. Note: The MDS site uses related multiple domains, including mds.movementdisorders.org and mds.execinc.com. This cookie policy only covers the primary movementdisorders.org and mdscongress.org domain. Please refer to the MDS Privacy Policy for information on how to configure cookies for all other domains on the MDS site.
Cookie PolicyPrivacy Notice