Stephanie Grace Prost

Social work students in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: correlates of post-disaster substance use as a negative coping mechanism

Abstract Social work students’ post-disaster coping while in the field is an important workforce issue with ethical implications. The current study utilized secondary data collected in a previous study examining post-disaster alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among social work student volunteers (N = 416) in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (HKR). The current sample included participants from the original study who responded to a single-item measure of AOD use as a negative coping mechanism (N = 290). The present study examined potential explanatory variables of AOD use in the aftermath of HKR, including demographic (age, gender, and race) and psychosocial characteristics (hurricane-related stressors, previous traumatic stressors, and post-traumatic stress). The multivariate logistic regression model distinguished between students who never or rarely used AOD and those who used AOD often to cope with HKR, accounting for 24% of model variance. Social work students who report post-disaster AOD use may risk experiencing additional, trauma-related vulnerabilities, should be further assessed, and provided necessary specialized supports to enable their well-being and to prevent impaired practice.

Hospice and Self-Assessed Quality of Life in the Dying: A Review

This review summarizes the impact of hospice and palliative end-of-life care on the self-assessed quality of life (QoL) in terminally ill persons. Articles were included if researchers utilized at least two observations post–hospice admission and were published in English between January of 2000 and December 2012. Findings from included studies synthesize results of a variety of terminal patients (n = 1,017) across settings. Only one study utilized a non-treatment control group. The remaining studies compared variations of program inclusions, settings, or QoL scores across carcinoma site. The studies included indicated mixed outcomes related to the effect of hospice on QoL in the dying.

Development and Validation of the Hospice Professionals’ Understanding of Preparatory Grief Scale

Purpose: It is critical to assess hospice professionals’ discrimination between adaptive and maladaptive reactions to terminal illness in persons at the end-of-life to assure targeted intervention aimed at maintaining quality of life. The proposed measure, the Hospice Professionals Understanding of Preparatory Grief scale (HPPG), contains affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions to terminal illness and asks respondents to identify which reflect adaptive and maladaptive responses. Methods: Hospice professionals across three states (n = 196) completed the novel HPPG via online survey. Results: Initial evidence via expert panel review, confirmatory factor analysis, and domain restructuring suggests good content and factorial validity. Final reliability (α stratified = .861) indicates good internal consistency. Discussion: The HPPG is the first measure to assess hospice professionals’ understanding of reactions to terminal illness and serves as an initial examination of this critical skill in hospice professionals including social workers. The HPPG can be used as a self-assessment or measure of continuing education.