An Exploration of Medical Social Workers\u27 Participation in a Grief Education Seminar

The purpose of this study was to design, implement and evaluate a grief and death educational seminar for medical social workers at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This study described a seminar designed by the researcher: The Grief Journey: Our Patients, Ourselves and presented findings of the survey questionnaire and program evaluation. The study used primarily qualitative data to evaluate the preparedness of medical social workers in assessing grief after participating in a grief education seminar. The study population (n=23) were men and women participants of the grief education seminar presented January, 1997. The survey questionnaire and evaluations served as the pretest and posttest and focused on measuring levels of social workers\u27 perceptions of their preparation to work with patients and families related to grief. The findings indicate personal death awareness and knowledge of grief increased comfort and assessment skills when working with patients and families experiencing grief