|
|
Article: Hope as a strategy in supervising social workers of terminally ill patients.
- Article from:
- Health and Social Work
- Article date:
- February 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 National Association of Social Workers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Hope plays a central role in the care of terminally ill clients, because it enables a search for positive elements at times of severe distress and encourages possible recovery from serious physical conditions. Clients' negative feelings of hopelessness and helplessness are liable to impair the motivation to fight disease (Dunkel & Hatfield, 1986). Research has shown that the way therapists react to the helplessness experienced by their clients has a significant effect on the clients' ability to overcome feelings of hopelessness (Wheat, 1960).
A situation in which the therapist feels helpless and hopeless may lead, through transference, to helplessness of the ...