End of Life Decisions
Prior to completing this discussion, please read the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2010) and Fact Sheet on End-of-Life Care (2014), as well as the Block, S. D., et al. (2006), Kwak, J., & Haley, W. E. (2005), and Torbic (2011) articles, and Chapters 15 and 16 from the Lerner (2002) e-book required for this week.
You will also be required to find two additional peer-reviewed sources to support developmental psychology concepts and theory and apply them to this topic within the provided end-of-life case scenarios.
You are working as the social worker at an area hospital dealing primarily with end-of-life decisions and palliative care. For this discussion, you will be reviewing the PSY605 End-of-Life Case Scenarios document and making recommendations based on the information provided in the scenarios.
All end-of-life choices and medical decisions have complex psychosocial components, ramifications, and consequences that have a significant impact on suffering and the quality of living and dying.
The issues involved in this process of decision making are based on issues of developmental stage, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, health, family, and physical, cognitive, and psychosocial states. For your initial post, you will apply concepts from developmental psychology to create your recommended courses of action for both Roger and Geri.
Carefully review the PSY605 End-of-Life Case Scenarios document and then research at least one peer-reviewed article published within the last 10 years in the Ashford University Library for each of the scenarios.
For each scenario, explain human development in the context of the situation described using research to support your responses.
Create a recommended course of action for each of the two scenarios by addressing the following questions:
What is the best recommended course of action for the client at this time, and why?
What potential effects would themes such as the client's culture, ethnicity, family, education, and gender have on the situation and recommendation(s)?
How does the client's developmental stage factor into your recommendation? (The theories outlined in Chapters 15 or 16 of the Lerner (2002) e-book will be useful for addressing this question.)
How do the client's physical, cognitive, and psychosocial states affect your recommendation(s)?
How might the developmental stage(s) of the client's family member(s) affect your recommendation?
How will you present your recommendation(s) to both the patient and family member(s)?
What consideration(s) would affect your manner of presentation?
Are there considerations that cannot be processed at this time because of lack of information in the written scenario?
Analyze and comment on the ethical considerations in each of the scenarios. Note how the APA's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct might provide guidance. Evaluate the unique scholarly perspectives presented in your research to support your recommendations.