Palliative Social Work in Switzerland

Palliative care has gained strength and recognition in Switzerland in the past decade. Within a well-organized and effective health system, improvements have been made to facilitate access to palliative care for specific groups (migrant communities, persons with disabilities, children and youth). While social workers are contributing to these improvements, they still lack specialized education in this field and need to become more aware of the fact that palliative care not only concerns end-of-life and death issues but also must follow the entire continuum of life. Moreover, the possibility in Switzerland to request suicide assistance, mainly provided by associations at the persons’ home but also, less frequently, within institutional or hospital contexts, contributes to the openness of the public debate on death and end of life. This possibility may nevertheless represent a challenge to palliative care workers when they are confronted with such a request.