Developing a complexity-informed approach to hospital end-of-life care for people with dementia and their families

Little is known about the role of hospital social work during end-of-life care of older patients diagnosed with dementia. In Australia, hospital social work assessment and intervention have been predominantly framed through systems theories, which provide limited insight into the dynamics shaping intervention outcomes. Using a complexity-informed theoretical approach, this article draws from a study examining end-of-life transitions for people with dementia in general medicine units. Expanding from a traditional systems perspective, we demonstrate the potential for social work to engage in situation sensitive problem-solving methods drawn from complexity theory to facilitate family adjustment following end-of-life transitions.