We begin with a description of Oncology Social Work,(Association of Oncology Social Workers, 2001) and its role in helping cancer patients and their families. Next, important historical developments are reviewed: the birth of medical social work in hospitals in the early
20th Century;(I M Cannon, 1923) the medical improvements in the 1940’s in treating cancer, and the shift to a consumer oriented American Cancer Society pushing a greater role for the federal government in funding cancer research. Oncology Social Work came to full blossom in the 1970’s, a result of the physicians’ need for a member of the health care team who understood cancer, treatment, and the patient’s need to address their psychosocial needs.
Oncology Social Work is today a fully developed profession with its national organization that provides education and support to the oncology social workers’ use of multiple psychosocial interventions for cancer patients and their families