This textbook on palliative social work is a companion volume to the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine and the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing. To that end, this chapter will accomplish the following:

♦ Definitions of palliative care embrace the patient and family as the unit of care.

♦ Involvement of family caregivers is essential for optimal treatment of the patient with advanced medical illness.

♦ Family caregivers carry out a wide range of support tasks that span the entire trajectory of disease and include unique physical, psychosocial, and spiritual domains.

♦ Caregivers have their own emotional responses to the patients' diagnosis and prognosis, and they require interventions targeted toward their specific needs.

♦ The multifaceted role of family caregivers is demanding, posing significant challenges for the palliative care team.