566 X INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH Volume : 6 | Issue : 9 | September 2016 | ISSN - 2249-555X | IF : 3.919 | IC Value : 74.50 ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER Role of Oncology Social Worker’s in India * Amit Das Nabanita Dey Ph. D Scholar, Department of Social Work, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India, * Corresponding author Counselor, ART Centre, Silchar Medical College & Hospital, Assam, India Social Science ABSTRACT Worldwide the incidence and prevalence of cancer is increasing day by day and this also followed in In- dia. Cancer care is basically a team work with the involvement of oncologists, pathologists, psychologists, social workers, oncology nurses, pharmacists, etc. Since last few decades, social work profession has emerged as one of the most demanding profession in India. Social work profession is continuously working towards several supportive services in the field of oncology. Major roles include patient’s social and economic assessment, comprehensive patient and family counseling, economic support measures and post treatment follow up and social rehabilitation. Social work- ers are professionally trained persons having adequate knowledge on several therapies like, cognitive behavior therapy, dignity therapy, group therapy, meaning-centered therapy, family therapy, supportive therapy, psycho-therapy etc. On- cology team work will be more functional with the existence of professional social workers. So, it provides importance to include professional social workers in the context of Indian oncology for betterment of the patients and as well as other stakeholders KEYWORDS Cancer, Oncology, Social Work, Therapy Introduction: Cancer is a life-threatening disease, and receiving a cancer diagnosis is an extremely stressful experience [1] . Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and accounted for 8.2 million deaths in 2012 [2] . So, cancer care is very important from the view point of oncology. Cancer care is basically a team work and the team should have oncologist (surgical, radiation, medical), physicists, technologists, technicians, oncology nurses, pathologists, radiologists, epidemiolo- gists, psychologists, social workers, palliative care experts, pharmacists, etc. Cancer treatment is also multi-modular and multidimensional. Social Work is a professional service which can deliver its support to the needy people. Social workers in hospital setting are viewed seriously because of their active and professional service towards patients and their caregivers. Ida Canon became the first hospital social worker at Mas- sachusetts General Hospital in Boston in the year 1919 and from then medical social work got its root. Since then the hospital patients were viewed not only for medical purpos- es but also patients were seen in the perspective of bio- psychosocial aspects [3] . Methodology: Secondary data collection method was followed for this re- view study. The authors searched articles and reports from several journals which were published in PubMed, Google Scholar, CrossRef, Google, etc. The authors accepted both published and unpublished works. Out of 32 searched publications, a total 14 articles were included for this re- view. The search engine consists of both research works and review works. Results: Social work profession in India: Social workers attempt to relieve and prevent hardship and suffering. They have a responsibility to help individuals, families, groups and communities through the provision and operation of ap- propriate services and by contributing to social planning. They work with, on behalf of, or in the interests of peo- ple to enable them to deal with personal and social dif- ficulties and obtain essential resources and services. Their work may include, but is not limited to, interpersonal practice, group work, community work, social develop- ment, social action, policy development, research, social work education and supervisory and managerial functions in these fields. The field of practice for professional Social Worker is expanding day by day [4] . Since last few dec- ades ‘Social Work’ profession has emerged as one of the most demanding profession in India. Social workers are now working in various positions in various organizations in India. Now-a-days social workers are engaged in the field of health. In health-care system, social workers are actively participating from the initial patient’s registration to active follow up. Responsibilities of professional social workers in cancer setting in India: Social workers occupied their position in several Indian Cancer Hospitals with the application of their professional skill, knowledge, tools, methodologies, and techniques. Some hospitals also mentioned the im- portance of social work. Social work department is rapidly evolving as the backbone for supportive services extend- ed to cancer patients visiting the oncology center. It aims to ameliorate the psychosocial and economic burdens of patients by adopting a holistic approach. Realizing that cancer as a disease places enormous physical, psycho- logical, and economic burden on the patient as well as relatives, the social work department has integrated itself into the total treatment protocol from the first day of pa- tient’s visit to the Oncology Center. The key components of social work include social and economic assessment, comprehensive patient and family counseling, economic support measures and post treatment follow up and so- cial rehabilitation. [5] . Social workers are involved in sev- eral activities in oncology setting (Table 1). In India, most of the oncology social workers are following such type of activities towards preventive oncology. Besides these, on- cology social workers are also playing vital role in oncol- ogy research activities.