Spiritual care; chaplain; hospice; pastoral care

BACKGROUND: Palliative Care also encompasses the dimension of spiritual pain. Pastoral care workers and chaplains are specialists in the provision of spiritual care. Decreasing religious affiliation and increasing spiritual diversification in modern societies raise the question of the function of pastoral care. AIM: The goal of this study is to answer the question of what pastoral care workers can offer to dying residents in hospices and palliative care units. DESIGN: A qualitative interview study was designed to explore the specific perspective of pastoral care workers in a multidisciplinary environment...

Palliative care is interprofessional care for seriously ill people. Many clergy, religious leaders, and hospice and palliative care chaplains of color and minority religious backgrounds desire clinical palliative care education. This manuscript presents findings from a three-year quality improvement project which included the development of a palliative care specialty ACPE: The Standard for Spiritual Care and Education (ACPE) accredited program at an academic medical center. The program was designed to improve spiritual care provision in palliative care at the institution and to facilitate the participation of clergy and spiritual leaders of color and minority religious groups...

The importance of spirituality in patient care is well recognized and efforts to develop educational opportunities to improve medical students' competency in spirituality and health are ongoing. In this regard, shadowing of healthcare chaplains has emerged as an experiential approach for providing exposure to and instruction in issues of spirituality in the patient experience and in patient care. Recently published data suggest that a 6-8 hour experience of shadowing a trauma chaplain is effective at introducing first-year medical students to healthcare chaplaincy, difficult spiritual conversations with patients and families, and interprofessional collaboration...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Health Care Chaplains, whose primary role is to provide spiritual care to patients, their families, and medical staff, are sometimes asked for help in making difficult decisions and resolving conflicts. Their help is justified especially when religious beliefs and values constitute the root of the problem. The study aims to analyze the phenomenon of asking hospital and hospice chaplains in Poland to take on the role of mediators in conflicts concerning methods of patients' medical care...

Although healthcare professionals have become the symbol of risk and sacrifice during the COVID-19 pandemic, spiritual care practitioners (SCP) have also put themselves at great risk while offering their service in hospitals, hospices and other healthcare facilities. This study was designed to explore the lived experiences of SCP during the current health crisis in Poland. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-four SCP. Nine major themes emerged from the interviews: personal reactions to the pandemic, SCP's perception of the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of spiritual care, spiritual needs during the pandemic, work-related emotions, the impact of the COVID-19 on religion, the role of spiritual care during the outbreak, the healthcare professionals' perceptions of SCP and barriers to the provision of spiritual care during the pandemic...

Background: The provision of spiritual care is a key component of high-quality patient-centered care, particularly in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, the integration of spiritual care into the care of patients in the ICU is variable, especially at the end of life, which may be due in part to poor or incomplete provider knowledge of the work of chaplains. Objective: To characterize the care and services provided by chaplains to patients in an ICU at the end of life and/or their families. Design: A retrospective chart review was performed to identify all patients admitted over a three-month period to an ICU who had visits with a chaplain and an ICU course that ended in death, discharge to a palliative care facility or discharge to hospice...

Gomez and her colleagues have presented a helpful study of the relationship of the chaplains in her health system to physicians which highlights several barriers to a well-integrated relationship and thus to more optimal patient care. We have seen these same barriers as we have consulted with health systems nationally and have also identified many best practices that mediate or even eliminate many of these barriers. This commentary describes some of what we have seen as chaplain-generated causes of those barriers and effective strategies that have been employed to overcome them...

BACKGROUND: The value of healthcare chaplains to patient care is increasingly recognized. However, physicians' understandings of the role of pastoral care have been reported to be poor, which have raised concerns about the quality of chaplain-physician interactions and their impact on patient care. These interactions, particularly from the perspective of the chaplain, have not been extensively investigated. METHODS: An anonymous survey about the interactions of chaplains with physicians was sent to chaplains at a single institution, with subsequent focus group discussions of responding chaplains to obtain additional qualitative data...

Music is an integral tool in creating sacred space, and research indicates the potential for music to advance spiritual goals. However, little evidence exists on the use of music by hospice chaplains. In an online survey, 313 hospice chaplains were asked about their work including their use of music and perception of the effectiveness of music in meeting spiritual goals. Most respondents named supporting those actively dying and providing compassionate presence as a top reason for referral. Many used prayer and life review to meet spiritual goals...

Stereotypes of religious professionals can create barriers for those who provide spiritual/pastoral care. Through interviews and journal entries, hospice chaplains ( n = 45) identified the following stereotypes that affected their work: chaplains as people whom others try to impress, who only talk about spiritual and religious topics, who are male, and who try to convert others. Participants reported using a variety of communication strategies to counteract stereotypes and make meaningful connections with the people they serve...

In 1948, Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modem hospice movement, established a core principle of palliative care, Total Pain, which is defined as physical, spiritual, psychological, and social suffering. In 2009, a consensus panel (Puchalski, Ferrell, Virani, Otis-Green, Baird, Bull, et al., 2009) was convened to address the important issue of integrating spirituality in palliative care, which led to renewed efforts to focus on spiritual care as a critical component of quality palliative care. This project is a combination of advocacy for the importance of spiritual care, training chaplains, seminarians, community clergy, and healthcare professionals in palliative care, and creating a spiritual care curriculum which can be self-taught or taught to members of transdisciplinary teams...

Hospitals and hospice organizations who are hiring chaplains to provide spiritual care for terminally ill patients post online job advertisements with specific qualifications and communication skills that applicants should possess. An examination of job advertisements can uncover trends in credentials and responsibilities expected of hospice chaplains. Results of a framework analysis of 71 hospice chaplain job advertisements indicated that 44% of chaplain job advertisements did not require chaplain applicants to have completed clinical pastoral education (CPE) and 41% did not required ordination and/or endorsement from a recognized denomination...

The article explores the disenfranchised grief of the chaplain from the perspective of the author's own experience in hospice chaplaincy. Borrowing from the works of Kenneth J. Doka on disenfranchised grief, Robert C. Dykstra on crisis ministry, and James Dittes on grief work in ministry, this article focuses on the grief work of chaplains. In doing so, it analyzes the theological perspective of remembrance, explaining how personal remembrances connect the chaplain with his or her own repressed grief in a way that communal events can not accomplish because of the chaplain's responsibility for the grief of the community in these settings...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Palliative care encompasses spiritual as well as physical, social and psychological aspects. Spiritual care has been identified as a key concern of dying patients. During an audit of the Northern Ireland Hospice chaplaincy service against the national Standards for Hospice and Palliative Care Chaplaincy (2003), 62 patients' spiritual needs along with their interactions with the hospice chaplains were assessed by using a questionnaire survey and reviewing data recorded on their pastoral care notes. Findings suggest that the Standards were useful for assessing and addressing spiritual needs...

Although comparatively few people have regular contact with a church or spiritual leader, during times of terminal illness or bereavement, clergy are expected to be available and able to provide support. This study was carried out to determine the perceptions of clergy on the training they had received in supporting the dying patient and the bereaved. A sample of clergy working in the diocese of Sheffield was sent a questionnaire to assess what skills and knowledge clergy believed they had in this area, together with areas where they would wish for further training...

The key points of this article are: Spirituality gives meaning and purpose to life. Spiritual issues that may lie dormant for many years often surface at the end of life. Not all people are religious, but all are spiritual. Suffering affects the whole person and often is connected to the meaning that a patient associates with a symptom or symptoms. Spiritual history validates the importance of a patient's spirituality and gives permission to the patient for future discussion/questions. Spiritual care is the job of all members of the interdisciplinary team(including surgeons), not just chaplains...

A systematic review of all articles appearing between 1990 and 1999 in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care, the Hospice Journal, and the Journal of Palliative Care was conducted. Articles citing at least one reference were categorized as scholarly, included in the study, and divided into either research or nonresearch categories. Scholarly articles were classified as research if they contained clearly defined methods and results sections, even if these headings were not used. Research and nonresearch articles were subdivided into qualitative and quantitative research and general reviews or program descriptions, respectively...

At the present time, there is a widening search for spirituality as distinct from organized religion, particularly as it relates to well-being, wholeness, and healing. In both professional and lay contexts, spirituality has come to the forefront of public consciousness. The place of spirituality within the hospice movement is not unaffected by this shift in popular priorities. Once the prerogative of chaplains and clergy, the nurturing of spiritual journeys is now becoming a common concern. Experiencing sensory spirituality can provide both caregivers and those for whom they care a blessed respite for bodies, minds, and spirits...

Attention to the spiritual dimension of a person is essential in a holistic approach to hospice care. Although other hospice team members may be involved in matters of faith with patients, chaplains are the primary professionals concerned with the transcendent nature of life and the integrative role that spirituality plays in care for the dying. Understanding spirituality in a person's living and dying requires an understanding of religion and theology. Religion is meant to connect us to a caring community and to give us a place on which to stand--a tradition...