Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy最新文献

In light of questions that have been raised about education for professional healthcare chaplaincy, we examined the skills and knowledge Clinical Pastoral Educators believe students need to perform the essential tasks and responsibilities of a chaplain. At 19 recently re-accredited ACPE centers across the country, we asked educators about the knowledge chaplains need to be effective, the specific content areas they teach, and how didactic education is planned and organized within their programs. Beyond a focus on religious diversity, we found little consensus among educators regarding a core knowledge base that should be taught during CPE. While most respondents in our study recognize the importance of didactic education in preparing students to become chaplains, there is a lack of consistency in didactic curricula across programs. Our findings suggest the need for broader conversation and collaboration among educators, national chaplaincy organizations, and theological schools regarding the goals, priorities, and outcomes of CPE.

This study examines the effectiveness of incorporating compassion meditation training into a clinical pastoral education (CPE) curriculum to enhance compassion satisfaction and reduce burnout among hospital chaplain residents. Specifically, a longitudinal, quasi-experimental design was used to examine the impact of Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT), a group-delivered compassion meditation intervention. Hospital chaplain residents (n = 15) were assigned to participate in a CBCT intervention or a waitlist comparison group. Chaplains assigned to CBCT reported significant decreases in burnout and anxiety compared to the waitlist group; effects were not maintained at 4-month follow-up. Other outcomes, including compassion satisfaction, did not differ significantly but were trending in the expected direction. Findings suggest that compassion meditation training incorporated into CPE promotes chaplain wellbeing, although it may be necessary to extend CBCT throughout residency to sustain effects.

Changing U.S. demographics and the growing emphasis on diversity in the healthcare workforce requires professional healthcare chaplains to examine the characteristics of its own workforce. Previous research suggested that chaplains were mainly Caucasian/White and Mainline Protestant. To explore further, this paper presents a baseline sketch of the workforce and identifies important differences among board-certified chaplains (BCCs), certified educators, certified educator candidates (CECs), and clinical pastoral education (CPE) students. Although missing data quickly became the central story of the analysis and thus requires caution in comparison, the preliminary results suggest BCCs and Certified Educators are older and Whiter/more Caucasian than CECs and CPE students. At least one-third of chaplains and Certified Educators identify as Mainline Protestant, but students and CECs reported greater variation in religious affiliation. Chaplains may be similar to users of healthcare and hospitalized persons in terms of gender and race/ethnicity. Recommendations include suggestions for improving the data infrastructure of professional chaplaincy organizations.

Introduction: In several Dutch hospitals, healthcare chaplains provide care to accompanying persons at the accident and emergency (A&E) department, even though they have not been trained for such a dynamic, high-intensity environment. We therefore examined the competencies they feel they need in this setting.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with 14 healthcare chaplains from nine hospitals, and with five A&E nurses from two hospitals.

Results: All respondents considered healthcare chaplaincy essential in the A&E department. Our findings support the need for psychosocial and communicative skills, knowledge of mourning processes, flexibility, sensitivity, and reflexivity. Additional competencies included sensitivity to existential concerns, practicing presence, a person-centered approach, medical knowledge, and letting go of a solution-oriented approach.

Discussion: The chaplains questioned the sufficiency of their leadership skills, pragmatism, and medical knowledge. To ensure their sustained availability for people in crisis, more systematic efforts are needed with regard to aftercare, evaluation, and self-care on the part of healthcare chaplains.

Clinical chaplains are exposed to varying degrees of suffering and are not exempt from suffering themselves. This study took a phenomenological approach to examining self-compassion among 11 clinical chaplains, all of which had suffered from personal and/or professional hardships while providing spiritual care to medical staff, patients, and families. The three elements of self-compassion are mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity. Results showed that clinical chaplains' understanding of the aspects of self-compassion are limited or non-existent. Participants in this study ardently shared their experiences as they related to self-care activities during times of personal hardship. However, the intentional implementation of self-compassion practice was not displayed in these narratives. The need for education in this area would prove to enhance self-awareness and overall self-care within the profession of clinical chaplaincy.

Since the publication of Chaplain Rhonda Cooper's case study in 2011, chaplain case studies have become part of the chaplaincy research agenda. Chaplains from North America, Europe and Australia have published almost 30, and this article offers a first look at the findings that are emerging from these cases. Locating chaplains' case studies at the juxtaposition of 'outcome oriented chaplaincy' and so-called 'process-oriented chaplaincy', the article argues chaplains' case studies dissolve what is a false dichotomy. Utilizing an analytical framework provided by ongoing debate among psychotherapists, the article argues that the emerging data suggests chaplaincy manifests features that are common to psychotherapy but also that there are significant factors specific to chaplaincy. From this analysis, the article observes the case studies paint a picture of chaplaincy care as a religious intervention. However, contemporary chaplaincy exists within a rapidly changing context, where increasing numbers of people are religiously unaffiliated. The article concludes by suggesting that chaplains' case study research poses significant theological, ethical and existential questions to chaplaincy about how to respond to its changing context. The article ends with a call for chaplaincy care to be radically and explicitly remodeled as care for the human spirit regardless of religious affiliation.

While shadowing is a relatively common practice in the education of many health professionals, it is not widely used in chaplaincy education. Findings from our qualitative study of 12 chaplains who participated in the Coleman Palliative Medicine Training Program suggest it may offer benefits for practicing chaplains. In interviews with seven fellows who shadowed more experienced palliative care (PC) chaplains and the five mentors who were shadowed at their work settings, participants reported opportunities for mutual learning, self-reflection, and collegiality. Fellows observed how members of a PC team collaborate and contribute equally to the care of patients. Mentors found shadowing was a rare opportunity to share their chaplaincy practice with colleagues. It helped them to appreciate different aspects of their work settings and to distinguish between PC and generalist chaplaincy. We discuss the challenges participants experienced while shadowing and offer recommendations for incorporating the practice more widely into chaplaincy education.

In recent years, some within chaplaincy have advocated for a stronger focus on outcomes, including outcome research, whereas others in the field have questioned an outcome-oriented perspective. In this article, existing outcome studies are reviewed in relation to the ongoing discussion about a process- or outcome-oriented approach to chaplaincy. A central question emerges from this discussion: how can outcome research be designed that respects the integrity of the profession of chaplaincy? A literature search in MEDLINE/Pubmed produced twenty-two chaplaincy outcome studies that met the inclusion criteria. A review of these studies shows that thus far most have focused on secondary chaplaincy outcomes (e.g., satisfaction) using quantitative designs. To respect the integrity of chaplaincy, it is recommended that future studies should also focus on characteristic chaplaincy outcomes, use mixed methods designs, and articulate more clearly how their chosen outcomes, outcome measures, and interventions relate to the work of chaplaincy.