Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy最新文献

Spiritual support has been a staple of healthcare before hospitals in western civilizations were established by communities of faith. Research has demonstrated that wellbeing is associated with balanced care for the body, mind, and spirit. Healthcare disparities are being identified as disproportionally impacting transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals. The root cause of this disparity is being studied as are medical and wellbeing interventions, including the benefit of spiritual support. This author's objective was two-fold. First, to identify opportunities for extending spiritual support to TGNC individuals in healthcare by chaplains. Secondly, to identify evidence of current spiritual support advocacy initiatives and interventions for TGNC patients in healthcare by chaplains.

A substantial number of (mostly health care) chaplaincy articles have emphasized the need for chaplaincy outcome research. In this study, we contribute to formulating intrinsic chaplaincy outcomes by first identifying chaplaincy goals. To this end, we have performed a scoping review of Dutch chaplaincy literature. We have focused on articles, books, and dissertations published between 2014 and 2019. Six distinct goals of chaplaincy were identified, using 86 fragments found in 33 sources: worldview vitality and plausibility, processing life events, deepening spirituality, relational affirmation, well-being, and exercising freedom of religion. Several of these main goals could be subdivided into more specific goals. Future research is needed to examine whether the found goals apply equally within the different types of chaplaincy and to examine their interrelations. In addition, future research should examine how these goals are pursued in practice and how they relate to client needs.

Health is holistic, but health services are often not. Primary care is the first point of contact for patients in the UK, and at least two in every three present with complex bio-psycho-socio-economic issues. In Scotland, the Community Chaplaincy Listening (CCL) service was created to see if chaplains could help. CCL involves specially trained chaplains listening to patients referred to them by general practitioners (GP) for spiritual support. Between 2018 and 2019, 143 people used CCL and completed baseline and post-discharge outcome measures. Mean Scottish PROM scores rose from 7.94 (± 3.4) at baseline to 12 (± 3.5) post discharge, a statistically and clinically significant rise of 4.06 (95% CI, 3-5.12), t(50) = 7.7, p < 0.0001, d = 1.08. The improvement was seen whether patients self-described as religious, spiritual, both, or neither. Health-related quality of life outcomes were mixed but patients referred to the service scored some of the lowest baseline EQ-5D-3L scores ever seen in the literature. Together these results suggest that CCL worked in primary care, especially for patients historically considered "difficult to treat." Limitations of the study are considered alongside implications for commissioners and service developers.

The spiritual care profession in the Netherlands is going through significant changes, including an increasing demand for secular and multi-faith spiritual care, a move towards professionalization and formulating 'best practices', as well as a broadening of the scope of chaplains' activities.In October 2019, 405 Dutch healthcare chaplains completed an online mixed methods survey with open and closed-ended questions about their work situation and professional identity. Quantitative analyses showed that most respondents evaluated current developments in chaplaincy in a positive way. Qualitative findings showed trends towards interconfessional and secular spiritual care, outpatient spiritual care and the emergence of evidence-based chaplaincy. Participants who responded most negatively to those developments criticized evidence-based approaches for measuring the effects of chaplaincy, unstable financing structures, and the encroachment of other professions upon the domain of spiritual care.

This study examines the relationship between religious and spiritual (R/S) struggle and religiosity with depression and anxiety in adolescents admitted to inpatient psychiatric units of a pediatric hospital in the Midwest of the United States. We administered four self-reported scales to 71 adolescents (ages 13-17) to assess religiosity, R/S struggle, depression, and anxiety. The prevalence of R/S struggle among this population was high (88.73%). Significant associations were found between R/S struggle and depression and anxiety, linking greater R/S struggles with more severe depression or anxiety. However, no significant associations between religiosity and depression and anxiety were noted. By examining the prevalence of R/S struggle among this population and its relationship to depression and anxiety, this study contributes to the expanding research on the impact of religion and spirituality on the psychological well-being of adolescents.

Chaplaincy has become increasingly professionalized in response to both the standardization in healthcare and the changing religious landscape. Whereas several studies have paid attention to the professionalization of chaplaincy as a whole, no research has been found that describes the implications for individual chaplains. The present article describes the professionalization of Dutch chaplains in the last two decades. We compared the results of two surveys conducted with chaplains in the Netherlands in 1997 and 2017. We describe professionalization by distinguishing between the changed values, expertise, and positioning of chaplains. We found that chaplains' expertise has been developed by a growing but highly diverse body of knowledge. Furthermore, a pluralization of chaplains' worldviews was observed, including non-religious and non-affiliated positions. Lastly, no major changes were observed in the embedding of chaplains.

In recent years, and particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, telehealth has been rapidly introduced into U.S. healthcare institutions. While preliminary data and best practices are beginning to emerge, it remains unclear how chaplains are responding to this development in practice. Consequently, professional organizations have tended to lag behind the changing demands of increasingly digital professional environments. This article addresses this gap by presenting three case studies of U.S. healthcare settings where chaplains have become an integral component of telehealth infrastructure: the Mercy system, Ascension Health, and the Veteran's Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Based on interviews with chaplains and directors of chaplaincy departments, it shows how the 'telechaplains' at these institutions have adapted to the introduction of telehealth across the continuum of care, and discusses the legal, economic, practical and theological challenges and hopes reported in each case.

This paper intends to outline a data integration response to the demands placed on the pastoral care department through the COVID-19 pandemic. Uniquely, these demands accelerated the need to implement documentation of care directed towards staff to complement the data derived from patient visitation. The motivation for this initiative is in part, to provide a complete picture of the care provided by hospital chaplains using an evidence-based approach through the implementation of data science.

Demographic changes in Australia have led to an increase in both religious diversity and the number of people who do not nominate a faith affiliation at hospital admission. Models of chaplaincy have shifted from clerical and largely male to an increasingly skilled and diverse spiritual care workforce appointed directly by health services. This study uses survey and in-depth interview methods at an inner-city Australian hospital to examine patient preferences for hospital chaplaincy provided by faith communities, and the importance of faith affiliation compared to other spiritual care provider characteristics. Survey results indicate that of 110 respondents, a high proportion (74%) prefer spiritual care to be provided by a person of the same faith. However, when considered relative to other characteristics, faith affiliation was not as important as kindness, listening skills and a non-judgmental attitude. Our findings have implications for workforce planning and educating. Further research in different settings and with different populations will make the findings more generalizable.