Chaplains Working in Palliative Care: Who They Are and What They Do. 2017

Jane Jeuland, and George Fitchett, and Dena Schulman-Green, and Jennifer Kapo
1 Department of Spiritual Care, Yale-New Haven Hospital , New Haven, Connecticut.

Palliative care (PC) programs utilize chaplains to address patients' spiritual care needs; however, there is no comprehensive description of chaplaincy in PC programs nationally. To describe chaplains working in PC across the United States, including their integration on the PC team and visit content. National online survey conducted February-April 2015. We invited participation from hospital-based chaplains belonging to four national professional chaplain associations who spent 15% or more of their working hours with PC teams. Measure(s): We developed a 41-item survey to investigate main outcomes of chaplain demographics, practice information, integration into the PC team, and visit content. 531 valid responses were received. We report on respondents who were full-time chaplains (n = 382). Almost half were women (46%), and the majority was Protestant (70%). The average number of PC patients seen per day was 5.2 (SD = 3.5, range 1-30). Half (52%) reported frequently participating in PC rounds. Primary chaplain activities were relationship building (76%), care at the time of death (69%), and helping patients with existential issues or spiritual distress (49%). Over half (55%) reported addressing goals of care 60% of the time or more. This survey provides the first description of chaplains working in PC across the United States. We describe chaplains' critical role in attending to relationship building, care for the dying, and goals of care conversations. Our results highlight how the chaplains' level of involvement in PC affects the content of their visits. Our study suggests that when chaplains are more involved in PC teams, they provide more comprehensive support to PC patients and their families.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D010166 Palliative Care Care alleviating symptoms without curing the underlying disease. (Stedman, 25th ed) Palliative Treatment,Palliative Supportive Care,Palliative Surgery,Palliative Therapy,Surgery, Palliative,Therapy, Palliative,Care, Palliative,Palliative Treatments,Supportive Care, Palliative,Treatment, Palliative,Treatments, Palliative
D010327 Pastoral Care Counseling or comfort given by ministers, priests, rabbis, etc., to those in need of help with emotional problems or stressful situations. Psychology, Pastoral,Pastoral Psychology,Care, Pastoral
D002977 Clergy Persons ordained for religious duties, who serve as leaders and perform religious services. Chaplains,Clerics,Deacons,Imams,Ministers,Pastors,Priests,Rabbis,Chaplain,Cleric,Deacon,Imam,Minister,Pastor,Priest,Rabbi
D003142 Communication The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups. Miscommunication,Misinformation,Social Communication,Communication Programs,Communications Personnel,Personal Communication,Communication Program,Communication, Personal,Communication, Social,Communications, Social,Miscommunications,Misinformations,Personnel, Communications,Program, Communication,Programs, Communication,Social Communications
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D001293 Attitude to Death Conceptual response of the person to the various aspects of death, which are based on individual psychosocial and cultural experience. Attitudes to Death,Death, Attitude to,Death, Attitudes to

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