PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY

Its Role and Importance In Healthcare

Editors: Larry VandeCreek D.Min. & Laurel Burton Th.D.
Design: ZGroupinc NYC

Executive Summary                 ~ TOP ~
Section I: The Meaning & Practice of Spiritual Care
   Spiritual Care: Relationship to Healthcare—Five Dimensions
   Healthcare Settings
Section II:   Who Provides Spiritual Care
Section III: Functions of Professional Chaplains—Nine
Section IV:   Benefits of Spiritual Care
   A. Benefits for Patients & Families—Six
   B. Benefits for Healthcare Staff
   C. Benefits for Healthcare Organizations—Nine
   D. Benefits for the Community
References ~ Contributors ~ Board Members

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This paper describes the role and significance of spiritual care and is the first joint statement on this subject prepared by the five largest healthcare chaplaincy organizations in North America representing over 10,000 members. As a consensus paper, it presents the perspectives of these bodies on the spiritual care they provide for the benefit of individuals, healthcare organizations and communities. Throughout this paper, the word spirituality is inclusive of religion; spiritual care includes pastoral care.

Spiritual caregivers in healthcare institutions are often known as chaplains although they may have different designations in some settings, i.e. spiritual care providers. The paper contains four sections.

SECTION I: The Meaning and Practice of Spiritual Care

This first section describes spirit as a natural dimension of all persons and defines the nature of spiritual care. With the basic premise that attention to spirituality is intrinsic to healthcare, the paper establishes their relationship and outlines the various environments in which care is provided.

SECTION II: Who Provides Spiritual Care?

Professional chaplains provide spiritual care. This section describes their education, skill and certification.

SECTION III: The Functions and Activities of Professional Chaplains

This section delineates the typical activities of professional chaplains within healthcare settings, focusing on their care of persons and their participation in healthcare teams.

SECTION IV: The Benefits of Spiritual Care Provided by Professional Chaplains

The materials here describe how professional chaplains benefit healthcare patients and their families, staff members, employing organizations, and communities.

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO, 1998) in the U.S. states, "Patients have a fundamental right to considerate care that safeguards their personal dignity and respects their cultural, psychosocial, and spiritual values." A Canadian accreditation agency makes similar statements. Such regulations, and efforts to meet them, flow from the belief that attention to the human spirit, including mind, heart and soul, contributes to the goals of healthcare organizations.

SECTION I: The Meaning and Practice of Spiritual Care Spirit Is a Natural Dimension of Every Person

Reflecting on the ancient word spirit, May (1982) writes, "Spirit implies energy and power." The word spirituality goes further and describes an awareness of relationships with all creation, an appreciation of presence and purpose that includes a sense of meaning. Though not true generations ago, a distinction is frequently made today between spirituality and religion, the latter focusing on defined structures, rituals and doctrines. While religion and medicine were virtually inseparable for thousands of years, the advent of science created a chasm between the two. The term spirituality is a contemporary bridge that renews this relationship. In this paper, the word spirituality includes religion; spiritual care is inclusive of pastoral care. Those who provide spiritual care in healthcare settings are often known as chaplains, although in some settings they may be described as spiritual care providers.

Spirituality demonstrates that persons are not merely physical bodies that require mechanical care. Persons find that their spirituality helps them maintain health and cope with illnesses, traumas, losses, and life transitions by integrating body, mind and spirit. When facing a crisis, persons often turn to their spirituality as a means of coping (Pargament, 1997). Many believe in its capacity to aid in the recovery from disease (McNichol, 1996) and 82 percent of Americans believe in the healing power of personal prayer (Kaplan, 1996), using it or other spiritual practices during illness.

Persons frequently attend to spiritual concerns within religious communities through the use of traditional religious practices, beliefs, and values that reflect the cumulative traditions of their religious faith. They may pray, read sacred texts, and observe individual or corporate rituals that are particular to their tradition.

Religious beliefs may encourage or forbid certain behaviors that impact healthcare. Others focus their spirituality outside traditional religious communities and practices. All, however, share deep existential needs and concerns. Many persons both inside and outside traditional religious structures report profound experiences of transcendence, wonder, awe, joy, and connection to nature, self, and others as they strive to make their lives meaningful and to maintain hope when illness strikes. Support for their efforts is appropriately thought of as spiritual care because their search leads to spiritual questions such as Why do I exist? Why am I ill? Will I die? and What will happen to me when I die? Institutions that ignore the spiritual dimension in their mission statement or daily provision of care increase their risk of becoming only "biological garages where dysfunctional human parts are repaired or replaced" (Gibbons & Miller, 1989). Such "prisons of technical mercy" (Berry, 1994) obscure the integrity and scope of persons.

SPIRITUAL CARE: ITS RELATIONSHIP TO HEALTHCARE

1. Healthcare organizations are obligated to respond to spiritual needs because patients have a right to such services.

Regulatory and accrediting bodies require sensitive attention to spiritual needs. As the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO, 1998) makes clear, "Patients have a fundamental right to considerate care that safeguards their personal dignity and respects their cultural, psychosocial, and spiritual values." The Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (1999) states, "When developing the service plan, the team considers the client’s physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs. The team respects the clients’ cultural and religious beliefs and enables them to carry out their usual cultural or religious practices as appropriate." In an effort to fulfill such mandates as well as honor their own values, healthcare institutions create ‘patient rights’ statements in which they pledge to provide sensitive attention to the dignity, culture, beliefs, practices, and spiritual needs of all patients, their caregivers, and hospital personnel. Such attention flows from the belief that care of the body alone cannot be effective if the mind, heart, and soul are ignored. Healthcare professionals increasingly recognize that patients want holistic approaches to their well being. For several years, Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson has conducted popular, biannual educational events for healthcare professionals that explore spirituality and healing in medicine. Following intensive research, he (1999) wrote, "I am astonished that my scientific studies have so conclusively shown that our bodies are wired to (be) nourished and healed by prayer and other exercises of belief." Professional chaplains respect and respond to patient values and beliefs, encouraging a more holistic approach to healthcare.

2. Fear and loneliness experienced during serious illness generate spiritual crises that require spiritual care.

While it is a biological event, serious illness frightens patients and isolates them from their support communities when they need them most. Losses such as physical and cognitive capacities, independence, work or family status, and emotional equilibrium, along with the accompanying grief, can seriously impact their sense of meaning, purpose, and personal worth. Professional chaplains address these crises through spiritual care that emphasizes transcendence and enhances connections to support communities, thus aiding healing and recovery. They listen for the impact of medical information on patients and families, uniquely facilitating an understanding of the technical language of medical professionals.

3. Spiritual care plays a significant role when cure is not possible and persons question the meaning of life.

Compassion and comfort become important foci of care when illness is chronic or incurable. Approaching death can engender serious spiritual questions that contribute to anxiety, depression, hopelessness and despair. Professional chaplains bring time-tested spiritual resources that help patients focus on transcendent meaning, purpose, and value.

4. Workplace cultures generate or reveal the spiritual needs of staff members, making spiritual care vital to the organization.

Mitroff and Denton (1999), in a groundbreaking study of spirituality in organizations, emphasize that employees do not want to compartmentalize or fragment their lives and that their search for meaning, purpose, wholeness, and integration is a constant, never ending task. Other consultants (Henry & Henry, 1999) write about the importance of individual and organizational stories that help healthcare employees cope with their stress. Such stresses are a concern for organizations that recognize employees as their most valuable resource. Professional chaplains are skilled in eliciting stories that "evoke self-understanding and creativity, and sometimes …bring light to the paths we travel in life" (Henry & Henry, 1999).

Spiritual care contributes to a healthy organizational culture. Professional chaplains, moving across disciplinary boundaries, serve as integral members of healthcare teams as they care for staff members themselves who experience the stress of patient care. Chaplains not only help staff members cope, but empower them to recognize the meaning and value of their work in new ways.

5. Spiritual care is important in healthcare organizations when allocation of limited resources leads to moral, ethical and spiritual concerns.

Difficult ethical dilemmas regularly arise in today’s highly technological healthcare systems, i.e. decisions to withdraw aggressive treatment. Unavoidably, such decisions interact with personal values and beliefs of all involved. Professional chaplains, who are frequently members of ethics committees, provide spiritual care to staff members as well as patients and families affected by these complex issues.

HEALTHCARE SETTINGS FOR SPIRITUAL CARE

Professional chaplains provide spiritual care in a variety of healthcare settings, including but not limited to the following:

Acute care

Long-term care and assisted living

Rehabilitation

Mental health

Outpatient

Addiction treatment

Mental retardation and developmental disability, and Hospice and palliative care

SECTION II: WHO PROVIDES SPIRITUAL CARE?

A variety of persons may provide patients with basic spiritual care, including family members, friends, members of their religious community, and institutional staff members. Their local clergyperson may also offer spiritual care from their specific tradition by providing supportive counsel and appropriate rites. The professional chaplain does not displace local religious leaders, but fills the special requirements involved in intense medical environments (Gibbons & Miller, 1989). They complement these leaders by joining their respective resources "to assure that faith continues to have a prominent place among the healing resources available to all persons" (Mason, 1990). Congregants highly value the spiritual care provided by their local clergypersons (VandeCreek & Gibson, 1997).

Many religiously active persons do not notify their local clergy of their hospitalization (Sivan, Fitchett & Burton, 1996; VandeCreek & Gibson; 1997). Additionally, many patients do not have a religious community to which they can look during healthcare crises. In one study, only 42 percent of hospital patients could identify a spiritual counselor to whom they could turn, and many of them had not talked to their local religious leader about their situation (Sivan, Fitchett & Burton, 1996). For others, attention from their spiritual counselor is limited by being in a hospital far from home (VandeCreek & Cooke, 1996), by patient concerns about privacy or confidentiality, or a fear that their own religious leader would not understand or be supportive.

Professional chaplains offer spiritual care to all who are in need and have specialized education to mobilize spiritual resources so that patients cope more effectively. They maintain confidentiality and provide a supportive context within which patients can discuss their concerns. They are professionally accountable to their religious faith group, their certifying chaplaincy organization, and the employing institution. Professional chaplains and their certifying organizations demonstrate a deep commitment and sensitivity to the diverse ethnic and religious cultures found in North America. An increasing number of professional chaplains are members of non-white, non-Christian communities and traditions.

Professional chaplains are theologically and clinically trained clergy or lay persons whose work reflects:

Sensitivity to multi-cultural and multi-faith realities

Respect for patients’ spiritual or religious preferences

Understanding of the impact of illness on individuals and their caregivers

Knowledge of healthcare organizational structure and dynamics

Accountability as part of a professional patient care team

Accountability to their faith groups

In North America, chaplains are certified by at least one of the national organizations that sponsor this paper and are recognized by the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Pastoral Services.

Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (approximately 1000 members)

Association of Professional Chaplains (approximately 3,700 members)

The Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education
(approximately 1000 members)

National Association of Catholic Chaplains (approximately 4000 members)

National Association of Jewish Chaplains (approximately 400 members)

Whether in the United States or Canada, acquiring and maintaining certification as a professional chaplain requires:

Graduate theological education or its equivalency

Endorsement by a faith group or a demonstrated connection to a recognized religious community

Clinical pastoral education equivalent to one year of postgraduate training in an accredited program recognized by the constituent organizations

Demonstrated clinical competency

Completing annual continuing education requirements

Adherence to a code of professional ethics for healthcare chaplains

Professional growth in competencies demonstrated in peer review

SECTION III: THE FUNCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES OF PROFESSIONAL HEALTHCARE CHAPLAINS

The activities of professional chaplains include diverse interactions with patients and families, professional staff, volunteers, and community members. While no one chaplain can or need perform every function, they can be classified as follows:

1. When religious beliefs and practices are tightly interwoven with cultural contexts, chaplains constitute a powerful reminder of the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling power of religious faith.

2. Professional chaplains reach across faith group boundaries and do not proselytize. Acting on behalf of their institutions, they also seek to protect patients from being confronted by other, unwelcome, forms of spiritual intrusion.

3. They provide supportive spiritual care though empathic listening, demonstrating an understanding of persons in distress. Typical activities include:

Grief and loss care

Risk screening – identifying individuals whose religious/spiritual conflicts may compromise recovery or satisfactory adjustment

Facilitation of spiritual issues related to organ/tissue donation

Crisis intervention/Critical Incident Stress Debriefing

Spiritual assessment

Communication with caregivers

Facilitation of staff communication

Conflict resolution among staff members, patients, and family members

Referral and linkage to internal and external resources

Assistance with decision making and communication regarding decedent affairs

Staff support relative to personal crises or work stress

Institutional support during organizational change or crisis

4. Professional chaplains serve as members of patient care teams by:

Participation in medical rounds and patient care conferences, offering perspectives on the spiritual status of patients

Participation in interdisciplinary education

Charting spiritual care interventions in medical charts

5. Professional chaplains design and lead religious ceremonies of worship and ritual such as:

Prayer, meditation, and reading of holy texts

Worship and observance of holy days

Blessings and sacraments

Memorial services and funerals

Rituals at the time of birth or other significant times of life cycle transition

Holiday observances

6. Professional chaplains lead or participate in healthcare ethics programs by:

Assisting patients and families in completing advance directives

Clarifying value issues with patients, family members, staff and the organization

Participating in Ethics Committees and Institutional Review Boards

Consulting with staff and patients about ethical concerns

Pointing to human value aspects of institutional policies and behaviors

Conducting in-service education

7. Professional chaplains educate the healthcare team and community regarding the relationship of religious and spiritual issues to institutional services in the following ways:

Interpreting and analyzing multi-faith and multi-cultural traditions as they impact clinical services

Making presentations concerning spirituality and health issues

Training of community religious representatives regarding the institutional procedures for effective visitation

Training and supervising volunteers from religious communities who can provide spiritual care to the sick

Conducting professional clinical education programs for seminarians, clergy, and religious leaders

Developing congregational health ministries

Educating students in the healthcare professions regarding the interface of religion and spirituality with medical care

8. Professional chaplains act as mediator and reconciler, functioning in the following ways for those who need a voice in the healthcare system:

As advocates or "cultural brokers" between institutions and patients, family members, and staff

Clarifying and interpreting institutional policies to patients, community clergy, and religious organizations

Offering patients, family members and staff an emotionally and spiritually "safe" professional from whom they can seek counsel or guidance

Representing community issues and concerns to the organization

9. Professional chaplains may serve as contact persons to arrange assessment for the appropriateness and coordination of complementary therapies.

Patients increasingly demonstrate interest in healing from many sources not represented within the traditional healthcare disciplines. Many of these complementary healing traditions are grounded in the world’s religious traditions and chaplains may utilize or make a referral for complementary therapies such as:

Guided imagery/relaxation training

Meditation

Music therapy

Healing touch

10. Professional chaplains and their certifying organizations encourage and support research activities to assess the effectiveness of providing spiritual care. While many chaplains serve in settings with little interest in conducting research, others are employed by centers with a research mission. Increasingly, chaplains attend to research in the following ways:

Developing spiritual assessment and spiritual risk screening tools

Developing tools for benchmarking productivity and staffing patterns that seek to increase patient and family satisfaction

Conducting interdisciplinary research with investigators in allied fields, publishing results in medical, psychological, and chaplaincy journals

Promoting research in spiritual care at national convention

SECTION IV: THE BENEFITS OF SPIRITUAL CARE PROVIDED BY PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINS

The work of professional chaplains offers distinct benefits to the four components of any healthcare delivery system: the patients and their family members, the professional healthcare staff, the organization itself, and the community within which it resides. These benefits are increasingly demonstrated by empirical research studies.

A. Bene fits for Patients and Families

Six research areas are summarized here that describe the benefits of attention to the spirituality of patients and family members.

1. Supporting Religious/Spiritual Beliefs and Practices

A growing body of research demonstrates the health-related benefits of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. A recent meta-analysis of data from 42 published mortality studies involving approximately 126,000 participants demonstrated that persons who reported frequent religious involvements were significantly more likely to live longer compared to persons who were involved infrequently (McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig & Thoresen, 2000).

In a study of nearly 600 older, severely ill, medical patients, those who sought a connection with a benevolent God, as well as support from clergy and faith group members, were less depressed and rated their quality of life as higher, even after taking into account the severity of their illness (Koenig, Pargament, & Nielsen, 1998).

In a study of 1,600 cancer patients, the contribution of patient-reported spiritual well being to quality of life was similar to that associated with physical well being. Among patients with significant symptoms such as fatigue and pain, those with higher levels of spiritual well being had a significantly higher quality of life (Brady, Peterman, Fitchett, Mo, & Cella, 1999).

CONCLUSION: These and other studies demonstrate that religious faith and practice impact emotional and physical well being. Professional chaplains play an integral role in supporting and strengthening these religious and spiritual resources.

2. The Importance of Religious/Spiritual Coping during Illness

Religious coping, although related to non-religious coping, is distinct and makes unique contributions to the coping process. Religious and non-religious coping are not functionally redundant (VandeCreek, Pargament, Belavich, Cowell, & Friedel, 1999; Pargament, Cole, VandeCreek, Brant, & Perez, 1999).

A study of older adults found that more than half reported their religion was the most important resource that helped them cope with illness (Koenig, Moberg, & Kvale, 1988). In another study, 44 percent of the patients reported that religion was the most important factor that helped them cope with their illness or hospitalization (Koenig, Hover, Bearon, & Travis, 1991).

In a study of women with breast cancer, 88 percent reported that religion was important to them and 85 percent indicated it helped them cope (Johnson & Spilka, 1991). Similarly, 93 percent of women in a study of gynecological cancer patients reported that religion enhanced their sense of hopefulness (Roberts, Brown, Elkins, & Larson, 1997).

A study with breast cancer outpatients reported that 76 percent had prayed about their situation as a way to cope with their diagnosis (VandeCreek, Rogers, & Lester, 1999).

Studies demonstrate that spiritual well being helps persons moderate the following painful feelings that accompany illness: anxiety (Kaczorowski, 1989), hopelessness (Mickley, Soeken, & Belcher, 1992; Fehring, Miller, & Shaw, 1997), and isolation (Feher & Maly, 1999). Many patients expect chaplains to help them with such distressing feelings (Hover, Travis, Koenig, & Bearon, 1992).

Paragment (1997) cites many additional studies that demonstrate the importance of religious and spiritual coping for persons dealing with illness.

CONCLUSION: Persons turn to spiritual resources during illness and other painful experiences, finding them helpful. Professional chaplains are trained to encourage helpful religious coping processes.

3. Responding to Spiritual Distress

Studies point to the importance of spiritual distress, that is, un- resolved religious or spiritual conflicts and doubts. This distress is associated with decreased health, recovery, and adjustment to illness (Berg, Fonss, Reed, & VandeCreek, 1995; Fitchett, Rybarczyk, DeMarco, & Nicholas, 1999; Fitchett, 1999a; Fitchett, 1999b).

CONCLUSION: Professional healthcare chaplains play an especially important role in identifying patients in spiritual distress and helping them resolve their religious or spiritual problems, thus improving their health and adjustment.

4. Enhancing Coping Strategies

Studies demonstrate that spiritual well being helps persons moderate the following painful feelings that accompany illness: anxiety (Kaczorowski, 1989), hopelessness (Mickley, Soeken, & Belcher, 1992; Fehring, Miller, & Shaw, 1997), and isolation (Feher & Maly, 1999). Many patients expect chaplains to help them with distressing feelings (Hover, Travis, Koenig, & Bearon, 1992).

CONCLUSION: Persons turn to spiritual resources in the presence of painful feelings and experiences. Professional healthcare chaplains are trained to help patients and families draw upon their spiritual and religious resources to cope with these feelings.

5. Caring for Families

Often family members experience similar or more intense distress than their hospitalized loved ones. In some studies, patients have indicated that one of the most important chaplaincy functions is helping their family members with feelings associated with illness and hospitalization (Carey, 1973; Carey, 1985).

In one study, 56 percent of the families identified religion as the most important factor in helping them cope with their loved one’s illness (Koenig, Hover, Bearon, & Travis, 1991).

In another study, family members rated spiritual care from chaplains more highly than patients (Vandecreek, Thomas, Jessen, Gibbons & Strasser, 1991).

Compared to those whose spiritual needs were not being met, caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients who worshiped regularly and who felt their spiritual needs were being met reported greater well being and decreased stress (Burgener, 1999).

CONCLUSION: Families rely on religious and spiritual resources to cope with the high levels of distress during a loved one’s illness. A chaplain’s care for family members has a positive impact.

6. Patient and family satisfaction with the spiritual care provided by chaplains

Studies indicate that as many as 70 percent of patients are aware of one or more spiritual needs related to their illness (Fitchett, Burton, & Sivan, 1997; Moadel, Morgan, Fatone, Grennan, Carter, Laruffa, Skummy, & Dutcher, 1999).

Studies of patients in acute care hospitals indicate that between one third and two thirds of all patients want to receive spiritual care (Carey, 1985; Fitchett, Meyer, & Burton, 2000).

When chaplains help a patient’s family, the patient is more likely to choose that institution again for future hospitalization (Gibbons, Thomas, VandeCreek, & Jessen, 1991).

A large study (VandeCreek & Lyon, 1997) of patient and family member satisfaction with the activities of chaplains showed that:

– A large majority of patients were highly satisfied with the spiritual care provided by professional chaplains.

– The satisfaction with chaplaincy services by family members was even higher than that reported by patients.

– The chaplain’s visits "made the hospitalization easier" because the visit provided "comfort" and helped the patient relax.

– The chaplain helped patients "get better faster" and enhanced their "readiness to return home" because the visits helped them feel more hopeful.

CONCLUSION: Patients and family members are frequently aware of their spiritual needs during hospitalization, want professional spiritual attention to those needs, and respond positively when attention is given—indicating that it influences their recommendation of the hospital to others.

B. Benefits for Healthcare Staff

Healthcare professionals, including physicians and nurses, sometimes experience stress when working with patients and family members. This stress has increased recently because economic changes have led to fewer staff members providing care for more seriously ill patients. Chaplains can provide sensitive, supportive spiritual care to these patients and their families for extended time periods, thereby allowing other professionals to attend to other duties.

Professional chaplains play an important role in helping staff members cope with personal problems. Their supportive consultation can enhance morale and decrease staff burnout, thus reducing employee turnover and the use of sick time. One study reports that 73 percent of Intensive Care physicians and nurses believe that providing comfort for staff is an important chaplain role, and 32 percent believe chaplains should be available to help staff with personal problems (Sharp, 1991).

C. BENEFITS FOR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS

The services of professional healthcare chaplains benefit healthcare organizations in at least nine ways.

1. Chaplains help healthcare organizations meet patient expectations for competent, compassionate spiritual care services, thus enhancing the image of healthcare organizations. In an age of high technology medicine, brief hospitalizations, and shortened contacts with physicians and other health professionals, chaplains offer one of the few opportunities for patients to discuss their personal and spiritual concerns.

2. Chaplains who are certified as chaplaincy education supervisors through the national professional organizations conduct certified programs for religious leaders and laypersons seeking certification. Since participants in academic quarter-length programs usually do not receive stipends, their clinical services are free to the institution. (Students in one-year clinical pastoral education residencies typically receive a small stipend). Such programs increase the amount of spiritual care available at low cost to institutions.

3. Chaplains establish and maintain important relationships with the community clergy.

4. Chaplains play an important role in mitigating situations of patient/family dissatisfaction involving risk management and potential litigation. When patients or their caregivers become angry or threatening, professional chaplains can mediate these intense feelings in ways that conserve valuable organizational resources. Their presence can serve as a vehicle for reducing risk and potential litigation.

5. Chaplains can reduce and prevent spiritual abuse, acting as gatekeepers to protect patients from unwanted proselytizing. Codes of professional ethics stipulate that chaplains themselves must respect the diverse beliefs and practices of patients and families.

6. Chaplains help patients and family members identify their values regarding end-of-life treatment choices and communicate this information to other healthcare staff. Clarifying values and improving communication can reduce expensive, unwanted care (Daly, 2000).

7. Chaplains help organizations develop their mission, value, and social justice statements that promote healing for the body, mind and spirit. Especially for faith-based healthcare organizations, they promote mission awareness and enhancement.

8. Chaplains assist healthcare organizations in fulfilling a variety of accreditation standards, including those associated with patient’s rights for spiritual care and support.

9. Spiritual care provided by chaplains is cost efficient. The only published chaplaincy cost study reported that the services of professional chaplains range between $2.71 and $6.43 per patient visit (VandeCreek & Lyon, 1994-1995). Additionally, approximately three quarters of HMO executives surveyed reported that if spirituality (expressed through personal prayer, meditation and other spiritual and religious practices) can have an impact on well being, then it can helpfully impact cost containment (Yankelovich Partners, Inc., 1997).

D. Benefits for the Community

Healthcare institutions are increasingly sensitive about their relationship to the community and chaplains make unique contributions by providing many community services. These include:

Leadership and participation in community wellness programs

Leadership of support groups to help members of the community cope with loss or crisis and live with illness

Leadership and participation in community responses to crisis and disaster including airline disasters, weather emergencies, and acts of violence

Participation in a continuum of spiritual care that emphasizes connections to local clergy and faith groups, home health and hospice workers

Guidance and support for parish nurse programs and other congregationally supported programs that enhance the health of community members

Establishing educational programs for parish/synagogue volunteers who will engage in lay spiritual visitation and support for faith group members

Maintaining active relationships with local clergy associations

Providing community educational seminars on topics of spirituality, loss and illness, and coping with crisis

CONCLUSIONS: During the turmoil of healthcare reform, decision makers are constantly searching for ways to provide optimal patient services within financial constraints. They seek to retain quality caregivers and maintain positive relationships within the organization and community. Professional chaplains respond to these concerns in unique ways, drawing on the historic traditions of spirituality that contribute to the healing of body, mind, heart, and soul.

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CONTRIBUTORS TO THE WHITE PAPER

The following persons were appointed by their organizations to draft the Paper:

Representing The Association for Clinical Pastoral Education:
Maxine Glaz, Fraser, CO
Mark Jensen, Winston-Salem, NC

Representing the Association of Professional Chaplains:
Carl Anderson, Downer Grove, IL
George Fitchett, Chicago, IL

Representing The Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education:
Tim Frymire, Winnipeg, MB
Phyllis Smyth, Quebec City, QC

Representing The National Association of Catholic Chaplains:
Steven Ryan, Los Angeles, CA
Michele Sakurai, Beaverton, OR

Representing The National Association of Jewish Chaplains:
Zahara Davidowitz-Farkas, New York, NY
Seth Bernstein, Worcester, MA

BOARD MEMBERS OF THE SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

The board members of the five sponsoring organizations approved the final draft of this Paper on November 9, 2000 at a joint meeting in Nashville, TN. They are:

THE ASSOCIATION FOR CLINICAL PASTORAL EDUCATION

Orwoll O. Anderson, Fall Creek, WI
Charles F. Pieplow, Birmingham, AL
J. Paul Balas, Gettysburg, PA
Lee Ann Nolan Rathbun, Dallas, TX
Verlin E. Barnett, Jr., Akron, OH
Harlan E. Ratmeyer, Albany, NY
Yvonne M. Boudreau, Orange, CA
Cornel G. Rempel, Mount Gretna, PA
James V. Corrigan, San Diego, CA
William D. Russell, Chesterfield, MO
JoAnn M. Garma, New Orleans, LA
Sally A. Schwab, Saint Joseph, MO
James L. Gibbons, Park Ridge, IL
Teresa E. Snorton, Decatur, GA
Theodore E. Hodge, Louisville, KY
D. James Stapleford, Wichita, KS
Janet L. Humphreys, Louisville, KY
Donald A. Stiger, Chicago, IL
Janet T. Labrecque, Minneapolis, MN
Elizabeth Stroop, Chapel Hill, NC
Dan A. McRight, Miami, FL
Henry Douglas Watson, Newport News, VA
Irvin Moore, Jr., Cincinnati, OH
Linda Wilkerson, Dallas, TX
Duane F. Parker, Riverside, RI
Patricia A. Wilson-Robinson, Tacoma, WA

THE ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINS

Carl Anderson, Downers Grove, IL
Paul B. Janke, Sacramento, CA
Judith Blanchard, Portland, ME
Theodore Lindquist, Madison, WI
Robert Kidd, Houston, TX
Stephen L. Mann, Baltimore, MD
Karen Ballard, Greenville, NC
Dick D. Millspaugh, Columbia, MO
Timothy Little, Sacramento, CA
Mary Moore, Marietta, GA
George F. Handzo, New York, NY
Roderick J. Pierce, Houston, TX
Elizabeth Jackson-Jordon, Rockingham, NC
Mary Whetstone-Robinson, Columbus, OH
Josephine Schrader, Schaumburg, IL

THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR PASTORAL PRACTICE AND EDUCATION

Margaret Cobbold, Toronto, ON
Dale Johnson, Vancouver, BC
Neil Elford, Edmonton, AB
Cynthia M. Morneault, Pierrefonds, QC
Martin Frith, Toronto, ON
Phyllis Smyth, Quebec, QC
Bill James-Abra, Stratford, ON

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC CHAPLAINS

Joan Bumpus, Indianapolis, IN
Mary Lou O’Gorman, Nashville, TN
Liam C. Casey, Hartford, CT
Hubert P. Polensky, Ontario, OR
Jane M. Connolly, Astoria, PA
Ellen K. Radday, Arlington, VA
Mary Anne DiVincenzo, Fresno, CA
Farroel A. Richardson, Portland, OR
Joseph J. Driscoll, Milwaukee, WI
Stephen R. Ryan, Los Angeles, CA
Virgine Elking, Kettering, OH
Charlene A. Schaaf, Colorado Springs, CO
Eileen F. Grimaldi, West Seneca, NY
Nancy A. Siekierka, Irving, TX
James H. Kunz, Rochester, MN
Jane Smith, Fulton, MO
Richard M. Leliaert, Riverview, MI
Patricia M. Walsh, San Gabriel, CA

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH CHAPLAINS

Mitchell Ackerson, Baltimore, MD
Stephen D. Roberts, New York, NY
Cecille Allman Asekoff, Whippany, NJ
Solomon Schiff, Miami Beach, FL
Sandra Rosenthal Berliner, Melrose Park, PA
Zev Schostak, Commack,NY
Seth L. Bernstein, Worcester, MA
Julie Schwartz, Atlanta, GA
Zahara Davidowitz-Farkas, Norwalk, CT
Sam Seicol, Brookline, MA
Shimon Hirschhorn, Riverdale, NY
Marion Shulevitz, New York, NY
Steven Kaye, Denver, CO
Stephen Shulman, Riverdale, NY
Lowell S. Kronick, New Hyde Park, NY
Barbara J. Speyer, Los Angeles, CA
Tom Liebschutz, Rockville, MD
Bonita E. Taylor, New York, NY
Beverly W. Magidson, Albany, NY
Michael Wolff, Quebec, Canada
Seymour Panitz, Rockville, MD
David J. Zucker, Aurora, CO

Bristol-Myers Squibb has generously provided the financial support for the research and publication of this paper.