HP he story of Catholic health care is one of innovation and adaptation, and one .Jfc^in which ethics has had a featured place. In response to changes in the church, in religious life and in health care, Catholic health systems grew dramatically during the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. Building on a long tradition of care, independent Catholic hospitals and nursing homes increasingly ca...

BACKGROUND There is a heightened interest in spiritual and religious interventions in clinical settings, an area marked by unease and lack of training by physicians. A potential resource for generalists is specialty consultation and referral services, although little is known about the prevalence and patterns of involvement of clergy or pastoral professionals in patient care. OBJECTIVES To id...

The complex human experience of military service and the stress suffered by millions of military families each time a loved one deploys present unique challenges and opportunities in providing pastoral care and counseling. War and military service impact many facets of our society, as well as generational and interpersonal relationships. This article speaks to both academic and practitioner com...

Alerts clergy and pastoral counselors to the role of child abuse reporting requirements in their pastoral care and counseling ministries. Outlines the rationale for child abuse reporting statutes, noting particularly the "spiritual healing exception"; and explains how penalties can be imposed for those who fail to comply with statutes.

Studies indicate that the influence of institutionalised religion is waning in most Western nations. In contrast, personal, spiritual, and subjective approaches to faith are on the rise. The latter may or may not relate to traditional Christian frameworks. These trends are most apparent with the aging ‘baby boomer’ population, thus changing notions of pastoral care in many countries. Counsellin...

Hospital chaplains struggle to know which patients most likely need pastoral care and why. The author presents a computerized model to screen and document indicated patients. A new screening tool is introduced, the Clinical + Coping Score, which can check with greater precision for patients who show evidence of insufficient coping. This screening model informs the subsequent assessment and inte...

Continuing education for chaplains, pastoral counselors and clinical pastoral educators is important for maintaining and advancing professional competency. Pastoral professionals who visited the Spiritual Care Collaborative (SCC) website to register for a conference were asked to complete a questionnaire on continuing education. Results of the survey show that continuing education, both in-pers...

Over the past 25 years, the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has changed its guidelines regarding religious/spiritual care of hospitalized patients to increase attention concerning this aspect of hospital-based care. Little empirical evidence assesses the extent to which hospitals relied on hospital chaplains as care providers during these years. This study inv...