Search results

Reoffending by prisoners returning to the community is a key driver in crime and prison statistics. The Community Chaplaincy project targeted at the three‐month bridging period has produced promising results in engaging clients, supporting resettlement and promoting rehabilitation. The Spider Assessment System has proved invaluable both as an assessment tool and as a therapeutic instrument, as it is easy to apply, interactive and provides clients a form of self‐expression.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint on the exercise of leadership.

This paper provides a view on the author's experience of exercising leadership as Leader of the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Department in Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust (in England).

The author argues that leadership is as much intuition as science and considers how courageous leadership coupled with sound management can transform a service. A paradigm shift is proposed and its impact on various dimensions of the service is considered. Finally, but fundamentally, it is suggested that services need to re‐orientate themselves radically around the hopes and aspirations of those they purport to serve. They need to start doing things with people rather than to them.

This viewpoint provides insights relevant to anyone leading a small team within a large organisation or exercising organisation‐wide leadership. It will be particularly helpful to leaders seeking to find the answers in very turbulent times when the way ahead is far from clear.

Contextualizes the activity of industrial chaplains, who are ordained or lay people who visit places of work and seek to minister to individuals in the workplace. Describes the experience of being a chaplain. Reports on some observations concerning the role of chaplains in general, and the range of their involvement as counsellors in particular. Information was gathered by questionnaire, structured interview and participant observation.

Changes in the way mental health services are provided and in the religious profile of the population require changes in the way the NHS provides its chaplaincy services. Qaisra Khan describes the new, multi‐faith spiritual and cultural care service introduced by Oxleas NHS Trust and how it aims to transcend labels and reach out to people in the community as well as those receiving inpatient care.

Reports on the work of an industrial chaplain affiliated with the Milton Keynes headquarters of Abbey National plc. Gives examples of the type of problems which arose during the chaplain′s five‐year tenure and recounts the stress which prevailed within the company, due to the high level of organizational change which occurred during that time.

This paper aims to explore inpatient staff experiences of seeking to meet the religious and cultural needs of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) inpatients on mental health wards.

Nine semi-structured interviews were undertaken with inpatient staff in one NHS Trust in England to explore their views and experiences of supporting BAME inpatients to meet their religious and cultural needs. Anonymised transcripts were analysed thematically.

Inpatient staff reported lacking the confidence and knowledge to identify and meet BAME inpatients’ religious and cultural needs, especially inpatients from smaller ethnic groups and newly emerging communities. There was no specific assessment used to identify religious and cultural needs and not all inpatient staff received training on meeting these needs. Concerns were raised about difficulties for staff in differentiating whether unusual beliefs and practices were expressions of religiosity or delusions. Staff identified the potential role of inpatients’ family members in identifying and meeting needs, explaining religious and cultural beliefs and practices, and psychoeducation to encourage treatment or medication adherence.

Potential ways to address this gap in the knowledge and confidence of inpatient staff to meet the religious and cultural needs of BAME patients include training for inpatient staff; the production and updating of a directory of common religious and cultural practices and needs; local resources which can help to support those needs; and religious and cultural practices and needs being documented by mental health practitioners in community teams such that this information is readily available for inpatient staff if a service user is admitted.

This is the first study to consider inpatient staff views on meeting the religious and cultural needs of BAME informal patients and patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a series of surveys undertaken for The Abbeyfield Society to assess the nature of spiritual needs and care in its homes, and outlines their findings in relation to practical and policy implications.

Over the course of ten months, 35 homes representing a variety of sizes and locations were visited, and 100 interviews of approximately one hour each were undertaken with residents, managers, care workers and volunteers. These were guided by a semi-structured questionnaire, and included observations on the accommodation and facilities. An analysis of the transcriptions resulted in four reports with consolidated recommendations.

The analyses indicated that the factors contributing to spiritual wellbeing can be described in “clusters” relating to family, friendship, memory, time, listening, resilience and sense of self and place; but the common factor underlying all is the nature of the relationships formed in the home. It is almost impossible to separate out spiritual flourishing from physical or mental welfare, and therefore important to observe the interplay between them.

An environment in which the key contributing factors are nurtured, can be defined and described in concrete terms, and these can then be taken into account when forward planning.

While national policy on care of the elderly is subject to a range of drivers, of which holistic health is only one, this study does challenge some assumptions on which current policy is based.

The purpose and methodology of the surveys enabled a very wide range of views and experiences to be synthesised, providing information and insights firmly located in the voices of people who are directly affected by practice and policy.

The United States government is the world's largest publisher. Its presses churn out thousands of items annually, covering every conceivable subject. Even though most of the items deal with present day concerns, the United States government is responsible for the publication of a large number of histories. Unfortunately, these works, with the possible exception of the Department of Defense's Military History Series, have received little exposure and limited use. In an effort to bring this valuable resource to light, the following bibliography presents annotated citations to nearly 150 histories published from mid‐1977 through mid‐1979.

The purpose of this paper is to explore crisis management in terms of the spiritual aspects of victim recovery. The paper focuses, in particular, on victims of serious crime.

The paper reviews the available literature on crisis management, serious crime, spirituality and pastoral support to determine their impact on trauma recovery. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a number of police chaplains and a hospital chaplain, in addition to police family liaison officers and witness care officers, who have in-depth involvement with victims of serious crime, to explore the support available and identify gaps against existing theory.

Spiritual/pastoral support is available to police officers in the form of police chaplains. Their support is reported to be valuable in the crisis recovery process. Hospital patients report such support as integral to mental and emotional well-being and recovery. Victims of serious crime are not offered such pastoral services through the criminal justice system, though other more practical needs are provided for. This gap could have implications for the effectiveness of the criminal justice process.

The research is an exploratory study and seeks to open up debate in this arena. The research is localised to a specific region and may not generalise nationally/internationally.

The paper evaluates the role and import of spiritual support in trauma recovery, makes a number of recommendations to plug the gap in current provision to victims of serious crime and suggests directions for further research in this area.

There are limited social implications.

There has been very limited research conducted in this specific area and this paper seeks to redress this gap and suggests opportunities for further research to enhance victim crisis recovery and participation in the criminal justice process.

This paper aims to show the particular difference Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCA) can make towards specific decisions which some acquired brain injury clients, who are eligible for the IMCA service, experience.

A case study is highlighted in which the role of the IMCA is described against the background of a selective literature review on the history of advocacy in relation to its emergence as a profession. This analysis references issues of spirituality and culture.

Themes raised in the case are discussed with reference to ongoing research and these are related to the best interests of clients, and to reflexivity as a basis for the professionalisation of advocacy.

IMCA practitioners are instructed in well‐defined “best interests” situations, where an individual has no capacity, support or representation, or requires safeguarding measures in relation to certain decisions. In these cases, social, cultural, emotional, religious or spiritual factors can contribute to the decisions which need to be made.

The emerging role of the IMCA in the “best interests” process is outlined, including how health and social care professionals, or decision‐makers, may relate to, benefit from, or respond to challenges by the IMCA in supporting clients in decisions made on their behalf.

Healthcare professionals and those advocating, including IMCA, could more intentionally weigh up the values and beliefs of clients using, for example, the “best interests checklist” or by referring to “spiritual assessment”, as used increasingly by mental health ward staff and chaplains.