Spiritual Care Bulletin Vol 1 No 2 December 2019
This bulletin is one a series of regular professional newsletters for all involved with the practice, management and support of Civil Chaplaincy as it occurs within the scope of the Civil Chaplaincies Advisory Committee (CCAC).
Organised around the objectives of the CCAC and the ten essential capabilities of Chaplains and Pastoral Care Workers, it will also include illustrations and vignettes about the practice and benefits of Chaplaincy as practised in the Health and Justice services of New South Wales.
This bulletin provides a brief exposure of mission and work of the CCAC.
This has been sent to you because of your interest or involvement in civil chaplaincy. If you do not want to receive further issues simply reply with the message “unsubscribe”.
Peter Carblis
Secretary
What do Chaplains Do?
Action, Context and Recipients
Action, Context and Recipients
In a 2008 landmark study, Handzo et al. reported on both what healthcare Chaplains do and how those they serve receive them. This study related the activities conducted by the chaplains to the faith communities they represent, the medical status of those served, the faith or absence thereof of those served. It considered those who had Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, Protestant, other religious, and no religious affiliations (p. 44).
Counterintuitively, the results showed that spiritual interventions were welcomed by those who specify their religion as “none” as much as those who indicated religious affiliation. They wrote
These results seem to indicate that this patient group welcomes pastoral care and makes use of it to the same degree as patients who claim a religious affiliation.
Religion, Spirituality and Recidivism
A 2018 study has found that inmates who identified as both “religious and spiritual” were less likely to re-offend than those who identified as “spiritual but not religious”. The authors conclude that these results highlight the importance of helping inmates make meaning in their lives and the value chaplains and religious volunteers in prison (Stansfield, O’Connor, & Duncan, 2018).
The study was carried out using data from a spiritual assessment of 571 people in prison in Oregon USA. Much like the American public in general, about a quarter of the inmates referred to themselves as “spiritual but not religious”. This study accords with the idea that programs that support the religious or spiritual ways through which a person makes meaning has long-term benefits.
This study reviews and builds upon prior studies that evaluate the role of religion and spirituality in prisons. These studies suggest that religious beliefs and behaviours provide inmates with support, hope, and a way of making sense of their circumstances. Prior to this study, the value of the support of community and social networks and faith communities have been studied in relation to involvement in crime, More …
Chaplaincy Integral to Health care
Chaplaincy and the Soul of Health and Social Care is an important book is about to be published.
It argues
Chaplaincy is an important and increasingly integral aspect of health and social care provision within the post-industrialised world,
…
the significance or spiritual care is being recognised across disciplines as never before.
(Kelly & Swinton, 2020)
The contributors to this book together argue that spirituality and religion contribute a positive and necessary role in healthcare and the promotion of health and wellbeing.
Through their contributions, chaplaincy is presented as constantly developing and adapting within the contexts in which it endeavours to serve the spiritual needs of both service providers and recipients.
Updated Privacy Guidance for
Accredited Chaplains:
Access to Patient Records
Accredited Chaplains:
Access to Patient Records
The Information Sheet for Accredited Chaplains on the NSW Health website (2013) draws attention to a regulation made under the Health Records and Information Privacy (HRIP) Act (2002). This has now been updated.
This information sheet was to allow for the disclosure of patient information to accredited chaplains working in the NSW public health system.
The old regulation is entitled Health Records and Information Privacy Amendment (Accredited Chaplains) Regulation (2008).
The NSW Health website (2013) also draws attention to the interim guidance provided by the NSW Health Information Bulletin 'Chaplaincy Services and Privacy Law' IB2008_044 (2008) which was to provide guidance on how the regulation operates.
Both the regulation and the means of guidance have been updated.
The updated regulation is now the Health Records and Information Privacy Regulation (2017). The updated guidance may be found in section 11.2.10 of the Privacy Manual for Health Information (2015).
The updated guidance states: More …
Email: secretary@ccacnsw.org.au Web: www.ccacnsw.org.au