Author: Hospicechaplaincy.com
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Understanding The Spiritual Needs of the Dying
By Kenneth J. Doka, M.Div., Ph.D. Do individuals become more religious as they die? This question has often been debated among academics who study death. Such debate avoids the central issue that the dying process raises profound spiritual concerns of meaning and connection for individuals. Whether those who are dying reconnect, review, or renew prior…
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How Chaplains can Help Family Members of a Hospice Patient
Dr. Saul Ebema Because of the complexities of the family system, make sure you have a good assessment of the family. A good assessment of the family helps to provide understanding in; The makeup of the family. Family values and beliefs Coping styles and abilities. Religion and philosophy of life. Previous experience with death and…
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Spiritual care at the end of life can add purpose and help maintain identity
Colleen Doyle, University of Melbourne and David Jackson, University of Melbourne In Australian nursing homes, older people are increasingly frail and being admitted to care later than they used to be. More than half of residents suffer from depression, yet psychiatrists and psychologists aren’t easily accessible, and pastoral or spiritual care is only available in a subset of homes. Depression at the…
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Importance of End of Life Training
Dr. Saul Ebema Patient #1 had just been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor when I first met him. At 42 years old, he was still a young man with two children aged eight and six years. I met his wife by the bedside trying to comfort him. His two children had been taken to…
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Spiritual History in Hospice Care
Kenny McCarthy. Spiritual history-taking is the process of interviewing a patient in order to come to a better understanding of their spiritual needs and resources. A spiritual history can be integrated into existing formats such as the social history section of the clinical database. Compared to screening, history-taking uses a broader set of questions to…
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Depression in Terminal Illness
Saul Ebema, D.Min. Depression is another emotion that the dying person experiences. It is a normal reaction to death and dying. It could be triggered by different factors as the terminally ill patient begins to contemplate death. I remember visiting a hospice patient who was suffering from depression. I began to talk with him, exploring…
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The Skilled Chaplain
Saul Ebema, D.Min. In the book, “The Skilled Pastor: Counseling as the Practice of Theology”, Taylor writes that “the way to help persons deal with their problems is to help them change the beliefs that contribute to their distressing feelings and behaviors”. I find this quote from Taylor to be true because skilled…
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Knowledge of Death as a Crisis in Hospice Care
By Dr. Saul Ebema. One of my friends used to have dizzy spells that often came and went. He decided to go to the doctor to have some tests done on him in order find out what was wrong with him. The results of the tests indicated that he had brain tumor that had metastasized…
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