Distress and self-care among chaplains working in palliative care

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence of burnout and distress among palliative care professionals has received much attention since research suggests it negatively impacts the quality of care. Although limited, research suggests low levels of burnout or distress among healthcare chaplains; however, there has been no research among chaplains working in specific clinical contexts, including palliative care.ObjectiveThis study explored the distress, self-care, and debriefing practices of chaplains working in palliative care.MethodExploratory, cross-sectional survey of professional chaplains. Electronic surveys were sent to members of four professional chaplaincy organizations between February and April 2015. Primary measures of interest included Professional Distress, Distress from Theodicy, Informal Self-care, Formal Self-care, and debriefing practices.ResultMore than 60% of chaplains working in palliative care reported feeling worn out in the past 3 months because of their work as a helper; at least 33% practice Informal Self-care weekly. Bivariate analysis suggested significant associations between Informal Self-care and both Professional Distress and Distress from Theodicy. Multivariate analysis also identified that distress decreased as Informal and Formal Self-care increased.Significance of resultsChaplains working in palliative care appear moderately distressed, possibly more so than chaplains working in other clinical areas. These chaplains also use debriefing, with non-chaplain palliative colleagues, to process clinical experiences. Further research is needed about the role of religious or spiritual beliefs and practices in protecting against stress associated with care for people at the end of life.

Chaplain Care in the Intensive Care Unit at the End of Life: A Qualitative Analysis

“… 31 The experience of being fully listened to serves as an important therapeutic intervention before any action such as referral to resources or offering of prayer. 31 , 33 …”

Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the mindful self-care scale among Brazilian palliative care providers

“…The correlations between factors (Φ) were evaluated by applying GEOMIN correlations. Reliability was assessed by using the composite reliability (CR) coefficient and Cronbach's α , where values greater than 0.70 were expected (Valentini and Damasio, 2016).…”

“…Given that healthcare providers working in palliative care commonly deal with contexts of cumulative loss and suffering (Mills et al, 2020), there is a perceived need to expand the knowledge of strategies that can promote personal well-being for these providers. In a study that aimed to explore distress, self-care, and debriefing practices of palliative care workers, results of the multivariate analysis identified that suffering decreased with the increase in self-care (White et al, 2019). The proactive practice of self-care is an important approach to promoting well-being for this population (Beng et al, 2015; Sansó et al, 2015; Adams et al, 2020), although it is not practised widely across it.…”

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“…Care of self, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, has long been an important aspect of spiritual caregiving and perhaps more so during the challenges to chaplaincy practices that have arisen during the SARS-Cov-19 Pandemic (White et al., 2019). Chaplaincy is a role with high emotional demand and high levels of emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983).…”