Search Results (41)

High-quality end-of-life care (EoLC) is a critical yet often underemphasised component of oncology care. Several shortcomings in the delivery of EoLC for oncology patients in our centre during the COVID-19 pandemic were identified in our initial 2021 audit. In 2022, we introduced a care of dying patients proforma, an EoLC quality checklist, targeted education and training for staff, and an expanded end-of-life (EoL) committee. This re-audit aimed to review how these changes impacted on the care received by patients in a tertiary cancer centre. A second retrospective re-audit of patients who died between 11 July 2022 and 30 April 2023 was performed to assess quality of EoLC using the Oxford Quality indicators. A total of 72 deaths occurred over the audit period. Quality of EoLC improved significantly when compared to the initial audit (χ² (3, n = 138) = 9.75, p = 0.021). Exploration of patients’ wishes was documented in 48.8% and referral to pastoral care was documented in 68.3%, from 24.2% and 10.6%, respectively. The proportion of patients receiving poor EoLC reduced from 21.2% to 8.3%. Our study demonstrates the benefits of simple interventions, the importance of re-audit, and the role of ongoing interdisciplinary commitment to improving EoLC for our patients. Full article

This article describes the design and implementation of a Specialized Mental Health Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program for clergy and theological students of all spiritual, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Addressing the need for mental health competencies in religious leaders and chaplains, this training equips participants with specialized skills in individual and group mental health spiritual assessment and spiritual care. Program participants become effective members of a multiprofessional team, gain knowledge of mental health philosophies of concordant and discordant spiritual orienting systems, and gain greater relational capacity. The Mental Health CPE Program includes traditional and novel CPE elements: (1) clinical practice, (2) group and individual supervision, (3) didactic presentations and journal clubs, (4) verbatim (Protocols of patient encounters) and case presentations, (5) group leadership training and practica, and (6) experience of faith reflections. This article provides insights into the origins of CPE, a description of the implementation in a free-standing psychiatric hospital, and observed developmental changes of program participants. We include graduates’ anecdotal feedback about their learning experience and its impact on their leadership in chaplaincy and in religious communities. Additionally, we report on areas for future development and further study of the effectiveness of Mental Health CPE. Full article

This study examines, within the broader context of historical and cultural influences from Byzantine and Western canonical traditions, the canonical and theological treatment of physical disabilities as impediments to the priesthood within modern Orthodox Canon Law. It shows how traditional Orthodox Canon Law, particularly influenced by medieval Roman Catholic canonical understanding, has historically emphasised physical integrity as a requirement for ordination. The study critically examines historical and contemporary canonical attitudes towards candidates with hearing, speech, or visual impairments or with locomotor disability through the analysis of Apostolic canons, Canons of Ecumenical Councils, and later canonical sources. The methods include a critical canonical and historical analysis of primary sources such as the Canons, patristic writings, and synodal legislation, with particular reference to the initiatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the modern cultural and pastoral context. The study observes that, although such impairments continue to be recognised as canonical impediments according to traditional Orthodox law, contemporary ecclesial practice increasingly reflects a pastoral sensitivity that allows, in certain contexts, for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in ordained ministry. This is typically achieved through adaptations that preserve the integrity of liturgical function, such as assistance from co-ministers or specialised training. These developments, while not amounting to a formal canonical revision, signal a broader pastoral and ecclesiological openness toward the integration of persons with disabilities within the life of the Church. Full article

Many pastors, faith leaders, and community organizers are isolated and under-connected to communities of praxis that can accompany them as they go about their social change work, helping them to ground their organizing in their faith lives. There is a crisis of leadership development and training. This paper argues for a rethinking of leadership development as grounded in conceptions of relational power, value-based organizing, and deep solidarity. Leaders, it is often said, are those who have followers. This definition takes for granted models of leadership that were first developed in the 1940s in Alinsky-style networks and adapted in the 1980s and 1990s in the neo-Alinskyite movement. This article extends this approach to home in on what leadership development amounts to in broad-based community organizing so as to help congregations and faith leaders see how community organizing can be an enactment and expression of their faith lives. Organizing strategies of leadership development can sit at the heart of congregational development. Developing leaders is about transformative critical reflection on premises of meaning schema. Leadership development is connected to leaders developing in the sense of exploring new ways of seeing the world and acting on them. By refocusing the organizing strategy of leadership development around relational power and deep solidarity, pastors, faith leaders, and community organizers can build stronger institutions. Full article

Social innovation has emerged as a prominent strategy in development practice, attracting substantial scholarly attention. In Ethiopia’s pastoral and agro-pastoral areas, characterized by vulnerability and persistent development challenges, non-governmental organizations have begun implementing social innovations as alternatives to traditional interventions. However, the empirical understanding of the uptake of these innovations and the degree to which communities perceive ownership is limited. This study aims to investigate the adoption patterns of social innovations and evaluate community ownership of these innovations towards sustainability in specific Ethiopian contexts. Methods included partial participant observation, 12 case studies, 33 key informant interviews, and a sample survey of 392 respondents. The findings indicate that the average age of respondents is approximately 41 years old, with the youngest being 15 and the oldest being 94. Descriptive and inferential statistics showed that social innovations improved the management of the water system in Meda Wollabu and the enhanced goat market in Dasenech, with a developed sense of ownership benefitting and improving communities’ livelihood and sustainable development. The study concludes that developed sense of community ownership effective information dissemination, relative advantage and participation in training, highlighting the importance of tailored social innovation strategies that enhance community resilience and sustainability. Full article

Background: The existing literature often oversimplifies the complex relationship between religion and Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health (AYSRH), particularly regarding church-based interventions. This study aimed to investigate the nature and implementation strategies of church AYSRH programmes within their belief systems to inform effective programme development. Methodology: An interpretive descriptive design was employed. Data were collected in the Vaal Triangle region of South Africa (Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging, and Sasolburg) between August 2019 and February 2020. In-depth interviews were conducted with pastors, government officials, and school principals. Focus group discussions were held with parent and youth church groups alongside youth groups from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. Data were analyzed using Atlas.ti v.23. Results: Church-based AYSRH interventions primarily emphasize information provision and abstinence until marriage, aligned with prevailing moral values. These interventions are delivered through integration into existing church programmes and collaborations with external stakeholders for specialized areas like contraception. Limitations identified included ineffectiveness, superficiality, impracticality, tensions between religious doctrine and lived realities, a reductionist focus, a singular information-sharing approach, and limited pastor understanding and openness regarding AYSRH. Conclusions: Churches possess valuable communication platforms and partnerships that could be leveraged for AYSRH interventions. However, this study highlights a one-sided focus on church teachings and significant tensions between idealized approaches and practical implementation, raising critical questions about the overall efficacy of church-led AYSRH projects. This research validates prior findings on church-based AYSRH interventions while offering nuanced insights and heuristic perspectives for a more comprehensive and less simplistic understanding of church-driven AYSRH services. Full article

Background/Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic placed an immense burden on nursing home staff, significantly increasing their workload. How the impact of these challenges on job satisfaction is mitigated by personal and social resources, along with organisational support measures initiated by nursing homes, is investigated in this study. Methods: In 2021, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among nursing home staff in Rhineland-Palatinate (n = 373). The questionnaire contained parts of standardised instruments (parts of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), Brief Resilience Scale) and self-developed questions related to support measures such as training, psychological support and work organisation changes. The association of these support measures, as well as personal and social resources (e.g., resilience, social support, sense of community), with job satisfaction was explored. Descriptive, bivariate and regression analyses were conducted. Results: While various support measures were offered to the nursing home staff, significant gaps remained. Training on hygiene and COVID-19 care was beneficial but not universally available. Similarly, psychological, pastoral and palliative support was lacking for a large portion of nursing home staff. Surprisingly, in the regression analysis, frequent information updates from supervisors were found to be negatively correlated with job satisfaction (p = 0.002). However, some personal and social resources (resilience (p = 0.002), social support (p = 0.001), sense of community at work (p ≤ 0.001), commitment to the workplace (p = 0.019), recognition by management (p ≤ 0.001)), and various support measures (training programmes (p = 0.005), changes in work organisation (p = 0.008), technical measures (p = 0.025)) were positively correlated with job satisfaction. Conclusions: This study highlights that despite the implementation of various support measures for nursing home staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, significant gaps remained. Notably, a substantial portion of staff members lacked access to crucial support services such as psychological, pastoral and palliative care. Furthermore, healthcare facility managers should prioritise the following support measures, especially during crises: comprehensive training, including resilience training; flexible working arrangements; and recognition for nursing staff. Ultimately, healthcare organisations should aim to create a supportive work environment that fosters a sense of community and belonging among their nursing workforce. Full article

This article examines how Reformed pastors’ understanding and exercise of their office shaped their response to Anabaptists living in rural parishes of the Swiss Confederation in the seventeenth century. In the wake of Swiss reformations, illicit Anabaptist communities continued to represent a threat to territorial religious unity and the Reformed clergy’s spiritual leadership, but the precise contours of their activity and social influence at a village level remained obscure. In the absence of a clear picture of dissent, Reformed churchmen endeavored to make Anabaptism visible, employing tools of information management, into which their training had initiated them. A series of cases from rural jurisdictions (the counties (Landvogteien) of Kyburg and Grüningen) and a seat of ecclesiastical power (Zurich) illustrate how documentary production, organization, and activation consistently drove this project forward. These means rendered Anabaptist life perceptible, facilitating and justifying its elimination by Reformed governments. Full article

The issue of ensuring food and nutrition security has become a prominent item on the global agenda, particularly for low-income countries with high population growth rates. Despite the implementation of numerous policies and programs with the objective of enhancing household calorie intake, food insecurity is worsening in Ethiopia. It is crucial to comprehend the principal factors influencing food security, as this knowledge is essential for implementing effective interventions to enhance food security. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the food security status of households, measure the extent and severity of food insecurity, and identify the determinants of food security in Northeastern Ethiopia. The data for this study were collected through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and a multi-stage sampling method, which involved the selection of 300 households. Descriptive and inferential statistics, the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) index, and a probit model were employed to analyze the collected data. The results indicate that 41.67% of the sample households were food secure. By decomposing the results to the two land use systems, 34.62% and 50.69% of the pastoral and agro-pastoral households were food secure, respectively, indicating that agro-pastoral households were relatively more food secure than pastoral counterparts. Furthermore, the gap and severity of food insecurity among the sample households were calculated using FGT indices, resulting in a value of 15.02% and 5.31%, respectively. The probit model revealed that educational attainment, the number of milking cows, cultivated farm size, annual farm income, and participation in off-farm activities were significant predictors of improved household food security status. The findings of this study suggest that policies aimed at addressing food insecurity should consider livelihood diversification, the promotion of education and training, and the strengthening of institutional and technological environments. Full article

A growing body of evidence has shown the influence that religion and spirituality have on individuals duelling with illness, especially at advanced stages of disease. It is often vital for such individuals to have their spiritual and religious beliefs respected and, potentially, integrated in a compassionate caregiving setting for healthcare systems. However, given the diversity in religions and spiritual practices, healthcare professionals ought to approach such cultural significance with cultural humility, i.e., approaching differences in beliefs without relying on stereotypes or assumptions. This process requires sufficient training and communication skills among healthcare providers, as well as a successful medico-pastoral partnership. The aim of this review is to provide insight into one specific religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, and discuss current evidence of the religion’s influence on healthcare and medicine. Within this review, we aim to provide a summary on religion and spirituality specific to the Eastern Orthodox identity and religious practices, along with providing clinical guidance on approaching people who identify with this faith in certain healthcare settings in a manner compatible with the principles of cultural humility. The review will discuss important key elements of religious belief and practice of Εastern Orthodoxy that may influence health and healthcare decisions by patients. Full article

(1) Background: The number of university students experiencing mental health problems has been a growing concern over recent decades, and support for them is now considered an inevitable part of the role of an academic. Research into the role of the academic reveals ambiguous expectations and weak support regarding their pastoral responsibilities, leading to a lack of confidence when dealing with student mental health concerns. (2) Methods: Following previous research, the present preliminary study employed an online survey (N = 43) in three schools at a university in the East of England to identify academics’ current confidence in supporting student mental health. This addressed four subscales: (i) identifying mental health concerns in students, (ii) approaching and discussing mental health concerns with students, (iii) academics’ knowledge concerning the central support services available within the university, and (iv) academics’ skills in providing ongoing support for student mental health and wellbeing. (3) Results: Female respondents scored higher than males on their knowledge concerning the central student mental health support services within the university, and 60+-year-old lecturers were least confident in identifying mental health concerns compared to 40–49- and 50–59-year-olds. (4) Conclusions: Recommendations for interventions include mental health awareness training, policy development, and a precise and nuanced description of an academic’s pastoral role and responsibilities to ensure that students receive appropriate and sufficient psychological support. Full article

Pastoralism constitutes an extensive livestock system offering a feasible alternative toward agro-ecological transition. People who are engaged in the sector are expected to have a high level of skills related to knowledge and experience of nature and climate, management of resources, and other significant elements that comprise Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to present the emergence and operation of “Pastoral Schools” in various Mediterranean countries, which offer training to people who wish to be professionally involved in pastoralism. In particular, the co-creation approach that takes place within the PASTINNOVA project is presented, which involves the establishment of Regional Living Labs bringing together actors from several Mediterranean countries who are interested in analyzing the operation of pastoral schools, exchange relevant experiences and knowledge, and deliver solutions that will upscale the performance of these schools and permit their operation to be expanded in other Mediterranean settings. Full article

This article explores the life and contributions of Dr. Olive L. Clark (1894–1989), a long-time faculty member at the fundamentalist Toronto Baptist Seminary (TBS). In the 1920s, Clark sided with the fundamentalists and became a vocal critic of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec. As the first person to receive a PhD in Classics from the University of Toronto, she was a gifted scholar. In 1928, she became one of the first faculty members at the newly-minted Toronto Baptist Seminary—operated by the prominent fundamentalist leader T. T. Shields—and remained there until her retirement thirty-eight years later. Through those years and even into retirement, she took an active role in the fundamentalist community by training pastors, publishing lesson plans and articles, speaking in various churches, and serving as co-editor of The Gospel Witness newspaper. In the process, she helped guide and shape the movement, both behind the scenes and in visible ways. Full article

The farming–pastoral ecotone in northern China is an ecologically vulnerable area with low-quality arable land, and cash crops are an important economic source for local farmers. Although local governments have introduced supportive policies, there are still several factors that hinder the implementation of the policies: there is a lack of sufficient research on the distribution of specialty crops, and the driving factors for agricultural planting structure adjustment are not yet clear. In this study, the specialty cash crop of the daylily planting industry in Yunzhou District, in the Farming–Pastoral Ecotone in northern China, was selected as the research object. Field surveys were conducted to collect sample points and village-level survey data, which were further combined with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data, and vegetation indices. Support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifiers were utilized to identify daylilies and compare the accuracy using different combinations of input data. Furthermore, the classification results were counted by village, and spatial autocorrelation was used to analyze the spatial distribution pattern of daylilies. Finally, in conjunction with the village-level survey data, Spearman correlation analysis, multiple regression trees (MRT), and random forests were employed to explore the driving factors of daylily cultivation. The results indicate that using an RF classification tree of 300 resulted in the optimal method, as it achieved the highest accuracy for crop classification. The overall accuracy and daylily classification accuracy were 94.6% and 94.75%, respectively. Daylily distributions were mainly concentrated near the Sanggan River, urban areas, and the tourism industry. The distribution area of daylilies in each village was concentrated in 13.4–38.8 hm². Spatial clustering showed more aggregation of low–low and high–high types. Labor force and daylily yield were identified as the most significant influencing factors. Further analysis of the different regions revealed the importance of industry support policies and technical training. This study provides data to support the distribution of specialty crops in Yunzhou District and a technical basis for adjusting agricultural planting structures. Full article

This article explores different ways that preachers and congregations have used the sermon-dialogue-sermon process to address social issues in their churches and engage their local community. I begin with a brief review of the homiletic theory behind the emergence of dialogical preaching, including the ways I have integrated this theory into my own method of the sermon-dialogue-sermon (SDS) process. I then explain the work I have performed training preachers and congregations in the SDS method. This article then focuses on the Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moon, a pastor in Kentucky who undertook the SDS process with her congregation, North Middletown Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Middletown, Kentucky. Their work allows for a longitudinal case study of the ways in which the SDS process can assist a congregation in engaging and strengthening democratic practices through deliberation and community outreach. The article concludes with a reflection on the implications of this process for a congregation’s engagement with social issues as well as recommendations for further research and analysis. Full article