Clinical Pastoral Education Research
The Saint Luke’s Health System Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program in Kansas City, Mo., is committed to the integration of research and research literacy into the CPE curriculum so that our graduates, chaplains and spiritual leaders, are informed about research and its benefits to their ministry. Faculty members introduce research literacy to first-year residents so they are informed about qualitative, quantitative, meta-analysis and data-analysis research. Then residents design and conduct Quality Improvement projects and write a well-researched paper, which addresses a particular health and spirituality subject. The expectation is that the project will offer a theologically informed spiritual care strategy for the care of patients, family, and staff directly affected by the particular health-related subject, e.g. traumas and other emergency care, strokes, heart conditions, palliative care, cancer, ethical issues, etc.
Our CPE students have access to an excellent medical library and to the ACPE Research Network. Since Saint Luke’s Hospital is a teaching hospital, the support from the IRB and other research councils are invaluable. We have also worked with our Nursing Research Council to implement nurse and chaplain collaboration as a result of last year’s residency research project that focused on “Nurses Perception of the Role of Chaplain”. Other research projects include: “A Critical Review of Research into the Guilt and Shame of Parents May Experience Following the Death of their Child” (2017 – Christy Edwards); “When Heroes Hurt – A Critical Review of Research into Trauma, Coping Mechanisms, and Supports of Second Victims” (2017 Sergio Moreno-Denton); “Healing Journeys: Use of the Labyrinth in Pastoral Care of Hospital Patients;” and “Effects of Personal and Work-related experience with Caring for the Dying & End-of-Life Decision Making Among ELCA Ministers and Lay Leaders.”
One of the ancillary benefits of literary research and Quality Improvement projects in the Saint Luke’s CPE program is the relationships established with hospital staff by CPE resident researchers. In recent years Chaplain Resident Bethany Ruhl did a literary review and quality improvement project that focused on staff compassion fatigue. Her efforts and project resulted in the development of Soul Café, a chaplain led program that includes offering brief respite and hospitality to staff on every unit. This program is being duplicated at other SLHS entities.