This work evaluated the experiences of 45 patients of children with cancer and 101 cancer patients with their home pastors and hospital chaplains. The sttisfactions and difficulties enountered in these interactions are detailed, and recommendations are offered to aid persons in acute distress. Individuals in these circumstances appear to desire spiritual support more than evident psychologial aid, though the skillful use of the latter to understant the religious desires of the patients and parents is appreciated. It is also evident that pastors dealing which problems related to potential terminality are themselves under considerble stress.

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This first descriptive report on the perspectives, experiences, and actions of clergy relative to terminal patients and their families details a highly emotionally charged complex of interactions. Some 276 clerics from fourteen different bodies provided information on their involvement in death-work, spiritual and personal resources, satisfactions and doubts, pastoral goals and purposes, and their background and outlooks regarding their own demise. Implications of these findings are explored with respect to various forms and contents of training and experience. Psychological versus spiritual roles are of special significance in clergy-patient-family relationships.

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