“Essential Not Optional”: Spiritual Care in Australia during a Pandemic

Abstract

This paper focuses on the impact of COVID19 in Australia. Three areas were investigated: professionalism, contrasting hospital and aged care services and “business as usual”? Impact was low overall, the timing being pre-second wave impact. Two areas of weakness were highlighted: depleted spiritual care teams due to standing down non-professional staff and uncertainty about the role of Chaplains in the care of other staff. Further study of second wave impact is recommended.

Supporting Spirits in Changing Circumstances: Pandemic Lessons for Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes

“…While the practices of those SCPs reported in this paper remained quite robust, this paper does not equally reflect the experience of those homes where spiritual care was deemed 'non-essential'. A similar dearth of spiritual care under these circumstances was anticipated in Australian aged care (Tan et al 2021). Also to be considered are the 51% of homes in this area which did not employ a chaplain pre-pandemic (Kuepfer et al 2022).…”

“…A study with chaplains during the first wave of the pandemic in the UK led to a discussion of the importance of pastoral presence for those who are suffering (Swift 2020). Additionally, while noting that the impact of the pandemic in their area was relatively less than in other regions of the world, a few Australian studies have looked at chaplains' experience in aged care during the pandemic, describing adaptations and identifying future issues related to spiritual care (Drummond and Carey 2020;Jones et al 2020;Tan et al 2021). Two international surveys have reached chaplains around the world (some of whom work in aged care) to learn about changes in aspects of spiritual care during the pandemic (Snowden 2021;Vandenhoeck et al 2021).…”

From Chaplaincy to Spiritual Care: Turning points for an emerging health profession

“…were more likely to have contact with COVID patients and seen as essential. [24] In response to COVID-19, decisions were made that highlighted the variations that continue to exist within the spiritual care workforce and reinforced that…”

Chaplain Leadership During COVID-19: An International Expert Panel

“…Additionally, on average, participating chaplains felt their role was neither clear nor unclear to them during the pandemic. Qualitative findings reflected diverging themes in chaplains' experiences such as being seen as unimportant, optional, and being professionally isolated, compared to those who were viewed as essential, well-integrated, and valued in their healthcare institutions' COVID-19 response (Desjardins et al, 2021;Jones et al, 2020;Tan et al, 2021). However, further attention is needed to unpack the complex and interconnected factors that may have underlain and precipitated the state of chaplaincy during COVID-19, such as the roles of hospital administration, chaplain leaders, chaplain practitioners, interprofessional teams, and the larger healthcare delivery systems.…”

“…Whether organizational leadership or distributed leadership among practitioners, chaplain leadership may have significantly shaped how chaplains’ roles and contributions were perceived and valued and how chaplains were deployed and integrated in patient care during a global health crisis. Views regarding chaplain leadership and being led during this crisis can be found in research about chaplains’ and spiritual care services’ responses to COVID-19 ( Byrne & Nuzum, 2020 ; Desjardins et al, 2021 ; Drummond & Carey, 2020 ; Harrison & Scarle, 2020 ; Snowden, 2021 ; Tan et al, 2021 ; Tata et al, 2021 ; Vandenhoeck et al, 2021 ), and in the associated professional development recommendations ( Flynn et al, 2021 ). However, research explicitly examining chaplain leadership factors during the pandemic has not been published to date.…”