Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Vaughan Grant

Second Advisor

Mario Ceballos

Third Advisor

Mario N. Philip

Abstract

Problem

Health Care is evolving from an exclusive concentration on the physical dimension of illness to a more holistic model which considers the psychosocial and the spiritual. There seems to be a growing need for the spiritual care of the staff who have experienced trauma and acute stress. Although the need for spiritual care in health care services has been largely advocated, there is arguably a lack of attention to the spiritual care needs of staff dealing with traumatic situations and acute stress. The task of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate spiritual care intervention with staff who are experiencing trauma and acute stress. The healthcare system in Australia have struggled in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was an increasing number of staff and doctors experiencing trauma and acute stress during this period. The need for spiritual care support was seen to be greater than ever before in the last century. This problem identified in healthcare is within the ministry context of Adventist HealthCare staff, doctors, administration, the community. Caring for the staff in the healthcare system is a vital need of the hour, especially with the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic; the timing of the study could not have been any better.

Method

The project was completed in four phases. The first phase dealt with creating the Spiritual Care Plan for staff who experienced trauma and acute stress. This involved extensive research and consultation with chaplains working in the healthcare sector and other broader sectors. The second phase was the implementation of the Spiritual Care Plan in the high-care wards of the hospital: Intensive Care, Emergency Care, Cardiac, Oncology and Palliative, and Neuroscience and Neurosurgery. The research methods chosen included focus groups, journal entries, and observations. Data collection in ethnography usually involves having the researcher participate, overtly or covertly, in the people’s daily lives for an extended period, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions through informal interviews, and collecting documents and artefacts. The role and effectiveness of the chaplains in caring for the staff, programs and activities through which the chaplains provide care was a prime side of research. I believed that the issues encountered during this research were of major importance in understanding spiritual care for trauma within a healthcare system. -- The third and fourth phases of the study were the first focus group session and the second focus group session. My goal as an ethnographer created a deep and credible snapshot of the experience, culture, system, and roll-out of the spiritual care plan. Because ethnographic research is subjective, the ethnographer is always present in the research conducted and the texts created. It is customary and necessary for ethnographers to “write themselves” into the texts by providing narratives and descriptions of their own role in the project and their reactions to the culture and the systems which they observe and try to understand. Ethnography is a rhetorical act, and the ethnographer must not only collect research data, but also write about them credibly and persuasively. The methods used in the study were (1) the ethnographical subjective approach to create a deep and credible snapshot of the culture/system that was being studied; (2) participant observation as an overall approach to inquiry and data-gathering method because immersion in the setting permits the researcher to hear, see, and experience reality as the participants do; (3) in-depth interviews and questionnaires as tools used to collect data; and (4) narrative inquiry, which allowed me to explore a story as told by a participant and record that story.

Results

Detailed analysis of the focus group identified substantial benefits of the spiritual care plan: deeper intimacy among staff and doctors; a safe place to be vulnerable; the opportunity to pray without fear of being judged; deeper and stronger faith; shared wisdom; enlightened, deeper Bible knowledge; the desire to carry each other’s burdens; the desire to follow Jesus; interest in joining the discipleship movement of the Seventh day Adventist Church; becoming more joyous and happy people; selflessness and transformation of the soul; the desire to grow spiritually; learning to pray with confidence and consistency; prayer journals; the desire to be a part of a faith community; community connection; reconciliation; understanding; the search for purpose and meaning; commitment to Bible Study; a decision for baptism; physical healing; emotional healing; reduction in anxiety; personal growth; greater support and unity among staff; improved quality of life; relieved spiritual distress; inner calm and peace; a deeper sense of compassion and care for others; connection to God like never before; support and ability to overcome adversities; and healing and reconciliation from past hurts and trauma.

Conclusion

Trauma and acute stress will eventually touch every human life. Trauma comes in many forms. Trauma can affect a person emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually. How a person copes with trauma and acute stress will determine how he or she continues to contribute to society. People who overcome adversity are resilient. They do this by coping well through each traumatic situation. The Spiritual Care Plan was designed to help people cope with trauma and acute stress. It helped them to know that they were not alone and that help was near. It helped people know that they could work with God and their fellow human beings. They could cope positively by allowing change, learning from the situation, having a sense of purpose, participating in small group prayers, and connecting with the community.

Subject Area

Stress management; Spiritual care (Medical care); Seventh-day Adventist; Sydney

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