The ACPE Research Network seeks to foster connections among members of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education interested in research, encourage original research, and raise awareness about published research (e.g., in the health care literature and the education literature) related to spirituality, pastoral care, and Clinical Pastoral Education.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS (updated July 7, 2008):  

RECENT:

• The Southern Medical Association's online resource for Spirituality & Medicine is again available --go to www.sma.org/spirituality. This fine resource had been briefly unavailable for several months this spring, after the conclusion of the grant for the SMA's Spirituality/Medicine Interface Project (--as was noted in our Spring-Summer 2008 Newsletter).
   
  
• The July Article-of-the-Month looks at the provision of chaplaincy services in US hospitals between 1980 and 2003. The June AoM features a study of "Violently Injured Patients Seen in the Emergency Department of Barnes-Jewish Hospital" in St. Louis, MO. Among the authors are two chaplains, one of whom was the data collector for the research: Lawrence Olatunde (who has offered additional thoughts on the study in our Spring-Summer 2008 Newsletter, §1). Note, too, that one of the authors of the February AoM, Kevin Flannelly, from The HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York, has offered additional comments in the Winter 2008 Newsletter (§1).
   
  
• The Spring-Summer 2008 Newsletter includes--in addition to the comments on the June Article-of-the-Month (noted above)--a report of a new research course offered by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Program in Patient Counseling, thoughts on a review of studies informing "Pastoral Concern in Relation to the Psychological Stress Caused by the Death of an Animal Companion," an update on the Ideal Intervention Paper (IIP) project, and a link to an extensive bibliography of Medline-indexed articles on Religion & Health.
   
  
• A new section of this website is under development, to be a central source of information about the Ideal Intervention Paper (IIP) Project being led by John Gleason and Henry Heffernan. See the latest update on this project in the Spring-Summer 2008 Newsletter.
   
  
• New article citations are regularly added to the Items of Related Interest sections of the Articles-of-the-Month pages. Recently, new citations have been added to the page for March 2007 (re: Nurses as Spiritual Care Providers), November 2006 (re: Spirituality in the PICU), December 2005 (re: Spirituality and Pain), May 2006 (re: Research into Near-Death Experiences), October 2005 (re: Physician Perspectives and Characteristics Regarding Religion/Spirituality), October 2004 (re: Spirituality and Patient Satisfaction), March 2004 (re: the Spiritual Well-Being Scale), and June 2003 (re: Muslim Patient Issues). An article (by Powell, et al.) has also been added to the May 2005 page (re: how spirituality may be affected by trauma) with links to both an on-line "exercise" version of the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory via the American Psychological Association's Help Center at http://locator.apa.org/ptgi and a print version via http://www.apapractice.org/apo/public/resilience/presentation/ptgi.html#. Chaplains may be interested in this instrument, two items of which apply to the domain of spiritual change: "I have a better understanding of spiritual matters" and "I have a stronger religious faith."
   
  

CONTINUING:

• Network members are invited to participate in the University of Pennsylvania Survey of Spiritual Experiences [opens in a new window], conducted by Andrew Newberg, MD, et al. For more on Dr. Newberg, see our Spring 2006 Newsletter (§6).
   
  
• The Spirituality and Health columns in the Oklahoma Health Center News (originally noted in the our Spring 2006 Newsletter, §3), written by Ken Blank and John Campbell of the Oklahoma Health Center Clinical Pastoral Education Institute, are now available on the Institute's web site (www.cpeokc.org --see the Read Columns from the OHC News section).
   
  
• Bibliographies of Medline-indexed articles on spirituality and health (noted in the Fall 2005, Spring 2006, and Spring-Summer 2007 Newsletters) are available as PDFs at www.uphs.upenn.edu/pastoral/resed/bibindex.html.

 

If you are a first-time visitor, please also note:

CPE Supervisors: please introduce your students to our web site, and see that they are aware of the annual Research Network awards.

This web site became operational on September 1, 2002. It will continue to evolve in response to suggestions from Network members. To submit suggestions, please directly e-mail the Network's convener at john.ehman@uphs.upenn.edu. All member correspondence is confirmed by return e-mail.

For the web site of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, click here.