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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 June 29, 2009):

RECENT:

• The Spring-Summer 2009 Newsletter is now posted. Among the items reported: a study of CPE by HealthCare Chaplaincy in New York, a variety of initiatives by Virginia Commonwealth University's Program in Patient Counseling, research by Gordon Hilsman into "Spiritual Skills," an investigation into "The Chaplain’s Role in Pediatric Palliative Care" by Nancy Berlinger at The Hastings Center, news of summer workshops on Spirituality & Health Research at Duke University, and a call for papers by the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy. Also, if you have not read the Fall 2008 Newsletter, please note the letter there from ACPE President Bill Scrivener.
   
  
• The July Article-of-the-Month will be posted by the 12th and will look at a new religious coping measure designed specifically with Jewish tradition in mind. The June 2009 Articles-of-the-Month are two new overviews on Religion/Spirituality and Mental Health. Also, note that the May AoM looks at spirituality and turning points in the lives of persons with HIV.
   
  
• HealthCare Chaplaincy (New York) has posted on its website (www.healthcarechaplaincy.org) the first four bibliographies in its Practical Bearings series --critical reviews of important books, articles and other publications on the theory and practice of pastoral care. "Discerning Patient Needs: Spiritual Assessment," "Meeting the Other: Interreligious Encounters in the Provision and Supervision of Spiritual Care," "To Want to Learn: Educational Theory for Supervision and Training," and "By Its Fruits: The Science of Health Care Chaplaincy," can be downloaded via www.healthcarechaplaincy.org/practicalbearings. Future issues planned for the coming months include: "Ministry Amidst Chance, Necessity, Love: Cancer and Health Care Chaplaincy," "The Management of Care: Literature on Leadership and Organizational Development," and "The Comfort of Strangers: Trends in the History and Current Practice of Health Care." Rev. Dr. Leonard Hummel, Professor of Pastoral Theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and Visiting Scholar with HealthCare Chaplaincy, spoke about these bibliographies at our October 2008 Network meeting; and he is quoted on the project website: "Practical Bearings will point professional chaplains to resources that will help them fulfill their mission in the evolving and complex world of health care." These bibliographies are not restricted to research materials, but they should be broadly valuable.
   
  
• Note the new section of the site, for the latest information about the Ideal Intervention Paper (IIP) Project being led by Dr. John Gleason and Fr. Henry Heffernan. Sample IIPs by CPE students in a variety of programs are now available.
   
  
• The Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy is soliciting original research papers and literature reviews on topics of interest to chaplaincy. Full-length reports and brief reports of research may be submitted. All manuscripts should be in APA style and will be peer-reviewed. Please send manuscripts to KFlannelly@healthcarechaplaincy.org. For more on the journal, see our Spring-Summer 2009 Newsletter (§6).
   
  
• 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) Our Network is listed on the site under the "Resources" section.

 
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.