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This section of our web site offers brief descriptions of current research initiatives by members of the Network and throughout the ACPE (with contact persons noted in parentheses). Scroll down or click on an ACPE region for current listings.
To submit brief reports of initiatives, Network members should e-mail john.ehman@uphs.upenn.edu.
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East Central Region
- IN, KY, MI (except Upper Peninsula), OH, and PA (Pittsburgh area only)
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Eastern
Region - CT, DE, NJ, NY, PA (except Pittsburgh area), and PR
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Mid-Atlantic Region - DC, MD, NC, VA, and WV
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North
Central Region - IL (northern), IA, MI (Upper Peninsula only), MN, ND, SD, and WI
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Northeast
Region - ME, MA, NH, RI, and VT
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Pacific
Region - AK, AZ, CA,
HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, and WA
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South
Central Region - CO, IL (southern), KS, MO, NE, and WY
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Southeast
Region - AL, FL, GA, MS, SC, and TN
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Southwest
Region - AR, LA, NM, OK, and TX
Current Research
Initiatives -
- St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis IN (John J. Gleason, Supervisor for the Extended Unit) -- The curriculum will include an "Ideal Intervention Paper": A verbatim record of pastoral care already presented to peers and the supervisor will be rewritten to incorporate their feedback toward a "best way." Papers will be presented in the peer group and then submitted to the ACPE Research Network for inclusion in a database for comparative analysis and, eventually, identification of "best practices." [This initiative relates to a broad proposal for structured descriptions leading to "best practices" in pastoral care. See Henry Heffernan's article, "Responding to John Gleason's Challenge," in the Fall 2005 Newsletter.]
- Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia PA (Rabbi Leah Wald, ACPE Supervisory Candidate, supervising) -- Since 2001, the CPE curriculum has included a four-part seminar series on pastoral care research, introducing students to the sources of professional and academic research-based literature pertinent to health care chaplaincy (especially from medical and nursing journals), familiarizing them with research methodology, and encouraging them to consider how research may provide insights useful to pastoral practice and interdisciplinary networking.
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA (Ralph C. Ciampa, CPE Supervisor) -- A qualitative research project investigating cancer patients' perceptions of how their spirituality affects and is affected by their disease and treatment is in the data collection phase. Two grant-funded projects are in the write-up phase: one to assess the effectiveness of a pastoral care intervention as part of an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program and one to assess the effects of an intensified presence of a chaplain on an oncology inpatient unit. Also, the CPE curriculum includes a seminar series to introduce students to spirituality research, and students participate in a monthly interdisciplinary Spirituality, Religion and Health Interest Group that is largely based on research presentations. Annually, the Pastoral Care Department sponsors a
Spirituality Research Symposium and produces a bibliography of pertinent articles from the health care literature. More information may be found at www.uphs.upenn.edu/pastoral.
- Moses Cone Health System, Greensboro NC (Randy R. Shoun, CPE Supervisor) -- The Pastoral Care Department is seeking to develop a research component in its CPE program. We're seeking a grant to do this and to do two research projects: one dealing with the measurement of patient satisfaction and one with staff satisfaction. Studies have shown that a correlation exists between job satisfaction and retention. We feel that pastoral care has/can have an impact on job satisfaction. There seems to be anecdotal evidence supporting this. We'd like to quantify this and then utilize the information obtained from the study to develop a model to strengthen our existing programs and develop new ones that will impact staff (including staff retention). Contact CPE Resident Alexis Smith at the Department phone: 336-832-7950.
- Luther Hospital, Eau Claire WI (P. Michael Carlson, CPE Supervisor) -- After one CPE unit, residents are required to make an evidenced-based ministry presentation on an area of interest to them, entailing a literature search of the research in the field. Students are introduced to the concept of evidence-based professional practice and taught how to accomplish literature searches using on-line databases and print resources.
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago IL (W. Noel Brown, CPE Supervisor) -- The Spirituality Research Group has received a grant from the medical school to develop a pilot test for levels of altruism that will be used next spring for the second year medical students. This is part of a larger project to examine compassion and altruism in medical students and seminarians.
- St. Luke's Hospital, Kansas City MO (Steve Overall, CPE Supervisor) -- The CPE center's curriculum incorporates a research project requirement for the residency program, utilizing input from the hospital's Nursing College's Professor of Research and working through the hospital's IRB.
- Florida Hospital, Orlando FL (Dick Tibbits, CPE Supervisor) -- A study of "Hypertension Reduction Through Forgiveness Training" has been completed. The objective was to determine if patients with diagnosed stage-1 hypertension could benefit by a forgiveness training program, made up of education and group support, with the result of measurable reductions in anger expression and blood pressure. Thirty-five participants were randomly divided into wait-listed control and intervention groups. The control group monitored their blood pressure while the intervention group participated in an 8-week forgiveness
training program. Those receiving forgiveness training had significant reductions in anger expression when compared to a control group. While reductions in blood pressure were not achieved by all, a sub-group with elevated anger scores did achieve significant reductions in blood pressure.
- Oklahoma Health Center Clinical Pastoral Education Institute, Oklahoma City OK (Ken Blank, MDiv, CPE Supervisor and Executive Director, Darryl Tiller, DMin, CPE Supervisor and Director of Education, and John W. Campbell, PhD, Director of Research) -- A survey has been completed of "Responsibilities and Time Allocations, Including Supervision, Pastoral Care and Administrative Tasks, among Currently Practicing Supervisors of Clinical Pastoral Education" The study is available on the Institute’s web site, www.cpeokc.org in the Current Research section. See also the Research Library section for valuable links. Research projects in progress at the Institute include a qualitative study of perceptions of clergy observing cardiac surgery and a survey of services provided by chaplains.
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