American health care chaplains' narrative experiences serving during the COVID-19 pandemic: a phenomenological hermeneutical study.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted North American health care chaplains' modes of work and emotions. To capture the experiences of health care chaplains across the United States, 30 Board Certified (or eligible) chaplains were asked to keep a weekly narrative journal of their experiences and emotions during the pandemic from April of 2020 through June of 2020. Twenty-one chaplains submitted their journals for qualitative analysis, amounting to over 90,000 words of chaplain reflection containing rich, descriptive, and often personal stories of health care chaplains. Journals were analyzed using hermeneutic phenomenological methodology. The overarching patterns identified included: The World of Chaplaincy, Policies/Procedures/Visitation, Staff Care, Rituals, Chaplain Emotional Responses, Coping, and Racism. A significant finding was the resiliency and creativity of chaplains despite the rapid changes, uncertainty, and fear brought on by the pandemic. The results further suggest that journaling is a feasible and acceptable method in chaplaincy research.

Spiritual care department leaders' response to racial reckoning in 2020 and 2021.

Ascension, one of the largest Roman Catholic healthcare systems, and Transforming Chaplaincy (TC) collaborated on a research project "Managing Spiritual Care (SC) Departments During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study." Research participants included 22 leaders from Ascension and TC contacts. Four rounds of individual interviews were conducted from April, 2020 to February, 2021. After issues of race and racial reckoning following George Floyd's murder were brought up spontaneously in interviews, questions on how leaders responded to racial reckoning were added to the subsequent interviews. A secondary analysis examined responses from participants on racial reckoning from interviews 2-4. The objective of this study was to better understand how SC leaders understand their role in issues concerning justice, equity, and inclusion. This study utilized hermeneutic phenomenology methodology. Four phenomenological patterns emerged including: World of Racial Reckoning, Lack of Safety, Creating Safety, and Movement Toward Justice.

Methodology for a Mental Health Plan for Health Care Workers

The risk and prevalence of mental health concerns for health care workers has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Frontline health care workers are particularly vulnerable to professional burnout, anxiety, depression, substance use, and trauma. Although health care organizations have responded rapidly to the health and well-being needs of the patients and communities they serve, swiftly adapting to increased patient volumes, new protocols, resource shortages, and other needs as driven by the volatile environment, a similarly agile and robust effort is essential to support the mental and emotional well-being of health care workers. This article outlines the agile methodology used to mobilize a multidisciplinary team at a large academic medical center to amplify mental health support options for its workers and address barriers that prevent them from seeking that help. With the support of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors and the People and Culture Committee through active executive sponsorship and funding, an internal team strategized and swiftly activated procedures to deal with urgent mental health barriers for frontline workers, despite the compounding challenges caused by the pandemic. This systematic approach to modeling a mental health strategic plan for health care workers featured engaging stakeholder teams through active listening, collective goal setting, and delineated short-term and long-term objectives while leveraging values-aligned and employee-centric principles. After 1 year, employees have increased the use of mental health services by as much as 14%-26%.

Managing Spiritual Care Departments During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.

This qualitative study reports how 20 spiritual care leaders provided leadership in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The patterns and themes that emerged centered around the changing world of chaplaincy, the administrative role of the leader, and the personal story of the leader. Spiritual care leaders demonstrated creativity with the potential to shape chaplaincy in positive ways, expanding the reach of spiritual care.