Item Details

Report for the Association of Chaplaincy in General Practice on Spiritual Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Issue: Vol 8 No. 2 (2020) Special Issue: COVID-19

Journal: Health and Social Care Chaplaincy

Subject Areas: Healthcare Communication

Abstract:

Chaplaincy has been provided in primary care for over 20 years. There are various iterations across the United Kingdom, but their unifying purpose is personcentered holistic care delivered through listening and guidance. This report seeks to describe and analyse the impact of COVID-19 on chaplaincy services in primary care. Initial reflections highlight the range of presenting issues, old and new. Organizational factors such as logistical questions and virtual communication issues demonstrate the barriers faced by patients and chaplains, alongside new opportunities. As existing support networks and services have become less accessible, chaplaincy has a role to play in anticipating and responding to patients’ unmet needs. These include “losses,” both personal and communal, grief, both past and current, and questions of an existential nature. In responding to these challenges, chaplaincy should seek to be more visible, more intentional in identifying those at risk of loneliness, and more accessible to those less proficient in the new communication technologies, such as the elderly. This report suggests how chaplaincy will have a significant role in supporting patients with anxiety, lockdown traumas, loss of well-being, and the many socioeconomic effects of the pandemic.

Author: Sarah Giffen, Gordon Macdonald

View Full Text

References :

Ambrose, L. (2020). Remote consulting: Recognising the cognitive load. British Journal of General Practice, 70(695), 295. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp20X710213

Association of Chaplaincy in General Practice (2019). Improving care through listening and guidance. GP chaplaincy handbook: A practical guide to service provision. http://acgp.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-ACGP-handbook.pdf

Bennison, T. P. (2020). Community chaplaincy listening: From interventions during ill health to enabling wellbeing and resilience. In E. Kelly & J. Swinton (Eds.), Chaplaincy and the soul of health and social care: Fostering spiritual welling in emerging paradigms of care. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Bunniss, S., Mowatt, H., & Snowden, A. (2013). Community chaplaincy listening: Practical theology in action. Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy, 16(1), 42–51.

Croskerry, P., & Nimmo, G. R. (2011). Better clinical decision making and reducing diagnostic error. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 41(2), 155–162. https://doi.org/10.4997/JRCPE.2011.208

Dixon-Woods, M., Cavers, D., Agarwal, S., Annandale, E., Arthur, A., Harvey, J., … & Sutton, A. J. (2006). Conducting a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature on access to healthcare by vulnerable groups. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 6(35). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-6-35

Hart, J. T. (1971). The inverse care law. Lancet, 297(7696), 405–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(71)92410-X

Fitchett, G. (2020). Advancing research in healthcare chaplaincy. Why, how and who? In E. Kelly & J. Swinton (Eds.), Chaplaincy and the soul of health and social care: Fostering spiritual wellbeing in emerging paradigms of care. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Giffen, S., & Cowey, E. (2020). Why GPs refer to chaplaincy: A qualitative study. Journal of Health and Social Care Chaplaincy. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy. 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.40236

Kevern, P., & McSherry, W. (2015). The study of chaplaincy: Methods and materials. In C. Swift, M. Cobb, & A. Todd (Eds.), A handbook of chaplaincy studies: Understanding spiritual care in public places. London and New York: Routledge.

Kevern, P., McSherry, W., & Boughey, A. (2015). External report: Evaluation of the role and development of primary care “chaplains for wellbeing” in Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG. Sandwell & West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group/Staffordshire UK.

Macdonald, G. (2017a). The efficacy of primary care chaplaincy compared with antidepressants: A retrospective study comparing chaplaincy with antidepressants. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 18(4), 354–365. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423617000159

Macdonald, G. (2017b). Primary care chaplaincy: A valid talking therapy? British Journal of General Practice, 67(655), 77. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X689221

Macdonald, G. (2018). Primary care chaplaincy: An intervention for complex presentation. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 20, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423618000737

Macdonald, G. (2019). Spiritual needs assessment: The LOADS SHARED mnemonic. British Journal of General Practice, 69(688), 573–574. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp19X706505

Macdonald, G. (2020). Establishing “far end” practices in the wake of COVID-19. British Journal of General Practice Life. https://bjgplife.com/2020/05/06/the-far-end-of-coronavirus

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

McSherry, W., Boughey, A., & Kevern, P. (2016). “Chaplains for wellbeing” in primary care: A qualitative investigation of their perceived impact for patients’ health and wellbeing. Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 22(4), 151–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/08854726.2016.1184504

Neves, A. L., Lygidakis, H., & Fontana, G. (2020). The technology legacy of COVID-19 in primary care. British Journal of General Practice Life. https://bjgplife.com/2020/04/15/the-technology-legacy-of-COVID-19-in-primary-care

NHS Inform (2020). Coping with money worries. https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/mental-wellbeing/stress/coping-with-money-worries

NHS Scotland (2016). Driving and supporting improvement in primary care: 2016–2020. Health Improvement Scotland. http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/primary_care/programme_resources/primary_care_approach.aspx

Rajkumar, R. P. (2020). COVID-19 and mental health: A review of the existing literature. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102066

Sharma, S. (2020). Heightened listening in telephone consultations. British Journal of General Practice Life. https://bjgplife.com/2020/04/06/heightened-listening-in-telephone-
consultations

Tennant, R., Hiller, L., Fishwick, R., Platt, S., Joseph, S., Weich, S., … & Stewart-Brown, S. (2007). The Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): Development and UK validation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 5, a63. https://doi.org/10.1186/
1477-7525-5-63

Thornton, J. (2020). COVID-19: How coronavirus will change the face of general practice forever. British Medical Journal, 368, m1279. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1279