Belief and Hope in Hospitals

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Belief and Hope in Hospitals The Work of
Chaplains and Imams in a Secular Context PhD
Student Hanne Bess Boelsbjerg University of
Southern DenmarkFunded by the Danish Cancer
Society
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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A Qualitative Study Related to the PhD Project
The Religious Resources of Muslim and Christian
Cancer Patients in Palliative Care
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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• Mapping the way
• Interviews with patients
• relatives professionals
• Observations of
• the cancer patients
• conversations with the
• chaplain or the imam
• Test of religiosity with
• Q Sort-Faith
• Comparison of religious
• coping strategies

Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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The existential concerns and religious needs of
cancer patients

• what do we mean by existential concerns and
  religious needs?
• what do we know about Danish cancer patients and
  their needs?
• what needs are the chaplains and imams
  working with?
• how do they approach the patients belief and
  hope?

• what do we mean by existential concerns and
  religious needs?
• what do we know about Danish cancer patients and
  their needs?
• what needs are the chaplains and imams working
  with?

Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Existential conditions

• We all must die
• In decisive times we are alone
• We have the freedom to choose
• our life
• We struggle to find meaning in life
• (Yalom, 1980)

Conference on Faith and Health in
Secular Societues 18th of May 2010
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Dilemmas of life
Happiness vs suffering Love vs aloneness Good vs
bad luck Fear of death vs engagement in
life Freedom of choice vs obligations Purpose vs
meaninglessness (Jacobsen, 2009)
Happiness vs suffering Love vs aloneness Good vs
bad luck Fear of death vs engagement in
life Freedom of choice vs obligations Purpose vs
meaninglessness (Jacobsen, 2009)
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Existential concerns and religious needs
What is important to the existence in relation
to hope, meaning, purpose and values If these
concerns are related to a religious meaning
system, the needs (for support, guidance,
consolation ect.) will be rendered as a religious
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Existential needs of Danish cancer
patients Kræftpatientens verden. En undersøgelse
af hvad danske kræft- patienter har brug
for. Grønvold, M. et al. (2006). Bispebjerg
Forskningsenheden Pall. Med. Afd. Existential
thoughts and religious life of Danish patients.
Ausker, N., la Cour, P. et al. (2008). Ugeskrift
for Læger, 2008 May 19 170 (21)
1828-33. Palliative Needs in Danish Patients
with Advanced Cancer. Johnsen, A.T. (2008). PhD
project. Copenhagen University of Copenhagen.
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Who supports existential and religious
needs? Responsible for keeping time Pollock, K.
et al BMJ 2002325687 Talk with the chaplain
23 No contact person 20 Want talk with the
doctor 37 Büssing et al. Pain Med 2009
MAR 10(2)327-39. How did you decide which
patients to visit this week? Fitchett, G.
Risk, J.L (2009)
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Frequent question posed to chaplains Meaning/stor
y of life. Death and dying. Illness and pain.
Relationships. Religious issues. Other
questions. (Strang Strang 2002)
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Existential vs religious needs
The patients do not contact the chaplains
primarily to discuss spiritual or religious
questions, but rather to discuss question about
their love for and care of their families and
about the meaning of suffering. (Wright,
2001) Within a patient group of colorectal
cancer, 93 of the questions dealt with the
meaning of life and its value in general terms.
(Klemm et al., 2000) Secularized values
founded on the rationality of science, have to a
large extent replaced religious beliefs in Sweden
as well as in many other secularized countries.
(Kallenberg, 2000)
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Pastoral care and psychotherapy

• Psychotherapy
• kind of treatment
• professional educated therapist
• orientation towards problems or symptoms
• choice of therapeutic approach
• criteria of succes
• (Wickstrøm 2001)

• Pastoral care
• support of psychic and spiritual growth
• practiced by religious professionals
• focus on the individual
• religious institution behind
• religious worldview
• no criteria of succes

Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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Muslim pastoral care Islamic concepts
Ikhlaq/-iat Having a good character Iyadah
Visit the ill Rifq Examplaric care
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular
Societues 18th of May 2010
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The chaplains approach

• The coffee is terriable and those kind of
  things, but AAB (a football team) lost again,
  so...
• And the family that came to visit and their
  pain. And sometimes we end up with something that
  has like a religous content. And then you can say
  that I look at my role as a chaplain, as a way to
  be a chaplain in the way that people need it. So
  if Peter wants to talk about those things because
  it is easy, this is what we do!

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Talking about values We dont talk with people
about their values. They dont say Now my values
are broken down! But they say Im affraid to
loose my children, Im affraid to die from my
children, Im affraid not to be able to manage my
job, Im affraid of... And that is to talk about
values! Values are not something abstract, they
can be understood as abtractations, but you dont
talk about it abstractly, you talk about it as
something concrete.
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Belief and guidance It goes without saying that
when people come to me, its not because they
want me to give them some pills! I try rather to
give them what I believe they are looking for,
namely a way of entering that unseen dimension
that surrounds faith, and faiths way of
addressing sickness and the self. My starting
point is what people want from me, otherwise they
wont seek me out. And I have to take it from
there. And, having come a long way, I have to
say that my impression is that it is working
pretty well.
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Belief and meaning-making

• If it is just, then it will be a punishment and
  then it will be really bad! So therefore it
  shouldnt be some kind of justice when you loose
  a child or someone dear to you.
• You can find a meaning in the situation, but
  there isnt a God-given meaning with it.

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Belief and hope

I once was sitting with my own daughter in fact,
who was just diagnosed with ancer. And that day
she was diagnosed, she went quiet for a few
seconds, and then she said Alhamduallah! I
tanhk Him who created me. She was sixteen or
seventeen art that time. And I was so happy that
she said that! Because I knew then that she would
be able to deal with it! When she handled things
in this way and her immediate response was
Alhamduallah, so she was ready.
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The importance of belief
And that is one of the most vital things in a
persons struggle with sickness and with the
healing process, that they have inside of
themselves, exactly what they need. If they dont
have it, then even a relatively minor disease can
bring down a strong person. But if one has it,
then even a major disease cannot bring down a
smaller person.
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The roles of the chaplains and imams Endure
meaninglessness Stimulating hope Streghten
beliefsystem Supply worldview
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Thank You for listening!