Sarah E Koss|Ross Weissman|Vinca Chow|Patrick Smith|Bethany Slack|Vitaliy L. Voytenko|Tracy A. Balboni|Michael J. Balboni
Training Community Clergy in Serious Illness: Balancing Faith and Medicine
Episcopal Divinity School|Dana-Farber Cancer Institute|Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center|Harvard University|Emmanuel College - Massachusetts|Wheaton College - Illinois|Dana-Farber Cancer Institute|Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
communitybased clergy highly engaged helping seriously ill patients address spiritual concerns end life eol desire eol training data exist guiding conceptualize clergytraining program objective study used identify best practices eol training program community clergy part national clergy project endoflife care project conducted key informant interviews focus groups active clergy five us states california illinois massachusetts new york texas diverse purposive sample 35 active clergy representing preidentified racial educational theological denominational categories hypothesized associated intensive utilization medical care eol assessed suggested curriculum structure content clergy eol training interviews focus groups purpose qualitative analysis thematic analysis identified key themes around curriculum structure curriculum content issues tension curriculum structure included ideas targeting clergy well lay congregational leaders found clergy open combining resources religious healthbased institutions curriculum content included clergy desires educational topics increasing medical literacy reviewing pastoral counseling approaches finally clergy identified challenging barriers eol training needing openly discussed including difficulties collaborating medical teams surrounding issues trust role miracles caution prognostication future eol training desired needed communitybased clergy partnering together religiousmedical training programs consider curricula sensitive toward structure desired content perceived clergy tensions