Spirituality and End-of-Life Care

Sign up for the self-study study (DVD and online course available). See board approvals here. This program is approved for three (3) hours of continuing education.

This program discusses the differences and relationship between spirituality and religion, while also addressing spirituality during illness, death and grief; spiritual assessment and empowerment, and life review.

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Learning Objectives

1. Define spirituality and differentiate it from religion;
2. Describe the ways that spiritual issues and spiritual coping may emerge throughout an illness and assess the ways that spirituality can complicate and facilitate end-of-life care and grief;
3. Describe the importance of spiritual assessment and demonstrate competency in spiritual assessment by describing varied approaches to spiritual assessment as well as sensitivities that should be considered in doing assessments, and themes that might emerge from a spiritual assessment;
4. Discuss and evaluate approaches to meaning-making at the end of life including reminiscence and life review, and dignity enhancement approaches;
5. Describe approaches toward helping clients utilize and enhance spiritual coping as they cope with end-of life issues, including spiritual practices, rituals, beliefs, and faith communities;
6. Define and acknowledge spiritual counter-transference;
7. Demonstrate sensitivities to the particular concerns of major faith systems toward end-of-life care.

Panelists

Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, MDiv, is a Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of The College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant to the Hospice Foundation of America. A prolific author and editor, Dr. Doka serves as editor of HFA’s Living with Grief ® book series, its Journeys newsletter, and numerous other books and publications. In addition, Dr. Doka has served as a panelist on HFA’s Living with Grief ® teleconference programs for 16 years. Dr. Doka was elected President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling in 1993. In 1995, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Work Group on Dying, Death and Bereavement and served as chair from 1997-1999. The Association for Death Education and Counseling presented him with an Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Death Education in 1998. In 2006, Dr. Doka was grandfathered in as a Mental Health Counselor under New York’s first state licensure of counselors. Dr. Doka has keynoted conferences throughout North America as well as Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and is a frequent guest on television and radio news programs. Dr. Doka is an ordained Lutheran minister.

Gary S. Fink, DMin, MAHL, DD is a pastoral counselor who specializes in bereavement, loss, and life-limiting illness. He serves as chaplain at Montgomery Hospice in Rockville, Maryland, and as Project Coordinator for the Montgomery Hospice Dementia Initiative, providing education and training for professional caregivers and families of people with dementia. Rabbi Fink teaches in the Psychology Graduate program at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and conducts classes in Ethics for the Florence Melton Continuing Education program. He was named Rabbi Emeritus of Oseh Shalom Congregation, in recognition of more than 25 years of service in the congregational ministry. Rabbi Fink earned a Doctor of Ministry degree at the Howard University School of Divinity, concentrating in end-of-life care and counseling. He holds a graduate Certificate in Thanatology.

Carolyn Jacobs, PhD, MSW, is the Dean and Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor and the Director of the Contemplative Clinical Practice Advanced Certificate Program at Smith College School for Social Work. Her areas of professional interest include religion and spirituality in social work clinical practice and organizational behavior. She has written and presented extensively on the topic of spirituality in social work. In 2001 she was elected to the National Academies of Practice as a distinguished social work practitioner. Dr. Jacobs received her B.A. from Sacramento State University, her MSW from San Diego State University, her doctorate from the Heller School of Brandeis University, and her training as a spiritual director from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. She maintains a spiritual direction practice.

Betty Kramer, PhD, MSSW, is a professor in the School of Social Work, and a member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With her colleagues, she established competencies and a national research agenda for social work research in palliative and end-of-life care. With support from the John A. Hartford and the Open Society Institute and Soros foundation, Dr. Kramer has implemented several projects relevant to improving care of the dying. She is a faculty member and mentor of a National Cancer Institute training grant. As a Fellow of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, Dr. Kramer is developing curriculum focusing on the importance of mindfulness and the use of meditation as a therapeutic intervention. She has 28 years experience with various forms of meditation, a longstanding interest in Eastern perspectives on mental health, and is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. Recent awards include the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGE-SW) Faculty Achievement Award (2004) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Distinguished Researcher Award (2008).

Reinette Powers Murray, MSN, CNS, RN, is owner of The Peaceful Journey End-of-Life Process Program. She also is certified as a Train-the-Trainer for End-of-Life Nursing Education (ELNEC). Powers Murray also serves on the Chippewa County Hospice Board. She has worked as an assistant professor of nursing at the university level, caring for patients with students and demonstrating spiritual care assessment to nursing students. Her current scholarly interests include patients’ spiritual care and end-of-life dying process. Ms. Murray has more than 14 years of experience as an emergency room RN, including two years as a hospital nurse educator. The three years of Powers-Murray’s MSN degree process culminated in the development of The Peaceful Journey—End-of-Life Process program and a refined hospice admission criteria policy for dementia patients. She recently published Spiritual Care Beliefs and Practices of Special Care and Oncology RNs at Patients’ End of Life in Jan/Feb. 2010 edition of Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing.

Martha Rutland, DMin, BCC, ACPE, is Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at VITAS Innovative Hospice Care where she has built one of the largest clinical pastoral education (CPE) programs in the country. Rev. Rutland implemented the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education accreditation process for the system, wrote the student handbook, created advisory groups, built an end-of-life curriculum with web page and educated VITAS management on how to work with a CPE program. She oversees 14 ACPE supervisors and supervisors-in-training, coordinating and conducting the CPE education, training and practical experience for students at more than 24 VITAS programs. Prior to joining VITAS, Rev. Rutland supervised CPE at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Good Samaritan Retirement Community in Kissimmee and at Hospice of Volusia/Flagler in Port Orange, Florida. In 1995, she received the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)’s Award of Excellence for staff development and education. Rev. Rutland is a United Methodist minister, a board-certified chaplain with the Association for Professional Chaplains and has taught at the Florida Center for Theological Studies. She is a member of the spiritual care Steering Committee of NHPCO and on the Cabinet of Liaisons for the Association of Professional Chaplains with NHPCO.

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