1. Aveling, Leigh, Scott Lee, Vaughan Grant
An Assessment of Whole Person Care among Diabetic Patients
Loma Linda University Medical Center, ongoing
This research aims at assessing the role of religion and spirituality among diabetic patients in their attempt at coping with this illness. Its focus is the affect of spirituality on compliance and wholeness in patients with diabetes. Because compliance to diet, exercise and general health is so important in the treatment of diabetes we hope to ascertain that patients who have a well-grounded spiritual / religious life are generally more compliant and thereby more likely to be less affected by diabetes.
2. McMillan, Kathy
Emotional, Relational, and Spiritual Factors Contributing to Nurses' Perception of Wholeness in the Workplace
Loma Linda University Medical Center, ongoing
The mission of Loma Linda University Medical Center is "to make man whole".
Much time and discussion has been devoted to whole person care of the patient. Less emphasis has been placed on the personal wholeness of employees. As a result, some staff have verbalized that they feel "like they are trying to pour out of an empty cup."
In today's health-care environment, nurses are being asked to do more with less. Stress increases with heavy workloads, difficult interpersonal relations with staff and patients, and personal issues. In light of the institution's mission, there is an opportunity to find ways in the work setting to support nurses in their quest for personal wholeness. This research project aims to identify factors that nurses believe help enhance personal wholeness in the workplace. The findings of this project will provide health-care administrators with information that will help in formulating plans for caring for nurses in the future.
3. Seyle, Bryn, & Sorajjakool, Siroj
A Study of Constructed Meanings in the Face of Illness among Cancer
Patients
Loma Linda University & Medical Center, ongoing
It is a part of human nature to try and make sense out of life; out of experiences
both good and bad. However, when confronted with crisis, individuals often
question the meaning of existence. It is easy to see meaning when things are
going well. Yet, when one faces intolerable pain, how is it possible to integrate
the experience of pain with meaningful existence? A common experience among
chaplains is to observe how patients try to find explanation for their pain
in such a way that will affirm their sense of self. Reflecting on these experiences
it is perhaps reasonable to say that pain is only intolerable when it is totally
meaningless. Finding meaning in illness is a core spiritual issue for patients.
The hunch is that we often construct meaning when we are confronted with an
illness that is life threatening or that results in a major loss. This research
will provide opportunities for patients interviewed to reflect on their spiritual
journey, as well as furthering our understanding of the role of spirituality
as a tool that enables one to deal with major crisis in life.
4. Toledo, Gerardo
Prostitutes' Understanding of God, Christianity, Church, and Religious Beliefs
This is a qualitative study involving prostitutes in Latin America. Fifteen prostitutes in Ecuador will be interviewed in order to gain an understanding of their views on God, Christianity, church, and other religious beliefs. The goal is to fully understand prostitutes as whole people; spiritual individuals whose value has been often overlooked, and to be able to better provide spiritual care, as well as much needed food, shelter, and health-care needs. It is important to know where these women are coming from on a spiritual level in order to be able to effectively provide help in both the spiritual and practical aspects of their lives. By interviewing these women, it is hoped that their perspectives will provide a clearer understanding so that the gospel can be presented in a way that is both understandable and relevant to their lives.
5. Rice, Phillip
A Qualitative and Experiential Strategy for Ministering to Patients
and Their Families of Three Cultures and Spiritual Traditions
Desert Samaritan Medical Center, Mesa, AZ, ongoing
This study involves interviewing five people each of three religious persuasions: Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and Mormon (15 total). Literature on each of the religious persuasions will be reviewed regarding (but not limited to) major beliefs, rituals and ceremonies, dietary practices, pregnancy and birth, health and healing concerns (decisions about blood products, vaccines, biopsies, etc.). From this research an intervention guide will be developed for the purpose of ministering effectively to patients and families of each religious persuasion. This guide will help caregivers integrate an awareness of and sensitivity to the above mentioned issues in matters such as bedside etiquette, family relations, funerary etiquette, and infant etiquette. These three intervention designs will then be tested on at least three patients from each religious group (9 total). This project will culminate with a final report of all learnings and a literature review.
6. Rathbun, Pamela
Music Therapy as it Pertains to Anxiety Reduction in Hospital Patients
Loma Linda University Medical Center
This study initially focuses on how music therapy helps to diminish anxiety
in general, and narrows from there to investigate how it might benefit anxious
mothers on the path to labor and delivery. More study in this area has been
done recently as interest in the discipline has increased. However, as we know
from ancient ecclesiastical wisdom, there is nothing new under the sun. The
use of music to calm the soul can be traced as far back as David playing his
harp for Saul, and more recently in some of the rhetorical accounts by Aristotle
and Plato.
Few would deny the healing effect music can have, but not many realize to what
extent music can benefit those in need of healing. Some have called music the
language of the heart; those who know about the wonders of music as a form
of therapy might call it the language of healing. It is exciting to imagine
the possibilities that can emerge from the marriage of science and art in this
field.
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Last Revised: Thu, May 31, 2007