Spiritual Guidance of Patients, Families and Medical Staff during Paediatric End of Life Care
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.32146Keywords:
Active presence, Chaplain’s role, communication skills, paediatric death, remembrance, transcendentAbstract
This article offers four aspects of care that the chaplain caring for children in end of life situations in the Hungarian Christian context have found useful. It provides insights gained from accompanying about 100 children, their families and their medical staff on their end of life journey. Hospital chaplaincy is a new discipline in Hungarian health care. Using the tools of theology and psychology, the hospital chaplain strives to assist the individual in facing death and in working through the pain caused by bereavement. The four aspects of care in the chaplain’s hand to achieve this goal are the chaplain’s active presence (conversation/silence, sharing the burden of dying and death), promoting adequate communication (between patient/family member, patient/medical staff, family member/medical staff), creating opportunities to remember the deceased (photo frame, memorial service, contributing to the book of memories, follow up a er the child’s death) and assisting in turning to the transcendent (Bible stories, play, sacred songs and rituals).
References
Darby, K., P. Nash and S. Nash (2014) “Parents’ Spiritual and Religious Needs in Young Oncology”. Cancer Nursing Practice 13(4): 16–22. https://doi.org/10.7748/cnp2014.05.13.4.16.e1082
—(2014) “Understanding and Responding to Spiritual and Religious Needs of Young People with Cancer”. Cancer Nursing Practice 13(2): 32–37. https://doi.org/10.7748/cnp2014.03.13.2.32.e1059
Guill, B., and J. Hartford-Todd (2002) Things to Consider… When Your Child has a Terminal Illness. Durham, NC: The Brain Tumor Family Support Center at Duke University Medical Center.
Hart, R., and J. Rollins (2011) Therapeutic Activities for Children and Teens Coping with Health Issues. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hesch, J. B. (1987) Clinical Pastoral Care for Hospitalized Children and Their Families. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.
Hézser, G. (2007) Pasztorálpszichológiai szempontok az istentisztelet útkereséséhez (Approaching Worship from the Perspective of Pastoral Psychology). Budapest: Kálvin Kiadó.
Kádár, A. (2012) Mesepszichológia: Az érzelmi intelligencia fejlesztése gyermekkorban (The Psychology of Storytelling: Developing Emotional Intelligence in Childhood). Budapest: Kulcslyuk Kiadó.
O’Malley, P., I. Barata and S. Snow (2014) “Death of a Child in the Emergency Department”. American Academy of Pediatrics 134(1): 313–30.
Pilling, J., ed. (2003) Gyász (Grief). Budapest: Medicina Könyvkiadó Rt.
Polcz, A. (2007) Meghalok én is? A halál és a gyermek (Will I also die? Death and the child). Pécs: Jelenkor Kiadó.
Thienprayoon, R., R. Campbell and N. Winick (2015) “Attitudes and Practices in the Bereavement Care Offered by Children’s Hospitals: A Survey of the Pediatric Chaplains Network”. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying 71(1): 48–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222814568287
