Outline:
Module 1: Introduction
1. Introduction
2. An Overview of Spirituality and Health
3. Definitions of Spirituality and Spiritual Care
4. Evidence
5. Spiritual Care Guidelines and Models
6. The Role of Healthcare Professionals in Providing Spiritual Care
7. Course Summary
Instructor: Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, CHPNChristina Puchalski, MD, MS, OCDS, FACP, FAAHPM, is a pioneer and international leader in the movement to integrate spirituality into healthcare in clinical settings and medical education. Dr. Puchalski is the founder and Director of the George Washington University's Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish) and Professor of Medicine at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Dr. Puchalski is board certified in palliative care and internal medicine, directs an interdisciplinary outpatient supportive and palliative clinic and is a Medical Hospice Director in Washington, DC.
Through her innovative curricular development including the development of the widely used spiritual history tool FICA she continues to break new ground in the understanding and integration of spiritual care in healthcare settings as an essential element of whole-person care. GWish is recognized for fostering alliances globally to further interprofessional spiritual care including the Global Network for Spirituality and Health.
Dr. Puchalski has authored numerous book chapters and published a book with Oxford University Press entitled Time for Listening and Caring: Spirituality and the Care of the Seriously Ill and Dying. She co-authored Making Health Care Whole with Dr. Betty Ferrell, based on consensus work resulting in guidelines for interprofessional spiritual care. She is co-editor of an international textbook on spirituality and health published by Oxford University Press and the Handbook of Supportive Oncology and Palliative Care: Whole-Person Adult and Pediatric Care.
Her work has been featured on numerous print and television media. Her scholarship focuses on palliative care, spirituality and health and compassionate care as part of whole person health. She is recognized for her work in developing interdisciplinary educational curricula and innovated models of care. In 2018, Dr. Puchalski was named as one of "30 Visionaries" in the field by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, CHPN, has been in nursing for 40 years and has focused her clinical expertise and research in pain management, quality of life, and palliative care. Dr. Ferrell is the Director of Nursing Research and Education and a Professor at the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and she has over 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals and texts. She is Principal Investigator of a Research Project funded by the National Cancer Institute on Palliative Care for Patients with Solid Tumors on Phase 1 Clinical Trials and Principal Investigator of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) project. She directs several other funded projects related to palliative care in cancer centers and quality of life issues. Dr. Ferrell is Co-Chairperson of the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care. Dr. Ferrell completed a master's degree in Theology, Ethics, and Culture from Claremont Graduate University in 2007. She has authored eleven books including the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Nursing published by Oxford University Press (4th edition published in 2015). She is co-author of the text, The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Nursing published in 2008 by Oxford University Press and Making Health Care Whole: Integrating Spirituality into Patient Care (Templeton Press, 2010). In 2013 Dr. Ferrell was named one of the 30 Visionaries in the field by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.Instructor: Najmeh Jafari, MD, MPH, GHC
Instructor: Anne Vandenhoeck, PhDNajmeh Jafari, MD, MPH, GHC is the Research Program Director at the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish). She is a board-certified Community and Preventive Medicine physician from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Iran and holds a Master of Public Health and Global Health Certificate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMASS). Prior to joining GWish, she served as the Director of communicable and non-communicable diseases; and a Lecturer at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) where she taught bioethics, whole person care, clinical epidemiology, and leadership in public health and preventive medicine to medical and dental students and residents.
Dr. Jafari's primary research interest is improving the bio-psycho-social and spiritual well-being of patients with serious illness and family caregivers through the integration of interprofessional spiritual care and supporting healthcare professionals in their provision of compassionate care. She was the principal investigator of a randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of an integrated spiritual therapy intervention on improving spiritual well-being and quality of life of Muslim women with breast cancer. She has also collaborated in an international study to identify the spiritual care needs and preferences of palliative care patients' and cross-cultural experiences of spiritual care.
Najmeh serves on the Leader's council of the Global Network for Spirituality and Health (GNSAH) and collaborated in developing the Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum (ISPEC) and is actively involved in the evaluation and dissemination of this program.
Dr. Jafari has also participated in the broader academic community through several publications in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, presentations in national and international conferences, and editorial services.
Anne Vandenhoeck, PhD, is a Professor of Pastoral care and pastoral theology, chair of the academic centre for practical theology KU Leuven (Belgium), founding member of the European Research Center for Chaplaincy and former coordinator of the European Network for Healthcare Chaplaincy. As a Belgian Catholic chaplain, she worked for more than 13 years in several hospitals: General Hospital A.Z. Damiaan in Oostende (2 years), University Hospital UZ. Gasthuisberg (10 years), CPE in UCSF San Francisco (3 months), Barnes Jewish Hospital St. Louis Missouri (1 year). She holds a PhD in Pastoral Theology and in addition to her academic work she is a board member of the professional association for catholic chaplains in Belgium. Professor Vandenhoeck is an internationally recognized leader in chaplaincy and spiritual care.Instructor: Tracy Balboni, MD, MPH, FAAHPM
Tracy Balboni, MD, MPH, FAAHPM, currently serves as an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School, and acts as Director of the Supportive and Palliative Radiation Oncology Service at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center - a service dedicated to the palliative radiation oncology needs of cancer patients. Dr. Balboni provides leadership to the Initiative on Health, Religion and Spirituality at Harvard University. Her primary research interests are located at the intersection of oncology, palliative care, and the role of religion and spirituality in the experience of life-threatening illness. Her work also includes forging improved dialogue between academic theology, religious communities, and the field of medicine.