Suchergebnisse

People are now more liberated to give meaning to their life and to select values they deem important. What effect does this have on conversations about meaning and spirituality with the upcoming generation? Nowadays, shared religious and church practices are not as prevalent as they once were. Is a personal testimony of how meaning and spirituality have developed in one's own life the or a way of communicating something to children, pupils, and students? One way of sharing a testimony is the 'spiritual autobiography', a practice that was developed in the US and later brought to the Netherlands by Jannet Delver. It is now used in universities and higher vocational schools. Also for group discussions with clients, writing and sharing one's spiritual biography has been found to contribute to (re)finding sources of strength in difficult times.
In this book, the method is applied in an intergenerational context through a series of letters between the editor and his daughters Elsemarijn and Janneleen, along with an accompanying discussion. Additionally, many professionals and scientists provide their – personal – perspectives.
Living as a search for the meaning of life need not be laborious, but rather engaging and contagious.

In the Netherlands, a growing number of spiritual care givers are working without being endorsed by any church or worldview organization. Since 2015, these non-denominational spiritual care givers can undergo an assessment of their "spiritual competence" on top of their Master's degree in Spiritual Care, which leads to a mandate in this area. This enables them to obtain full membership of the professional Association of Spiritual Caregivers in the Netherlands (Vereniging van Geestelijk VerZorgers, VGVZ), from which they previously were excluded. The VGVZ seeks to secure the quality and professionalism of spiritual care, and full membership is a condition typically required by clients or employers. The VGVZ's Professional Standard outlines the membership criteria and states that a spiritual care giver needs to have both a certain expertise, derived from a Master's degree, and authorization, derived from an endorsement or mandate that ought to safeguard their spiritual competence and authentic, lived spirituality. However, as this study illustrates, the terminology used in the Professional Standard is rather unclear. Reference is made to "spiritual", "worldview" and "hermeneutic" competencies, which are all situated in the domain of substantive, process-orientated and personal capabilities. This article critically examines the notion of spiritual competence as a leading concept in the acceptance and assessment of non-denominational spiritual care givers. By doing so, it offers a novel systematic analysis of the field and sets the agenda for future research.

"If it is not charted: it did not happen." The charting of healthcare chaplaincy contacts in patient files has been controversially discussed in the literature in recent years. In particular, entries in digital medical records raise questions among pastoral care managers about confidentiality, data protection regulations and managerial interests.
The European White Paper on charting in healtcare chaplaincy argues that charting chaplaincy contacts with patients and relatives (1) makes their spiritual needs visible, (2) contributes to improved interprofessional communication about chaplaincy and (3) makes the work of chaplains transparant. Charting improves the quality of care for patients, promotes the professionalism of chaplaincy and facilitates interdisciplinary exchange and multi-professional cooperation. It should be noted that entries in patient files should be made as if the patient were reading them. Descriptions must be adequate, understandable and concrete: The reason for the contact, assessment, changes resulting from the contact, interventions made and further planning are five steps of patient-centred pastoral care documentation. They respect patient rights and the principles of clinical ethics. In each case, questions of the software used, access rights and the use of the collected data material need to be clarified.
The documentation of chaplaincy contacts can improve the relationship between patient and chaplain if it is included in the care. Last but not least, chaplaincy charting creates a data basis for practice-oriented research and training and for the development of the profession.