Symposium VII

Spiritual Care in Bavarian Jewish Communities

Michael Petery

The Spiritual Care Department of the Clinic for Palliative Medicine at the LMU Munich University prepared the first study ever designed to observe the situation of ill and dying people in Bavarian Jewish communities. It is an empirical study based on qualitative interviews. The participants, rabbis, community leaders, social workers etc. are all actively involved in Jewish communities and responsible for providing end of life care. The conducted interviews (21) indicated the importance of maintaining the maximal life-quality until the very end in terms of Judaism. The communication regarding the religious aspects or questions should according to the experts, be provided based on an explicit wish of the patient.

Translation and Validation of Shalom questionnaire Hebrew Version

Nahum Elhai

Introduction:
The current study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of a Hebrew version of the Shalom health and spiritual well-being questionnaire (Fisher, 2010). Shalom is one of the few research tools that include a multi-dimensional concept of spirituality and differentiate between spirituality and religiosity.

The questionnaire is based on a spiritual health model developed by Fisher and Gomez (2003), which examines the quality of relationship people have with regard to four existing dimensions: Personal, Communal, Environmental, and Transcendental. The questionnaire consists of 20 items; each requests a double reference: one of value and the other of the degree of realization this value has in the respondent's everyday life.

Method:
1. The Shalom questionnaire was translated into Hebrew according to accepted procedure.
2. A research questionnaire was built containing Shalom and addition of variables for validity assessment.
3. The questionnaire was distributed anonymously online, and 350 questionnaires were filled out by individuals from ages 19 to 90.

Tools:
1. The structure factor was evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with Varimax rotation.
2. Construct validity was examined by testing correlations between relevant variables.
3. Internal reliability was tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

Results:
1. Factor analysis supported the four-factor structure of Shalom as reported by Fisher (2010).
2. Construct validity was supported by negative correlation with death anxiety and depression, and positive correlation with the will to live, life satisfaction, and general well-being.
3. High reliability coefficients were received for the overall scale (0.90), as well as for each of the four factors (0.80-0.94).

Conclusions:
The results of this research show that the Hebrew version of the Shalom questionnaire is valid and reliable and can be used with confidence in studies of spirituality. We are pleased to add this Hebrew version to the research toolbox in Israel.

References:
Fisher, J. (2010). Development and Application of a Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire Called SHALOM. Religions, 1, 105-121.
Gomez, R., & Fisher, J.W. (2003). Domains of spiritual well-being and development and validation of the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1975-1991.

Slides:

Carol Gilligan's Listening Guideas a Method for Spiritual Assessment

Naomi Kalish

Spiritual Care providers and researchers are tasked with formulating understandings of the people they encounter that informs their provision of care, educational programs, policies, and ongoing research. They must articulate understandings of spirituality and spiritual care in order to do such assessments. In this paper, the presenter will introduce participants to a tool for such a task: the Listening Guide Method, developed by acclaimed developmental psychologist Carol Gilligan. In the latter half of the twentieth century Gilligan published In a Different Voice, contributing not only new knowledge about psychological development, but a revolutionary approach to research methodology. Since the publication of this landmark book, Gilligan’s method for discovery research has been developed and used by scholars internationally and across disciplines.

Gilligan’s characterization of her method ‘discovery research’ is especially apropos to emerging fields, such as spiritual care, and to critiquing already established fields, such as psychology. This method can provide the crucial, oven over-looked step of questioning of basic assumptions. In this presentation the presenter will also provide examples of how researchers can use Gilligan’s Listening Guide Method can lead to the development of spiritual assessment tools. The presenter will demonstrate the relevance of such a method for developing and using spiritual care tools in culturally and religiously diverse contexts.

Workshop Objectives:
1. To learn the history and context of Carol Gilligan’s psychological theories and how they inform her research methods
2. To make the steps of The Listening Guide Method
3. To make an application of Gilligan’s theories and methods to spiritual assessment
4. To relate the relevance of The Listening Guide Method to cultural competency

References:
Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982)
Gilligan, C. and M. K. Weinberg, R. Spencer, and T. Bertsch, “On the Listening Guide: A Voice-Centered, Relational Method,” in Qualitative Research in Psychology: Expanding Perspectives in Methodology and Design (American Psychological Association Press, 2003)
Hartman, T., Appropriately Subversive: Modern Mothers in Traditional Religions (Cambride, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003)
Loots, G. and K. Coppens, and J. Sermijn, “Practising a rhizomatic perspective in narrative research” in Andrews, M., Squire C. & Tamboukou, M. Doing Narrative Research (2nd edition). (London: Sage Publications, 2013)

"Quality of Life" vs. "Sanctity of Life" - Traditional Jewish Spiritual Perspectives on Current Trends in Hospice and Palliative Care

Jay Yaakov Schwartz

The Jewish community in the United States and Israel has been grappling with the process of end-of-life medical decision making as part of Hospital and Hospice for the last two decades, especially in situations when secular medical ethics might seem to be at odds with Jewish medical Ethics and spiritual considerations.

New Palliative care research initiatives are currently studying how to serve Traditional Jewish patients in Hospice and Palliative care settings ways that are consistent with serving their spiritual concerns and cultural orientation.

We will present actual case studies and the conclusions of these scientific research studies conducted in New York from 2003-2007 and explain the unique perspective of Judaism on these issues.