Ai Amy L, McCormick Thomas R
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
J Health Care Chaplain. 2009;16(1-2):24-41. doi: 10.1080/08854720903496126.
Chaplains serving in the health care context provide a ministry to dying patients of inestimable worth as they comfort patients in the last chapter of the journey by being present, listening, and caring. Chaplains also play another important role, helping patients clarify ways in which their beliefs and values might influence health care decisions. This paper reviewed the current trends of spiritual diversity alongside the aging of a large Baby Boomer cohort. Chaplains may be challenged as they participate in the decision-making process, or as they support familes who make decisions about the care of loved ones nearing the end of life. Many of those who seek health care and comfort as the end of life approaches will bring a startling diversity of nonbelief, beliefs, and diverse religious and spiritual practices. This pattern of diversity will profoundly affect patients' decision-making around end-of-life issues. Case studies are used to illustrate possibilities for the chaplain's role at the bedside in the face of such diversity. The dimensional information of a new scale is presented for chaplains to assess diverse afterlife beliefs. As chaplains renew their studies of the worlds living religions, they will be better equipped to serve the needs of this large and spiritually diverse population.
在医疗环境中服务的牧师为临终患者提供了一项具有不可估量价值的事工，他们通过陪伴、倾听和关怀，在患者人生旅程的最后篇章中给予慰藉。牧师还扮演着另一个重要角色，帮助患者厘清其信仰和价值观可能影响医疗决策的方式。本文回顾了随着婴儿潮一代大量人群老龄化而出现的精神多样性的当前趋势。牧师在参与决策过程时，或者在支持那些为接近生命尽头的亲人做出护理决策的家庭时，可能会面临挑战。许多在生命接近尽头时寻求医疗护理和慰藉的人会带来令人惊讶的非信仰、信仰以及各种宗教和精神实践的多样性。这种多样性模式将深刻影响患者围绕临终问题的决策。案例研究用于说明面对这种多样性时牧师在床边所扮演角色的可能性。为牧师提供了一种新量表的维度信息，以评估各种来世信仰。随着牧师重新研究世界上现存的宗教，他们将更有能力满足这一庞大且精神信仰多样的人群的需求。
