Date
11-17-2022
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
Chair
Thomas Keiser
Keywords
self-care, resiliency, Emory
Disciplines
Religion
Recommended Citation
Neal, Shelly Marie, "Building Resiliency and Effective Self-Care Among Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital Chaplains" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 3958.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/3958
Abstract
Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital chaplains have been tasked with an intricate role in providing spiritual care in the most critical and emotionally intense situations to others, however, they lacked providing that same level of care to themselves. Through the six-week research study chaplains were educated on implementing proper self-care practices and resiliency techniques, thus enabling the chaplains to be emotionally, spiritually, and physically healthy. Each week, the participants were asked to continue implementing the prescribed week’s practice and technique in addition to the previous week’s practice and technique. The participants who implemented Parker’s five self-care practices (faith, work-life harmony, meditation and prayer, physical health, and personal development) and Howard’s five resilient techniques (spirituality, support system, optimistic mindset, healthy lifestyle and giving to others), were shown to have positively impacted the chaplains’ emotional, spiritual, and physical health. No longer will hospital chaplains abandon and neglect their physical, emotional, and spiritual health as they work in the hospital environment. Instead, the hospital chaplains are led to the notion that when physically, emotionally, and spiritually balanced, they create a conducive atmosphere for healing. Education, alongside implementation of the essential self-care practices, sustained the hospital chaplains amid the hectic medical environment.
