Clinical Pastoral Education Unit Research Articles

Change in Pastoral Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Self-reflection, and Social Desirability Across a Unit of CPE

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is experiential learning of the art and science of pastoral care. CPE students increase capacities in psychological strengths such as self-awareness and empathy, and improve skills in interpersonal and inter-professional relationships. Previous research has documented different kinds of change and experiences for students depending on the length of the CPE unit (short/intensive vs. long/extended). The current study involves CPE students who have taken either an intensive unit or an extended unit and compares the average amount of change in pastoral skills, emotional intelligence, self-reflection, and insight while controlling for the influence of social desirability. Intensive and extended unit students were different from each other in terms of age and experience, beginning level of pastoral skill, and amount of change in the measured abilities. Limitations and strengths of this study and the need for future research are discussed.

What I Wish I'd Known: Initial Insights about Oncology Chaplaincy

Chaplaincy Today • Volume 23 Number 1 • Spring/Summer 2007 For my third unit of clinical pastoral education (CPE), I asked to work in oncology. I quickly found that oncology chaplaincy offered unique challenges for which I was unprepared. Prior to starting my first internship as an oncology chaplain, I looked in vain for the equivalent of “Oncology Chaplaincy for Beginners” to guide me. Although I still have much to learn, after two units as an oncology chaplain, I believe I have enough experience to safely share some of what I’ve learned, specifically how this specialty differs from other types of chaplaincy. I hope my experience will be helpful to chaplains beginning work in this area.

Existential, Theological, and Psychological Concepts of Death: A Personal Retrospective

Before Freud, the study of death belonged strictly in the contexts of religion and philosophy, but in the 20th Century, death and dying began to enter into dialogue with the social sciences of psychology and sociology. The existentialists began to portray death differently in their literary-based philosophy, and by the end of the century four major American writers had dealt squarely with death in a theological framework. The author's own personal experiences and academic endeavors frame this evolution in theories about death and dying, beginning with a Master's thesis in college and ending with a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in a shock trauma hospital. In this article the mystery of death is examined from three distinct points of view: literary (including existentialism, a philosophy as literature), theological and psychological, based upon the author's career as a professor of literature, as seminary student, and as a recent participant in Clinical Pastoral Education. An attempt at a synthesis of these three strands of inquiry is made at the end of this personal and academic journey.

Utilizing a JCAHO review in the education of clinical pastoral education CPE residents.

Reflects on how a pastoral care department utilized a Joint Commission review in the education of five pastoral care residents enrolled in their third unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in a medical center. Outlines how residents prepared for the review, the learning opportunities for residents and medical staff, the outcomes, and the recommendations.

From Clinic to Classroom: Power of Experiential Learning

In 1993, after working twenty years as a clinical pastoral counselor and edu cator, I became a full-time teacher in Department of Religious Studies of a small liberal arts college. My academic responsibilities involved teaching both traditional and nontraditional students, in graduate and undergraduate courses. As I prepared to teach, my intuitive sense was that strongest asset I brought to this work was my experience in clinical setting, as student, educator, and practi tioner. The challenge that emerged in my new role was how best to use that experi ence?without turning teaching into ther apy or classroom into clinic. As a third-year seminary student at University of Chicago in 1971,1 took my first unit of clinical pastoral education (CPE), a program that began in 1920s, under direction of Anton Boisen. Boisen, a Presbyterian minister then serv ing as chaplain at Worcester State Hospi tal in Massachusetts, together with Richard Cabot, a cardiologist at Harvard Medical School, founded Council for Clinical Training of Theological Stu dents, organization that ultimately became American Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (Stokes 1985; Thornton 1970). Drawing heavily on the methods of

The clinical rhombus revisited: learning through resistance and change.

Illustrates via the monitoring of an actual unit of Clinical Pastoral Education the reality of the clinical rhombus--a conceptual model that depicts the complex psychological and social nature of the learning environment. Shows how CPE supervisors utilize the clinical rhombus intentionally and unintentionally. Uses a case study to demonstrate the critical and creative possibilities for change when the rhombus is related to the project of pastoral formation.

Compact CPE: a full unit of clinical pastoral education in 27 days.

Details a four-week Basic Clinical Pastoral Education Unit. Gives a rationale for the abbreviated unit. Notes positive factors as well as limitations of such an educational experience and urges other CPE supervisors to try the compact approach. Critical responses follow the article.

Compact CPE: A Full Unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in 27 Days

Compact CPE: A Full Unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in 27 Days

Compact CPE: A Full Unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in 27 Days

Compact CPE: A Full Unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in 27 Days

A Jewish experience of clinical pastoral education.

Presents a personal account of a Rabbi going through a Clinical Pastoral Education unit. Notes the difficulties, resistances, and discomforts associated with a learning experience in which theology, language, and ecclesiastical forms are Christian. Concludes that despite such differences and difficulties, the CPE experience can lead to a variety of important learnings.

CPE in a geriatric facility: an excellent setting for the basic unit.

Argues that a geriatric facility offers critical and central experiences in the learning of pastoral care and in the formation of pastoral identities, thus providing an excellent setting for a basic Clinical Pastoral Education unit. Supports this perspective in terms of the character of the context and the impact of that character on CPE students, particularly regarding initiative required, the many opportunities offered for reflection, and the challenge of dealing with discouragement and despair.

The Minnesota Couples Communication Program and clinical pastoral education.

Describes the use of The Minnesota Couples Communication Program (MCCP) as part of a Clinical Pastoral Education unit's efforts to assist CPE students grow in communication skills, Notes four styles of communication and five modes of awareness and how these may lead to the establishment of more adequate communication and shared meaning. Observes that workshops using the MCCP may help pastors to initiate and improve their pastoral activities.