Pastoral Support Research Articles

The Use of Pastoral Support Programmes Within Schools

This small‐scale study explored some aspects of the use of Pastoral Support Programmes, which were introduced by the DfEE in 1999 to promote social inclusion by reducing school exclusions. Issues explored were the level of involvement of educational psychologists (EPs), pupils, parents and other agencies, the conceptualisations of Pastoral Support Programmes held by senior school staff, and the factors that EPs associated with successful outcomes. The results revealed a wide degree of variation across all aspects investigated and the study recommends further research on determining and disseminating best practice in this area, and especially the role that EPs should play in the process.

Faith, hope and love - a missionary perspective on three seminal motifs in 1 Thessalonians 1: 3

Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians is often regarded as providing pastoral support to them in a time of anxiety and stress. Focussing on the introductory part of the thanksgiving in 1 Thessalonians 1: 2-5, this article investigates facets of the text that are neglected because of this reading. It analyses certain qualities ascribed to the Thessalonian believers in the first part of the thanksgiving. The qualities are first of all investigated in their general religious sense and, secondly, in terms of their results. In a concluding section the function of this portrait is spelled out. Keywords: 1 Thessalonians 1: 3, Exegesis, Mission, 1 Tessalonisense 1: 3, Eksegese, Sending Acta Theologica Vol.22(1) 2003: 36-53

Faith-Based Health Education Project

Working with faith communities in health promotion is widely acclaimed and yet not readily practiced. This article describes a study conducted among four faith communities to determine the process required for sustainable faith-based programs. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among 12 community volunteers who participated to identify their perceptions of the project. Two staff members were also interviewed to identify the process from their perspectives. Project-related documents were also analyzed to provide details and triangulate the data from the interviews. The study followed the project for 2 ½ years. Several factors were identified as significant influences on participation and project sustainability. These included value, active pastoral support, program success, and volunteer commitment. The results of this study indicate that pastoral support and faith community ownership are critical components that should be included in faith-based community building efforts.

Faith-Based Health Education Project

Working with faith communities in health promotion is widely acclaimed and yet not readily practiced. This article describes a study conducted among four faith communities to determine the process required for sustainable faith-based programs. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among 12 community volunteers who participated to identify their perceptions of the project. Two staff members were also interviewed to identify the process from their perspectives. Project-related documents were also analyzed to provide details and triangulate the data from the interviews. The study followed the project for 2 ½ years. Several factors were identified as significant influences on participation and project sustainability. These included value, active pastoral support, program success, and volunteer commitment. The results of this study indicate that pastoral support and faith community ownership are critical components that should be included in faith-based community building efforts.

Una Perspectiva Diferente: Latin Americans and the Global Mission Movement

Missionaries from Latin American countries make up a small but powerful part of the global mission movement. With advantages drawn from their countries' weaker economies, their own cultural and historic background, and their familiarity with migrant work, Latin Americans could soon prove invaluable in areas “resistant” to Western missionaries. Yet if this dynamic force is to reach its full potential, the Latin American church must address problems such as deficiencies of financial and pastoral support, and lack of adequate, culturally appropriate training programs.

Sexual Abuse of Women by Priests and Ministers to Whom They Go for Pastoral Care and Support

This paper documents the growing awareness of the sexual exploitation of women who seek help from priests and ministers. Over the six years that MACSAS (Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors) has been in existence, 100 women and three men have contacted the organisation concerning sexual abuse as adults by clergy and ministers. Typically leaders of Christian denominations to whom they have reported this abuse characterise it as 'an affair' and often blame women for seducing male clergy. Drawing from literature on the sexual abuse of clients by professionals, this paper vigorously calls for clergy and ministers to be regarded as professionals and for women and men who seek the pastoral help of clergy to be viewed as clients. Concepts of 'vulnerability' and 'consent' are also explored in order to clarify the nature of clergy abuse.

The Pastoral Pool: an evaluation of a new system of pastoral care provision.

Medical students experience significant stress and stress-related problems. The benefits of support during training are described in this paper. Recently, student support systems have become increasingly stretched as medical schools merge, courses become modular and staff face increasing clinical and research pressures. The pastoral support system at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine has been changed in response to an evaluation of the old system of personal tutors. Pastoral care is now provided by a group of willing staff members known to have an interest in student welfare. The group is known as the 'Pastoral Pool' (PP). Students and staff PP members completed similar questionnaires addressing their expectations of the PP and identifying the need for support systems in general. Pastoral Pool activity was investigated using confidential record sheets stating the frequency, duration and content of each PP encounter. Students were aware of the PP and many would consider using it. Staff and students agreed over the functions of the PP. Students frequently expressed concerns over confidentiality within the system. Uptake was low, with only 3% of students approaching the PP and the majority of PP work performed by only two staff members. The content of meetings was often multifactorial and usually on a subject within the PP remit. The PP is beneficial because pastoral care is provided only by dedicated staff members with an interest in student welfare. Membership is small enough to enable staff training and development. However, the system relies on self-referral by students. Rather than preventing problems arising, it therefore provides secondary support to those students insightful enough to identify their problems and motivated enough to seek help.

Medical students' compliance with simple administrative tasks and success in final examinations: retrospective cohort study

Medical students at the University of Sheffield are asked to provide a recent passport photograph at the start of their paediatric module. The pictures are collated, photocopied, and distributed to...

Care Teams and Pastoral Professionals: Response to the Health Care Changes of this Decade

Demographic changes already in motion will result in unprecedented population changes in the next four decades and beyond for which we have little time to prepare. In particular, as the population aged 65 and over grows, a significant cohort will manifest health-related needs of older age. Even in families with adequate health insurance, confronted with the chronic illness of loved ones, the need for continuous in-home support, including pastoral care, will become dire. For many families whose situations are complicated by low incomes, under-insurance, and membership of minority populations, pastoral support will tax their congregations beyond present capabilities. Interfaith Care Partners' Care Team model of in-home pastoral support is the most effective means of delivering the pastoral support such families need. It calls for a creative linking of hospital out-patient services with individuals' congregations, and, particularly, of a stronger connection between hospital chaplaincy services and community clergy.

Parents' and pupils' causal attributions for difficult classroom behaviour.

Studies of causal attributions for difficult pupil behaviour in schools have tended to focus on the perspectives of teachers. The present study examines the causal attributions made by parents for difficult behaviour in classrooms. It reveals the structure of these attributions and serves as a direct comparison to a previous study of pupils' attributions (Miller, Ferguson, & Byrne, 2000) and, more indirectly, with the teacher studies. The participants were 144 parents (106 mothers and 38 fathers) whose children all attended the same inner city school. A questionnaire was constructed following three initial small group interviews with parents to identify the wide range of factors they viewed as potential causes of difficult classroom behaviour. This was then administered to all the parents of children attending the same inner-city primary school. Factor analysis indicated that parents' attributions for misbehaviour were best represented by three factors: (1) 'fairness of teachers' actions', (2) 'pupil vulnerability to peer influences and adverse family circumstances', and (3) 'differentiation of classroom demands and expectations'. While there were no differences between parents in terms of gender or ethnicity, they did see the first two factors as more significant contributors to pupil misbehaviour than the third. There is both agreement and conflict between parents' attributions and those made by pupils and by teachers. The implementation of policy initiatives, such as home-school agreements and Pastoral Support Programmes, risk exacerbating tensions and difficulties if these differences in attributions are not acknowledged and acted upon.

Pastoral Support for Late-Life Sexuality

SUMMARY As more persons live longer and enjoy relatively good physical health, new ethical questions arise. One set of questions regards the continuation of sexual life among older persons, especially among older unmarried persons. Women live many years longer than their spouses and often were of a younger age than the spouses. The Judeo-Christian tradition affirms the vitality of sex as a basic part of God's gift of physical creation. A large majority of older people view sexual expression as important and many see it as crucial to a good relationship with a partner. These issues are raised for the awareness of pastoral counselors to understand and be responsive to the varied sexual alternatives m the later years m order to offer practical help to older persons.

Using Personal Construct Psychology to Reduce the Risk of Exclusion

This article describes the use of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) as part of an intervention with a Year 10 pupil considered by school to be 'at risk' of permanent exclusion due to emotional and behavioural difficulties. It provides a detailed description of the techniques used during an 8-week intervention, which included work with the individual pupil, staff and parents. PCP is an enabling strategy that can allow children to tell their stories. It provides the opportunity for the individual to consider an alternative self-image and to experiment with new behaviours. The outcome for this pupil was a more positive view of his behaviour, which helped to support his continued inclusion in the school. The role of the Educational Psychologist (EP) was to advocate for the pupil, enabling staff to include his perceptions in their problem-solving approach to devising a Pastoral Support Plan. PCP may offer EPs an essential and unique role in this process.

Using Personal Construct Psychology to Reduce the Risk of Exclusion

This article describes the use of Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) as part of an intervention with a Year 10 pupil considered by school to be 'at risk' of permanent exclusion due to emotional and behavioural difficulties. It provides a detailed description of the techniques used during an 8-week intervention, which included work with the individual pupil, staff and parents. PCP is an enabling strategy that can allow children to tell their stories. It provides the opportunity for the individual to consider an alternative self-image and to experiment with new behaviours. The outcome for this pupil was a more positive view of his behaviour, which helped to support his continued inclusion in the school. The role of the Educational Psychologist (EP) was to advocate for the pupil, enabling staff to include his perceptions in their problem-solving approach to devising a Pastoral Support Plan. PCP may offer EPs an essential and unique role in this process.

Care for the caregiver: effective pastoral support for nursing home staff.

Notes that the contexts in which caregivers work shape the kinds of relationships they develop with those under their care. Suggests that it is possible to map these contextual features on a continuum with detached professionalism and involved familialism representing the extremes. Claims that nursing home staff are more akin to family members in their relationships with residents than are other professional caregivers who work in acute care settings. Sketches possible implications as to how recognizing and responding to these relational dynamics may influence specific modes of care.

Hot Meetings and Hard Kraals: African Biblewomen in Transvaal Methodism, 1924-601

AbstractWhereas women's prayer groups are a well-known strength of African Christianity in Southern Africa, the evangelistic and pastoral contribution of individual women who were not clergy wives has been under-appreciated. Echoing models from Victorian London and Indian missions, Methodism in South Africa evolved an authorised, paid form of female lay ministry via middle-aged black Biblewomen sponsored and overseen by white Women's Auxiliary groups. The first appointee in the Transvaal and Swaziland District wrote comparatively full reports of emotionally 'hot' revival meetings. In 'hard' kraals she encountered hostility in the form of patriarchal control of women and an unusual proliferation of rival indigenous spirits. Her successors found male drinking an even greater obstacle to a sympathetic hearing. In urban townships along the Witwatersrand, Biblewomen work was less pioneering and more routinised, providing pastoral support to local churches via sick-visiting and following up lapsed members. From 1945-59, some Biblewomen were trained at Lovedale Bible School. The period after 1960 deserves separate exploration. In 1997, a new start was made with a national, autonomous Biblcwomen ministry, though many women, black and white, regretted severing their personal and organisational links of mutual dependence.

El matrimonio canónico entre católicos y protestantes en Ecuador: aspectos teológicos, jurídicos y pastorales

The Ecuadorian church has attempted to give a response to the problem of mixed marriages between Catholics and Protestants intending to help families that meet with difficulties or whose relationships deteriorate due to conflicts arising from faith. For such couples the catechetical preparation of Christian marriage is intensified and is accompanied with pastoral support. The situation of mixed marriages in Ecuador is a reflection of the socio-economical, cultural, and religious changes that affect the institution of the family. One of the pastor's tasks is to educate people better about cultural, social and religious values so that they can understand and differentiate between Catholic and Protestant teaching and avoid such marriages. Once the pastoral means to dissuade the couple from marrying have been overcome, they must complete the requirements of canon 1086 and the conditions for the granting of a dispensation stipulated in canon 1125 n. 1. The family develops in conformity to the dynamics of society, therefore it not only influences society but at the same time echoes the social fabric, integrating and transmitting all the characteristics that make culture and civilisation possible. Therefore the unease, the crisis of the family, is evidence of the importance of this institution. For the same reason the Pastoral Activity of the Family in Ecuador cannot ignore the political, cultural, and religious developments, the teaching of the Church or the canonical regulation of mixed marriages.

Portfolio: A Framework For The Pastoral and Practical Support of Clergy?

Portfolio: A Framework For The Pastoral and Practical Support of Clergy?

The 'Gender Dimension' of both the 'Narrow' and 'Broad' Curriculum in UK Higher Education: Do women lose out in both?

This article draws on data from a qualitative research study undertaken in an old UK university. The main aim of the study was to measure the impact of gender issues on the university campus, an important part of which was the issue of the curriculum. Individuals were found to operate either a 'narrow' or 'broad' definition of the term 'curriculum'. In either case, there was found to be a 'gender dimension' involved. In male-dominated disciplines a 'narrow' definition of the term 'curriculum' was predominantly in use-appropriate discipline content and an unproblematic body of knowledge, which is to be transferred to students largely by lecturing. The difficulties to be overcome in order to undertake a gender-sensitive evaluation of the curriculum in these departments stemmed from the evaluations of the staff of what the problem was and where it was located. In disciplines that accepted a broader definition, which included the 'informal' curriculum, the gendered division of labour in the domestic sphere was repeated in the university, with the result that the division 'rational/emotional' became an aspect of the masculine/feminine divide. Men as well as women felt that men were less inclined to undertake the emotion work involved in supporting student learning. In this male-dominated society, 'emotion work' such as the pastoral support of students remained virtually invisible, and went largely unrewarded.

L'Arche Daybreak: an example of interfaith ministry among people with developmental disabilities.

Describes pastoral support of a representational Jewish adult with a developmental disability in a predominantly Christian setting, including Bat Mitzvah preparation and celebration, and the resulting growth in self-esteem. Outlines how this undertaking initiates a transformation into interfaith awareness and appreciation in the author and in the surrounding Jewish and Christian communities. Urges recognition of the gift of people with disabilities to bring together others of varied religious traditions in mutual appreciation and friendship.

Religious support from parish clergy for hospitalized parishioners: availability, evaluation, implications.

Reports the results of interviews with a random sample (N = 500) of hospital patients responding to the following questions: What percentage of hospital patients consider themselves part of a church or synagogue? How many patients identify a specific parish clergy or some other source who could provide them pastoral support? How many patients received pastoral support during hospitalization from clergy or some other person, and by visit or phone call (excluding hospital chaplains)? How do hospital patients evaluate the helpfulness of these pastoral visits? Discusses the results of the survey, implications for pastoral caregivers, and suggests future research possibilities.